This week, I headed down to Palmanova to take the pulse of the summer season. The sunlit resort was buzzing with beachgoers and café chatter — a sharp contrast to the empty terraces reported in Soller. Along the palm-lined promenade, I spoke with restaurant managers and hotel staff about how business is faring.
At one busy beachfront restaurant, the manager, F.C., was upbeat about the season so far. “Business is pretty good; in fact, we’ve had to take on more staff from July,” he said, whilst glancing at his team getting ready for the busy day ahead. “For us, obviously, lunch and especially dinner times are our busiest moments, but there are still the late lunch and early dinner snackers, which help to keep us busy at all hours.”
He was also quick to address the controversy that has dominated headlines in other parts of Mallorca. “We haven’t scared the tourists away from Mallorca — the protestors/ portests have. I see many comments from people saying they won’t come back to Spain, but what they have to realise is that it’s not us, the people they see every day on their holiday — waiters, chefs, hotel staff, attractions staff — who are involved in the protests. Yet it will be us who suffer the consequences.”
A little further down the street, inside the airy dining room of a hotel, a member of staff, D.R. shared a similar assessment. “There are still many tourists coming to the area, mostly British, but we also get a variety of nationalities — Italians and Swedes also love Palmanova,” he said, pausing briefly as colleagues hurried past with trays.
“I haven’t noticed a decline in guests; we are as busy as ever, constantly replacing trays of food and refilling drink stations.” He added, with a wry smile, that the turnover might be higher these days as visitors seem to have less money to spend. “Even for us residents it’s difficult — every time we go to the supermarket our wallets cry,” he laughed.
Their views came against the backdrop of record tourism figures: the Balearic Islands welcomed 2.7 million visitors in June alone, 2.4 per cent more than in 2024. In the first six months of the year, arrivals have reached 7.9 million — an increase of 3.2 per cent, or roughly 250,000 more people than the same period last year. Tourist spending is growing even faster than visitor numbers, up 3 per cent in June to €3.13 billion, and 6.1 per cent higher in the first half of the year, totalling €8.74 billion — largely driven by higher rates and rising prices across the sector.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, whether you’re a resident, a local worker, or just visiting Mallorca. Feel free to share your experiences and opinions by emailing us at editorial@majorcadailybulletin.es