The manager of the CAEB Restaurants Association, Tomeu Mas, is advising that bookings for Christmas meals are made as soon as possible. Some restaurants are already booked, with the centre of Palma proving to be especially popular.
Mas says that Christmas bookings are being made earlier than used to be the case. Black Friday weekend at the end of November now signals the start of the restaurants' Christmas season, which has lengthened because of the demand for group meals closer to Christmas itself.
The preference, he notes, tends to be for lunch rather than dinner. 'Tardeo' evening gatherings have increased in popularity, and these are usually just for drinks.
Prices, he notes, are much the same as last year. They obviously vary depending on the restaurant, the average for mid-range establishments being between 30 and 50 euros per person.
For families and friends over the Christmas holidays, there has been an increasing trend to eat out in recent years. Restaurants that didn't once open on Christmas Eve, for instance, now do. Mas adds that reservations of this kind are going well and is confident the Christmas season will be very positive; better than 2024 in fact.
The Christmas period does bring some joy to a restaurants sector in Mallorca which is already predicting a further decline in tourist spending in 2026.