Mallorca in winter. The weather is capricious. This January has not been one of clear skies and warm days, as some Januarys have been. It has been wet. It has been grey. Even the quietest of the island's resorts can feel pleasant when the weather's fine. When it isn't ... .
It has of course been the tale for many a year. Start of November and the shutters go down. Reactivation owes much to how well activity tourists are catered for, cyclists in particular.
History, anecdotal for the most part, speaks of once lively resorts in winter. Specific cases there may have been, but the months of November to March have never provided more than 15% of annual tourist numbers. In January last year, and despite some increase in tourist activity, there were 235,000 tourists in Mallorca. In both July and August there were two million. And of the tourists in January, how many were second home owners?
The resorts, it is an obvious point to make, cater for tourism en masse. In Arenal, Alain Carbonell, vice president of the Arenal residents association, says that now not even small grocery stores are open. "There aren't any left. We have to go to the large supermarket chains."
Residents will often say they like the quiet winter. Then there are others who prefer the atmosphere of the season. "When we see them raise their shutters, we know life is back." Carbonell adds that Palma Town Hall operations are cut back in winter. "The cleanliness worsens." He claims that the town hall significantly reduces the number of workers assigned to the area.
The president of the Acotur tourist services business association, Pepe Tirado, says opening businesses in the resorts during the off-season is very difficult. He maintains that fewer are open this year and believes the number will continue to fall. Tirado's association is mainly active in Playa de Palma and in Calvia resorts like Magaluf and Palmanova.
He notes that so far there have been fewer tourists from the Imserso programme, which he argues is crucial for small businesses because Spanish pensioners "buy many Mallorcan products to take to their children and grandchildren". Perhaps, but Imserso packages are typically all-inclusive. This is a tourism segment that has never been known for its spending. Of the 235,000 tourists last January, the largest market was Spanish - 100,000 - not all Imserso but a good number nonetheless.
The amount of activity does vary from resort to resort. Some are like small towns. In Puerto Pollensa, for instance, the frontline may be dead, but this doesn't mean the whole place is. Most of the tourism focus is on the centre of Palma, where many hotels do remain open. In the island's interior, there is some activity, but it is limited. The tourist numbers speak for themselves.