The nightlife sector in Mallorca is this year anticipating lower revenue than in 2025, when it experienced a decline compared to previous seasons. The expectations are cautious for a sector experiencing a downturn due to reduced tourist spending and the gradual loss of local customers.
The president of the ABONE nightlife association, Miguel Pérez-Marsá, says there may be plenty of people on the streets right now but they aren't going into the clubs. "We were already coming off a slow year, and now the forecast is for even lower attendance and, consequently, lower revenue."
Containing prices will be a factor in this revenue, clubs generally opting to keep prices down in order to avoid further deterring customers. As has been pointed out regularly, holidaymakers' spending on the complementary sector (restaurants, clubs, etc.) is being cut each year because of the rising prices of flights and accommodation.
Opening hours are being shortened in order to contain operating costs. Pérez-Marsá explains that businesses are typically concentrating on weekends, where in areas like Playa de Palma, with its higher traffic, more or less all nightlife establishments are open. The peak season is being limited to the period from June 20 to August 20.
This assessment, it has to be said, does contrast somewhat with what the sector was saying only three weeks ago. Pérez-Marsá noted then that although April was far from being a peak month, there was a noticeable increase in visitors to areas like Playa de Palma and Magaluf, "which allows us to be optimistic about the summer months". There again, he was talking about tourist numbers in general, not about people going to clubs. In this regard, the message hasn't changed.
For the restaurants, there is some satisfaction that the post-Easter slump (which always occurs) has been less pronounced than had been expected. But Juanmi Ferrer, president of the CAEB Restaurants Association, says May is "a very sensitive month", the long weekend not having been as good it might have been because of some poor weather.
With the current forecast indicating somewhat unsettled conditions until Saturday at least, there are echoes of last May, which wasn't a great month either in terms of the weather or restaurant business. Ferrer adds that a World Cup summer doesn't necessarily work in favour of the restaurants, if customers from the main tourism markets choose to stay at home and watch the football.