TW
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We have been coming to Majorca floor over forty years: we bought an apartment here 25 years ago and we love the island.
Recent articles in your paper have highlighted the difficult tourist market. It is obvious that the hotel “lobby” is very powerful. Hoteliers are swift to blame other sectors of the tourist market should they not achieve 100% occupancy. The latest target appears to be the self-catering sector, made up of apartments and villas.

Apartments are generally only available if the community involved votes to allow holiday letting. Villas are generally between the owner and the renter.

I suspect that trying to curtail this market could be in breach of EU regulations.
There is a huge number of jobs involved within the self-catering sector.
Virtually every renter will hire a car, will shop at local supermarkets for food and drink and use restaurants. Villas will often employ, mainly on a part-time basis, gardeners, pool staff and domestic help. “High-End”” villa renters tend to eat out at expensive restaurants and will happily rent boats etc.

Does the island wish to not have these people holidaying here?
If hotels feel that by attacking the self-catering market the renters will opt to stay in hotels, they are deluding themselves.
This market stays in villas and apartments because they prefer it.
They like the freedom to eat and drink when they want to and not when the hotel says they can. Should this market be attacked, the renters will move to other parts of the Mediterranean where they are welcome.

Majorca could also help itself by getting shop opening hours more customer friendly and letting shops have sales when they want to rather than at fixed times. Shop and market staff could also help by being more customer friendly.

Incidentally, we do not rent out our apartment! Your faithfully
David Peart
Andratx