The cost of Majorca

THE local authorities have been charging tourists directly and indirectly and perhaps now the time has come to pay them back.
A shining example is the new Palma sight-seeing bus service. Let's face it, there isn't too much to see in Palma and it would be an idea for this new We-love-tourists-local-goverment to make the service free or very cheap. At 12 euros a trip it is far too expensive and I doubt it will be too successful. Just imagine if the bus service was free. Extra revenue would be generated for shops, bars and restaurants and holidaymakers would have a reason to come to Palma. I get the impression that many people believe that holidaymakers have thousands of euros to spend and they are willing to throw it away on anything. This is far from the case and with Germany in deep recession and with the British always looking for value for money attempts should be made to make excursions cheaper and more cost effective not the other way around. What sort of budget does a family of four need to come on holiday to Majorca? One of the reasons why Majorca is no longer on pole position in the Mediterranean is because it is not cheap. The tourist tax and the last Balearic government did not help the industry but at the end of the day if you are on a package holiday for 10 days you are not going to be too concerned at the internal policies of the regional administration. The best thing that the new local government could do is set a maximum price for everything from the price of chicken and chips to an excursion. I will bet you a cut-priced euro that if price control was brought in Majorca's tourism fortunes would be restored.