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By Humphrey Carter

EVERYTIME I have been to the World Travel Market in London or Fitur in Madrid, I find myself surrounded by all the people I could have talked to here in Palma about the current conditions of the holiday industry and, to be honest, despite all the Balearics' efforts on flash stands etc. it has always been over shadowed by the larger, wealthier and more go ahead destinations.

For example, at the last WTM, Singapore had an amazing free Formula One simulator to promote its night Grand Prix. The queue was so long, I sadly missed out on the fun. Fun, now that is something that's quite often been missing from the Balearic stand, I mean fun which entertains nonmembers of the Balearic tourist industry which is predominantly who the stand attracts.

All mates together on a three-day beano to London, Madrid or Berlin talking about all the things they could have easily done over the phone or by email back in the Balearics.

Rarely have I seen them leaving the stand to investigate what the competition is offering and doing to promote its tourist industry.
The Majorcan Hotel Federation backed the move to cut spending on the main trade fairs by half to around nine million euros and adopt a more concerted and professional approach to the trade fairs while also paying more attention to the more specialist events in a bid to promote all the new activities the Balearics has to offer. Let's hope it works.