Jason Moore04/08/2016 00:00
TW
3

This holiday season is going to go down in history as one of the busiest on record. But I suspect that it will open up a debate. Already some people are saying that the island is attracting too many tourists and that the big spenders are being kept away because there are simply too many people. Palma is crowded at the moment but as I said in this space yesterday this is a good state of affairs because tourism is our livelihood. But not everyone thinks like me.

I can see a debate opening up in which some will say that Majorca needs fewer tourists but with greater spending power. At the moment it appears that while Majorca will welcome a record number of tourists their spending power is less, helped in no small part by the drop in the pound against the euro.

It must be remembered that Majorca is a mass tourism destination. There are hundreds of hotels which would become redundant if the island welcomed fewer tourists. At this moment the population of the island has probably doubled, reaching the two million mark thanks to the influx of high season tourists. An additional one million people on a small island is certainly a lot and of course the island's resources will be fully tested. But Majorca doesn't need fewer tourists. It needs a balance so that every market is catered for. Taking the island too up-market could be very dangerous and could cause more damage than good. Leave things as they are. If it isn't broken ...