More people than ever over Easter

Easter is proving to be better than expected, with hotel occupancy higher than last year, even though more hotels are open, and increases of 22 and 19 per cent respectively in passengers and planes. Airport sources said yesterday that between last Thursday and Monday, a total of 320'500 passengers will have used the Son Sant Joan airport. The number of flights, landings and departures, is 2'764. Pedro Cañellas, the president of the Majorcan hoteliers federation, confirmed that there were more hotels open compared to last Easter, and the occupancy rates were “excellent” due to the high demand, particularly from Germany and Spain. But although matters have on the whole gone smoothly, Cañellas criticised the overbooking which had been causing problems at Madrid's Barajas airport. The hoteliers, travel agencies, bar and restaurant owners and the Balearic tourism ministry all confirm that this will be an historical Easter regarding the number of visitors and income from tourism. Hotel occupancy is around 85 per cent. Cañellas also said that many Majorcans had taken advantage of the long Easter weekend to take a break on the island, favouring the rural tourism complexes. He said that the fact that Easter fell at the end of April rather than March had been partly responsible, but, he added, it was also true that Majorca is lengthening its high season. He described this as highly positive for the entire tourist sector.