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PALMA city council has produced a guide to shopping and the restoration of the city centre. It plans to distribute some 230'000 copies of this at the airport, ports, tourist information offices, small businesses and international fairs, the Fitur fair in Madrid among them. The brochure, published in six languages (English, Spanish, Catalan, German, French and Italian) at a cost of 25'000 euros, forms part of the European Tourism project aimed at encouraging cruise and boat charter visitors. The presentation of the guide, which has as its slogan “Palma, Best Mediterranean Shopping”, was the result of a poll taken among tourists in the Mediterranean region, from whose description of the Balearic capital the slogan is taken. In joint charge of the campaign are the councillors for Tourism, Francisca Bennassar, and Work, Economy and Commerce, Sebastia Sanso, who emphasised the importance of encouraging the tourism/ business relationship. The publication, which was produced as a pocket guide although it is also available on CD, divides the centre of Palma into four routes along which the visitor can find some 40 shops and businesses of “emblematic” restoration, that is to say more than 100 years old, or 50 in the case of bakeries, bars or cafes. The four routes take in, according to the guide, the “most exclusive shops” in the town (from the Plaza Weyler to Jaime III), “the most traditional and hospitable area” (from the Plaza de España to the Ramblas), “a historic walk through the foundations of the city and its business” (from Plaza Cort to the Puerta de San Antonio) and “an exquisite ambience in streets full of history” (from Plaza Cort to the Plaza de la Reina). The brochure gives the approximate time it will take to complete each of the routes and includes cultural points of interest along the way, such as museums, monuments, galleries or historic buildings, Sanso explained. Also, the brochure includes bus stops in the “how do I get there” section for each route.
After praising the work of Sanso's department, which developed the guide, Bennassar announced that there will shortly be another guide to Palma for tourists. She also said that a study is being done of the possibility of Palma hotels displaying, via plasma screens, images of shops, routes and other activities of interest which the capital has to offer tourists. Implementation is planned for this year.