Convention blues

THEPalma city council appears to have gone into over-drive with its plans to finish the controversial convention centre on Palma´s Paseo Maritimo but still the Association of British Travel Agents will hold their annual convention this year at the Pueblo Español. This is a great shame because it would have underlined the importance the local authorities are giving to the convention business. I notice that great progress has been made on the convention centre in recent weeks, with the gardens nearly complete and even the convention centre itself no longer looks like a building site and just a concrete shell.

I am sure that Mayor Aina Calvo will attempt to use the convention centre and its back-drop for her political campaign as the local election campaign gets underway. Once completed the centre will be a real asset to Palma and it might be an idea to invite the ABTA delegates back once the centre is completed so that they can see the project for themselves. The Balearics need to move with the times and this is just one example of the future of tourism. The convention market continues to grow and alongside cruise tourism it is one of the markets within the tourist industry which has enjoyed great growth in recent years. However, there are still some questions about the convention centre which need to be resolved such as the hotel and also it needs to be completed as quickly as possible.