Danes abandon Turkey for Majorca

Joan Collins MAJORCA is one of the international tourist destinations to benefit most from the Danish “cartoon crisis” as Danish tourists are reluctant to visit Muslim countries, according to a report on tourist trends. The report was put together by Turespaña and reveals that the level of sales for Majorca is actually 50 percent higher than that recorded this time last year. After Crete, Majorca is the second best selling holiday destination in Denmark, in front of Bulgaria, Rhodes and Cyprus. Majorca has been the main beneficiary of the sharp drop in Danish visitors to Turkey, a country which last year led the market but in 2006 has not even made the top ten. This deflection in demand had forced the tour operators to charter more flights and to secure accommodation places in the alternative destinations. My Travel will offer 36 extra weekly flights to Palma with the capacity for 7'000 passengers, and Star Tour will offer eight extra flights to various European destinations, Majorca among them. The riots which occurred in some Muslim countries as a consequence of the cartoons of Mohammed published last September in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten are the principal cause of the loss of Danish tourists to countries such as Turkey and Egypt, which last year led the sales figures. However, this summer Turkey is not even in the top eight most popular countries, causing a rise in tourism in other holiday destinations, especially Majorca, which replaces Turkey.