Commerce is leading

COMMERCE is outdoing tourism in volume of business in the Balearics, and already has 38.5 percent of the total business done by companies on the islands, with a total of 9'015.7 million euros, while the tourist sector has only 35.1 percent, with a total of 8'214.9 million euros. These are some of the figures in the “Service poll of the Balearic Islands” which the Balearic Social Economic Council (CES) presented yesterday morning in the Majorcan Chamber of Commerce. The figures in the publication have been prepared by the Subdirection General for Services department of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) from the Annual Poll of Services 2003, which is part of the National Statistical Plan. According to these figures, the net income in business for companies resident in the Balearics in comparison with those which are not resident is positive by 240.6 million euros, thanks to the surplus presented by the tourism sector (3'059.1 million euros) and the transport sector (324.4 euros). Nevertheless, contrary to expectations, the greatest activity by amount of business isn't tourism, but commerce.
With regard to the tourism sector, the study said that the total amount of business done by Balearic companies outside the islands represented 41.5 percent of their total business, a percentage which was 34.8 in their transport division, but it fell by 1.2 percent overall. The VAT on bills in the Balearics represents 2.8 percent of the national total, and in this case tourism exceeded the average (11.9 percent), as did transport (3.2 percent), and services (2.9 percent).