The all-inclusive packages are “destroying” tourism, claims PIMEM

THE small and medium sized business organisation in Majorca (PIMEM) yesterday called on the Balearic government to stop supporting the “all-inclusive” hotel offers, because it is causing a “serious crisis” in fundamental sectors for the economy such as commerce and restaurants. A spokesman for PIMEM said that the arrival of all-inclusive packages to the islands “is helping to destroy a considerable number of companies, not only those in tourist resorts, but also in Palma and various other towns on the island.” Francesc Horrach, the PIMEM president, called on the government to stop favouring one economic sector to the detriment of the other, such as “has been happening for some time in the hotel sector, with an excess of cheap hotel rooms which only attract tourists with low incomes. “The result is that although the number of visitors has increased in the last year, the income generated by the complementary services (shops, bars) has gone down”. As a result PIMEM wants the government to regulate and control the all-inclusive sector.
The restaurant sector in the Balearics has more than 10'000 firms with 40'000 works, commerce has 23'000 firms with more than 70'000 employees.