23/11/2014 00:00
TW
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Sports tourism and winter flights
Is sports tourism the solution to Majorca’s off-season tourism woes? Frank Leavers in his Confidential column believed it was. Noting that over 2,000 participants are expected to take part in the early-season Majorca International Football Tournament for security personnel in Santa Ponsa in May, Frank stressed the potential benefit of “using sport as a magnet to draw visitors to the island during the spring, winter and autumn months”. Needless to say, however, there remains the issue of winter flights and indeed of their cost, and so on Thursday it was reported that “it is not only the British who are complaining about a shortage and the cost of flights this winter, the Majorcans are furious with airline bosses who have increased the cost of their fares for the Christmas period”. Sylvia Riera, the president of the Balearics travel agents’ association said that “every year we are more isolated because there are fewer flights and we are paying more”. By way of an aside to this, but reflecting the strain on wallets, it was reported on Wednesday that spend this year on the Christmas El Gordo lottery in the Balearics is anticipated to be below that of many parts of Spain.
In a Letter to the Editor on Friday, E. Weldon from Scotland was clear about the problem. “The winter flight fiasco is a pain!” The letter went on to say that there was now little chance of visiting in early December when the Christmas lights are switched on in Palma and to emphasise that Palma “could be sold easily as a weekend shopping getaway”. In the same Friday edition, however, Andrew Ede in his Week in Tourism column, noted that Palma - the city rather than the resort - is “enjoying record levels of off-season hotel occupancy”, representing “a rise in interest in Palma as a weekend-break destination”. In addition, it was reported that national government has launched its “Shopping Tourism Plan 2015” with a promotional budget of just under three million euros.

Up-market Majorca
The Sant Francesc Hotel Singular in Palma, we learned, is one of two new hotels to be added to the exclusive portfolio of the web agency club, Small Luxury Hotels of the World. But might a growing trend to push Palma and indeed Majorca further up-market be a double-edged sword? Jason Moore in his Thursday Viewpoint flagged up the potential danger and of Majorca pricing itself out of the market for many visiting tourists. “Up-market is all very well, but we need the visitor numbers as well. Price in tourism is king, and we should be careful.” There was also something of a warning for Majorca in Friday’s front-page headline which read “Dubai takes Majorca crown”. Dubai has overtaken Palma as the leading destination for passengers travelling from Manchester Airport, “for many years the gateway to Majorca package holidays”. Palma had not just been been overtaken, the number of passengers from Manchester had declined by 16,000.

A new airline for Majorca?
Still on flights, Tom Leeming, whose letter to The Bulletin on 8 November regarding the lack of adequate flights had received many complimentary comments on our Facebook page, yesterday set out a proposal for the “formation of an airline based at Palma airport for the purpose of providing direct flights to the UK or other European destinations”. Tom referred to a feasibility study that had been conducted a couple of years ago and considered the complexities of establishing a new airline, not least the raising of capital. But he suggested that “with a consortium of government, hoteliers, private individuals and whoever else is likely to benefit from (an) increase in winter tourism” the raising of capital might be achieved.

Michelin star for Simply Fosh
Away from flights and tourism (though not perhaps not entirely), President Bauzá spoke of his pride in the awarding of new Michelin stars to Majorcan restaurants. One of these restaurants was Simply Fosh in Palma, run by top British chef Marc Fosh, who is also of course a regular contributor to The Bulletin (you will find his column elsewhere in today’s edition).
The president’s pride was thus shared by us at the paper and by Marc also, who praised his team at Simply Fosh for its hard work and dedication. And on food and drink, Andrew Valente reminisced about the times fifty years ago when “ordering a red wine in Majorca was easy”, “you simply asked for a Franja Roja”. Andrew went on to explain that Franja Roja is now available under several other names but that the main one is from José L. Ferrer, “the man who put Majorcan wines on the map when he founded the winery in 1931”.

Opposition to oil prospecting
The possibility of prospecting for oil off the shores of the Balearics has not gone away and, as a tourism industry source was quoted on Thursday, “the last thing a visiting tourist wants to see is an oil rig on the horizon in our beautiful blue seas”. President Bauzá, who has been drawn into conflict with national government on the matter, made it clear once more where he stood: “We are not going to be silenced. We do not want oil and gas exploration in our waters”.

Expat voting rights
And finally, the vexed issue of voting rights for UK expatriates resurfaced during the week. Geoffrey Clinton Brown, Conservative MP for the Cotswolds and a visitor to Deya in the summer, was reported as saying that he is seeking an abolition of the 15-year rule which prevents UK citizens from voting in general elections if they have lived abroad for more than 15 years and indeed is also seeking to allow expats who are disenfranchised in this way to be able to vote in the 2015 election.