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Murder in Alicante
Barely a week seems to pass without there being some tragic news. The week before last it was the Germanwings crash, this past week it was the murder of a British couple - Peter and Jean Tarsey in Xaló in the Alicante province - who had been planning on moving to Majorca to be closer to their two sons, Sascha and Alexei, well-known, for example, for having used to own the famous Fabrica 23 restaurant in Palma.
Not tragic but very sad nonetheless was the death of Cynthia Lennon, who had lived on Majorca for many years. Laura Stadler, who knew her well, paid Cynthia a tribute on Thursday, remembering “a very special lady, a gracious lady who will be greatly missed by her many friends”.

Easter in Majorca
With the Easter holiday approaching, the Balearics were confirmed as the top holiday spot for British visitors.
The Majorcan Hotel Federation claimed that 80% of the island’s hotels would be open for Easter (a figure that has been challenged in the pages of The Bulletin).
Still, there was good weather to greet the holidaymakers, as our front page yesterday revealed, and there were typical Easter scenes of a more spiritual nature than the beach to be witnessed, such as the re-enactment of the Crucifixion in Palma.

Palma and winter demand
The island’s capital was making news once again. The publicity from The Sunday Times was followed up by a statement from a leading figure in the Spanish travel industry - Javier Illa, the CEO of Grupo Inversor Hesperia - that Palma is “unbeatable”.
This came at the same time as a conference at the Palma Aquarium was hearing about the opportunities that Palma (and Majorca) have in the winter.
The demand is there, contrary to opinions which suggest otherwise, but this conference was one principally for the German market, one that does benefit from good numbers of winter flights.
On Sunday, Sven Rudow, the managing director of Hotel Tres in Palma, in an interview by Humphrey Carter, echoed this point. “I guess the majority (of clients) are German, but that’s because they are the only people who have access to flights during the winter.”

Situation normal in Magalluf
With the tourism season starting up, all eyes will be trained on Magalluf and on how new regulations will influence the resort’s anti-social behaviour.
But this behaviour comes in different forms, one of them being the activities of the so-called prostitutes. Angie Guerrero, in her “It’s All About Calvia” column yesterday, said that her “heart sank” as she read reports on Facebook about the reappearance of the prostitutes.
But this reappearance could have been anticipated, and last Sunday, Paul Smith (THE Paul Smith?), in a Letter to the Editor, hoped that bar crawl rules would be applied evenhandedly but identified the “bigger problem” of “prostitutes walking the streets freely”.
Into the whole discussion of tourist behaviour has now been added that of students on spring breaks.
These holidays occur in four main centres on the island - Alcudia, Arenal, Cala Ratjada and Magalluf - and on Wednesday, Andrew Ede suggested that they were being catered for through an “almost desperate need for hotel occupancy” despite “raising merry hell in resorts”.  
In the Magalluf context, he questioned how this “tourist niche” fitted with claims that there will be tourists of “ever greater quality”.

Para-badminton international tournament
A wholly different tourist niche, that of the sports tourist and of the disabled sports tourist in particular, was given prominence on account of the international para-badminton tournament that took place in Alcudia last weekend. Paul Kurzo, Vice-President Para-Badminton for the Badminton World Federation, was one of many, including the sports people, to have judged the event a great success.
It is hoped that further tournaments will be staged on Majorca, while the island can anticipate that some of the participants will return for holidays, having been full of praise for the organisation and friendliness they had encountered.