The Madrid Fitur international tourism fair opens on Wednesday. For the Balearics, the fair comes at a time when there is discernible recovery by competitor destinations such as Turkey and when there is also a doubling in the rate of the tourist tax for this summer season.
While these competitors have been offering incentives to tour operators in order to retrieve the summer tourism business lost due to security fears, the Balearics have been putting the emphasis on low-season tourism. Bel Busquets, appointed tourism minister in December, says that Fitur offers a good opportunity to be in touch with the whole tourism sector and to promote the "successful" Better in Winter campaign. This government campaign, she notes, will "lengthen the tourism season and create long-term and quality contracts".
Busquets adds that in the final months of last year there was a "significant increase" in the number of Spanish visitors. Therefore the message for Fitur is that the Balearics "have much to offer in the medium and low seasons". The promotional emphasis is on heritage an is in line with 2018 being the European Year of Cultural Heritage.
The fair will be officially opened by King Felipe and Queen Letizia tomorrow morning. President Armengol will be attending, and so also will be Busquets. It will be the first tourism and travel fair she has attended since becoming tourism minister. With her will be the new director-general for tourism and the new director of the Balearic Tourism Agency. The former director-general, Pilar Carbonell, the ex-director of the agency, Pere Muñoz, and the former minister, Biel Barceló, were all forced to resign during a two-month period at the end of last year.
6 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
They need to come to Magaluf at the moment. All you see is dog s**t and workmen!! No hotels open and definitely no people. Winter is better really!!
I travel back and forward from U.K. to mallorca at least twice a month the flights are always full so the demand is there ,and as for the weather it’s a lot warmer than the U.K. 2 degrees or 17 I know what I prefer , and you know the sun will always come out , and everyone doesn’t want tending to 24/7 peace and tranquillity is bliss
Promote all you like but there is not anywhere like enough demand for the airlines to make any decent kind of profit in running winter flights to Majorca and the airlines simply won't fly unless they can make reasonable profits on flights. Outside of Palma,there is nothing to go to Majorca for in the winter when the weather is not that good,only 15c today,for example and the resorts are like ghost towns,most people booking winter flights are seeking sun and resorts fully opened,not cold ghost towns.
Does that mean that the resorts will be able to stay open and not feel like a ghost town after October ? No apartments No Flights Nothing open No people Cold weather Someone find a reason why it's better in winter because I can't wait for summer to see some people again ! Mind you If this bunch of monkeys carry on the way they have the summers are not going to be much different as well !!
Has nobody told these clowns that you need these very special machines called AIROPLANES ?
Not sure they were 'forced' to resign. They did it voluntarily as their jobs became untenable due to their behaviour. Jumped before they were pushed. Forced to resign is not the same as being sacked, which they should have been. Presumably their pay outs/pensions will remain in place.