Chopin and Graves have boosted residents' income

A paper by researchers at the Felipe Moreno School of Tourism in the Balearics has been published in the Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research; its title is Frederick Chopin's Stay as a Tourist Attraction in the Town of Valldemossa, Mallorca, Spain. Primarily about Valldemossa, the paper also focuses on Deya in comparing these two municipalities with Esporles and Fornalutx. A conclusion drawn is that having "an important historical anecdote as a tourist attraction - Chopin in Valldemossa and Robert Graves in Deya - has promoted more dynamic municipal economies, where restaurant, tourism, leisure and real estate activities predominate".

As to the latter, real estate, this has not meant notable population growth. Valldemossa and Esporles have similar numbers of inhabitants, while Deya and Fornalutx are comparable in this regard. In Valldemossa and Esporles there was growth during the first couple of decades of the tourism boom, which followed what had been a period of population loss. Since the early 1980s, growth rates have been far lower. In Deya and Fornalutx, tourism has meant a loss of population.

When it comes to income, analysis of the period between 2012 and 2018 indicates that income per inhabitant in Valldemossa and Deya exceeded that of Esporles and Fornalutx. This can be explained, "at least in part, as a consequence of the tourism claims of two important historical facts".