According to the Alcudia-Can Picafort Hoteliers Association, there have never been as many cyclists as this year. It reckons there was growth of 30% in the first quarter of this year compared with January to March 2024. Which sounds impressive - or perhaps appalling, depending on one's point of view - and might have sounded a heck of a lot more so if the association had given an actual number of cycling tourists. Thirty per cent of what? As it is, I am always wary of these round-figure percentages - they are way too convenient - and in the absence of hard figures I am even more so. Still, locals such as myself can attest to the abundance. Or can we? Personally, and this is only an impression which counts for nothing, as can often be the case with impressions, there don't appear to be any more cyclists than usual. But as I haven't tried counting them, I've no way of supporting or dismissing the association's 30% claim.
In March alone, there was a whopping 45% rise, the association's manager, Carmen Zierer, attributing this to hotelier commitment to improvements of their offer and their facilities. "Establishments have invested in specialised services such as cycling centres with repair shops, high-end bicycle rentals, physiotherapy, and sports nutrition. This allows us to attract a tourist profile that seeks active, high-quality experiences."
But this commitment wasn't the only reason. There was also the weather. Or more likely, the anticipation of reasonable weather. At the same time as the hoteliers association has been citing March weather as a reason for growth, the CAEB Restaurants Association in Mallorca has pointed to a 50% decrease in revenue in Alcudia and Playa de Muro and been blaming the weather; it was a poor March, it has to be said.
A decrease on such a scale - and again one has to take their word for it and also accept a nice round figure - did at least owe something to the 2024 and 2025 comparative timings for Easter. It reflects the restaurants' experience, not that of the hotels, who appear to have been doing very nicely thank you out of cycling and other tourists.
Inevitably, one guesses, this restaurant revenue decrease opens the door to the old chestnut of cyclists not spending anything. It is a myth, though it can reflect the profile of the cyclist (the really serious ones versus the less serious) and indeed whether they're on an all-inclusive offer. But one can witness restaurants packed with cyclists in the afternoons after returning from their exertions and tucking into an entire beef herd.
The association isn't much help in this regard. The typical cycling tourist, it says, stays for approximately one week and spends on average over 500 euros per person. Here's another figure that raises a question or two. Is this total spending or that which is separate to travel and accommodation? The tourist spending statistics most certainly take these latter two elements into account, and the amount of spending per day per foreign tourist in February (the statistics institutes' March figures aren't available yet) was 177 euros. That was somewhat more than 500 euros or so for a week.
Reflecting on the current situation, the association doesn't say that cycling tourists spend more (or less) than the general tourist average, but they do help to keep hotels, restaurants and businesses open outside of the peak season. Which is certainly true, the phenomenon of cycling tourism having been responsible for the transformation that came over Playa de Muro some years ago.
Playa de Muro was arguably the single most important resort in terms of generating the cycling tourism boom, and its status is such that it is the start and finish point for the Mallorca 312, which takes place next weekend. It was an importance acquired in part courtesy of the elimination of rundown units and their replacement by outlets dedicated to cycling and to better restaurants.
But what is the numerical evaluation of this importance, be this in Playa de Muro or in Alcudia-Can Picafort, there being the odd situation that Alcudia and Can Picafort are linked despite Playa de Muro standing between them? One never really gets a good idea. It is all so vague, a 30% increase here, a 50% decrease there. Whatever the actual numbers, there will be the locals who will insist they (the number of cyclists) are too many. But how many is too many?
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Lewis BlackI’ve seen many a (male) local relieve themselves in the most unbelievable places. A plant pot of a neighbour for one. At least the cyclists try to be more discreet.
The restaurants and hotels never stop whining, but they pay their staff minimum wage in most cases, and seeing as there are record numbers of tourists, if they are not doing well, then they should take a look at themselves. I recently paid 3.20€ for a weak coffee in a tourist cafe in Pollenca. Something that would be half the price in a cafe for locals. Rather than continually raising their prices and trying to rip off tourists, maybe they should actually lower them, and then by magic, they will see their establishments get busier and they will actually earn more.
Charles Dalrymple-Chumley...no, i think they forage from hedgerows, and drink pond water..
And yet they are some of the most selfish and entitled tourists that visit our island. Quite frankly they are a menace on the road which predominantly endangers them. Maybe if they knew how many people were killed or seriously injured on bikes every year they would respect all other road users. And to conclude rural land is not a toilet - how many times have I seen these visiting cyclists answering the call of nature both standing up and squatting over the years. If you wouldn't do it at your home then please refrain from doing it in ours!
I live in Puerto Pollensa. There are bike paths along the beach road, but because of the many pedestrians, there are also children and other people on them. Since many racers don't stick to the 20 km limit and speed right through the middle, it probably takes a serious accident before the city intervenes. There are extremely wide bike lanes on our great bypass, but most cyclists don't use them. As "professional racers," they block the car lane. All just to make bike rental companies like the one in Alcudia richer. These speeders could ride at home. They're not enjoying the beauty of the island!
......and yet another "data point" published in the past months pointing towards yet another substantial year on year tourism growth. All the signs are there that the "runaway train" that is Mallorcan tourism is not slowing - this can only reinforce the urgent need for decisive, meaningful action from local government to manage this rather than the ongoing prevarication and tweaking at the edges that we have witnessed in the past 18 months.
Serious cyclists likely don't gorge in restaurants or consume many drinks in bars so where do they spend their cash?
Cyclist spends 500 eur week accoondation included. Usually they have halfboard and as they spend days cycling and eat dinner at hotel, restaurants do not get any revenue here. Neither other branches like car hire. On their day off they take bus to Palma for shopping.