EDITORIAL

THE German tourism giant, TUI, has created a new cheap and cheerful holiday company which is offering tourists the possibility of coming to Majorca for a few euros. This is the sign of the times because the Germans have traditionally always paid more for their holidays than their British counterparts. Meanwhile, tour firms across Europe have been busy slashing their prices and as a result you can come on holiday to the island for as little as 150 pounds sterling. But what concerns me is that despite the avalanche of cheap offers tourists are going to get a shock when they see some of the prices being charged by bars and restaurants. In other words these days 150 pounds would buy you dinner for two at one of the island's more exclusive restaurants. Our stablemate newspaper, Ultima Hora reported over the weekend that Germany is cheaper than Majorca and to some extent I would suspect that it is on a par if not cheaper than most areas outside London in Britain. Bars and restaurants need to start revising their prices. The days of the big spending German tourists are long gone. The British pride themselves on value for money. If we are going to get large numbers of tourists coming here for peanuts then a number of local businesses have important decisions to make. One hotelier told me recently that Majorca this year would be taking any tourist it could get. A sizeable number will be from the lower end of the market. So let's start having realistic prices please. The hoteliers are obviously making a sacrifice as regards price so perhaps bar and restaurant owners should follow their example.