A word of warning

by Jason Moore
SO winter tourism actually increased this year, according to official figures which showed a five percent rise in visitor numbers. All good news but let us look at the figures closely. You have to remember that this year Easter was in March therefore the so-called winter season included the all-important Easter week. I suspect that tourism will fall this month because Easter last year was in April and this year in most resorts they are playing a new game called “spot the tourist and you could win a free holiday!” I know everyone over the last few weeks has been saying that the Balearics will have a great season but unfortunately I just can´t see it (I will eat my words, hat and all if I am wrong and fingers crossed that I have to do so). If you take the British market, the pound sterling has dropped in value by more than 15 percent in the last few months. British tourists, whose middle name should be “value for money” and who are exceptionally savvy when it comes to late deals, are going to have less spending power in the euro-zone. The same can´t be said for the United States when the pound is still two for one against the dollar. As we all know, Majorca isn´t exactly cheap. Getting away on holiday is naturally very important but price, more than ever, is going to come into play. So what can the Balearics do? Ensure that it is a value for money destination and don´t get carried away with pricing. It has been a bad winter (whatever the figures say) and now is not the time to try and recover with inflation-busting price rises. Also, we can´t take tourism for granted; just look at British TV and all the ads for competing resorts. A tourist is a real friend this year.