21/09/2013 00:00
TW
0
By Jason Moore WHILE I welcome the plan by the city council to try and revive Palma at the weekends there are important question marks over the proposal. The obvious is that unless Mayor Aina Calvo can persuade shops and restaurants to open on public holidays and at weekends we are going to be back to square one. Closing some streets to traffic and replacing cars with street entertainers is certainly a good idea but shoppers need shops. Palma now has a large number of excellent and cheap stores with international brands opening-up in the city. Shopping is far better in the city now than it was 10 years ago. There is a wide choice of shops catering for all. But opening hours need to be changed. Shops and restaurants should be allowed to open when they want, after all it is a free market. I am sure that Palma could easily become an important weekend getaway destination for thousands of tourists from Northern Europe. And it is not only just shops.

Tourist information offices need to be open 365 days a year to ensure that tourists always have somewhere to go.
The council are proposing a radical plan I only hope that they have the necessary courage to see it through to the end.