SUMMER BLUES

By Jason Moore THE news coming out of the World Travel Market tourism fair in London isn´t good; there is already talk of a drop in the number of British tourists coming to Spain next summer. Is anyone really surprised? However, all the indicators do say, though, that the British will be going on holiday whatever the credit crunch does to their income. This is good news for the Balearics because it could mean that they will cancel the more expensive long haul holidays and come closer to home, in this case the Balearics. But it is not only the British who are feeling the pinch. Let us not forget that Germany is also in recession and I suspect that the spending power of German tourists will also be substantially reduced, also. I believe that the time has come for the Balearics to tackle the problem of prices. With tourists having less money to spend there is a greater need for price economy. I have a classic example. There is a good quality restaurant near our offices in Palma which does a menu of the day for nine euros; it is packed everyday meanwhile other restaurants around town are charging in excess of 20 euros for an average meal. So it can be done. If Majorca gets a reputation as an expensive destination then next season is going to be very difficult indeed.