Winter tourism

WINTER tourism is back on the political agenda in Majorca and the Balearic government is unde pressure to do more to promote the island as an all-year-around tourism destination. The President of the Majorcan Tourist Board, Eduardo Gamero, said in a speech this week that he hoped that efforts would be made to increase tourism during the low season. For many years the Majorca Tourist Board organised a series of concerts called "Winter in Majorca" which proved successful but unfortunately they were scrapped because of a lack of funding. Gamero said that he hoped that this programme would one day return. As I have said on many occasions in this space I do believe that Majorca can be an all-year-around destination and all that is needed is some thought and imagination from the local authorities, the tourist industry and the tour firms and airlines. Already, we are moving in the right direction. Some hotels, which are usually closed during the winter, will re-open at the weekends and tour firms have agreed to start their holiday programme earlier than usual. But there is still plenty of work to be done. Obviously, the airlines need to be persuaded to operate more flights during the winter months to the island, especially from northern English airports and ofcourse Scotland. But thankfully everyone is back talking about winter tourism and I suspect that the days of decline are over and we are moving forward again.