08/09/2015 00:00
TW
0

Dear Sir,
As always, I enjoyed reading Julie Blunn’s ‘local Comment’ article in MDB at the weekend. Julie has a way of making penetrative insights in a polite and understated way that I admire greatly. One such insight was "it still amazes me walking round in the evenings in some of the major tourist areas, how quiet things seem. The hotels are full, but people are tending to stay in the hotels." She asks "is Majorca pricing itself a little too high?"

The high prices in my own resort, Cala d’Or, and other places is an issue which has drawn my attention for some time. It seemed to me, before the recession, that at the beginning of almost every season, prices were raised. Such increases seemed to have little logic, for example and historically typically, this year in my local bar the price of a large beer was raised about 20% from 2.80 to 3.40 euros: now there’s inflation. A typical cost of an evening meal for my wife and I is around 40/50 euros.  This is for a shared starter, a main course each and a bottle of vino de casa, and no dessert or coffee. We can definitely enjoy a similar meal in Ireland for less than this, even at city prices.

I don’t have tangible evidence, but I have been involved with the tourist industry for long enough to know that when in a recession prices fall. Recently, my feeling is that in general, prices remained static for about five years, probably because of the recession, during which time one might have expected them to decline somewhat, if not in actual reductions but in real terms. This year they have begun their annual increase.

Is it any wonder some hoteliers are offering all-inclusive. They must look at the prices in the resorts for breakfast, lunch, dinner and various drinks and think, "I can beat these with ease and still turn a profit".

Part of the charm of Majorcan resorts such as Cala d’Or is the early evening pleasant ambience created by local shops, restaurants and bars, but as Julie muses, "is Majorca pricing itself … too high?" My fear is that it has already.

With the recent unfortunate and sad circumstances in relation to politics and tourism stability occurring in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, Majorca tourism has a significant opportunity to re-establish itself as the "place to holiday". Don’t let high prices and poor value for money suppress this opportunity.

David Carson
Cala d’Or