03/08/2016 00:00
I think we all sometimes need a gentle reminder that we all live from tourism on this island. At this time of the year you always hear the moans and groans about too many people around Palma, too many rent-a-cars on the roads and the beaches being overcrowded. No, moans please, it is our livelihood. If the beaches were not crowded at this time of the year, we would have a big problem. The fact that there are 60,000 hire cars on the road is just another insight into the great holiday season. Palma is now an international cruise ship centre and of course the streets of the capital are packed. And yes it's hot; if it wasn't, then it wouldn't be Majorca. After all we are visited by all these thousands of tourists for a good reason.
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Brett, instead of lent I think you mean given. New start ups, if presenting some sort of business plan ( and those who decide definitely aren't Dragons ) are given their dole money in one fell swoop, with no obligation to have to hand it back if they manage to stay in business for 24 months. Not only that, their social contributions are minimal compared to your monthly 300 odd.
People who live on Mallorca all year round use the verb 'survive' when referring to winter living for a very good reason. That is all that many can hope for after working hard for the duration of the season.
Jason, the people who are on a full time salary with 2 or even 4 extra months pay per year, such as newspaper editors and government employees, will undoubtably have a quiet and easy winter with no worries. The rest of us will be working our ass...s off during 4 maybe 5 months of the year to hopefully make enough to see us through the other seven, dreading the time we have to settle our IVA tax bill at the end of January with little or no money in the bank, and with virtually no chance of being granted an overdraft facility. Then there are the part time or monthly employees many of whom won´t get any dole money and will have to struggle to feed their families on sometimes much less than 1.000 euros a month as well as paying the rent. You really should get out more and see how the other half, or even three quarters live.
Well in Santa Ponsa the hotels are half empty if you count the occupied rooms. The bars and restaurants are struggling too because people have less money to spend or going all inclusive. The average age of a tourist still appears to be about 18 years old and they are not the best spenders. So I am going to believe what I see, rather than what I am being told.
Unless you are in one of the favoured tourism businesses, it is very difficult to make enough money in the increasingly shorter tourism season to cover the rest of the year. Competition is fierce now that new start-ups have been lent money by the banks. Over supply just upsets established businesses. You have no idea what you talk about.