Humphrey CarterPalma04/08/2017 00:00
TW
2

Majorca has had some good positive press this summer - the growth of luxury hotels and tourism, for example - but good news does not sell. The red tops have been enjoying the silly season down in Magalluf, spewing up a daily dose of misinformed and incorrect stories about anti-social behaviour, police beatings and council crackdowns: same old same old.

However, more recently Majorca has been headline news on TV bulletins and across the media in general for three issues which the authorities need to get a grip on. The first was the false compensation scam which was not only leapt on by the media, here and back in the United Kingdom, but also became a matter for the Spanish and British governments. Then, we had the long queues Britons were having to endure at passport control at Palma airport: that story has not gone away. It was on Sky News yesterday morning and in the papers again this week, including the broadsheets, as passengers continue posting videos and complaints on social media. And now, which is potentially extremely dangerous, is this revolt against tourists being fronted by a radical Catalan group called Arran.

Headlines about tourists being "attacked" quickly made their way into the British media on Wednesday and have set alarm bells ringing. Yes, there has been condemnation in Spain, but what’s the Balearic government actually doing?