Holiday at home? Too expensive

Mallorca's tourism success story means that many local residents can no longer afford to holiday on the island and they have to find cheaper alternatives elsewhere. Asturias, in northern Spain, is proving to be exceptionally popular this year not only because of its cooler temperatures but because it is about half the price of Mallorca.

In the end I spent part of my summer holidays in Valencia. In fact, two days in Valencia (hotel and flights) worked out as almost the same price as a one night stay at a four star hotel in Mallorca on half board. Valencia is a fantastic place to visit and it was packed with tourists. The science park in the city centre is a must visit place.

On returning to Mallorca I continued with my Mission Impossible to find a nice hotel which was within my budget. I got lucky. The good old Hotel Dragonera in San Telmo had a last minute cancellation. This fantastic little hotel, with its own swimming area, costs 90 euros a night on bed and breakfast and that is for the room. As you can imagine, it is generally fully booked. So in the end I managed to enjoy a nice holiday which was within my budget.

Mallorca, as we all know, has become very expensive and the fact that local residents can no longer afford to go on holiday is food for thought. I would have preferred to have spent my hard-earned euros in Mallorca but in the end I had to go elsewhere. And it is not only holidays. Rents are too high and so is the cost of living. Yes, it is a Mallorca success story but it is rather sad that people who live and work on the island can’t afford to go on holiday here.