People in the Plaza de Sóller enjoying a sunny day after the intense cold of recent days

People in the Plaza de Sóller enjoying a sunny day after the intense cold of recent days. | Archives

Shirley RobertsPalma 13/12/2024 10:02
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Soller, the ‘Island within an island’ is moving into the corporate zone to the disquiet of many Sollerics. The arrival of the Jumeriah in 2010 into the locally owned hotel zone of the Soller Valley was a game changer. Now, out of 36 hotels in the local hotel federation, 19 are owned by hotel chains. Soller hotels of the past were the business developments of local farmers and entrepreneurs of the day. They were trailblazers, and many went on to buy hotels in other places and in some cases, other countries.
This sets the scene for the current angry vision where some local young people believe their birthright has been given away. Housing they might once have expected from family inheritances, have been sold. They are struggling to find affordable homes.

Is this inevitable progress with casualties? Is this a trend which should have been stopped in its tracks a long time ago by government intervention? Is this the change that no-one could have foreseen when tourism was born in Mallorca over 60 years ago? Whatever the reasons, we are in the middle of troubled debate. A free market and the mobility which allows workers and business owners to follow the money, is one of the consequences of being part of the EU.

The young people of Mallorca have to find their own way to live their lives and earn enough to fund it. The consequence of all the financial Soller problems means many are looking abroad for their future. Some families are regretting the sales of their properties and businesses. They have enjoyed the money and all it buys, but are very unhappy about the departure of their young people.

In the past the failure of the orange crops sent many from the island off to France and other countries to work. Today it is the low wages and lack of housing which sees them on their way.