Balearics braced for British boom

The British tourist market in the Balearics is already forecast to expand by as much as three per cent next year, according to the director general of Viajes Astral, representative for the Airtours group in the Balearics, Jose Gonzalez de Zulueta yesterday. Zulueta said yesterday that as far as Airtours is concerned, the tour operator is “optimistic” about next summer, with an increase in the number of British tourists and the recuperation of the Scandinavians with bookings expected to rise by between five and six per cent. Next summer Airtours are expecting to bring 300'000 Scandinavians to the Balearics and 571'000 British tourists with 371'000 coming to Majorca, 103'000 going to Minorca and the remaining 96'000 heading for Ibiza. With regards to the performance of the British market this year, Zulueta said it has been stable, although by the close of the year it will post a drop of 1'09 per cent in comparison to last year's record season, which is nowhere near as sharp as the slide in the German market which has been the root of all concern in the Balearic tourist industry this summer. But while the British and Scandinavian markets are set for a healthy 2001, the golfing industry is not. The golf industry in the Balearics has been warned since the start of the year about being too expensive, but little notice has been taken, and Zulueta said yesterday that there will be a drop in the number of golfers coming to the Balearics this winter because of the high green fees in comparison to the Canaries and North Africa.