Balearics needs to change its attitude to tourists

The growing complaint amongst visitors to the Balearics is that the island is becoming a concrete jungle and that during the summer there are too many people, according to a study carried out on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce for Majorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The number of complaints received from tourists last year was up on 1999 and the majority believe there is too much building and it is something the region's tourist industry needs to be more responsible about. About 1.5 per cent of tourists believe there are too many people and 1.9 per cent say there is too much construction, 0.5 per cent object to the excessive use of plastic containers etc. which are damaging the environment. he study has also revealed, that the second most common complaint is that tourists are finding the islands “too expensive.” It is not so much the cost of accommodation that visitors object to, but the price of items outside their hotels and apartments. During the 90*s the issue of price rarely used to figure on the list of complaints, but it has become one of the first surprises to hit tourists with 3.1 per cent claiming the Balearics are over priced. On the whole, tourists believe that the price of soft drinks and water are too high, especially at the airport and in nightclubs and discos. The number of complaints about the lack of cleanliness also rose last year. Three per cent of visitors believe that waste collection systems need to be vastly improved in the tourist resorts, two per cent complained that public places are too dirty and 1.2 per cent that the beaches are not clean enough. There has also been an increase in the number of complaints about noise, especially at night in the key resorts. Tourists are also becoming more demanding and it appears that the tourist industry, despite all the talk, is failing to meet the quality demands of European visitors. For example, more tourists are asking for air conditioning and complaining about the lack of local flavour or characteristics to food and architecture in resorts and hotels. Also on the tourists' hit list of complaints last year was the public transport system, the roads, the airport and a feeling of discrimination, the latter mainly being made by Spanish tourists who felt that foreign visitors were being given more care and attention.