Alarm bells toll loud for tourism

The Balearic government's policy on tourism was slammed as an “absolute failure” by the opposition Partido Popular yesterday. The PP's parliamentary spokesperson, Joan Flaquer, expressed his party's “alarm” over the growing number hotels which close their doors during the winter and the fact that many have postponed their summer opening dates. Flaquer said that figures posted on the Ministry for Tourism's website speak for themselves and that regional Tourism Minister Celesti Alomar cannot blame the fact that winter in the Balearics had failed to take off after September 11. He said the number of hotels closing has been mounting “year after year.” Flaquer said the reason for the winter hotel phenomenon and the continual loss of position in the market is down to the local government's tourism policies. He said that Alomar's policies have proven “absolutely ineffective and insufficient.” Flaquer criticised the government for having just spent thousands of millions of pesetas on a new logo for the Balearics, and threw his support behind promotional campaigns the hotel sector intends of launch on its own.