BBC Summer Holiday to spotlight Majorca for new travel series

Majorca this summer will be making prime time television in the UK with the focus firmly on holidays. This weekend, a television crew from the UK's only regular holiday and travel news programme Gate 24, which broadcasts on both BBC1 and BBC2 and BBCNews 24 every Saturday and Sunday, is on the island looking into the tourist tax and other features of the Majorcan tourist industry. At the start of June however, BBC1*s top travel programme is rolling into town. On June 24, BBC1 will launch a new Summer Holiday special series featuring ideas for the late booker this year and to provide some ideas for next summer. The series will kick off with a 30-minute special dedicated to Majorca and the programme will be fronted by Carol Smilie, although for the Majorca special, all of the series's four presenters will be travelling to Majorca to film their individual features. From luxury, romantic long weekends in the mountains, which Carol Smilie will be taking care of, to family holidays in Alcudia and Puerto Pollensa to the night life of Magaluf, the Summer Holiday programme will give Majorca prime time promotion that the local government could not dream of buying. Carol Smilie was last on the island for a holiday programme in 1996 and looked at the alternative Majorca, hiking and visiting the monasteries. The Summer Holiday series will also feature Florida, Cyprus, Costa Blanca and France. Programme sources said yesterday that the idea of the summer special is to give people booking late this summer some ideas, considering the industry expects a large number of holidaymakers to book at the last minute, while also giving people some ideas for next summer. ITV's Wish You Were is also planning on featuring Majorca this year and GMTV also has a few ideas for the island. GMTV broadcast Fun in the Sun live from Majorca's beaches for two consecutive years in the late 90*s and have always wanted to return. The sudden surge in attention from the British media in Majorca has been welcomed by the local tourism authorities as interest in the island, especially in the newspapers, has waned over recent years. The Balearic Tourist Board has been working hard to revive both the island's image and flagging holiday bookings while easing the effects of the tourist tax.