Sales start 2nd July without great expectations

According to the Independent Consumers' Federation, the average spend per person will be around 60 euros, 5 percent less than during the Summer Sales in 2011.

Bernat Coll, the President of the Small to Medium-sized Businesses' Association of Majorca (Pimeco) said yesterday that his members would be “satisfied” if such predictions were to prove accurate.

Meanwhile, Bartomeu Servera, Coll's counterpart in the Balearic Commerce Federation (Afedeco) said that this summer “isn't going to be” like 2011, adding that there will be variable results according to the nature of individual retail businesses.

Whilst acknowledging that tourism could change the wider picture of the outcome of this season's sales, Coll said that “tourists coming to the Islands don't come to buy. They help top up our income but we don't attach much more importance than that.” Servera agreed that although tourism is an aid to commerce, “visitors won't save the day.” He said that in the light of a global financial crisis, “tourists don't generally have more spending power than we do, and therefore come to the Balearics on a budget. “There's a great difference between now and 30 years ago when there was a real price difference because of exchange rates, and visitors were buying items that they could get nowhere else.” Servera furthered though that reasonable takings were expected this season because “people now wait for the Sales to buy essentials they couldn't otherwise afford.”