“One of the worst Christmas periods ever”

09/01/2013 00:00

Palma de Majorca.Business in bars, restaurants and cafés over the Christmas period in 2011 slumped by between 15 and 25 percent in comparison with the festive season in 2010, the small to medium-sized business association of Majorca (Pimem) reported yesterday.

Alfonso Robledo, President of Pimem's restaurateurs' sector, said that a team from the association had researched findings with around 50 food and drink establishments on Majorca, with regard to Year End holiday takings.

He said that after a poorChristmas, many businesses had lowered their sights and resorted to low cost attractions with discounts as high as 30 percent, in order to garner some custom.

Robledo said that the strategy hadn't worked and no restaurants or other eating houses claimed they had been full - something unthinkable in previous years. The President said that it was necessary to be realistic and remember that two out of every three families in the Balearics are having financial problems in getting from one end of the month to the next.