Tourism boost to business confidence

However, he was also quick to stress that the local business community is far from in the clear and out of recession.
There was no talk of green shoots. “We haven't suddenly emerged from depression and slipped into euphoria,” he said. “But, if the tourist season lives up to the current expectations, then perhaps, come the end of the season, we will be in a much better position,” he added.

Performed the best
Business confidence has risen by 12 points since the start of the year and yesterday the Balearic government's Director General for Economy and Statistics, Joana Perello, said that the Balearics is the region where the economy has performed the best during the first quarter for this year and the upward trend looks set to continue. As the latest UK package holiday sales indicate, the market in general is in very good shape with Spain and the Balearics well up on last year.

Majorca has been enjoying month-on-month increases in the sales of package holidays since before Christmas and there are concerns that some resorts are not only fully booked, they may be over booked such is the demand for Majorca in freezing Britain this summer.

And another important and very positive factor is that the bookings run from May 1 to nearly the end of October which suggests that, at least with regards to the British market, it is going to be a very long season which will boost business confidence even further.

UK holiday industry sources said that they expected to see sales to Majorca remain at around the plus four mark because the continual growth in demand means that there are fewer and fewer package holidays available.

Safety concerns
What is more recent events in Cyprus and continuing uncertainty about safety in Egypt and Turkey has also played into the hands of Spain for this summer.

Although, Greece has staged a very successful fight back and that, apparently is because the country has a very good and highly respected Minister for Tourism who spends most of her time in the UK pushing Greece to the tour operators and working on joint venture promotional campaigns.

However Majorca has held its ground in the market and many tour firms and travel agents are reporting that it is the most popular holiday destination this summer.

As we saw over Easter, the majority of those frozen Britons who could take no more of the dreadful weather, opted for a last minute break here in Majorca with the hotel federation admitting that, those hotels which did open which was just under half of those on the island, enjoyed a better Easter than expected.