Coach trade takes a dive

PALMA
PRIVATE coach companies working in the tourist industry in the Balearics have expressed concern over the falling levels of business and what prospects there will be at the end of a season which is not proving nearly as successful as predicted.

Rafael Roig, President of the private transport companies association, said yesterday: “There are plenty of people worrying about the future of discretional transport in the Balearics. The business forecasts for this tourist season have not met expectations and predictions for what remains of the holiday period are even worse. “There just aren't the same number of people getting about the island on coaches and even less going on private excursions,” Roig claimed.
Reports from the Balearic Travel Agencies Association (Aviba), he said, show that there has been a 15 percent drop in tourist activity on coaches and 10 percent downturn in income. Excursion trade has dropped by 25 percent, he added.

Roig recognised that the declining spending power of tourists coming to the Balearics was having a knock-on effect on private transport business.