King meets with Tourism Secretary

PALMA
KING Juan Carlos met yesterday on Majorca with Spain's Secretary of State for Tourism, Joan Mesquida to discuss the state of the industry in Spain, especially in the light of recent ETA bombing attacks on the island which killed two Guardia Civil officers.

Mesquida had already confirmed on the 10th August that Spain's various tourism offices around the world had indicated to Central Government that despite the bombs planted in Palmanova and Palma by the Basque terrorist group ETA, “people aren't going to change” their holiday arrangements.

The Secretary of State for Tourism added that although it was too early to make a full assessment, an initial one indicated that as the royal family had made it clear they weren't going to be frightened off coming to Majorca by what the King described as “cowards and criminals,” then neither were the public at large. People on the island had been heartened at the sight of Queen Sofia and her two daughters shopping in central Palma a day after the second wave of bomb attacks had rocked the island.