German half-term tourists packing out Majorca's hotels

Over the following days (up to the coming weekend), some 800,000 passengers are expected to pass through Palma's airport - a record number for the time of year. Between Monday and Wednesday this week, more than 300,000 arrivals are forecast. They are not all German, as UK and Scandinavian tourists are also arriving in significant numbers.

There are also Spanish tourists arriving. The first wave of senior citizens from various parts of the mainland came on Monday. They are with the Mundosenior Plus programme (the one that doesn't have a state subsidy). On Thursday, pensioners who have booked with Mundiplan (which is subsidised) will start arriving.

During the first week (15-22 September) that these holidays were put on sale, more than 900,000 places were sold. In that time, Mundiplan sold more than 200,000 for the Balearics and the Canaries. Mundosenior sold in total some 700,000. Some places still remain available: 1,135,000 were put on the market.