Tourism in the quieter months continues to grow.

Tourism in the quieter months continues to grow. | Joan Torres

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma29/12/2017 00:00
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In November 177,390 foreign tourists came to the Balearics. This was the highest number for a November since 2008. In that year there were 179,000. Compared with 2016, there was an increase of just over sixteen per cent, which is being taken as some proof of a lengthening of the season, which is being reflected in the employment figures. There was a record number of employees with "fijo discontinuo" contracts actively working in November, while the level of unemployment (compared with November 2016) was down.

The figures from the Frontur survey of foreign tourist movement indicate that the percentage rise in November was the second highest this year. April, which coincided with Easter, had the highest.

There have been increases in foreign tourism every month this year, and they have been more pronounced in the months other than the peak ones of summer. For the eleven months to November, there were in all 13,691,618 foreign tourists, an increase of 6.2% over the whole of 2016.

As is always the case, the Balearics received the second highest number of foreign tourists after Catalonia. Nationwide, Spain attracted 77.8 million tourists from January to November. This was up by 9.1%.

The figures don't of course include Spanish tourists. In 2016, Spanish tourists in the Balearics accounted for over 15% of the final annual total of all tourists, which was 15.37 million.