Companies operating at the port stress, therefore, that it is not only cruise ship passengers who generate "saturation" in the old centre of Palma. If these operators are being asked to avoid creating overcrowding, then the same measures should apply to excursions coaches coming into Palma. People arriving on excursions take the same routes as cruise ship passengers normally do - right into the old centre and to the Cathedral.
Cruise ship operators like Royal Caribbean have accepted the town hall's plan for transporting passengers to alternative stops in different parts of the city - there are four of them - in order to alleviate the pressure. But they believe that a similar system should apply to excursions coaches.
As noted last week in the Bulletin, these alternative stops haven't been a great success. Between July last year and the current month, under 13,000 tourists had been transported on the buses from the port. To give an idea of how low this number is, it is around twice the passenger capacity of Symphony of the Seas, which docks each Sunday.
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The vía cintura is gridlock from 8am until 9:30 every morning. That’s nothing to do with tourist saturation. Get a grip
Sarah, I am happy for your luck on the via cintura. For the rest of us it’s misery.
Ouch, yes I'm him. In my defense the golf business is shoulder tourism, spring and autumn so we dont contribute to the summer overpopulation but rather we help extend the season, something welcomed by all in business. And yes our clients like nice hotels, restaurants etc. I am not against development or modernisation per se, its going to happen whether we like it or not. However the sheer volume of tourists and the attendant problems that is causing to me indicates we are reaching a saturation point. Courtesy of Aena Palma airport movements 2008 19 miliion 2017 27.9 million. True not all tourists but I doubt the London commute is responsible for the difference. How many more tourists do people want ? I drive Felanitx - Calvia at least twice a week. Winter is OK but from Easter to October the roads from the airport onwards,the Via Cintura and motorway cannot cope with the traffic volume. It makes moving about no fun at all.
If you are the John Little with the golfing business here. Would you have a client base and a business if Mallorca had not moved into the modern era, with choice. Le Roys, Bauhaus, Ikea, Bricomart, Decathlon, Fan Shopping, Lidl, Mercadona - all offering CHOICE. A Via Cintura that allows you to get to around Palma quickly.Nice hotels for your golf players to stay in. Restaurants for them to dine in. Beautiful Marinas for them to enjoy having a coffee.
Well Sarah, its true it was less hectic in the 80's, and even less in the 70's.I never thought of Galerias as horrendous though true I only went when i had to.As for trendy restaurants and bars, nowadays it seems quite trendy when finding a bar that actually looks like it belongs in Mallorca, rather than in Notting Hill or Chelsea. Many of us came here to get away from trend, and being in a backwater was fine.
Thank god there are some other people that think tourism is a good thing. Obviously the crisis didn’t hurt enough people financially as they have to easily forgotten the bad times. The free flowing money should be welcomed with open arms and a smile, not graffiti and protests.
You really don't want tourists,do you.? Lets hope that when the tourist finally stop coming,you are happy with the mass unemployment,homelessness and lack of facilities that come with it.
I spent from 14.00 to 21.00 last Thursday enjoying the delights of Palma - there were three cruise ships in and for me it was not busy at all. What is all the moaning about??? Do you really want your capital city to return to 2009 when businesses were closing and people had to leave the island as their was high unemployment. Moaners, moaners, moaners and most of you have not even lived on the island for 30 plus years. It is nice that we have trendy restaurants and bars now to visit - in the '80s the island was like a backwater with Galerias Preciados as the main shop which was horrendous.