Palma most popular for the holiday weekend

Son Sant Joan Airport is anticipating over 435,000 passengers from today until Sunday, with the peak being tomorrow - 161,450 passengers and 929 flights. (These are figures for arrivals and departures.)

The centre of Palma and Playa de Palma are both likely to experience hotel occupancy of 80% or more, with the boutique hotels expected to register maximum occupancy. One agency, Rumbo, notes that Palma is not just the favoured destination in Spain, it is the second most popular in Europe behind London.

The Majorca Hoteliers Federation's vice-president, María José Aguiló, says that the forecasts are very good. She hopes that there will be good weather as well. Aemet is forecasting decent weather for the weekend but with a cold front coming in by Monday.

Away from Palma, major resorts are anticipating occupancy levels of around 65% (Palmanova-Magalluf) and 70% (Alcudia-Can Picafort). Sebastian Darder of the Palmanova-Magalluf hoteliers says that this will be very similar to the same time last year and is positive. Jaume Horrach of the Alcudia-Can Picafort association is content with the occupancy forecast, but adds that it is in keeping with a five per cent drop that has been experienced at certain times during the summer.