Mallorca retail: Sales up, but employers aren't "firing rockets"

There are plenty of tourists, but they aren't spending in shops. | Jaume Morey

Andrew EdePalma31/08/2022 08:07

Figures from the National Statistics Institute indicate that retail sales in the Balearics increased 4.8% in July compared with the same month of 2021. This was the highest increase in the country, the national average having been a 3.3% decrease. By comparison with June, there was a 10.9% rise, the second highest in Spain.

For Juan Pedro Yllanes, the Balearic vice president and minister for productive sectors, the figures "mark the leadership of the Balearic Islands in the recovery and in the commitment to economic diversification". The director general for trade, Miquel Piñol, says that the data lend support to "the government's management against a difficult background" - overcoming the pandemic and issues related to the war in Ukraine.

However, the Afedeco and Pimeco retail employers associations don't share the government's "triumphalist tone". Toni Fuster of Pimeco observes that an increase was to have been expected but that it was well short of what it might have been. "We should have had a rise of at least 30% compared to 2021 but we haven't reached 5%. People are thinking twice before buying shoes and it's understandable that they reserve that money for lunch or dinner."

Antoni Gayà of Afedeco says that there may be many tourists but they are coming with "little desire to spend". "There are no reasons to be firing rockets; even less so, seeing what will come next year."