Mallorca weekly news round-up

So what happened exactly? It was all the fault of two storms that came scurrying across the mainland towards Mallorca - Betty and Rea. They had joined forces and unleashed a mighty force. There were two fronts which more or less coincided, the event having involved a squall - a sudden and violent increase in wind that can last many minutes - accompanied by rain and thunderstorms.

Naturally enough, because this is normally the case with such events, the storm was defined as a "freak", when it had been signalled well in advance. In the Bulletin's own weather reports, a significant change in weather was noted on Thursday, then a drastic change on Friday, followed by the amber warning on Saturday along with advice of up to 90 litres per square metre of rain and hurricane force gusts. It wasn't therefore that freakish, only in its intensity, which wouldn't have come as that much of a surprise if people had been paying attention to the weather warnings.

Ah yes, but they aren't always accurate. True. But in this instance, there was ample evidence that it would be from meteorological tracking. Plenty of precautions were taken, such as in Lloseta where they called off a planned gathering of giants for 11am on Sunday on the Saturday morning. Just as well. The giants may have been blown away. That the exact time of the storm hadn't been predicted was by the by, and this certainly made no difference when it came to a damn great cruise ship breaking its moorings and hurtling around the port in Palma and colliding with an oil tanker.

Weather freaking out

The "freak" storm was a Godsend to the foreign press, the usual suspects in the UK having, inter alia, described terrified British holidaymakers (no other holidaymakers were seemingly affected) running for their lives. Hey ho.

Such a storm at this time of the year isn't so uncommon. Yes, it was particularly violent but so was the 'cap de fibló' (like a tornado) at the end of August 2020. A difference this time lay with its widespread impact; hence there were, for example, the scary videos of planes. It wasn't a gota friá (cold drop), but no sooner were we recovering from Betty and Rea than the met agency was advising that a cold drop - a phenomenon specific to the Mediterranean coast of Spain and the Balearics - was on its way this weekend. This was also apparently some freak weather, when it does of course occur every year and often on more than one occasion.

Les misérables at the airport

Betty and Rea weren't solely responsible for what was variously misery or a nightmare as a result of flight delays and cancellations. Around 120 flights in the Balearics were affected by the weather on Sunday, but then came a wholly non-weather-related phenomenon - the collapse on Monday of the UK's NATS. The air traffic services had been grabbed by the nuts and had collapsed in a heap. Cue, therefore, scenes of nightmarish queues in Palma and miserable holidaymakers camped out on towels on the airport floor. Normality was more or less restored by Tuesday in that the passenger refugees had all moved, but there were still issues with finding flights home for them.

Heat stroke and hotter summers

We did of course all rejoice - those of us who live here - that Sunday's great squall had ushered in a lowering of temperatures and a lowering of energy bills. Despite the fact that there hadn't been a heat wave at any time during August (there have only been the two, both in July), it had generally been hotter than usual for an August.

The Balearic health ministry let it be known that there had been 43 suspected cases of heat stroke since May. But of these, only three had been confirmed. Two were during the second heat wave in July and the third was in August - a farm worker, a kitchen worker and a person who had been pursuing a sporting activity. The three cases are lower than previous years. In 2017, for example, there were 15. In that year, eleven deaths were attributed to the heat. There have been none in 2023.

There was more about the impact of rising temperatures - this time on summer tourism in the Balearics. Projections by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) suggested that an average increase of four degrees will result in an 8.2% loss of tourist overnight stays. The study was based on overnight stays between June and September 2019 but it didn't identify how many tourists might be lost. A calculation of my own, using a current average stay of six nights per tourist, was 530,000.

Four degrees represented the most extreme scenario. The lowest rise of 1.5 degrees would equate to a loss of around 46,000 tourists, which really didn't sound that troubling. The Balearics are nevertheless forecast to experience the greatest loss of tourists among all Spain's regions because of ever hotter weather. A big winner elsewhere, according to the JRC, will be West Wales.

Timeshares null and void

For holidaymakers who have found themselves tied to decades-long hotel timeshares in Mallorca, there has been some good news from the Provincial Court in Palma. It has ruled that certain contracts are null and void, the judgements having been based on the fact that contracts of fifty years or more were contrary to an EU directive that Spain had enforced in 2000. Years after this enforcement, contracts of more than 50 years were still being signed. The holidaymakers are entitled to a refund of their deposits plus interest minus the value of stays that may have been taken.

Foreign buying, luxury and empty properties

These holidaymakers will by and large of course be foreign, and a different form of foreign ownership - homes - has again been highlighted. Spain's College of Registrars reported that 32% of sales in the Balearics in the second quarter of 2023 were to foreign buyers. The highest percentage in the country, this was pretty much in line with how it normally is with regard to foreign buying - the percentage in the Balearics doesn't vary greatly quarter by quarter and is usually the highest in Spain.

This level of buying was despite an overall 7.5% fall in the sale of homes between April and June. The average price of properties rose six per cent and was the second highest increase in the country after the Madrid region.

The Idealista website produced its latest list of the country's most expensive houses. In the top ten were two in Mallorca - one in Puerto Andratx for 25 million euros (the seventh most expensive in Spain) and the other in Cala Vinyes (24 million, number eight on the list).

Luxury properties, not perhaps at these sorts of price, are what agitators such as the radical youth group Arran have in mind when they engage in campaigns with stickers on windows of Palma estate agents and upmarket shops. "Your luxury, our misery"; "This used to be a home". These were two slogans that appeared this week. While one can sympathise because of the lack of affordable housing, the luxury end of the market isn't really the issue, even it can offend some, e.g. Arran.

In the context of Mallorca's housing shortage, we've learned just how many empty properties there are in the island's municipalities. In Costitx, a staggering 714 out of 1,306 are empty - 54.7%. Many of these are reckoned to be uninhabitable.

Why was a bakery selling alcohol?

Some small municipalities have been experiencing trouble at their fiestas. In Esporles and Llubi there have been fights and stabbings, while in Felanitx this week there was "chaos" because an estimated 5,000 people couldn't get in to a night party in the municipal park. Some of them therefore climbed over the gates and fences.

None of these incidents have had anything to do with tourists and none of these municipalities are subject to provisions of the tourism of excesses law. Calvia is one - part of Magalluf at any rate - and the new administration at the town hall has once more highlighted what it says is its tougher approach in enforcing the law. The director-general for activities, trade, offences and sanctions said that the police are doing "a great job", as he and the town hall were able to draw attention to sanctions meted out to a bakery in Magalluf - a fine of 60,000 euros and temporary closure for having been selling alcohol at five in the morning.

Also in Magalluf, three British men were released on charges accused of the rape of a British woman and the use of a date rape drug, while a Spanish man was arrested for having threatened guests at a hotel with a simulated gun - a Glock training pistol. Pretty dumb, he was clearly recognisable from security camera footage.