Your seven days news round-up in Mallorca

A new year and, as coincidence has it in Mallorca, New Year's Eve is time to celebrate what is said to be Europe's oldest national festivity - Palma's Festival of the Standard. The traditions of the festival as once was have long been abandoned, while there is nowadays one that never used to form part of the ceremony - the mayor's speech. Jaime Martínez therefore duly addressed those gathered by the town hall, stressing - among other things - the commitment to quality tourism, social support and cleanliness. "I will not rest until Palma returns to being the city it was in other times: a clean city." There are those who will argue that he won't be resting any time soon.

The buses will still be free

Mobility was an issue touched on by the mayor, and mobility - free to residents - has been high on the town hall's agenda. It had looked as if the town hall would reject an extension of the free travel scheme in 2025, regardless of when (or if) the Spanish Government came to a decision to approve schemes for 2025. This approval was finally given just before Christmas. Would the town hall still opt out? In the end it decided not to, and so EMT buses will continue to be free.

An impression had been given that the town hall could arrive at its decision independent of that of the Balearic Government, which had agreed to the extension. However, it became evident that the town hall had to back down because of the regional government's acceptance. Neither the town hall nor the government are happy with the level of funding from Madrid to subsidise the travel scheme.

They are also dissatisfied because of the time it takes for the funding to materialise. The minister for mobility, José Luis Mateo, reckoned that the Balearic Government had to assume 80% of the cost in 2024. His percentage was a touch on the high side, but he had a point in that only 14.6 million euros had been forwarded out of a total cost for the whole of the Balearics of 54.3 million euros. The whole funding should eventually be forthcoming, but concerns about the scheme are clear. As the Spanish Government had initially only intended to maintain it until June, there must be some doubts as to whether it will continue under its current terms in 2026.

With Palma's buses, there was also some pressure on the town hall from neighbouring Llucmajor. Controlled, like Palma, by the Partido Popular, Llucmajor had voiced its support for maintaining the scheme; the two municipalities share the EMT bus service in Arenal. Perhaps Palma should ask Llucmajor for a contribution to cover any shortfall in funding.

The price of housing

Housing was naturally also on Mayor Martínez's speech checklist. Attacking the previous administration's "inaction", he referred to the building of 1,200 social housing units and town hall support for government initiatives "to speed up the possibility of providing housing". Where these initiatives are concerned, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, and the pudding is as yet uncooked, while there are reminders of the various strains on the housing market on a more or less daily basis.

The latest has come from the valuation company Tinsa. A report indicated that there was only one region of Spain were house prices are now higher than they were before the financial crisis of 2008 - the Balearics. The year 2007 is often taken as a sort of benchmark for house prices because of the property bubble that preceded the crisis. In the case of the Balearics, prices are not only higher, they are higher by 16.9%. The closest region to the Balearics is Madrid, where prices are 2.5% lower than they were immediately prior to the crisis.

Tinsa also showed that the average household in the Balearics has to allocate a way higher percentage of disposable income to paying the mortgage than elsewhere in Spain - 67%. At a provincial level (and the Balearics are treated as a province for this purpose), the closest to the Balearics is Cadiz with 43%, then Madrid on 40%.

Foreign buying remains steady

The real-estate sector has accepted that foreign buying does have an influence in pushing up prices, and there has been further confirmation of the scale of foreign buying in the Balearics. This has come from the pisos.com website. In the third quarter of 2024, foreign buyers represented 32.5% of all purchases. The nearest region to the Balearics was Valencia with 28.4%; Valencia includes the Alicante province, which has an especially high percentage of foreign buying.

Recent reports point to the fact that house purchases in general have been falling, but the foreign percentage has remained steady. A reason for this is that fewer island residents can afford the prices being demanded.

More coaches than ever

Back on the roads, and the Balearic Transport Federation reports a 15% increase in the total fleet of coaches on the islands over the past five years. While the fleet has been increasing, the average size of the vehicles has been shrinking. This is attributed to changing tourist habits and demand. There has been a progressive fall in demand for package holidays, while independent travellers are said to want to see as many things as possible in a short time. They are smaller groups, and so large coaches are less efficient. It might be concluded, therefore, that the increase in the fleet has been a contributory factor to the 'saturation' of Mallorca's roads.

For the drivers of cars in Mallorca, there is some good news concerning ITV (MOT) tests. The inspection service is due to increase from 480,000 to 650,000 inspections per year. A new company now has the Council of Mallorca contract for the ITV stations. As well as the new station on the Son Bugadelles industrial estate in Santa Ponsa, which will have 30 employees, 25 additional personnel will be available for the other stations.

An "inappropriate" tourism brand

As noted, Jaime Martínez had some words to say about tourism, emphasising the importance of having "quality tourism, respectful of customs and committed to the environment". He also referred to culture and it being the heritage of everyone. An example of island heritage has influenced the new tourism brand image that has been created for Mallorca. There is an M inspired by the ikat dyeing technique that gives the 'teles de llengües' look (the use of this technique goes back to the 19th century).

The new brand was commissioned by the Council of Mallorca. When it was unveiled on December 17, none of the government's main tourism officials attended, citing other engagements. It turns out, though, that the government was unhappy about this branding exercise. The director of the AETIB tourism strategy agency, Pere Joan Planas, says that the Council didn't explain its strategy to or coordinate it with the government. He argues that the new brand is "inappropriate" at a time when the government is working on the tourism sustainability pact. "And when we are just two months away from deciding what kind of tourism we want and what measures we will apply."

On the beach

Beach bars, as we know, are very much part of the island's tourism life. The concessions for these bars are ultimately the responsibility of the state Costas Authority or regional governments to which powers have been transferred, as is the case in the Balearics. Irrespective of the authority, the procedures for approval of concessions are the same, and the European Commission says that these procedures do not meet EU standards in respect of competition and transparency. The Spanish Government has been told to address this or risk sanctions and being taken to the European Court.

It's highly unlikely that this will have any impact. A way will be found. Which will be as well for the potential bidders for Alcudia's new beach bars, for which there is a whopping ten-year operating period concession (from the town hall) of 4.48 million euros per bar. This is the tender valuation. It remains to be seen if bidders will accept it.

Also on the beaches, a somewhat ominous headline suggested that beaches will be spied on. This isn't the case. The government's IB Digital agency is to install sensors at beaches in order to manage beach capacities. This system will be used for other purposes, but where beaches are concerned, it is all part of a process to manage movements of tourists more efficiently and hopefully limit saturation not just of beaches but also of roads.