While Mallorca's restaurants and nightlife lamented a summer season of lower turnover, which was attributed to less tourist spending, the island's shops reckoned that the summer wasn't too bad. A study presented in early December reported 50% of retailers having had a good or very good season. A slightly higher percentage, 55%, believed that the impact of tourism had been positive or very positive.
So, not all retailers viewed the season positively, but the study by the Balearic Retail Confederation was nevertheless out of step with what other sectors had been saying. It also offered some detail, whereas the restaurants referred on several occasions to a 20% fall in turnover without ever backing this up with further figures. Did all restaurants suffer lower business? That was very doubtful.
More recently, the retailers have pointed to a decent Christmas as well. Tourism was clearly less of a factor for the Christmas campaign as it will now be for the January sales, which start today (January 7).
The Afedeco and Pimeco associations for smaller retailers both anticipate a reasonable sales season. The Afedeco president, Joana Manresa, points out that last year's January sales weren't good. Some shops were forced to bring them forward because Christmas trade was slow.
Curiously, the associations note a different immediate post-pandemic effect to that which led to a boom for the restaurants. For the restaurants, there was high spending for a couple of years that apparently tailed off in 2024. For the retailers, it has been the reverse. Manresa says that the Christmas campaign was the best since before the pandemic. She and her counterpart at Pimeco, Carolina Domingo, anticipate that the spending will continue. An average of 90 euros per person is forecast to be spent on the sales.
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