Julio Nieto is Record Go's area manager for the Balearics and the president of the Baleval car-hire firm association in the Balearics. Car hire and land transport in general are issues being addressed by the regional government's sustainability pact. Proposals from the various working parties - land transport is one of these - are expected towards the end of February. Baleval and the other association, AEVAB, have both been represented in the discussions.
Hire cars have been blamed for traffic congestion in Mallorca. Nieto rejects this: "We know what the roads are like right now on the islands, especially in Mallorca. Traffic jams early in the morning, at midday and in the afternoon when leaving work; traffic jams entering Palma and on the ring road. Can you see any hire cars? There are very few. If there are traffic jams right at the moment, these are not because of the car-hire firms. They are because we have roads that are not adequate. We are not the problem, but we can be part of the solution.
"We offer to cooperate with everything. It's up to the island councils, the large town halls like Palma and the government's mobility ministry to make improvements. These can't just be piecemeal, and sectors such as car hire should not be demonised. Baleval represents 85% of the hire-car fleet. Each company creates an average of 54 jobs. Our fleet is the youngest and the one that emits the least CO2.
"We have to give tourists a mobility solution. Car hire is a consequence of generated demand; it doesn't in itself generate demand. We had another new record number of tourists in 2024, but no-one chooses a holiday destination based on the level of car-hire service. Solutions must be global. We attract more than 18 million tourists. What do we want to do with these visitors? Have them not go anywhere? Residents should view us as a sector that generates wealth and value for the economy."
Looking ahead to the 2025 season, Nieto says the indications are optimistic. "At present, we are practically at the same figures as before the pandemic." But he accepts there is an issue with tourist spending and that price promotions had to be offered last year. The islands are more expensive than some competitor destinations, and Nieto recognises that "losing tourists is easy, but getting them back is more difficult". However, he points to factors that affected spending last year. "We attributed this to the Olympics and the Euros, which always influence our main markets - the UK and Germany. This year we will see more precisely how tourists behave."
11 comments
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Darwin DI doubt 100000 hire cars are on the roads at the same time.
TawnyTry asking some Soller residents about the traffic issues!
Better public transport come to mind, it takes nearly 2 hours for me to get to work if I would take the bus. This is shocking 😲
Daily 100 000 extra cars on roads everyday in peak season.... Great.
I have no statistics for you, but I get the feeling there is far too much car ownership on the island. I've seen residents (including Brits) get into their cars and drive 50 yards to a supermarket/bar or whatever. I gave up driving on the island a while ago due to so much traffic and drink/drug driving. I'd rather walk or get the bus.
Yep, we have traffic jams during the winter, but in the summer with the rental cars they become huge and worst !
I can honestly say i have never experienced a traffic jam or parking problems when i have been to Soller! Maybe i'm just super lucky and I have been all times of the year.
Such annoying ignorant comments. Car rentals obviously do not help (duh) but indeed are not the main issue. Traffic bugs me a lot in February when rental cars are but a drop. It’s poor infrastructure planning and traffic flow management. Tons of locals now clog the secondary roads because they avoid de Via Cintura, which makes matters worse. The hypocritical blaming of tourists who feed so many on the island should stop. There are more cars per family here than virtually anywhere else, ever thought of that?!
I guarantee you I could drive into Sóller right now and find a parking space in 2 minutes. In 6 months, new ZBE notwithstanding, it might take me half an hour or mean a 20 minute walk. Based on observation from previous years, at least a third of cars on the bypass, car parks and blue roadside bays have hire stickers in peak season. Here's an idea. If they are so convinced they are not the problem, have all registered hire cars fitted with a time clock and make the companies pay the council €5 an hour for every hour they are being driven between 07:00-09:00 and 16:00-18:00. I thought not!
Those 100,000 hire cars in the summer months don't add any extra traffic to Mallorca's roads - none at all!