Morgan Williams, yawn, done all that, bang average, I will stick with California, the Maldives and Cambodia etc. in the winter and leave the boring lower middle class stuff to the likes of yourself. Sounds like you are easily pleased.
LoadsamoneyI suspected you don't often leave your protected little patch much. And you've just confirmed that. Surely you're unaware of it, but the other 3600 sq. km of uncharted wilderness outside of the southwest coast is actually the place that stays open and active all year round. And stays pretty busy too. It's a different experience than Son Vida or Palma, but one that's very popular with affluent Europeans - both tourists and residents (you know, the same ones that this new article currently in first position on this publication's webpage points out?). Try this - say, next February, go over to Arta - you may not know where that is, but it's a village over on the east side of the uncharted wilderness. Better yet, go on a Tuesday, when the market is on. Then, after seeing the streets crowded with tourists and local residents alike (mostly speaking funny not-Spanish-or-Mallorquin-or-English languages), stop in to one of the many boutique shops and watch the affluent German, Swiss and Swedish women pay 600€ for a custom tailoured dress, and pick up a few other expensive boutique handcrafted items like unique furnishings, artworks, lamps, sun loungers and so on. It's a sight to behold. Then maybe go over to Golf d'Or and have some lunch. The food is great and the views are spectacular. But you'll need a reservation, because it will be full of affluent golfers - both residents and visitors (again, speaking funny not-Spanish-or-Mallorquin-or-English languages). And if you're going to golf, better get a reservation for the greens, because that will be fully booked too (depending on the weather). You could also stop at other golf courses along the way - especially around Son Servera - but they'll also be quite busy and golf d'Or has a bit more special ambiance than most. You'll pass Porto Cristo, which has a pretty thriving restaurant area, and of course, you can go have a look at Rafael Nadal's gargantuan yacht, parked front-and-center in the harbour next to far less imposing yachts. But despite that, it's not a particularly posh town, so it probably wouldn't be good for your image to be seen there. Santanyi would be another good place to visit. There's some crackin' good restaurants there (and especially good ones in the tiny village of Cas Concos - just outside Santanyi, which is largely surrounded by posh fincas owned primarily by affluent Germans), and some decent live entertainment in the evenings - but you'll need a reservation for the better ones. And don't go on Wednesdays or Saturdays - those are market days - and the place will be pretty crowded. But you seem to like money, so you might enjoy watching the German tourists and local residents spend "loadsamoney" on all kinds of stuff. If you have any shopping to do, you'll pass lots of Lidl, Aldi, Mercadona, Eroski along the way. But if you fancy something a bit more special, try one of the many "Agromart" stores along the way. Don't let the name fool you - they have much more than just the best fresh fruits and veg. They also have top grade wines, liquors, meats, confiture, fresh pastries, hand made breads, and lots of other specialty items. And their stores are quite a bit more posh than the standard fare Lidl or Aldi, though quite a bit pricier than Lidl or Aldi, but they're very popular with the locals. Especially Germans. Then in the evening, on the way back, stop in at "Es 4 Vents" in Algaida. Really good food there - a bit pricey but well worth it. But again, you'll need reservations. It's extremely popular with people speaking funny not-Spanish-or-Mallorquin-or-English languages. Anyway, after your whirlwind tour of the uncharted wilderness in winter, come back and tell me how "tumbleweed" it was.
Morgan Williams, you are deluded, Outside of Palma from Oct to April is complete tumbleweed with most restaurants shut and just cheap local brightly lit television screened grim bars open. If you live in Mallorca you have to be by Palma, otherwise its one of the most boring places in Europe
LoadsamoneyIf you live in Son Vida, I can understand why you we would see it that way. But not all buyers are seeking to buy/live in a vanity urbanisation. You may not be aware of it, but it's no longer necessary to live near Palma. Today, the rest of the island has infrastucture, services, shopping, etc. But with a lot more space. And you still need at least 14000 m2 to build anything, so new dwellings are spacious, modern, and private, often with great views. And not crowded. And that might explain why these properties are selling at top prices. Even when they're not in Son Vida.
Morgan Williams is right about the protests from a few uneducated woke activists being overblown in the media, however what he is not right about is the ability of well to do tourists to abandon Mallorca because it is overcrowded and unpleasant. I lived in Mallorca for 10 years and still keep a place in Son Vida. I was an MD in charge of 300+ people at Morgan Stanley and UBS. I have many high net worth friends from Germany, Switzerland Frane etc. They have all switched from going to Mallorca to Corsica/Sardinia, Italy in general (Puglia) and Croatia. The main reason, overcrowding with mostly low rent tourists. This theme will continue whilst Mallorca chases the lowest common denominator tourist.. Just look at the MDB article the other day about a French Magazine's view of Mallorca, basically said its run down, overcrowded and full of plebs. Having driven through France recently from Mallorca to Toulon, I can see why they say this, France is simply much more beautiful and classy with better food and wine. We have reached peak Mallorca, nobody wants to spend an hour on the via centura and not getting a parking space in any of Palma's main car parks. Game over.
CompoOK, reasonable answer, so I'll address that. But first, again, if the impossible occurred, and all Brits vanished from Mallorca, it would hardly be impoverished, because there's a much larger segment of tourism ready to take their place. That's a simple undeniable fact. If you leave Calvia, the number of British tourists diminishes rapidly, yet there's still lots and lots of tourists. Go figure. But use real maths, not tabloid maths. Oh, and if you want to make British tourism look even bigger, quit comparing it to the French or the Germans (which actually account for a much larger tourist segment in Mallorca). Instead, compare British tourism number to say, Vanuatu or Somalia. Then British tourism dominates by many orders of magnitude. Huge. They don't stand a chance at winning this imaginary tournament that they're not even aware that they're competing in. Anyway, consistently, outside of the overcrowded tourist areas, there's no anti-tourist graffiti, no signs.. nothing. The restaurants and bars and supermarkets and boutique shops are full ... of tourists. They're just not British. I am pretty well embedded in Mallorquin life. My neighbours and friends are Mallorquin, and I socialize with them a lot. The Mallorquins are really sociable people. They meet a lot at the local bar, restaurant .. whatever. There's not much class distinction or envy. They don't like to show their own or be shown other's wealth. They keep that to themselves. So, the owner of a 5* boutique hotel freely socialises with the handworker down the street. They meet at the bar, drink together, talk together. Maybe the hotel owner contracts the handworker for some jobs. In any case, they're friends before anything else. So, here's what I think is happening: A small group of activists who struggle to afford the rent or buy a house or anything else... decide that their lot in life is due to tourism. And the go around winding up locals in various communities about how tourism is ruining everything. They organise protests (which actually turn more into social occasions than actual protests), which get a LOT of media attention. Perhaps more than they ever expected. But the factual truth is that the reason that the cost of living and the available of affordable housing has little to do with tourism. It has to do with the fact that foreign buyers who have the fiscal means are buying up properties at prices Mallorca has never seen before. You could wipe out tourism completely and that wouldn't change. It would likely only make Mallorca even more attractive - and prices would only go up again. So, when Miguel, the luxury hotel owner, and Maria, the boutique dress shop owner, and Raphael, who owns that successful restaurant over on the roundabout, and Juan, who owns the laundry service that serves the hotels and fincas, meets up at the bar with their friendly locals who have been convinced by these activists that tourism is destroying the place, they sort of set them straight about that. "Yeah, but these tourists are buying like crazy. Our business has never been better. And all the great work you did that I paid you so well for, was actually paid for by tourists". "And you know Ignacio, right? He sold that old finca that his grandparents left him 2.5 million euros. It wasn't a tourist. It was a Swiss guy". "Hmm.." the local handworker thinks... Maybe it's not quite as bad as I thought (or was led to believe). So, I sense that some unhappy, rather misguided, over-exaggerated activist group(s) were initially pretty successful at winding people up, but I suspect as reality sets in, that's going to cool off quite a bit. The government will need to do something that appears like it's doing something, but it's a stretch to believe that tourism is going away anytime soon. So, I wouldn't get your kickers in a twist quite yet. Having said that, there are examples where tourism is having bad side effects. Soller is one good example. I need not explain, but the problem is clearly seasonal and regional. There is no blunt instrument solution that will solve Soller's problem without ruining Santanyi (and they ALL VOTE). So it needs to be considered carefully, and believe me, politicians watch their own popularity very closely. But by far, British media is the most hyperbolic and misrepresentative of what this is about. British tabloids print (scream, actually) dire warnings every day. So, it's Brits that are the most freaked out. Everybody else is rather agnostic about it, and nobody's stopping them from coming to Mallorca - and nobody will. And they account for 80%+ of the market.
Morgan WilliamsTotally agree that the demos are not targeting the Brits and in truth here is precious little reference to that sentiment in the UK media. However they are reporting what is happening and it is hardly surprising that people (of all nationalities) are drawing the conclusion that tourists are not welcome in Spain. Your assertion that Brits only make up 20% of the total visitors to Spain is true but that is also the highest % of any nationality and in the last year spent €2.2 BILLION. Big shout dismiss the impact of the demos on your biggest customer with a spend of €2.2B! IMHO these demos will hugely impact tourism in Spain if they continue to accelerate in number, intensity and in a way that make tourists feel more and more uncomfortable. It’s up to the Spanish people to decide if that is what they want, not us
Morgan WilliamsWhat are you talking about? Are you making up your own narrative here? - you earlier stated….” outside of Palma and a few resorts, there's no evidence of any "anti-tourist" sentiment. In fact, the rest of the island is brimming with tourists, and nobody's complaining” - did you fail to notice that these protests originated in Sencelles and in Soller!!
CompoYes, I know. It's pretty well covered in the media. You even find it in German media, although it's less prominent and quite a bit less hyperbolic there. Yet outside of Palma and a few resorts, there's no evidence of any "anti-tourist" sentiment. In fact, the rest of the island is brimming with tourists, and nobody's complaining. The difference is that in British media (especially the tabloids), it's implicitly "anti-British" rather than "anti-tourist", and that's likely because using tabloid maths, British tourism apparently accounts for the overwhelming majority of tourism here (statistically about 20% in Spain overall, a little less in the Balearics), so it's logical to assume that the vast majority of tourists are British, and therefore, it's obviously "anti-British" sentiment... ...which of course leads to comments like those below. "If you don't like us Brits, we'll go elsewhere, and then you'll be bankrupt". That of course dismisses the other 80% of tourism, which quietly dominates the tourist business here, spends lots more money, and dominates the more upscale non-resort accommodations - you know, where there's little evidence of any "anti-tourist" sentiment.
The prosecution rests, your honour. Although we ask for dismissal on the grounds that it is professionally and legally unethical to continue to allow the defendant to incriminate himself in this manner. Judge: I have been anticipating your request for that motion. Case dismissed.