News reports 2018.

[1999]

MDB reporting today a 300,000 euro fine for Airbnb in relation to breaching advertising of unlicensed tourist properties.
Interesting to see if the Balearic Gov can make it stick !!!

 

[clinkham]

Holidaymakers return to Turkey and Tunisia

Item in todays Times, reporting that

"The number of British tourists planning holidays in Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia is set to double this year amid concerns over a sharp price rise at Spanish hotels." and
"while Thomas Cook is planning to accommodate an extra million passengers in the eastern Mediterranean who would have previously been expected to holiday in Spain"

Full article in News section of The Times 17th March,by Graeme Paton

 

[P&C@29]

time to move on?

We have come to PP for almost 40 years, but the new attitude to visitors has made us think, is it all worth it. We have stayed in some great private apartments which is no longer allowed, the tourism tax going up and restaurants increasing prices. As an older couple who are not keen on hotels (we prefer S/C )and the Flora type of apartment just don't cut the mustard. Therefore we feel it's time to look further a field to somewhere the authorities want the tourists and dare I say welcome them.

 

[pollensafan]

We have come to PP for almost 40 years, but the new attitude to visitors has made us think, is it all worth it. We have stayed in some great private apartments which is no longer allowed, the tourism tax going up and restaurants increasing prices. As an older couple who are not keen on hotels (we prefer S/C )and the Flora type of apartment just don't cut the mustard. Therefore we feel it's time to look further a field to somewhere the authorities want the tourists and dare I say welcome them.

I fear you will not be alone. For years the attitude has been, " They will come, come what may".
I also firmly believe that the large Hotel groups who I believe are behind this, also think they will get all that custom from the private rentals.

They will be in for a shock.
Once again the people that spend their hard earned money can see the folly of this, but the fools in power that think it's a good idea can't.

Time will tell who is right and I don't think we will have to wait that long either.

Believe me, there is no one that can possibly have a deeper love of PP than me, for many and varied reasons, but if it's a choice of hotels and complexes or nothing then I'm afraid it will be nothing.

It is a sad Pollensafan this morning

 

[Rosie34]

Agree - we would never stay in hotels in PP - we prefer our indepence and love our October breaks in the port in lovely apartments right in the midst of all the restaurants etc. For summer we rent a villa in the countryside as we like the long evenings in the peace and quiet. But this year, although we will still have our summer in Pollensa countryside, but we are going to Mauritius in October. Sounds exotic but will still miss October in the port, walking along the front for morning coffee or lunch at Capri or ice cream in Valls etc

 

[Rupert the Hun]

Large price increase in Cala San Vicente

Over the last few years I have noticed a dramatic increase in villas in Cala San Vicente, this coupled with the ever increasing tourist tax.
Last year we went to Moraira, south of Valencia. Nice villas at a reasonable price and no tourist tax.
Yet we are back in CSV in July. Ho hum.

 

[scotslizzy]

Its so sad

I have booked for September but it was a close run thing. PP has always been expensive in comparison to other places we visit and as a result we are only coming for a week when we did intend to come for 2 but the economics of this ( we do enjoy the range of eating out places ) did not work out.

Not every other place we visit has the same feel as PP but equally lots of lovely places to see out there.

Scotslizzy

 

[mike_dublin]

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/news/local/2018/03/28/51365/tramuntana-reservoirs-are-full-up.html

Thanks to the recent rain, the Cuber reservoir in the Tramuntana has excess capacity and the Gorg Blau reservoir is at 98.6% capacity. Palma's water requirements, 85,000 cubic metres per day, are therefore currently being met by water from the reservoirs and natural supply sources.

The Emaya municipal services agency will for now delay buying in desalinated water.
...
The rain of the past days has meant a dramatic increase in reservoir capacity. On Thursday last week Emaya reported that capacity was at 70.6%. At the end of December the capacity had been 40%. Over a couple of days, therefore, the water level rose by as much as it had done over a three-month period.

Posted via Mobile Device

 

[mike_dublin]

Caution advised - half the annual rainfall ...

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/ne...1543/caution-advised-reservoirs-overflow.html

The latest rains have filled the Cuber and Gorg Blau reservoirs to overflowing for the second time this year. With more heavy rain having been expected yesterday (correctly so), the government's emergencies department and the 112 emergency service placed a weekend ban on anyone going along the Sa Fosca, Paréis and Almadrà torrent streams. Hikers are being advised to exercise maximum caution.
...
The Aemet met agency has reported that not including rain which fell on Saturday, the accumulated rainfall thus far this year is around half the annual rainfall in Majorca. Since 1 January, there have been an average 259 litres per square metre; the annual norm is 529 litres.

 

[mike_dublin]

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/ne...1635/palma-ban-apartment-holiday-rentals.html

Palma town hall's zoning for holiday rentals will exclude apartments anywhere in the city. José Hila, the deputy mayor for urban planning, says that this prohibition is in order to preserve the right of access to accommodation for residents and workers and is being adopted because of pressures caused by tourist use.

...

By contrast with apartments, holiday rentals will be permitted in stand-alone properties (and presumably semi-detached ones as well) anywhere in the city except on rustic land, around the airport and on industrial estates.

Habtur, formerly Aptur, the holiday rentals association, issued a statement yesterday expressing its profound disagreement with the decision.
...

It adds that since legislation was introduced last summer, the "non-regulated" supply of holiday rentals has decreased by a third but that the cost of renting has gone up by ten per cent.
...

 

[jp]

https://www.cronicabalear.es/2018/06/tres-llauts-se-hunden-tras-arder-en-port-de-pollenca/

A raging fire has destroyed three boats that were docked in the Port of Pollença this morning. The flames have started shortly before 2:30 am in the area of ​​the New Dock without knowing, at least for the time being, the The local police, the Civil Guard, an ambulance and the Bomberos de Mallorca (from the Alcudia parks and one from Inca support) have moved to the site.

The work to control and extinguish the fire have been extended for three hours, until 5:30 in the morning. Three boats have been completely destroyed and, in fact, they have sunk.

 

[Sparky]

They think the fire was started by lightning.

This reported in the MDB here :- https://majorcadailybulletin.com/news/local/2018/06/10/52181/boats-puerto-pollensa-wrecked-fire.html

 

[mike_dublin]

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/ne...holiday-rentals-the-most-expensive-spain.html

According to the German rentals website Holidu, holiday rentals in the Balearics are the most expensive in Spain. The average price per night in the high season is 264 euros and 202 euros in the low season. ...

The website says that an excellent supply of holiday rentals in the Balearics and the holiday rentals legislation, because of restrictions introduced, have led to the Balearics becoming the most expensive region.

Pollensa has the highest prices of all municipalities, not just in the Balearics but in the whole of Spain. There is an average price of 373 euros ...

 

[mike_dublin]

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/comment/opinion/2018/07/15/52551/missing-tourists-2.html

...
There is now a very small but vocal element which appears opposed to tourism at a time when the industry is not exactly blooming. This vocal element must remember that without tourism this island would suffer very badly economically. There are social issues which need to be addressed on the island, but they have nothing to do with visiting tourists. Welcome them please, don’t scare them away.

No one is saying it publicly but in some cases hotels are only 60 per cent full. One hotelier told me this week that he couldn’t understand why the airport figures were so high but his occupancy level was so low. It is a nightmare situation at the moment ...

... but those who wanted less tourism have got their way. Be careful what you wish for.

 

[pollensafan]

Quote, " Without tourism the island would suffer very badly economically "

If they were giving awards for the understatement of the year, then that would be a gold medal winner with honours.

Considering the whole island is built on it I'd say that was putting it mildly. A budding Sherlock Holmes the writer isn't.

As for " Be careful what you wish for " Get your own sayings, I wrote that weeks ago.

 

[mike_dublin]

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/news/local/2018/07/31/52709/cabbies-bring-palma-halt.html

Yesterday's taxi strike in Palma, Calvia and Llucmajor left tens of thousands of people stranded, especially at Palma airport where arriving tourists had no idea that only 10 per cent of taxi drivers would be working from 9am to 2pm.

According to taxi associations, the strike was a total success (a 90% take-up, they said) and further industrial action is not being ruled out.

At the airport, tourists were told that the strike would end at 2pm. Long queues formed and waited for the taxi rank to open again.
...
The Palma EMT airport bus service had a busy morning as did the TIB buses serving certain resort areas.

Palma taxi drivers also blocked city roads with a go-slow convoy as part of the protest to pressurise the national government into curbing licences for services such as Uber. ...

 

[mike_dublin]

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/ne...rs-call-off-national-strike-against-uber.html

Spanish taxi drivers have called off their days-long strike against services like Uber after Madrid agreed to let regional governments regulate the sector. ...

The taxi strike committee said in a statement that it had called off the work stoppage across Spain after the government said it would allow the country’s regional governments to regulate VTC licences. But it warned that taxi drivers would "remain vigilant" and "return to the streets" if this move does not lead to tighter controls.

Shops and restaurants in Madrid, Barcelona and Palma complained earlier Wednesday of a 15 to 30 per cent drop in sales due to the taxi strike.
...

 

[mike_dublin]

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/ne...ject-for-extending-pollentia-excavations.html

Alcudia town hall wants to extend the protected area of the Pollentia Roman town by including the Tanca de Can Domenech finca, which is on the other side of the road that passes by the cemetery and the excavations....

The finca is valued at 1,215,420 euros; it is owned by a local hotelier. The town hall intends applying for funding from tourist tax revenue to acquire it. ...

The whole of Pollentia is estimated to have been some twenty hectares in size and to have connected the major port on the bay of Alcudia with the minor port on the bay of Pollensa. ...

... see full story on the MDB website

 

[mike_dublin]

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/news/local/2018/08/04/52745/august-hotel-prices-being-cut.html

Another analysis of hotel prices by Minorca-based company Mabrian Technologies points to an average decrease in August prices of 4.6% in the Balearics, the Canaries, the Costa Brava and the Costa Blanca. The company concludes that these reductions have been necessary in order to "reactivate demand in August" and are a response to what was an "unstable July" and a general decrease in the length of overnight stays in Spain during the first half of the year.

...

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/ne...769/hotel-occupancy-falling-ten-per-cent.html

Hoteliers in the principal resort areas of Majorca are suggesting that average occupancy in August could be down by ten per cent over last year, with July having already pointed to such a trend.

Offers being made would have been unthinkable even as recently as May. In some instances there is 25% off, but even with this reduction the hotels are not being filled. ...

...

Meanwhile, airport traffic has been increasing. The airports authority Aena puts this down to tourists staying for shorter periods, a point that was made a few weeks ago by Alvaro Middelmann,...
Shorter stays mean more people but less hotel occupancy was his point.

... see full articles on the MDB website

 

[mike_dublin]

https://majorcadailybulletin.com/news/local/2018/08/05/52763/goats-invading-cala-san-vicente.html

Xisco Mas, president of the local residents association, is leading complaints about the number of wild goats roaming freely in Cala San Vicente. He says that the goats pose a threat to people and the general environment, including damage to dry-stone walls. The problem, he adds, is not new but has been increasing in recent years. He blames the environment ministry for its inactivity in tackling the problem.

Goats have been an issue elsewhere in Pollensa, especially in Puerto Pollensa. The closure of a finca and an authorised cull has made them less of an issue in the Boquer area.

...