Restaurateurs in Majorca are reporting a drop in customer numbers this season, with the downturn particularly noticeable in holiday resorts.
The island’s CAEB restaurant association President Alfonso Robledo said the dip started last summer but it has become more noticeable this month, the Majorcan Daily Bulletin reports.
Alfonso said: “Before there was no difference between Mondays and Saturdays. We were always full because people who are on holiday don’t take into account whether it is a working day or a public holiday.
“This year, however, customers are leaving their dinners or lunches for the weekends. We don’t understand what is happening because there are more and more tourists.”
He added that holidaymakers who do frequent bars and restaurants have reduced their spending, saying: “Now they are much more restrained and more careful about what they consume.”
He said: “Until now, June had always been a good month, giving a taste of what the tourist season could bring. However, this year we are having, in particular, study trips, which has always been the case, and stag and hen parties. These people do not spend and we are missing the tourists with a medium-high purchasing power who used to visit the island before the massive arrival of travellers in July and August.”
Pedro Fiol, President of travel agency association Aviba, told the publication there has been a decrease in tourism spending in resorts, as the total cost of the holiday has risen, with more people booking half-board, full-board or all-inclusive.
However, some people say restaurants need to decrease their prices in order to attract more customers. One person who commented on the article said: “I am a frequent visitor to the island as my daughter lives there, recently I have noticed a massive increase in prices in restaurants and coffee shops and a decline in quality. I love eating out but am not prepared to spend a lot of money on mediocre food, I think this may be the problem, especially if one is eating in resorts or in Palma’s main tourist area.”
Another commented to say: “Most mallorcan restaurants are extremely expensive for what is offered.”
However, another said: “It’s not that it’s expensive; it’s just that British tourists have so much less money now.”
The Majorcan Daily Bulletin also reports that hotel prices across Spain rose by 8.1% in May, with Majorca hotel prices up 7%, according to figures published by National Statistics Institute (INE). Majorca recorded the highest number of overnight stays, with more than 6.3 million, with the UK and Germany accounting for more than 45% of the total number of overnight stays in May.