Posts Tagged ‘tourists’

Majorca To Market Golf Holidays

Friday, September 4th, 2009
Palma Majorca
Palma Majorca

Spain is well known for her first class championship golf courses, and the Balearic Islands of Majorca and Menorca offers 14 golf courses for golfers. They are very well designed courses that can be as enticing to novice golfers as they are challenging to veterans.

 

Thirteen of the courses are located on Majorca, and plans are in place to let holiday golfers know what they are missing if they overlook golf on the island, with the tourist board launching a marketing campaign soon.

 

With fabulous beaches, cultural offerings and sporting opportunities, Majorca is an ideal holidays destination. The island is nearly 80 kilometres long with over 500 kilometres of coastline. Much of that coastline features beaches ranging from blue flag pristine white sand stretches to tiny out of the way coves and inlets, attracting swimmers, wind surfers, scuba divers, fishermen, sailors and surfers.

 

Palma de Majorca, the capital, is the centre of Majorcan culture. The cathedral is a gothic structure overlooking the bay. It is noted for its enormous rose window and wrought iron works by Catalan master Antonio Gaudi. At night, the cathedral radiates green lighting that can be seen for miles around and is quite a landmark.

 

Throughout the year, Palma offers festivals, concerts, literary events and exhibitions that attract artists and tourists from around the world. Tourists can find works by Picasso, Gauguin and Kiefer in museums like L’Almudaina and Es Baluard.

 

Inland, the Sierra de Tramuntana mountain range reaches heights of 14,000 feet. Tourists on their Majorca holidays will delight in discovering numerous small towns within the peaks and valleys of the mountains. Eventually, the mountains sweep down to the sea in dramatic fashion.  Equally delightful, holidaymakers will also find a wide variety of Balearic cuisine, much of which is Mediterranean inspired.

 

Menorca is much smaller than its sister to the south, and has remained much more rural than Majorca. Despite its much smaller size, Menorca has almost as many inviting beaches along its coastline as Majorca and Ibiza combined. The white sand beaches and crystal clear waters are hard to resist. Swimming, diving, fishing, scuba diving, sailing and surfing are as popular on Menorca as they are on Majorca. Sailing, in particular, draws many enthusiasts because of the stunning harbours and inlets that dot the coastline.

 

Golf is also extremely popular on the island, but Menorca has just one course at the present time, Son Parc.

 

As in the rest of the Balearic islands, Mediterranean cuisine abounds. Known for its sumptuous seafood varieties, a staple of Menorcan cuisine is caldereta de llgosta, a delicious lobster stew that all visitors are encouraged to try at least once before they leave the island. But if lobster is not your choice, there are sardines, mullet, squid, prawns, grouper, tuna and sole to choose from as well. Menorca produces a variety of olives, cheeses and abundant fresh vegetables.

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British Tourists Down, Germans Up For Majorca

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

Tourist board officials and business owners in Spain are waiting anxiously to see how popular destinations like Majorca will fare in the year ahead as Europe enters recession. Majorca tourism experts predict a mix of good news and bad for the island.

The island of Majorca has been a favourite with foreign tourists since the 1950s. It was at this time that merchants began working with the government in an effort to boost the economy. They began an aggressive marketing campaign of the island to Europeans, to Germans in particular.

Majorca tourism packages became popular within just a few years. The island now graces the top of the popularity list for holidays. Businesses on the island have relied heavily on this fact for over 50 years for their economic prosperity.

It’s little wonder that Majorca businesses panicked when the world economy began to crash earlier this year. The island’s population, after all, barely grazes 800,000. Yet it maintains the highest Gross Domestic Product in Spain. Its GDP is, in fact, over 50 percent higher than Spain’s average. More than two thirds of Majorca’s working population is employed in the tourism sector. Majorca businesses and workers stand to suffer significantly if the economic crunch reaches the island’s graceful shores.

It remains difficult to accurately predict just how the economic crunch will affect Majorca tourism. However, tourism watchers have been somewhat pleasantly surprised to date. The numbers of British and French visitors to Majorca have dropped. Despite this, the number of German tourists has actually risen compared to previous years. ‘Thank God for the Germans!’ says tourism board president Alvaro Middelmann.

The increase in German visitors has somewhat made up for the loss in tourists from other European areas. However, the Germans are also notorious spendthrifts. The money they are spending (or not spending, depending on how one looks at it) isn’t making up for the economic losses.

Hotel and resort owners on Majorca remain sceptical. Financial losses haven’t been as significant as predicted as of yet. The outlook though is at its lowest in recent history for many of these owners.

Businesses and the Majorca holiday resorts are caught in a conundrum. They are finding it difficult to cover costs as the world market suffers. The rising cost of fuel earlier in 2008 was also eating into profits as the cost of a flight to Majorca went up.

However, many have been reluctant to raise prices to cover the losses. Rising prices are just one more discouragement to tourists. Few despise rising prices more than the Germans, who are currently the staple of Majorca tourism.

Majorca tourism officials and business owners on the island wait to see how 2008 plays out. They continue to make efforts to market the island even as they fear what lies ahead in 2009.

Majorca’s natural appeal hasn’t changed even though the economy falters. Holidaymakers continue to return home to speak highly of the island. The sun keeps shining and the water sparkling, beckoning those looking for some relaxation. Perhaps Majorca tourism and businesses will bank on this fact as the tourist season kicks off in a few months time, and those holidaymakers who have been to Majorca before remember the good times they had and pull out a map of Majorca to decide which town to visit in 2009.

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