A Place In The Sun reports that there’s been a surge in bookings for Majorca villa holidays, particularly from people in the UK.
Much in demand is Pollensa, which many people will know who have been to Majorca before is a good area for family holidays.
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Just a few days into August, but early signs are that it’s going to be a good month for the hotels in Majorca – with occupancy at 90 per cent.
Majorca
Before the advent of the internet and access to all, the standard practice for many families was to place a deposit on a holiday in January and pay some off each month, so by the time the summer holidays came along everything was paid for.
It made financial sense as holidays were factored into household expenditure, and a trip to Majorca or elsewhere could be looked forward to during the cold dark winter months.
It was good as well for the travel industry as they could see months before the peak season booking trends and volumes compared to previous years, with reps deployed to the favourite destinations, with some research time between being employed for the summer months and arrival.
For travel agents it made for good business financially. The start of the year was a boom time, and ensured cashflow for the next six to seven months as families faithfully paid the next installment of their annual holiday each month. It worked it seems for everyone.
But prices were higher than today in real terms, and a family holiday abroad in recent years as a percentage of annual household income had fallen over the last twenty years. Often the savings were put into more holidays, and the once a year fortnight often turned into two, three and sometimes four trips a year.
But another travel trend has become stronger recently, enabled by consumers access to travel sites once the preserve of a travel agent, and since the banking crises in the autumn of 2008 and the continued recession value for money has become more important to many – and often the best value for money is booking last minute.
Last minute bookings have been around for some time now, and spawned the name of one of the most famous travel sites which allowed for example flights and Majorca hotels to be booked at discounted rates if people were able to travel with a few days of booking.
Today it isn’t just those with time on their side who are booking last minute – increasingly the population as a whole are booking as late as possible, even if they have fixed annual leave time, to ensure they can still have their Majorca holidays – but at a price they can hopefully afford. And with fewer people taking trips abroad this year than anticipated there is usually a good amount of availability, so the risk factor of booking last minute and finding there isn’t anything suitable is greatly diminished.
For those who like Turkey last minute bookings are specially favourable, as bookings have dropped considerably compared to recent years, with much of the blame for the decline put on political unrest in neighbouring countries and in the region as a whole earlier this year.
But what about perenially popular Majorca? Can couples and families leave their booking to the last minute to secure a great deal – and find decent hotels in good areas with Majorca flights included as well?
Taking the tour operator Thomson Holidays as an example, for their late deals they have an aparthotel in Magaluf available, for two adults and two children to include flights at a total cost of under a thousand pounds for a seven night trip in early September.
Magaluf isn’t for everyone, and probably not best suited for familes, and more suitable could be Santa Ponsa which has a good reputation for being family friendly. It’s more expensive at one thousand three hundred pounds, again for a family of four with flights from Gatwick, but it still represents a good value last minute break.
There’s plenty of other tour operators apart from Thomson Holidays who include Majorca, so with a little research it shows that even on popular islands like Majorca a last minute holiday is possible, with different locations available.?
Check our profile and
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There’s a lot of thoughts on which of the island’s numerous beaches is the best one, there’s so many good quality ones to choose from.
The latest nomination is Es Trenc by traveldailynews, although they do say surprisingly that it’s busy – enough for many to not make it an ideal candidate for the best beach.
It’s certainly well known by holidaymakers, and is one and a half miles long. It’s in the south of the island when you look at a Majorca map.
Good news from easyJet for those who live in Essex and nearby counties.
With flights to the island from Stansted, there’s going to be even more availability soon as the budget airline will be starting Majorca flights from Southend.
To find out more click through to the BBC’s report here
With tens of thousands of unsold properties in Spain, it’s no surprise that property values have plummeted – and keep falling.
But Majorca has bucked the trend, and prices rose between March and June this year on the island, according to recent reports, and in June alone values fell over 5% on the mainland.
yourmajorca includes details of Majorca property, and for those considering a tax haven, Andorra property is available at www.propertyandorra.com
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Palma Majorca
Increasingly the blame for carbon emissions and subsequent environmental damage is blamed on the airline industry, and various initiatives have been introduced to try and address that to satisfy the flying public and environmental lobby.
Actions have included allowing passengers to opt into paying extra when they book their flights to offset carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, and for the funds to go to organisations that will plant new trees and other actions which are good for the environment.
Cynics might argue that this is a clever marketing ploy as it addresses the concerns of some passengers about how their flying will impact the world, while those who aren’t concerned simply don’t pay – a voluntary green tax.
And it takes away any guilt felt by environmentally concerned passengers, and allows the airlines to defend themselves by stating that they are doing all they can to help reduce any environmental damage that might be caused by flights.
There are even awards now for airlines that are deemed ‘greenest’ which are regularly updated. Three airlines that seem to do particularly well for the way they are addressing the environmental concerns of flying include Continental Airlines, Virgin and Alaska Airlines.
Alaska Airlines for example have an efficient recycling programme in place, while Virgin wins praise for having a young fleet and for the use of winglets, which improve the aerodynamics of an aircraft, reducing fuel consumption – something many airlines have now adopted included budget airlines such as easyJet.
But there’s more being introduced to reduce the perceived damage to the environment caused by the airline industry, much of directly reducing carbon emissions rather than the up to now popular offsetting carbon programmes offered by many airlines at the time of a passenger booking a flight.
Thomson Holidays for example are introducing a new biofuel, initially to be used for Majorca flights, which is based on cooking oil, with the well known tour operator hoping to reduce its carbon footprint in the process. It might take a few flights before potential passengers are convinced.
According to a report in the travel section of British newspaper The Daily Mail, Thomson Holidays have said that the flights will operate on a 50/50 blend of Jet A1 fuel and hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) fuel — made from used cooking oil.
The tour operator operates its own fleet of aircraft and along with Thomas Cook are the best known holidays company in the UK. They offer Majorca flights from no fewer than 19 regional airports, including Birmingham where the first flights using the new fuel will be from, initially at the end of July, again in September, and during the winter for their Alicante flights.
Choosing Spain’s Majorca and Alicante is appropriate in environmental terms, as the country is a European leader for renewable energy, with not just wind turbines but solar power increasingly adding to their national grid to reduce their dependence on imported oil and natural gas – and if Spain can reduce her energy imports it could make a good difference to the country’s balance of payments at a time when her economy is in need of help.
With the glorious Majorca weather, just remember the cooking oil is for the flights, use proper suntan protection for yourself and your family – especially children.
Plaza de Cort, Majorca
For more photos and videos of Palma in Majorca visit youtube
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If British tennis fans were disappointed to see the country’s top player lose in the semi-finals again, the final was good enough to make up for their disappointment earlier in the week.
Rafa Nadal came in as slight favourite, having won the tournament before, but new world number one, Serbian Novak Djokovic put away any nervousness of the big occasion by winning three sets to one.
It was Nadal who was making the uncharacteristic unforced errors which allowed Djokovic to take a two set lead, before Nadal seemed to realise he was on the brink of defeat to take the third set and with it the possibility of winning Wimbledon again.
But the fourth set was much like the first two, with more errors from the Majorca born Spaniard, and his Serbian opponent maintained his level of play to wrap the set – and the championship – up in impressive style.
24 year old Djokovic now lives in Monaco, the well known tax haven, and is an official resident after buying a Monaco property.
Rafa Nadal hails from the Spanish Mediterranean island of Majorca, and spends most of his time when not playing tennis there with his family and girlfriend. The island is well known among Europeans who take Majorca holidays.
Speaking on court to the appreciative audience after the game, Novak said that he had managed to achieve his lifetime goal (of winning Wimbledon) and had managed to make his dream come true.
He added that winning was an incredible feeling that he would never forget and that it was the highlight of his tennis career. He started tennis seriously as a twelve year old when his parents enlisted him at a tennis academy in Germany.
Looking back on the twelve years between starting the academy and winning Wimbledon he said that it had all been worthwhile, and his victory was watched in the stands by his country’s President as well as his girlfriend and close members of his family.
Meanwhile Nadal looked understandably disappointed, he has won Wimbledon twice before in 2008 and last year, and seemed to know his performance was below the standard he produced for his two winning years. But at 25 years old there will be more chances to add a third Wimbledon title to the two he has won already.
It was a good day for the Czech Republic as well as Serbia, as their players won the women’s tournament through Petra Kvitova while other players secured victory in both the women’s doubles and also the mixed doubles.
But don’t be surprised if it’s Majorca celebrating Rafa Nadal winning the men’s final next year for a third Wimbledon title.
This is a free to use article provided the article includes the links. For information about Malta visit yourmalta.com
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Rafa Nadal has reached the men’s final at Wimbledon again, beating British number one Andy Murray 3 sets to 1 in the semi-final.
The final is on Sunday.
Ther Independent have published a good article today about Rafa Nadal – to read it click here
The worldpropertychannel has published an article about the island, and focuses on yachting over the summer months.
Included is information on the annual Super Yacht Cup, now in its 15th year.
To read the article click here
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Reviews for hotels in Majorca are available at www.yourmajorca.net and comments from competitors are available on twitter