The Hotel Business Federation of Mallorca (FEHM) and the Association of Hotel Chains (ACH) condemned “the ambiguity that our institutional representatives have been playing with in relation to tourism, which is causing incalculable damage in the markets”. The employers’ associations criticised the controversy that arose at the World Travel Market tourism fair in London after the British newspaper The Mirror published that “Mallorca does not want British tourists”, following statements by the island’s Director of Tourism of the Consell, Lucía Escribano.
“This time the British market has been wronged, making tourists believe that they are not welcome on our islands. Nothing could be further from the truth and from the hotel sector we want to make it very clear that the British client is always welcome,” explained the groups.

The FEHM and ACH expect “more seriousness” from the political representatives, which is why they took the opportunity to demand “the respect that the tourist activity deserves, which they never tire of using to get their chest out when it suits them to say that we are a leading destination”. In addition, they reminded that tourism is the real engine of the Mallorcan economy and on which thousands of jobs depend.

“We have been warning for some time about the constant bombardment of anti-tourist messages. You can’t play with food. We demand to be extremely cautious and responsible in order to avoid controversies that damage Mallorca as a tourist destination,” added the FEHM and the ACH in their communiqué, in which they criticised the fact that political ideology takes precedence over responsibility. “We are a destination of welcome, of welcome, not of rejection and exclusion”.

In supporting tourism, they said, it is necessary to be expensive: “yes is yes”. For this reason, they believe that “it is necessary to be more coherent with the policies, messages and technical work carried out in the institutions, to work on improving the product and the management of the destination and not on messages of rejection of visitors and the activity itself”.

Response from the Consell

The island’s councillor for Tourism, Andreu Serra, defended the tourism promotion strategy developed by the Consell together with the Mallorca Tourism Foundation, and regretted “that the FEHM should give credibility to information that has been totally distorted by a British tabloid”. According to the minister, the commitment to the British market is clear.