The CEO of the TUI tourism group, Sebastian Ebel, has said he is “very optimistic about next summer” in the Balearic Islands

The German tourism group TUI has confirmed to the Government that the Balearic Islands will be one of its priority destinations for this summer. This is what the CEO of the group, Sebastian Ebel, has told the Minister of Economic Model, Tourism and Labour, Iago Negueruela, in the framework of the ITB fair in Berlin, which begins today and takes place until Thursday.

Ebel said he was “very optimistic about next summer” in the Balearic Islands and announced that the company’s objective is to “continue to focus on growing in quality”. TUI also assured during the meeting that the winter figures have been good for the destination, as they predicted weeks ago.

The season comes early, with 60% of hotels open in March

For her part, the president of the Hotel Business Federation of Mallorca, FEHM, María Frontera, has assured IB3 Radio that 60% of the hotel establishments will be open this March.

Frontera has already predicted a very good tourist season, which will be marked by a shortage of workers in the sector, driven away by the high prices of housing on the islands. In fact, the establishments are already adopting alternative measures such as offering rooms to accommodate their workers, as was the case years ago.

 

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The Government is late to solve the problems of mobility during the summer

The taxi sector in Mallorca considers that there is not enough room for temporary taxis to operate this year, as allowed by the new decree law of the Government approved on Monday. It is a measure that they regret comes too late to solve the taxi deficit that the island is facing during the high season.

Taxi drivers have long been calling on the authorities to solve the taxi deficit during the high season. But within the sector itself there are differences of opinion on how to do this. While some are in favour of temporary licences, others believe that taxi timetables should first be liberalised in all municipalities that maintain regularisation, as is the case in Palma, for example.

For the two major taxi employers’ associations, the measure approved by the government comes too late. They point out that it is totally unfeasible for seasonal taxis to be ready to operate this coming season. On the one hand, because each municipality will have to establish its own conditions. And on the other hand, in the case of Palma, putting the taximeter and pass the ITV to between 150 and 200 temporary taxis, which are those that would be needed, can mean up to 9 months of work, according to the president of the Association of Self-employed Taxi de Mallorca, Biel Moragues.

For CAEB taxi drivers, if this measure does not solve the problem, they will have to opt for temporary licences.

 

Balearic Islands to receive 10% more cruise ships this year

These are the forecasts made by the Port Authority and the employers’ association of shipping agents, one month before the start of the season with more cruise activity. The increase comes in spite of the limitation on the number of large ships with passengers that can dock in the port of Palma, which as of January no longer admits exceptions and is a maximum of three cruise ships a day.

Around 500 cruise ships will dock in Palma, similar to last year, despite the fact that there will be 15% fewer than before the pandemic. The trend is the opposite in Ibiza and Maó, which will receive between 30% and 40% more calls than last year.