It would appear as though the face of tourism in Mallorca is changing. Tourist numbers are up this year by some 7 % over last year and in the month of June 2011, by some 12 % over the same month of the previous year. This may be partly due to the unrest in North Africa, Tunisia, Egypt and so forth. During the month of June 2011 the Son Sant Joan Airport in Palma achieved an all-time monthly high with a total of 2,839,296 users. July and August are expected to exceed the year-on-year increase even more. This weekend alone, from yesterday until next Tuesday, a total of 782,250 passengers are scheduled to arrive at and/or depart from PMI airport, an increase of 15 % over the same period last year, the start of the Spanish holiday season. There is already some evidence of overbooking in some areas of S’Arenal and Magaluf.

But, some hotels claim that whilst ten years ago, tourists came and stayed for a two-week holiday, five years ago they came for a stay of only 8 days and, this year, the duration seems to be down to three or four days per visit. More people are coming here for a holiday than in previous years but, they seem to stay for a much shorter period. Some regular visitors appear to perhaps spread their holidays in Mallorca to two visits per year of four or five days each. Change seems to be the name of the game.

The numbers are up on cruise-ships as well. Cruise-ship passenger numbers in the Port de Palma totalled 1,250,000 in 2010, an all-time record, and are expected to top 1,500,000 this year. Cruise-ship visitors such as the ones in today’s photo visiting the Castell de Bellver only stay with us on this island for a few hours before they return to their vessel and continue their cruise.

Over the last few years, a number of palatial town houses in Palma were converted into luxury hotels catering for visitors who are coming for a long weekend or a couple of days, mid-week. The latest such establishment is a place called Can Cera which held their inaugural party earlier this week. Rates for the 12 rooms start from 180 € per night, for two people, excluding IVA, and go up to 495 € for the best of the 7 suites. Breakfast is not included in the rates and will be charged at 15 € a go. When I offered a Buenos Dias on a quick drop-in earlier this week, my greetings were left unanswered. Must be my accent, I suppose.

The photo was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: July 27th, 2011. The time was 14:36:40.