C.M.W..MaóThis year the Balearic Islands have registered the best tourist figures in the history of the archipelago, according to statistics released last week by the Councillor for Tourism, Joan Flaquer.
Overall the islands enjoyed a 7.4% increase in visitors between January and August. Menorca benefited least from this increased popularity, only seeing an increase of 0.5% in the number of tourists, a fact attributed by Joan Flaquer to the island having enjoyed a higher occupancy rate in its hotels in previous years. The Councillor said that the islands have recouped 1.1 million tourists since 2002, with this year seeing 8.7 million visitors arriving by air in the period up to August, approximately 600,000 more than in the same period in 2005.
Whilst the numbers of tourists from the traditional markets, Germany and the U.K., have continued to show an increase, the biggest difference has been in the number of tourists from the rest of Spain with a rise in the region of 20%.
The amount spent by tourists during their stay has increased by 4.7%, bringing the islands an income of 7,696 million euros in the first eight months of this year, compared to 6,808 millions in the whole of 2002.
The occupancy rate for the Balearic hotels has risen by 3.4% to 77.7%; in Menorca the figure is 78.1%. Employment in the sector has seen a rise of 2.8% so far this year with an average of 77,547 people working in the tourist sector; in June, July and August the number employed topped the 100,000 mark.
The number of overnight stays has risen by 11.1% to 87,602,233 in the archipelago, placing the Balearics ahead of all the other communities in Spain, including Catalunya.
Flaquer believes that the statistics for the month of September will also be "very good", continuing the good trend shown in the earlier part of the year. He feels that the "difficult situation" in Turkey following recent attacks plus the Balearics´ good image abroad have helped to make the islands a popular holiday destination once again.
