More airport security and parking issues

Back at the airport, there was a security incident of a different type last Friday. Two in fact, as two planes bound for Germany had to make unscheduled stopovers. One was from Namibia, the other was from Morocco. It was an emergency landing by an Air Arabia Maroc plane on November 5, 2021 that resulted in over twenty passengers escaping from the plane in what was an organised attempt at illegal immigration. On that occasion, a medical emergency was faked. Ever since that incident, the security arrangements involving the Guardia Civil and National Police have been very much tighter. There was nothing untoward with either of the two flights. Unscheduled stopovers do occur from time to time, and these flights were perfectly routine in this regard.

The airport's parking regularly makes the news for the wrong reasons. Last year, plenty of attention was given to cars waiting on the access road to the parking area to pick up arriving passengers. They were doing this in order to avoid having to pay for the express parking. A few days ago a Bulletin reader drew attention to another problem - the “complete shambles” in the multi-storey car park, where the second storey had been barricaded off and many parking spaces elsewhere were unavailable because of builders' barriers. Then there is the new scheme for transport operators' parking that the airport management has introduced. The main problem, according to the Balearic transport federation, concerns the area for VTC (transport vehicles with driver), which is also for pre-booked

taxis.

At peak times of the day, says the federation, there will be jams because of the sheer number of vehicles. There already is a problem, but this will become much greater as passenger numbers increase from May. The federation's president, Rafael Roig, says that the airport director, Tomás Melgar, has ignored operators' requests.

May is when the tourism season is officially said to start, but April isn't that far behind and certainly can't be classified as low season, the months of which are taken to be January to March and November/December. Tourist number figures show that, for all that there is now a more concerted effort to grow the low season, they are remarkably similar to what they were in the noughties. In 2023, the total number of foreign tourists was 1.05 million. In 2004 it was 1.02 million; in 2005, 1.13 million.

There has been some recent growth, but the director of the Balearic government's Aetib tourism strategy agency, Pere Joan Planes, wonders how realistic it is to grow the low season. Remarkably enough perhaps, he suggests that maybe it's better the way it is. It's probably a reflection of demand over “months of rest” that allow for improvements to infrastructure.

For professor emeritus of geography at the University of the Balearic Islands, Climent Picornell, low numbers of tourists in the low season will probably be fine. A highly regarded commentator on social change in Mallorca, he has a new book about Palma and changes the city has undergone over the decades of mass tourism. He admits to being a tourismphobe, “but only if people believe that tourism cannot have limits”. “Setting limits doesn't mean being against tourism; it is about containing and reducing overcrowding and saturation.”

Low-season low numbers - better this way?

“Ghost” properties

Picornell has lived in Palma's La Lonja district for 52 years. He says that he certainly couldn't afford to buy a property there now. “They're all Gemans and Swedes. Community meetings are in English.” Tourism and foreign buying, despite denials from certain quarters, have impacted and do impact housing availability and prices.