06 March 2023 , 15:25
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Holidays to Majorca are poised to become about a third more expensive, a tourist body has warned.
Juan Ferrer, President of the Palma Beach Quality Offensive, has said prices on the Balearic island have been going up steadily and will continue to do so.
"Holidays will be around 33 percent more expensive in 2023 than in the previous year," he said, according to German tabloid Bild.
Everything involved in visiting the island, such as flights, dining out and accommodation, have been going up in price since coronavirus restrictions limited visits to the island were lifted.
A number of factors have contributed to the rise in holidays in Majorca (Getty Images)The rises are partly due to the cost of living crisis which is squeezing standards if living across the Continent, but are particularly keenly felt on holiday islands.
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Another reason is the purposeful drive by tourism bosses in destinations including Majorca to capture a more wealthy group of tourists.
Director of tourism for Mallorca, Lucia Escribano, said officials on the island were "are not interested in having budget tourists from the UK".
A new law has also limited the number of beds in hotels, which is also expected to bump up the price of accommodation.
"People even notice it when they go shopping. Due to the island location, prices on Mallorca rise even more than on the mainland," Mr Ferrer added.
He said that the price rises were unlikely to stop anytime soon.
Tourism chiefs across the Balearic islands have also expressed their aim to keep the number of visitors to below the 16,475,579 holidaymakers who visited last year.
The rising prices have made living on the islands difficult for people who work in the hospitality sector there.
Rona Pineda, 32, owns a restaurant located near Palma de Mallorca’s harbour which serves paella and Asian dishes for tourists.
Tourists can expect to pay around a third more for holidays (AFP via Getty Images)She also shares a two-bedroom apartment with a couple in Mallorca and told Bloomberg how local “people are looking at how to survive”.
Rona said even if you “have a normal salary, it’s very difficult to find a place to live nowadays”, with some locals in Mallorca and Ibiza living in camper vans as a result.
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Matias Vidal, director of the real estate agency Inmovisa in Mallorca said “more and more people are moving into campers”.
He said that wealthy people looking for holiday homes on the islands had led to an artificial inflation in property prices.
The Balaerics have become an increasingly popular destination for Brits over the past decade.
In 2019 3.7m travellers from the UK made the journey to the island paradises, clearly attracted by the sun, sea and sand they offer.
Over the past two years visitor numbers have slumped due to the pandemic, so it remains to be seen how big an impact price rises have on Brits' desire to travel there.