“Business is pretty good; in fact, we’ve had to take on more staff from July,” he said, whilst glancing at his team getting ready for the busy day ahead. “For us, obviously, lunch and especially dinner times are our busiest moments, but there are still the late lunch and early dinner snackers, which help to keep us busy at all hours.”
He was also quick to address the controversy that has dominated headlines in other parts of Mallorca. I see many comments from people saying they won’t come back to Spain, but what they have to realise is that it’s not us, the people they see every day on their holiday — waiters, chefs, hotel staff, attractions staff — who are involved in the protests. “There are still many tourists coming to the area, mostly British, but we also get a variety of nationalities — Italians and Swedes also love Palmanova,” he said, pausing briefly as colleagues hurried past with trays.
“I haven’t noticed a decline in guests; we are as busy as ever, constantly replacing trays of food and refilling drink stations.” He added, with a wry smile, that the turnover might be higher these days as visitors seem to have less money to spend. Tourist spending is growing even faster than visitor numbers, up 3 per cent in June to €3.13 billion, and 6.1 per cent higher in the first half of the year, totalling €8.74 billion — largely driven by higher rates and rising prices across the sector.
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