As Brits and other tourists are made to feel less and less welcome in Spain’s renowned holiday islands, businesses reliant on tourism are beginning to suffer. Restaurants and nightclubs in Majorca are bracing for a summer season similar to last year.
They anticipate tourist spending to be well down in 2025, just like last year. Last year, restaurants pointed to a 20% fall in turnover, largely due to increased costs for accommodation and flights. With 2025 expected to look much like 2024, owners must make tough decisions to keep their businesses afloat.
According to Juanmi Ferrer, president of the CAEB Restaurants Association in Majorca, people are trying to travel but also save and don’t have the same spending power.
Restaurants are now looking to contain their prices for this season in order to encourage consumption, or at the very least, not drive it further away.
March 2025 was never expected to be a busy month on the largest Balearic Island, but it was disappointing even so. For example, revenue was down by some 50% in Alcudia and Playa de Muro compared with March 2024, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reported.
It should be noted, however, Easter was at the end of March last year, which will have had a big impact on when tourists took their holidays.
Bad weather also played a big role, according to Ferrer, who said: “March was bad: bad weather and few people.
“Easter is four days long. If you get one rainy day, it’s only three.”
Clubs are also planning a shorter season. Last year, an attempt to extend the season backfired on the businesses.
The “realistic” schedule for 2025, according to the president of the ABONE nightlife association, Miguel Pérez-Marsá, would be from May 15 to mid-September.
“We will adapt to reality. Last year, we tried to extend the season and realised that the season was what it was,” the president said.
Compared to hotels, restaurants and bars struggle to plan for the tourist season.
“They can plan months in advance,” added Pérez-Marsá, while restaurants and clubs cannot rely on bookings that far ahead.
Despite receiving a record-breaking influx of tourists last year, many local restaurants in Majorca have been forced to close early and scale back their services.
According to Ferrer, “The absenteeism on Fridays and Mondays, for example, is incomprehensible and is very suspicious, an extension of the weekend. This absenteeism does not appear in the official statistics, but it’s something we all suffer from.
“Imagine having a team of four people, and someone lets you know the night before that they won’t be coming in. Sometimes you can’t even open the kitchen, or you have to close early.”