Balearic President cancels visit to London as local delegation seek to revive British tourism

Prohens should have arrived in London this morning but her place will now be taken by Balearic minister for tourism, Jaume Bauzà, who is already in London with his team. Prohens had been due to attend a series of meetings with the British travel industry and media.

The local delegation to the fair will be seeking to revive the British market which faltered last summer with visitor numbers falling by at least 10 percent in July with smaller falls in August and September. One of the most important jobs the Balearic delegation in London have is to underline the fact that tourists are more than welcome after the headline grabbing anti-tourism marches of this summer.

While a record number of tourists came on holiday to the Balearics there were falls in mainland Spanish tourism and British tourism, two very important markets for the islands. This will be one of the most difficult World Travel Markets for the Balearics in recent years as a result of plans to increase the rate of the tourism tax for next summer and also proposals to curb the number of tourists who visit the islands.

One of the highlights will be the presentation of the annual convention by the Association pf British Travel Agents (ABTA) which will take place in Magalluf next October. An estimated 1,500 delegates are due to attend. The state of the British economy and the tax rises announced in last week’s budget will also be causing some concern at the World Travel Market, one of the biggest tourism fairs in the world.

In previous editions the sun had always been shining on the Balearics but there are important questions which the British tourist industry will want answering about future plans to curb tourism.