A trip to Mallorca will cost a THIRD this year as prices soar, Palma’s tourist board warns

A trip to Mallorca will be a third more expensive this year than in 2022, a Balearic island tourism organization has warned, as prices there soar.

Juan Ferrer, chairman of the Palma Beach Quality Offensive, broke the news amid reports that some Spanish holiday destinations are trying to reduce their reliance on British tourists in favor of more upmarket visitors.

“Holidays will be around 33 percent more expensive in 2023 than in the previous year,” Ferrer said, according to German tabloid Bild.

The newspaper said the expected price increase comes despite spending on the popular island destination roughly doubling in the past three years.

Everything to do with visiting the island – including flights, restaurants and accommodation – has become more expensive for tourists since pandemic restrictions were lifted and people were free to travel again.

“You can even see when you shop. Because of the location on the island, prices in Mallorca rise even more than on the mainland,” Ferrer told the publication.

When asked whether the rising prices will come to an end, Mallorca’s tourism expert was not optimistic. He said prices are expected to continue to rise as a law was introduced last year that prohibits hotels from increasing the number of beds.

This was done to limit mass tourism to the island, which is a popular party and beach holiday destination for Brits and other groups from across Europe.

“This year,” Ferrer said, “it hasn’t had an impact yet.” If numbers continue their current course, 2023 could see a record number of tourists visiting the island.

In January alone, the island’s airport handled 860,000 passengers – more than in 2019, the year before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic – and this despite the fact that the island was exposed to extreme weather such as snow in the first few months wash.

Ferrer told Bild he hoped higher hotel prices would bring better officers to tourists. More expensive can also mean better quality, he said.

An attempt to turn away ‘budget’ British tourists in search of ‘sposh’ holidaymakers is wreaking havoc on residents of Mallorca and neighboring Ibiza – who are now being forced to live in vans due to rising prices, it was reported on Monday.

Locals in the Balearic Islands said they were wondering how they would “survive” and afford to rent or buy property amid rising prices caused by a shift to luxury tourists who can afford more expensive properties.

“People are now looking at how they can survive,” Rona Pineda (32), who shares a two-bedroom apartment with a couple in Mallorca, told Bloomberg. “If you have a normal salary, it is very difficult to find an apartment these days.”

The comments came after Mallorca’s tourism director Lucia Escribano said last year her industry bosses were “not interested in accepting budget tourists from the UK” – as the island tries to transform itself from a destination for cheap drinks and beach parties by restrictions number of British tourists.

Escribano recently said she had been misquoted and tourism chiefs in Palma insisted they were looking forward to welcoming a record number of Britons.

Meanwhile, another popular tourist destination – the Canary Island of Lanzarote – has indicated it wants to reduce its reliance on British tourists.

Island president María Dolores Corujo said the agency had no plans to change its mind on its approach, citing claims it was already damaging Lanzarote’s image and that other islands were struggling.

Everything to do with visiting the island – including flights, restaurants and accommodation – has become more expensive for tourists since pandemic restrictions were lifted and people were free to travel again. In the photo: Soller Port Marina in Mallorca

She also accused Partido Popular councilors of fear-mongering and participating in a “disinformation campaign” against their plans.

“We will continue to continue the debate on the limits to growth, even if they try to silence us with fears of damaging Lanzarote’s image,” she stressed.

Ms Corujo’s comments also came as the director of Spain’s UK Tourist Board insisted the country “does not discriminate based on visitor type”.

Manuel Butler told MailOnline that while Spain’s travel industry needs to work together to meet the challenges posed by mass tourism, the country’s main focus is “to become a more sustainable and competitive tourism destination”.