Palma port has spent 38 million euros on the new Quay

The Port of Palma will now be able to handle some of the largest cruise ships in the world after a major quay expansion was competed this month.
The Port of Palma has spent 38 million euros on constructing the enormous quay which is 382 metres wide. It was used for the first time on the 18th April to berth the giant Costa Deliziosa. the enormous vessel is 292 metres long and with 3,000 passengers on board.
Construction work on the quay started in 2011 and was completed during the 2nd week of this month. It was built following talks with the major cruise line companies, who see Palma as one of the principal ports in the western Mediterranean. The Port Authorities are trying to encourage as many cruise ships as possible to visit the Port of Palma as it has become a major source of revenue for the local economy.
The Balearic government has also given it’s blessing to the new quay as it considers the cruise ship market as vital to the Balearic tourist industry.
During the first 4 days of this week (beginning April 14th) 12 cruise ships berthed in Palma.

April 2013

Palma de Mallorca Facelift

One of the biggest challenges present and previous Palma de Mallorca council have faced is how to transform the capital into a viable city break destination and now, the local authority has decided to spend the best part of 1.3 million euros over the next 18 months on sprucing up some of the more degraded resorts such as parts of the Playa de Palma.The councillor for urban Developments, Sebastian Sanso, said yesterday that boosting tourism in the Palma city is going to be the principal way of dragging the municipality out of the recession.  Sanso said that apart from the Palma city centre, the Playa de Palma needs to be in the best possible condition. The council hopes that by improving this Mallorca resort’s image, summer bookings to Mallorca  will increase and in order to do that, steps to improve security, street lighting, street and beach cleaning, for example are all going to be made.

Source – Majorca Daily Bulletin
March 23rd 2013

A nail-biting drama, to put it mildly

Real Mallorca, sitting bottom of the Spanish football La Liga table and well and truly in the relegation spot, played at home for their very premier league survival on Monday the 15th evening.
The match was not for the week hearted, which ever team one supported. Their apponants Celta Vigo, also in the relegation zone, fought tooth and nail for the full 90 minutes plus a vital 4 minutes of injury time. But in the dying seconds of the game with 21 players around the Celta Vigo gaol, Mallorca’s Giovani Dos Santos (their recent signing from Mexico) tapped-in the winner. The stadium was as if the spectator’s seats had a 2000 volt charge passed through them. A fantastic finish and a chance for Real Mallorca to progress to safety. However, one must feel sad for The Celta Vigo players who really did not deserve to lose. A draw would have been a fair result but well done Mallorca.

Now with 27 points Real Mallorca play Rayo Vellecano, 9th in the Premier league, on Friday the 19th, on their home ground. A win and the crucial 3 points which would lift them nicely out of the relegation bottom three.Palma 18th April 2013

Mallorca street protects demand return to the Spain Republic

Hundreds of people took part in a series of events across Mallorca over the weekend calling for the end of the monarch and a return of the republic. In the Plaza Cort in Palma, hundreds of people gathered flying republican flags and calling for justice for the victims of the regime of General Franco who toppled the old Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil war.
14th April 1931 was the day that the Republic in Spain was formed. In Manacor wreaths and flowers were laid at the graves of people who died fighting for the Pupublic in Mallorca.

Sunday 14th April 2013

Spain’s Tourism Gold Mine

Tourism account for 15 percent of Spain’s Gross National Product, according to the World Tourism council. Tourism is worth 160,000 billion euros to the Spanish economy. The report goes on to say “Which clearly underlines the fact that it is one of it’s principal industries. Worldwide tourism created an estimated one million new jobs in 2012 and continues prosper despite the economic hard times.

April 2013

Virgin Atlantic Challenger ll in Mallorca

Virgin Atlantic Challenger ll has been sitting in a Palma shipyards for the past seven years.
It has been seven years since Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Challenger was towed into the STP dockyard in Palma but now she is going to be sailing back home to Britain next month.
Plymouth-based boat builder Dan Stevens, a merchant navy officer and mater who also runs the Mount Batten ferry and harbour cruise vessels in Plymouth, was approached by Brian Thornton of Performance Marine in Ireland who thought Stevens would be the person to take the powerboat, which has been languishing in a boatyard in Mallorca, on. Continue reading →

Mallorca’s Luxury hotels post an income of 314 million euros

The island’s luxury hotel sector brings in 314 million euros per year and generates 2,200 jobs according to the results of a study carried out by the Mallorca Hotel Federation which was presented yesterday. And based on that, the Federation wants to expand the full luxury market even further.

Source – Daily Mallorca Daily Bulletin – April 2013

Demolition begins on Ses Covetes Complex – South East Mallorca

Palma – twenty one years after work was halted on the Ses Covetes apartment complex in Campos, demolition teams finally moved in to knock the properties down.  After years of legal wrangling, the Balearic High Court ruled that the complex was illegal in November of 2012,  finally ending the legal battle and condemning the site to demolition. Over the past week, demolition experts and engineers have been working round the clock to secure the demolition area and the Council of Mallorca said that it could take as long as two months to completely clear the site. Part of the rubble, once tested, will be used to fill in the basements and underground car parison an attempt to restore the area to it’s former glory. The rest of the rubble, for example plastics, ceramics, iron steel will be separated and especially treated.

Pick school and language – Catalan or Castellano

Palma – Parents will soon be able to choose the school and the language their children will be educated in, as part of a new programme launched by the Ministry of Education. Parents can make an application via the Internet in a ground-breaking move and finally have their say on which language their children will be educated in. The ruling Partido Popular, in a controversial move, announced that they wanted to give parents more control over the education the educational system.

A great start

Great start to the summer season. Is how one Pollensa tourism official summed-up the Easter holiday. Infact Puerto Pollensawas packed over the Easter break, the vast majority were British tourist who had headed to Mallorca to escape the awful UK weather. It was a fantastic sight; Puerto Pollensa promenade full of tourist at the end of March. Bars, restaurants and shops open for business and the Port looked fantastic. All winter we have been reporting the summer could be a very good one for Mallorca and judging by the Easter break we are off to a good start.

by Jason Moore – Daily bulletin – April 2013