Round up of News in Brief for Mallorca

Hotel bonus

MALLORCAN hoteliers had a successful tourist season, with 38 per cent saying it was a significant improvement on last year. A mere 4 per cent had a worse summer while 58 per cent said it was broadly similar to 2011.

 

Tourist boost

VISITORS to the Balearics have spent €9.1billion so far this year, an increase of six per cent on last year. Only Catalonia earned more. The rise was particularly pronounced in September, when tourists spent €1.7billion, which was almost a fifth more than a year ago.

 

Stadium plea

About 50 Real Mallorca fans held a demonstration outside the club’s old Lluis Sitjar stadium before the league match against Real Madrid on Sunday. They were calling on the club to the return to the now dilapidated ground it abandoned 13 years ago in favour of Son Moix.

 

Wait over

THE first Media Markt electronics store in the Balearics is opening on Friday at the Ocimax centre in Palma. When recruitment started in spring for the 120 vacancies, management received 12,000 applications.

 

English boom

ENGLISH-speaking teachers are likely to be in demand after the Balearic government confirmed that at least 20 per cent of the school week will have to be taught in English. The primary school subject of physical education and art have been earmarked for teaching through English.

Fire attack

A ROMANIAN – wanted over an attack on two elderly women – was arrested after spraying an aerosol on a naked flame and trying to set fire to a policeman when approached in Can Valero.

Driver attack

A DRUG ADDICT driving in the Son Banya area to buy heroin ran over a six-year-old girl in a gypsy estate and was attacked by a crowd and stabbed. The girl’s father came to his rescue and drove both injured parties to the hospital.

Grave facts

PALMA cemetery, with plots ranging from €1,490 to €15,950 plus IVA, has seen a 7 per cent drop in sales this year due to the economic times. Meanwhile the council plans to embargo more than 6,000 plots – just under a fifth – as owners have not been paying the maintenance fees.

Washed away

BARELY six months after being laid a beach in Port de Sóller has seen about a third of the 16,000 tonnes of sand spread in April washed away.

2013 goal

THE Spanish national football team will play a World Cup qualifier in Mallorca next year against Belarus or Georgia. The squad has previously played in Palma four times, but not for the last five years .

Sinking find

A FALL in water levels at the Gorg Blau lake near Sóller has allowed archaeologists to study ruins of what they believe was the last hiding place of Muslim Mallorcans after the Christian invasion in 1229.

 

Cars back

POLICE in Mallorca have recovered 50 luxury cars worth €729,000 that had been fraudulently acquired by a gang that planned to export them.

 

Animal shock

THERE were 4,800 incidents involving animals on Balearic roads last year, a figure that was described as ‘unbelievable’ by Francina Armengol, the Socialist leader in the regional parliament.

 

Home crisis

PROPERTY prices in the Balearics have dropped by 29.4% since the boom ended in 2007, well below the national average of 46.5%. Meanwhile, Palma city council has estimated that there are between 1,000 and 1,500 unsold newbuilds in the capital.

 

No fillers

Tourists will find it hard to find a room at the inn this winter as 66 per cent of all Mallorcan hotel beds will be closed between November and April. In December, the figure will be 86%. A few high profile hotels plan refurbish during the period.

 

Parking bid

Palma city council is putting out to tender for €24.6m a four-year contract for controlling parking on the city streets. ORA, the unpopular service that doles out parking fines, last year had a turnover of €8.7m.

 

Tax concern

The Mallorca hoteliers’ federation has claimed that councils are ‘drowning’ them with property taxes. It said that some have put up the IBI by as much as 50 per cent. The average increase has been 35 per cent.

 

Vice swoop

POLICE raided an area of Platja de Palma notorious for prostitution and arrested six women, mostly from Nigeria, for immigration law infractions. Police suspect the women were involved in mugging tourists in the resort.

 

Lotto luck

FORTY Andratx residents have won prizes in the ONCE lottery. One lucky local will receive €6,000 per month for the next 25 years while the other 39 picked up a prize of €25,000 each. The draw means a windfall of €2,775,000 for the local economy.

 

Pray harder

THE administrator of the Dioceses of Palma has asked the faithful to ‘pray with insistence’ so that the Pope names a new bishop of Mallorca. Fr Lluc Riera designated the first and third Wednesdays of the month as dates for the celebration of masses for the election of a new bishop.

 

Pay more

PARKING in central Palma will cost 6 per cent more after the council hiked pay and display fees. Water and waste charges have increased by 3 per cent as have other council duties such as the car test and the issuance of documents.

 

Minister resigns

THE Balearics have a new health minister after Manacor doctor Antoni Mesquida quit three months into the job.
It is believed he had lost the support of many PP party colleagues over his opposition to denying health care to illegal immigrants and hospital closures.
Martí Sansaloni, a 30-year-old pharmacist from Petra, is the new minister. Isabel Borràs, the head of the health service, IB-Salut, has also resigned.

 

Rapper in court

A SINGER who describes himself as a ‘farmer rapper with Stalinist principles’ is on trial for slandering the royal family an inciting racial violence. It is alleged that a song by Valtònyc, real name Josep Miquel Arenas, from Sa Pobla, urges that royal palaces be occupied and ‘given to the people’.

 

Civil protest

BALEARIC civil servants have voted to join a general strike on the November 14. They also pledged to undertake a consumer strike during December as a protest at the central and regional governments’ decision to eliminate their extra Christmas pay, which has traditionally been paid every November.

 

King seals deal

AN Indian businessman is to invest €40m in an oriental welfare and therapy centre in Mallorca. Analjit Singh, the founder and chairman of Max Healthcare and Max Life Insurance, made the announcement after a lunch with King Juan Carlos, who is on an official visit to India.

 

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