More bad news for island’s image

A DEVASTATING article by a German tabloid newspaper has dealt another blow to the image of Mallorca. Popular German tabloid ‘Bild am Sonntag’ published an article on the ‘decline’ of Mallorca’s image, calling it a resort of ‘swindlers, pickpockets and cheap prostitutes’.

It said that Spain is no longer what it used to be and pointed out that German tourists visiting Mallorca could see the visible effects of the crisis with the island’s significant economic and social decline.

The article, called ‘Mallorca’s darkest summer’, warned that the island has recently acquired a sordid, decadent character, especially in the coastal tourist resorts of Playa de Palma and Calvia. The article will be of particular concern to the tourism sector as Germans make up about 40 per cent of holidaymakers to the island. Last year 3.4 million Germans visited.

It is the latest in a series of blows to the island’s image. Last year the BBC programme The Trouble with Magaluf followed police and ambulances around the resort showing the drunken antics of young tourists.  The UK newspaper Daily Mail published an article in 2012 on a similar theme.

Utz Claasen, German co-owner of Real Mallorca confirmed current social, economic and administrative concerns in the Baleares: “The Mallorcan justice system is overwhelmed,” he said.