Tourism economics

On the back of what his boss, Jaume Matas, had to say (reported 30 September), tourism minister Joan Flaquer has announced that Balearics tourism has indeed fully recovered, as evidenced by the fact that tourist spending - for this season - has increased by five per cent. Well ok, I suppose we have to take his word for it, though how this figure is actually evaluated I haven’t a clue, and of course many people won’t believe it, or if they do believe it, won’t feel that they have been the beneficiaries. But whatever, 2006 is set to have been one of the best summers of all. Depends how you measure it though, doesn’t it.