Empire Of The Sun: German and British tourism

The sunbeds' battle has been won. The question is how long the war will drag on. Some hoteliers are preparing for the withdrawal of the vanquished, accepting the dominant hotel occupancy force. Sunbedsraum. Peace in our time. The resorts quietening to the sound of retreating Tommies now whistling in the distance and drowning in the horizon where the sun goes down on a modern empire.

From the mid-70s to the mid-80s, at the height of imperial might, the British represented 40% of the foreign tourism market on Mallorca's beaches. It was a tourism army that, in its numbers, eclipsed that of Germany. At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century the percentages have been more than just reversed. German tourism, at around 50% of the total, is double that from Britain.

It is indeed the case that some hotels are adapting to a weaker British market or are contemplating the previously unthinkable - a post-British market. This may all be in response to the short-term shock of the past couple of years and the collapse of the pound, but as alternative tourism markets emerge for the hotels and tour operators to sink their teeth into, could it be we that we are witnessing the end of Mallorca's Britannic tourism industry?

Chances are that we are not. Talk of the apocalyptic demise of British tourism - not now, but some time - is an absurd exaggeration. These things have a habit of going in cycles. German tourism itself has not always enjoyed a completely harmonious relationship with Mallorca, despite a love affair between Germany and the island that goes back half a century. Not so long ago, Mallorca had to repair a rupture caused by a perception that German tourists were somehow unwelcome. Repaired it was, and the relationship has been given new life.

But the relationship with Germany has always seemed, even during the period of British dominance, to be stronger. And the relationship goes deeper than just tourism. It can be seen on the high streets, such as they are - Lidl, Schlecker, Müller and, at some point, Media Markt. Two of the best-known estate agencies are of German origin - Kühn & Partner and Engel & Völkers. TUI is bigger than its rival Thomas Cook, a company which has reclaimed its "Britishness" since the MyTravel merger, but which retains a strong German flavour. Air Berlin is more than simply an airline shuttling German tourists to and from the island; its local boss has headed the Mallorca Tourism Board.

It is a relationship, therefore, which has appeared to be altogether more "serious". "Real" business rather than just the bar. Not that there aren't of course German-run bars. There are. But it's an oddity that even in a place like Alcúdia, which is not as "British" as some might have you believe, the German bar is thin on the ground, almost to the point of non-existence.

This "seriousness" may all have to do with the nature of the relationship and a competing historical perception of Mallorca. For years, many a Brit would look down his or her nose at Mallorca, the consequence of an image problem that was only partly accurate. Notwithstanding the emergence of a beer, sausage and oompah German tourism culture in the likes of Arenal, Mallorca did not suffer to anything like the same degree from being viewed negatively in Germany.

The Germans have bought into the whole "paradise island" deal in a way that the British have never done. Clichéd it is, but the Germans use the expression quite unashamedly. For Mallorca and its tourism at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, it is just as well that they do. TUI says that its winter tourism to Mallorca from Germany has started with "much dynamism" and that next summer there will be a growth in the numbers of German tourists.

The Germans are still very much in love with Mallorca, but even with the Germans, the signs are there. More tourists next year, but more in all-inclusives. Hotel prices have been lowered while those in other destinations have increased. And the Germans are being tempted into a different affair, that with Turkey. TUI in Germany now takes more tourists to Turkey than it does to Mallorca.

The battle in Mallorca may have been won, but the eastern front has been well and truly breached. And that is a war Mallorca is in danger of losing, if indeed it hasn't already lost it.


"We lived an adventure. Love in the summer."
"Lie in the sand and visualise. Like it's '75 again."




Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.