Hundreds of bars and restaurants in Mallorca are facing imminent closure following the worst season since Covid and tourists tightening their belts.
The warning has come from the restaurant association, PIMEM-Restauracion which says their members are being strangled by three essential factors – the lack of qualified personnel, the increase in staff and activity costs and a drop in sales.
Its president, Cesar Amable says the increase in travel prices – especially for plane tickets – and accommodation has hit its sector and other mainstays of the complementary offer such as commerce this summer.
“The average stay has been shortened and the budget of tourists has been limited, thus penalising the extraordinary expenses of the trip, a situation that has ended up confirming the least profitable season in recent years, a pandemic period aside,” he said.
Restaurateurs are demanding the creation of their own hospitality agreement that differentiates their conditions from those of hoteliers, as is already happening in other regions of Spain such as La Rioja, Madrid and Guipuzcoa at the provincial level.
The salary increases, they say, are unaffordable for a sector that this season has seen its turnover fall by around 20% compared to last season.
Thus, they have explained that the collective agreement has increased staff expenses by 25.3% since 2018, while the price of menus has risen by 10% in the same period.
“There is a huge gap between hotels and restaurants; I think it’s very good that hotels raise prices as much as they want to raise them, but there are many things that differentiate us,” said Mr. Amable who warned that the drop in income this season will probably result in an early closure of many businesses located in tourist areas of Mallorca and the rest of the archipelago.”
Unless a new agreement was made, he warned: “We restaurateurs have a very bad future.”
Mr. Matas said they had been pressing for an agreement of their own for the last 15 years but nothing had happened.
“The situation since then has worsened a lot and restaurants are being strangled,” he added.