Date flexibility

The city break tourism is not affected by the seasonality of the destination and other factors such as weather. This was in discovered in a study conducted by Dublin, Buckley, and Flanagan (2010, p.417). The study found out that a sizable number of city breakers take their holidays during winter months or outside of peak periods. Dublin, Buckley, and Flanagan (2010, p.412) further found out that these city break trips were centered on events such as sports, games and exhibitions.

Destination travel party

City break tourism is also defined based on the characteristics of the travelers. According to Sirakaya and Woodside (2005, p.815) city breakers rarely travels with their children, instead most people travel with a partner or with a group of friends. Pearce (2001, p.940) offers a number of reasons as to why city breakers rarely travel with their children. Firstly, children are burdensome and affect one’s ease of mobility. In addition, not involving the children allows the travelers to make speedy decisions. A study by Dublin, Buckley, and Flanagan (2010, p.413) also found out that most of the city breakers often leave their children at home in order to escape the stresses and pressures of parenting. This paper will utilize some of the characteristics of the city-break tourism to determine, whether Palma is a suitable destination for city break tourists.

Objectives

The objectives of this paper are:

To determine whether the Palma city meets the following characteristics of city break tourism: distance, and duration.

To determine whether Palma city has proper infrastructure to support city-break tourism

METHODOLOGY

The paper used a qualitative research method. In particular, articles were reviewed to meet the objectives outlined above. The following search strategy was used:

The articles were identified from Google Scholar and Education Research Complete databases.

Articles were selected on the basis of currency and relevance

Only peer reviewed articles were included

The articles used were less that fifteen years old

Only articles whose authors are qualified were included in this research

Articles without abstracts and those with weak methodologies were excluded

Data analysis

The data collected was analyzed through content analysis. The following procedure was used:

Articles were identified and notes were taken

Items were categorized on the basis of their characteristics

Categories were merged to form themes

Themes were evaluated further to ensure all the information was categorized properly.

RESULTS

This section discusses the themes that were identified through the content analysis.

Motivation and city break tourism

Researchers have examined the push and pull factors that determine whether a city is a good destination. These factors should help us determine whether Palma city is a favorable travel destination to city break tourists. Kozak (2002, p.221) identified seven push motives: escape from a mundane environment, exploration, relaxation, prestige, regression, enhancement of relationships, and social interaction. The current attractions and facilities in the Palma city can be able to satisfy all these motives. On the other hand, the pull motives are novelty and education. The articles have also classified the motivational forces that influence tourist behavior into two: approach oriented and avoidance oriented. The approach perspective entails seeking recreational opportunities for certain intrinsic rewards while the avoidance perspective involves escaping from stressing conditions.

Distance

TABLE 1: Low Fare Airline Trips as a Share of Total Air Trip Volume 2004

Low-fare trip volume Market Low-fare share as % volume rank of total trip rank__________________________________________________________________________

1 UK 40

2 Germany 21

3 France 22

4 Italy 37

5 Netherlands 18

6 Spain 47

7 Russia 14

8 Czech Republic 34

9 Ireland 47

_____________________________________________________________________________

Adopted from: World Travel Market (2005)

According to the World Travel Market report (Table 1) the share of low fare air trips is highest in Ireland and Spain. According to Rebollo and Baidal (2009, p.559) the short nature of these city break trips makes accessibility an important factor in the success of urban destinations. Currently, majority of the tourists in the Palma city originate from Germany and United Kingdom. Fortunately, there are a number of low cost carriers from Germany’s cities such as Berlin Tegel, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg, and Stuttgart to Palma (Saenz-de-Miera & Rossello 2012, p.466). Likewise, there are a number of low cost carriers between Palma and Britain. Currently, tourists from Britain to Palma could choose to travel by: Ryanair, flythomascook.com, easyjet or Jet2.com (Saenz-de-Miera & Rossello 2012, p.466). Beside the low cost flights, tourists could to fly direct from London Gatwick, Glasgow, Luton, Stansted, East Midlands, Bristol, Bournemouth, Manchester, Belfast, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, Heathrow, and Edinburgh (Saenz-de-Miera & Rossello 2012, p.466). A Flight to Palma from Britain takes 2.5 hours while the distance from Palma de Mallorca airport to Palma is about 8 kilometers (Saenz-de-Miera & Rossello 2012, p.466). Upon arrival at the airport, tourists could take a shuttle ride to the city centre. Alternatively, the city breakers could use the Palma taxi system which is run by the Palma city council. The taxi tours around the city could be personalized to meet the needs of the client.

Internet usage in the city

Another important contributing factor to the expansion of city break travel is the availability of internet. City breakers travelling to Palma can also use internet and a host of electronic intermediaries to make bookings. The available literature indicates that internet increases the speed to market and access to new product offerings while shifting a balance of power between suppliers and customers (Rebollo & Baidal 2009, p.265). The importance of the internet cannot be ignored because tourism industry relies exclusively on the information and communication technologies.

Changing holiday patterns

The efforts of the Balearics government have seen a change in people’s preferences move from mass consumption of standardized holiday products to specialized niche-market holidays. The Palma city is not short of cultural attractions. One of the main cultural attractions in the city is Museo Can Morey de Santmarti and the museum of antique dolls which houses the collection of the famous Alicia Garcia German (Saenz-de-Miera & Rossello 2012, p.470). The city has plenty of options for accommodation including luxury hotels and private self-catering apartments. The city is served by numerous road networks and has an intermodal station that connects the Balearic capital to the main towns of Mallorca.

References

Rebollo, F. & Baidal, J. (2009). ‘Spread of low-cost carriers: tourism and regional policy effects in Spain.’ Regional studies, 43(4), 559-570

Saenz-de-Miera, O. & Rossello, J. (2012). ‘The responsibility of tourism in traffic congestion and hyper-congestion: a case study from Mallorca, Spain.’ Tourism Management, 33(2), 466- 479

Sirakaya. E., & Woodside, A.G. (2005). ‘Building and testing theories of decision making by travelers.’ Tourism Management, 26 (6), 815-832.

Tol, R.S.J., 2002. ‘Estimates of the Damage Costs of Climate Change.’ Environmental and Resource Economics, 21, 47-73

World Travel Market (2005). UK & European Travel Report. IPK International