With the impetus of the Son Servera and Sant Llorenç des Cardassar Tourism Consortium behind it, the #EastMallorca project is born with the objective of promoting and fostering one of the busiest tourist areas in the Balearic Islands. The #EastMallorca destination is formed by the union of five municipalities in eastern Mallorca: Son Servera, Sant LLorenç des Cardassar, Manacor, Artà and Capdepera. They make up a tourist destination with a total area of 580 km2 and more than 70,000 beds for holidaymakers, 24% of the total for the island of Mallorca.
In addition to an extensive range of quality accommodation, the destination offers diverse tourism products and resources: beaches, cultural activities, nature, wellbeing and sports activities, etc. All these assets make up a comprehensive tourism offer that fosters quality and deseasonalisation and, through promotion and communications strategies, will be marketed as #EastMallorca.
The purpose of this project is to combine the assets of each of the municipalities to build a tourism offer in which the perfect combination of diversity and quality will allow us to increase our competitiveness with respect to other areas of Mallorca. In short, the aim is to strengthen the ability of the destination to be competitive and sustainable in the long term.
In addition to the existing conventional demand, there is also a demand for new experiences and active tourism. This requires a new structural approach to allow for a variety of leisure offers to coexist. In this respect, the tourism products currently being worked on by the #EastMallorca project are:
All these products can be added to the many other alternatives that emerge as a consequence of efforts to diversify the offer. The objective is, through joint work and cooperation, to attract tourism to a destination that, due to its geographic location −some distance from the airport− needs to strengthen its offer of resources to compete with other areas of Mallorca.
Sport is one of the best options for deseasonalising the holiday market. Mallorca, and more specifically the eastern part of the island, has an important hotel infrastructure, sports facilities and areas of great tourist interest, making it the ideal setting in which to organise one of the best tournaments in Europe.
This sports event can evolve into a family, gastronomic, nature and sports tourism product. It is seen as a transversal event with direct and indirect benefits for the socioeconomic sectors of the municipalities, specifically the catering, commerce, accommodation and transport sectors.
The EastMallorcaCup is an international tournament of both male and female youth football teams. It is divided into three different categories and is currently competed in by approximately 80 teams, with more than 1,700 players and 2,000 people accompanying them.
The participants include teams from Spain, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Brazil, Ecuador, China, Japan and Australia.
The matches are played at seven sites:
Manacor: FC Enagistes and FC Porto Cristo
Sant Llorenç: es Moleter Football Ground, Sant Llorenç des Cardassar
Son Servera: Ses Eres Football Ground
Cala Millor: Cala Millor Sports and Services Centre
Capdepera: FC Capdepera
Artà: Ses Pesqueres Football Ground
It is planned for this tournament to have between 160 and 200 participating teams in the medium term (2022), bringing some 10,000 visitors for 5 days in low season.
The project consists of the creation of a long-distance footpath (GR) that allows the eastern part of the island of Mallorca to be crossed on foot or by bicycle. The #GrEastMallorca footpath will connect the localities of Artà, Capdepera, Sant Llorenç, Son Servera and Manacor along a 175-km route with 4 stages, 3 variations and 3 derivations.
The route is based on a circular itinerary that can be started at any point, taken in any direction, and for the distance desired by the user. The stages, variations and derivations have been designed to create a highly versatile network, making it possible to divide the path into shorter itineraries and thus configure an “à la carte” hike or cycle ride.
The itinerary will be officially approved by the FEDME (Spanish Federation for Mountain and Climbing Sports) and the IMBA (International Mountain Bike Association), making it the first officially-approved walking and cycling itinerary on the island. Thanks to the inspections carried out by the official approval bodies, as well as the use of standardised international markings and signage, this type of itinerary meets all the requirements needed to guarantee user safety and minimise the risk of accident or getting lost.
The main objectives of the project are:
– The main objective of signposting East Mallorca is the configuration of a first-class tourism attraction that responds to new market demands, creating a tourism infrastructure that is fully integrated into the environment.
– The development of the municipalities it runs through, as well as their environmental and heritage resources, focusing on in the dispersed resources in the countryside that are difficult to access if not by this type of tourism route.
– To foster tourism, entrepreneurial and environmentally sustainable development based on recovering traditional historic paths for hiking and cycling.
– To recover, clean up and make known the footpaths of the area (pathways of great scenic and heritage value with a multitude of uses).
– To attract responsible tourism combining sport, nature, gastronomy and culture.
– To increase the offer of high-quality sports and active tourism as a means of boosting the tourism sector through hiking and cycle tourism.
– To encourage diversification in the tourism services offered by private firms.
– To configure a quality holiday destination, adapting and reorganising the area’s tourism resources in such a way as to increase the competitiveness of the municipalities’ tourism offer.
A project based both on specialisation and the creation and improvement of the components of the offer motivating golf or sports leisure travel.
Golf has become increasingly important over recent years, thanks to its repercussion on society; as a tourist resource it has seen unprecedented growth as an active tourism activity undertaken in the natural environment.
The five golf courses in the #EastMallorca destination (Pula Golf, Golf Son Servera, Canyamel Golf, Capdepera Golf and Rotana Greens) jointly aim to improve, promote and position the area as a fundamental linchpin for the creation of a much more varied offer to meet the expectations of our visitors.
The #GolfEastMallorca project allows us to construct an offer in which the perfect combination of variety and high quality standards makes us more competitive and, in our particular case, helps us overcome the disadvantage posed by the sixty kilometres that separate us from Palma airport.
Thanks to the fact that golf helps to deseasonalise destinations, as well as to complement traditional sun and beach tourism, allows us to diversify and promote the low season by offering a sporting and tourism attraction that adds considerable value to the destination.
There are certain specific aspects that can be postulated as a basis for reinforcing this type of golf tourism, thanks to its quality and power of attraction: the accessibility of the destination (not only the wide range of flights to the island, but also the good road access), the existence of various golf courses and the quality of the complementary offer of the #GolfEastMallorca destination.
#EastMallorca is an excellent choice as a MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition) destination. The more than 11 million tourists who visit the island of Mallorca every year are proof of its attraction and also make it an ideal business tourism destination.
#EastMallorca offers various cultural, convention and meeting centres around the five municipalities: Manacor Auditorium and Theatre, Porto Cristo Cultural Centre, Sa Màniga Auditorium, Espai 36, Artà Theatre, La Unió Theatre and Cap Vermell, with a capacity of more than 3,500 people. These multipurpose facilities are highly versatile and are equipped with the latest technology and audiovisual equipment.
As a complement to meeting and convention tourism, #EastMallorca offers a wide diversity of all-year-round tourism resources and products:
Finally, coexisting behind the public #EastMallorca intermunicipal cooperation initiative is a large private sector expert in the existing resources and products, which is capable of having a considerable repercussion on the project, helping to increase competitiveness and positive growth in the area’s economy.
© Consorci de Turisme de Son Servera i Sant Llorenç des Cardassar
