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TOURIST BONANZA AIRLINES are planning for a blockbuster 30 million passengers to visit Mallorca this summer, smashing the pre-Covid record set in 2019 by one million. They have requested 30.8 million seats between the end of March and the end of October, with capacity expected to bulge by 10% in the peak months. Demand from holidaymakers appears to be keeping pace with airline reservations, which in turn is pushing prices up. Germans make up the largest source of flights to Mallorca with 146 weekly, followed by the UK. The news will be greeted with consternation by Balearic government ministers, who have been making noises about restricting tourism to the island.
Cap
âLast yearâs figures should not be exceeded and that we should analyse how to reduce the arrival of visitors to the Balearics,â Minister for Tourism Iago Negueruela said this month. Although he denied that the government is planning to introduce a cap on tourism to control the number of visitors to the region, he said tourist numbers need to be âanalysed month by monthâ. âThe islands have been under massive stress and we need to work on ways to ease the impact and prevent further increases in numbers during the peak months as much as possible. âThe Balearics are full for almost six months of the year and do not need more tourists or accommodation,â he added.
BUSY: Palma airport is set to be packed this summer
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OLIVE PRESS MALLORCA
The
LET THE the Join bull BATTLES debate BEGIN! on page 6
Your expat
voice in Spain
Vol. 6 Issue 150 www.theolivepress.es February 24th - March 9th 2023
ONE of Spain's biggest fairs - the Ram fair - returns to Mallorca today and runs until April 16. Son Fusteret in Palma will once again play host to the attractions which are expected to bring in around 200,000 visitors over the coming weeks. It's ranked as the country's third-largest fair behind Sevilla and Valencia, and boasts two new attractions this year. The Rocket is not for the faint-hearted as you are suspended in the air by a harness attached to a 60-metre high tower. A more gentle attraction is Magic Cut where you have to cut a rope to win a giant stuffed animal. The fair will have 170 booths, attractions and bars this year, with 70% of stallholders coming
Fun of the fair from mainland Spain. A bonus this year is that three days - yet to be announced - will have attraction sounds muted so that people with autism can enjoy the fair. The rising cost of transporting everything to Son Fusteret along with general inflation means that prices have had to go up. Fair association spokesman, Bernardi Bisquerra, said: âAmbulances, security, insurance, electricity and other expenses have risen by over 30%.â Opening hours between Monday and Thursday
will be 4.30 pm to 11.30 pm, with an extra 90 minutes tagged on Fridays. Saturday and Sunday opening will run from 11.00 am to 1.00 am.
NO GOLDEN BOY! The case of a shocking UK murder by Gold character Kenneth Noye could be reopened as fresh evidence emerges
A BRITISH accountant who worked with high net worth clients in Mallorca could spark police to reopen an investigation into how the UKâs âPublic Enemy No 1â was easily able to escape and live in Spain for two years. Kent Police are now studying a series of sensational tapes that explain how high profile killer Kenneth Noye was harboured by a leading expat timeshare figure, based in Spain. Over 500 hours of recordings of businessman Mohamed âMoâ Derbah reveal how Noye, 75, was flown to France, then Tenerife, and finally was landed on the coast near Cadiz, where he hid for 22 months. Handed to police by UK accountant Paul Blanchard - who worked for Derbah and many clients with large companies in Mallorca - they explain how the former Brinks Mat robber evaded justice after stabbing b o x e r Stephen Cameron to death on the M25 motorway, in Kent, in 1996. In a letter to Scotland Yard accompanying the tapes,
EXCLUSIVE By Anthony Piovesan
Blanchard, a former expat based in Spain for years, pleads with police to âinvestigate and obtain justice for the family of Cameronâ. Blanchard told the Olive Press Derbah had been introduced to Noye, through his connections to fellow criminal John âGoldfingerâ Palmer, who lived in Tenerife for many years. âI am delighted that this cold case should now finally be re-examined,â he said from outside Scotland Yard, this week. âWhat Derbah did to help Noye get away with murder is staggering. âMy statements and tapes prove how he used his worldwide contacts to harbour a dangerous criminal, who had already killed at least once before.â
Fled
Blanchard also reveals in a podcast how Derbah - who had many timeshare connections on the Costa del Sol - moved Noye around by private plane and boat immediately after he fled the UK. Incredibly, Noye managed to evade police until he was finally located living in sleepy Atlanterra, near Zahara, on the Costa de la Luz, from where he was finally extradited two years later. During his time in Andalucia, Noye, as told in BBC drama The
Gold, took on the identity of a builder called âMickâ who was living in Cadiz to evade tax. He found a local girlfriend, Maria, who didnât know his real identity, or of his wife and two sons, who occasionally visited him in Spain. Eventually, British cops found out and in July, 1998, two officers flew into Jerez and headed to Atlanterra, finally spotting Noye three days later en route to his gym. In a carefully orchestrated sting, alongside Spanish police, he was finally arrested as he had lunch with Maria in a restaurant in Zahara. Blanchardâs audio tapes - which were recorded with an eye to ghosting an autobiography of Derbahâs - âprove he hid Noye in Spainâ. Noye was eventually tried and found guilty of the murder for which he received a life sentence. He was released in 2019 and has just launched a book on his life, written with investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre. UK Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mike Rowley told the Olive Press they had received the new evidence and Kent Police âwould investigateâ. âThe investigation into Mr Cameronâs murder was led by Kent Police and we have replied to the letter advising that any related matters would be raised with that force.â As we went to press Kent Police confirmed they had received âthree cassette tapesâ handed in as evidence, but told us: âWe think this is a matter for the Spanish police.â The podcast, Kenny Noye: The Lost Tapes, is available online. A Million Ways to Stay on the Run, by Donal MacIntyre is out now.
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KILLER: Noye and road rage victim Stephen Cameron (below)