The seventeenth Mallorca 312 cycling event takes place on Saturday (April 25). The increase in participation over the years has been enormous. As the president of the Playa de Muro Hoteliers Association points out, there were 200 cyclists when the event began; there are now 8,500. The growth, says Pepe de Luna, reflects the commitment that local hoteliers made to cycling and to the 312 organisers years ago.
Playa de Muro is where the 312 starts and where it finishes. There is now even a symbolic 312 milestone. For the hoteliers, 312 is unquestionably good business; they are currently at 99% occupancy. De Luna estimates that the resort hosts some 25,000 cyclists a year, adding that these visitors represent a boost for complementary services as well as for the hoteliers themselves.
The association’s strategy, he explains, “is focused on productivity, but with a higher quality of customer experience”. Cyclists are a fundamental element of the strategy, while the Mallorca 312 is an “indispensable component”.
The complementary services that De Luna refers to include the bike shops that have sprung up over the years and the restaurants. He insists that “cyclists spend more than people realise and generate longer stays”. They are often family groups, De Luna saying “sport and family are two segments that work well together and can be combined”.
There is a commitment to Mallorca 312 “because it is one of the most important events on the cycling calendar, it positions us globally, and since we started working with them thirteen years ago, time has proven right all of us who believed in it”.
It is impossible, of course, to consider cycling tourism in Mallorca without mention of the negatives (as seen by many), just one being road closures that events such as 312 require. Another is a generally held view that cyclists don’t spend. For the Mallorca economy as a whole, cycling is reckoned to generate some 300 million euros per annum. Much of this, however, goes on accommodation. But in Playa de Muro, there can be the evidence of packed terraces and restaurants late in the afternoon after a day’s cycling. De Luna says cyclists spend more than people realise, but one suspects he will struggle to convince everyone.