You’re reading our series Summer’s Not Cancelled, celebrating summer in this new normal. From rediscovering nature and cherishing time with friends and family, to virtual festivals and unforgettable staycations – summer’s still here, it’s just different.
What is it about Mallorca and the Brits? A mix of exotic and accessible, the Spanish island is, for many of us, our first experience of holidaying abroad.
With cosy little coves for romance and bigger, brasher resorts for friends and families in need of easy entertainment, the island has become a victim of its own success – having become synonymous with Brits Abroad drinking culture.
Recently imposed restrictions on alcohol and anti-social behaviour aimed to steer visitors towards the island’s more traditional culture and ways of life. Then coronavirus hit – and ground tourism to a halt.
Spain is keen to welcome tourists back – and with quarantine rules soon to ease, UK tourists are beginning once more to dream of holidays in the sun.
Years before the Magaluf strip was a thing, Mallorca’s natural beauty was already luring moneyed Brits to holiday on the island – as a series of newly released archive images show.
These snapshots and postcards reveal a different Mallorca, before the drunken hordes arrived – not to mention marking some of its defining moments.
A horse and cart at the airport
“This was Mallorca’s first airport,” says Eduardo Gamero, Mallorca’s current president of tourism of this image of two worlds meeting in the early 1960s.
As international travel boomed, the island’s warm air, local seafood, powder beaches and hiking, walking and sunbathing opportunities made it a hotspot.
“I remember the first flight landing – an SAS aircraft full of passengers from Scandinavia,” says Gamero of the original airport – now used by private flights and helicopters. In 1960, Palma opened the bigger Airport Son Sant Joan.
In the early days, he says, aircraft would stop off en route for refuelling. “A flight from London would have taken four or five hours instead of the two hours it takes today.”
Sunbathers in the 1960s
“This is a typical beach scene at the Palmanova resort from the 1960s,” says Gamero of the photo below. “These were the early days of tourism when guests would book a two week holiday in July or August, and hit the beach.”
The island’s reputation caught the attention of the glitterati and literati, with Audrey Hepburn, Agatha Christie and Winston Churchill all visitors. Christie even wrote a novel about her favourite destination on the island, Pollensa Bay. Celebs including Harrison Ford, Sting and Gwyneth Paltrow are still fans today.
Bikinis used to be banned
“The first bikini seen on the island was in 1962, and it was incredible,” says Gamero – all the more, he adds, after the very deep and long recession that followed the Spanish Civil War.
“It was such a statement of freedom, the type that we hadn’t seen before and it really pinpointed the new era of tourism and the moment when Spain started to open up to the outside world.”
This postcard is probably from the 1980s, at a point when bikinis had become a common sight on the island.
A van taking leaflets around the island
The Fomento del Turismo de Mallorca (or Mallorca Tourist Board) was formed in 1905, says Gamero – it’s been promoting the island for a whopping 115 years.
“This is the Fomento’s early promotional van, in service between 1966 and 1967. It was used by the team to deliver posters and material about Mallorca to travel agents not only throughout Spain, but also to Portugal.”
‘Whatever your sunshine pleasure’
This poster was produced at the beginning of the island’s “boom” years in the 1970s, says Gamero, who remembers the brainstorm behind it.
“We wanted to communicate how the destination was great for everyone; families, couples and young people – and the sports facilities we could offer at that time.”
Mallorca’s best beach, according to the locals
“This is one of the finest spots in Mallorca, perhaps our best beach,” says Gamero of Formentor Beach.
The grand Hotel Formentor was founded in 1929 by the Argentinian businessman Adan Diehl – and hosted celebs from all walks of life.
“Churchill, the Dalai Lama, Charles Chaplin, Audrey Hepburn, Gary Cooper, Peter Ustinov, Fernando Rey, Julio Iglesias, Berlanga, Plácido Domingo, Bobby Charlton and Carlos Fuentes all visited in its heyday.”
This second postcard celebrates the 75th anniversary of Formentor Beach, and was released in 1980.
Puerto Pollensa in the 1970s
This is a postcard of Puerto Pollensa from the 1970s, as tourism really boomed.
“Puerto Pollensa was especially popular with the British holidaymakers and was a favourite holiday spot of the murder mystery author, Agatha Christie, who was inspired by the location to write Problem at Pollensa Bay,” says Gamero.
The arrival of Concorde in the 1980s
“I remember the day well,” says Gamero. “The airport was packed with people – lots of locals who were curious to see what Concorde would look like, together with dignitaries, heads of various government departments and tourism associations.
“It was an important event – a unique event and there was great excitement. The mainly British passengers disembarking were greeted by a local band playing traditional Mallorquin folk music with traditional dancers in the local costume.”
It was great publicity for the island, he adds, “but really Concorde had to go way out of its way to fly from the UK to Palma!”
