Mallorca opposes turning clocks back: Sun sets on islands an hour after Galicia year-round
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 @ 11:05 AM
MALLORCA is campaigning to be exempt from turning the clocks back every winter, claiming it harms the island's tourism industry.
The Balearic Islands as a whole want to stay on Central European Summer Time (CEST) year-round, although Mallorca is most vocal about the matter, saying the fact it gets dark earlier from late October onwards makes the archipelago less attractive to holidaymakers.
Regional authorities recall that the sun comes up in the Balearics first, before the rest of Spain, and sets latest in the country – and that the difference in either direction between the islands and the north-western mainland region of Galicia is nearly an hour apart.
In fact, Galicia, which is directly due north of Portugal, has been campaigning for some time to go back an hour to place it on the same time lag as the latter country, and as the Canary Islands, Morocco, the UK and Ireland.
Galicia residents say they spend more on electricity than the rest of Spain because of getting nearly two hours' less daylight per day than the Balearics.
And the Balearics say they use too much electricity because of having to turn the clocks back in the winter – last week, residents were travelling home from work in daylight, but now, they do so in the dark, and yet even before the clocks move in winter, their morning commute is still in daylight whilst those in Galicia go to work in the dark.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com