Here It Comes Again

Winter tourism. Here I go again. And I go again because the English media here is going again, and again, and again. Letters to the editor of “The Bulletin” bemoan the dead streets, a piece in “Euro Weekly” calls for more political action - again, again. So many demands for something to be done, so much vacuity of solution. “Euro Weekly” quoted a local businessman (who?, local to where?). Rather than swanning around at the World Travel Market, politicians should be beating a path to hotel owners’ offices and persuading them to stay open. Or something like that. And hey presto - the bar and restaurant tills are alive with the sound of euros.

But this political persuasion. Attack the links further down the tourist food chain rather than those at the top (the tour operators at the London trade fair). Fine. How? What would persuade a hotelier or several to stay open through winter, stay open and pay the wages, the taxes and the social security, pay the energy bills, pay the suppliers ... ? What would persuade hoteliers to do all this as an act of social responsibility so that some bars and restaurants could also stay open and pay the wages, the taxes etc. But it would not be mere social responsibility, it would be business sense - keep the hotels open and the people will flock in. Really?

But again this political persuasion. What form might it take? There is but one form that would make bottom-line-oriented hoteliers take note. Money. Ok, let me run this one by you. The Government decides that it wants if not all then a goodly proportion of hotels across the island to stay open the whole year. It makes a pact with the hoteliers. Given the amounts paid out in unemployment benefits, it agrees to pay some of these benefits as a contribution to wages in the off-season; or it agrees to a form of tax or social security break for the off-season. Something financial to incentivise the hotels to stay open. It might save the Government a bit, it might contribute to overall economic well-being, it might bring added tax revenues from the on-sales of tourists consuming in the wider economy, it might activate an otherwise sluggish local consumer market by creating a bit more disposable income. Let’s assume the Government could do this without falling foul of any European law which prohibits what might be interpreted as a state subsidy for the private sector.

So a greater number of hotels stay open. Then what? The political persuasion has to continue (or rather it should have started further up the tourist chain in the first place). The tour operators. Despite the growth of do-it-yourself (DIY) holidays and internet bookings, hotels are still dependent upon the tour operators: it is they who contract the hotels and it is they from whom the hotels derive much of their business. It is also they, the tour operators, who contract the airlines. Even where they are vertically integrated with their own air operations, I find it highly unlikely that the air divisions would operate in any way other an as profit centres. The airlines in turn have to contract with the airports. And so it goes on ... .

Tour operators are far better than governments and politicians at judging what their business should be. They model demand, shape demand, respond to demand. They supply that demand for winter tourism through a multitude of offers, of destinations, of long- and short-haul, of sun, snow and not so-much sun. Like powerful High Street stores dominate the manufacturers in the retail chain, so the tour operators hold the power in the tourism chain. Though they will always say that they are acting according to consumer needs, it is they who decide where people go and what they are offered.

The persuasion has to be directed at the consumer. Keeping hotels open is a product-led strategy, but this would be part of the equation. Persuading the consumer requires a huge challenge of altering perceptions as I have noted before, of marketing, and above all of provision - of attractions, of entertainment, of things to do, of shops that are open when you want them to be. With the best will in the world, taking a group of people for a walk up a mountain (one of the Winter in Mallorca offers) is not going to bring in the hordes.

Winter tax breaks and other financial incentives for hotels and their staff, the expansion and development of major attractions, massive marketing (both through traditional channels and the internet), reduced costs of landing rights for airlines in winter, the establishment of major events that could be added onto the natural advantages of winter fiestas such as Sant Antoni, public-private partnerships in the development of some of these. These are just some ideas. They would need to be planned for over a several-year period in order to assess the impact, but much of this could be introduced in the short-term. I am offering a solution. How about others?


QUIZ
Yesterday - The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. Today’s title - song by a drippy ‘60s act is the one I’m looking for.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)