Blame It On (The B.G.)

“Jack Frost nipping at your toes.” Ah yes, the cosy chill of Christmas that calls from every mall and supermarket. But not only from the shops. There was a frost this morning. Strange thing you might think for Mallorca at sea level, but you’d be wrong. Beautiful clear skies at this time of the year mean really cold nights and mornings. The sun doesn’t get to work until about ten; it’s bitter until it does.


Here we go again. “Euro Weekly” cites an unattributed source (as always in Magaluf) as believing that the good news figures for 2007’s tourism and those projected for 2008 mask the (Balearic) Government’s own shortcomings. As always, the causes of bars’ summer problems are all here – lower spend, too many all-inclusives, too little quality, in addition to those government shortcomings – as are the causes of the winter malaise, or rather cause, as that seems firmly to be one of the Government’s making.

The Government takes the rap. Always someone or something to blame, and who better than the Government. This is not to say that the Government and the tourism authorities could not do better or could not do things differently, but it is a convenience of untruth to heap the blame onto the Government.

Theoretically, the Government could stop all-inclusives. Hotels’ activities are licensed, so it is within the Government’s gift, via its agencies and the local authorities, to determine those activities. But this is anti-market. Any limitation might also be deemed a restraint of trade under European law. Any attempt at enforcement by governments nationally or in the autonomous regions, i.e. Madrid or Palma in Mallorca’s case, could create conflict with the town halls. Besides, the legality of the all-inclusive offer has been accepted by the Government, and the national ombudsman has decreed that there are no grounds for any action against all-inclusives. It – the banning or whatever of all-inclusives – will not happen, so forget it. Stop blaming the Government; it is the wrong target. It is the tour operator, some hotels and the tourist him or herself who are to blame for all-inclusives, if one is to play the blame game at all. The Government is most unlikely to antagonise the source of so much economic wealth (the tour operators) by telling them what sort of offer they can or cannot make. Equally, the Government is most unlikely to tell hotel owners to quit offering all-inclusive packages. Let it not be forgotten that the boss of Iberostar was glad-handing with Government ministers at the recent World Travel Market. Were the ministers telling Miquel Flaxa to stop all-inclusive holidays? I don’t think so somehow. Let it also not be forgotten that Iberostar brings in the sort of “quality” the “fuming bar boss” of this week’s Euro Weekly longs for, albeit that some of that “quality” is going all-inclusive.

But, you know, there is something the Government can do, and something the Government plans to do, so we are led to believe. That is to impose quality standards on hotels. Now this would most certainly affect some all-inclusives quite significantly. One of the reasons for the success of some of the big all-inclusives is because they are relatively cheap, and they are relatively cheap because the standards are not always high. Cost of quality compliance will alter the business model of some hotels. This may not put a stop to some all-inclusives but it for sure will change their markets and may well make them think about the mix of board that they can offer. And this is not a Government involvement that does necessarily conflict with the tour operators. TUI wants 4-star, TUI wants eco-friendly establishments, whatever they are. What TUI wants, TUI often gets. And it comes at a price.


QUIZ
Yesterday – Duran Duran. Today’s title – well the B.G. (for Balearic Government) is a sort of play on words or initials if you prefer. Who?

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