Just Another Day - tourism scene and corruption

Here's a potentially useful addition to the coverage in "The Bulletin" - a regular thing on tourism. You might wonder why there hasn't been such a column before. If you haven't wondered, I most certainly have. Amidst the pages of questionable relevance and of British and international politics, there are few that actually deal with issues of direct relevance to Mallorca. Tourism is not exactly irrelevant. But now there is a column, of sorts. It is in the form of an interview with the paper's tame tour operator chappie, the guy from the Co-Op-Monarch-Cosmos group. The first one is not uninteresting, albeit that it says much that is fairly obvious or known.

The same chap was recently reported in the paper as saying that bookings to Mallorca were down by some 15%. At the time (25 January: I'm Anti, Fly Me), I questioned whether this would continue to prove to be the case, and continue to prove it has not - the current fall is around half that figure, while - in all likelihood - there will ultimately prove to be no fall and possibly even a slight increase. It isn't really tourist industry rocket science to suggest that there will be later bookings that contribute to a reasonable, if not spectacular, tourism season. The Turkish situation is an interesting aspect that will play a part in this. There is under-supply in Turkey and, just as importantly, prices have gone up there. I read on a forum someone saying that prices were "outrageous"; that person was looking for a villa in Mallorca as an alternative. Something that may have escaped many of the doom-mongers is the enduring strength of the Mallorca brand and product, despite the tourism authorities' best attempts at trying to undermine it or to not promote it adequately. One thing the tour operators know is that they can get that supply, which they cannot necessarily obtain elsewhere.

To have a regular feature is a good enough idea; to give some facts is a good enough idea. To have an industry insider supplying the information is also a good enough idea, but it is only one insider and one who represents a specific company. Inevitably, there might be a bit of a "take" on matters that are - how should one say it - skewed towards that company. But don't let me get too critical. It is a useful addition, but even more so would be a real feature or column, one that takes the insider information and forms a discussion, one that might be - dare I say it - rather more journalistic. Heaven knows, there is enough cracking off in the island's tourism industry to fill a paper, let alone just one page. And, slightly tangential but still within the industry orbit, comes the oh-no-not-more-of-it moment. Corruption. This time it is Inestur. Which is? The Balearics institute for tourism strategy, an institute within the ambit of the regional government's ministry of tourism. An investigation is now under way into this institute. The facts are not yet clear, nor is it clear if any alleged corruption refers to the current ministry administration - under the Unió Mallorquina party - or the previous one of the Partido Popular. It hardly seems to matter any longer. Just another day in Mallorca. Another day, another corruption allegation. And this time, tourism's in the front line. Regular feature. Yep. The daily scandal feature.


QUIZ
Yesterday: "Riders On The Storm", The Doors, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbPUzhWeeI. Today's title: could be a few, but this one - Cuban-American - had a gold seller with "Just Another Day".


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.