Harry's Game - Mallorca's tourism problems

Harry Goodman may have experienced fluctuations in terms of his reputation down the years, but there is no doubting his standing in the travel industry. When he speaks, people should take note. And spoke is what he did. In "The Bulletin" yesterday. Unfortunately, he didn't really say anything. Anything more, that is, than has been said before. Only his name lends his words a certain power, but that's all.

His analysis goes thus: prices are too high, other places offer greater value for money, the weakness of the pound has made Mallorca more expensive for the Brits, you can eat out or stay in a hotel in London for less, and so on. No, none of it is hardly new. Nor is the assertion that Mallorca "has been resting on its laurels". Goodman continues by observing that the island "hasn't really woken up and smelt the coffee". No, it hasn't. The problem is that a lot of visitors have, and come to the conclusion that the coffee's too expensive.

Where does any of this get us though? Nowhere. The litany of woes has been recited many times over. The solution - that of lower prices - has been suggested as many times. Either no-one's listening (quite likely) or it's not as simple as it might sound (also quite likely).

Nowadays, Goodman focuses on the cruise market. It is quite a different one to that which first made his name - the mass-tourist package holiday to destinations such as Mallorca. Intasun started in 1970. The world was a very different place and so, most definitely, was Mallorca. The island was very, very cheap, and so were holidays. But how regulated was the wider local tourist industry then? Not very.

Though Mallorca's industrial revolution happened very late - in the form of mass tourism - it shares some similarities with Britain, where the first industrial revolution occurred. Mallorca, along with parts of the mainland, was at the vanguard of this new industrial revolution, and like Britain eventually came to suffer from being the first, so Mallorca has suffered similarly. The mistakes of being the first mover were one aspect; others have been obsolescence and competition. Which is not to say that efforts are not being made and have not been made to address these issues. Of course they have.

One of the points Goodman raises is that how well, or not, Mallorca is doing can be seen in the regularity, or not, of air services. These services have been cut back this winter, but - as a corollary to this point - the tourism minister has said she is negotiating with airlines and tour operators to guarantee a minimum number of flights and of tourists during the off-season.

Perhaps, as Goodman suggests, price structures can be adjusted to meet the challenge of the global tourism market, though you would have to wonder how or to what extent. He says he doesn't think the "problem can be solved by government alone", which is almost certainly true, but the mention of government is apposite. As I have said here, tourism should be the main strategic focus of the local government and given the right beef at the top of government, as it is elsewhere, e.g. Turkey and Egypt. However, Mallorca and Spain are not Turkey or Egypt. Politically they are different, and Turkey and Egypt are not part of the European Union - or Euroland.

The unpalatable truth is that there is no real solution. Mallorca will long continue to be a leading tourism destination, but it is going to have to get used to a diminished role, just as Britain did. The response should be for government on the one hand to be taking a stronger lead but on the other to be leading the drive towards alternative industries and not just the at-times pitiable attempts at alternative tourism. Economies change, as Britain's did. And so has to Mallorca's.

Or maybe there is a solution - that there is scope for a young Harry Goodman to come and wake up the moribund tourist industry.

** As a footnote. The other day (19 March: Wrote Me A Letter) I offered some "letters" complaining about car-hire prices, one of which reckoned that you would have to "part with upwards of eight grand for a week's hire of a Fiat Smallo". It was a joke, and I assume anyone would have realised it was. However, in the Harry Goodman article, it is said that he is being "charged something like 7,000 euros for a small car for a week". This is, at least I hope it is, a mistake. But someone should take a bit of care, as this sort of thing has a habit of being taken as the truth.


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Yesterday: Marty Robbins, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dPb5w8OT4M. Today: Theme from - and they were?

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