Total War: The tourism law

I hope I can be forgiven for highlighting issues to do with the proposed new tourism law. The reason for doing so is that it is of major importance, and there is now a second reason - the extent to which it threatens to drive a huge wedge between the Mallorcan business community and also between the regional government and the town halls.

Opposition to the law has been pouring in from all quarters. Bars and restaurants, as represented by the business confederation CAEB, have now added their voice to criticisms that the law is a law for the hotels and that it is discriminatory and anti-competitive.

A consequence of the law is that a new term has emerged: "total hotel". The total hotel would be one in which there would be few limits as to what the hotel could provide, and provide, moreover, without the need for obtaining licences and to the general public as well as guests.

The Mallorca Rocks hotel in Magalluf is an example of where the new law may lead. Mallorca Rocks' concerts are open to the general public, and while permission that the hotel was finally granted by the tourism ministry last year was good news, it didn't stop fears being expressed as to the precedent, one that now seems to be enshrined in the tourism law.

Opposition to Mallorca Rocks came from the entertainment sector in Magalluf that saw the hotel as a competitive threat, even though it didn't really amount to one. There wasn't a lot of sympathy for the opposition - well, there wasn't from me, that's for sure - but one can now begin to see that this opposition had some basis over and above other businesses simply trying to put a stop to competition, real or imagined.

The range of activities that hotels might now be able to offer goes way beyond a weekly music concert. It could include anything from discos to religious services, open to anyone. The "total hotel" concept is apt.

This said, as it stands certain activities are already open to the general public. Whether they should be is probably another matter, but evening shows, for instance, most definitely do attract passing trade. What the law would do, however, would be to formalise this. If the result is that even small hotels end up providing all manner of activities, you can understand why businesses outside hotels are none too happy.

That hotels might be able to engage in these activities without going through the rigmarole of obtaining licences is what is getting backs up at town halls. Palma had already expressed its concerns and now Santa Margalida (for which read Can Picafort) has added its opposition. The town halls' anxieties are two-fold. One is that the law will create a two-tier system with hotels the "first-class citizens" of the local tourism industry benefiting to the detriment of other businesses, the "second-class citizens". Secondly, the law would cut out some town hall local planning responsibility.

The town halls could be accused of defending their territory - literally as well as abstractly - and therefore part of the reason for their existence. It could be argued, though, that cutting out town hall bureaucracy would be no bad thing. If they were able to demonstrate that they were genuinely trying to support the "second-class citizens" or had been able to demonstrate this in the past, there might be more sympathy for their position. As it is, there is a feeling that they are trying to cling onto power when it comes to planning.

Whatever the town halls' motivations, it is becoming increasingly evident that the government has got a fight on its hands. Non-hotel business is allying with the town halls in raising strong opposition to the government. While Santa Margalida is not a Partido Popular administration, Palma is, and there are major tourism centres, such as Calvia and Alcúdia, that are also controlled by the PP. If they were to adopt a similar attitude to that of Palma and Santa Margalida, this would open up another front in what is beginning to look like a war that the government is embarking upon. Business, which might be more inclined to support the PP, is similarly being alienated.

The tourism law, for all that it is the government's flagship policy and for all that it has much to commend it, could yet be undone. Or if it isn't, it could yet be, more than battles over language policy, the government's undoing.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.