Messing With Nature: Tourism opinions

You wouldn't necessarily expect the general public to be in total agreement with the policies of politicians, and in Mallorca and the Balearics, the general public is most certainly out of step with what politicians are up to. We hear a great deal about language, education and health and the discontent that governmental policies have aroused with regard to each, but what of the most important industry - tourism? What does the general public think about this and what does it think about how the regional government is handling it?

As part of the ongoing surveys of public opinion conducted by the Mallorca-based research organisation Gadeso, tourism is the latest subject to be researched. Most of the findings are unsurprising in that one would fully anticipate certain responses, but though not surprising, some demonstrate a clear difference between public and government as well as disquiet.

It most certainly isn't surprising that 99.2% of people in the Balearics believe that there is an excessive level of seasonality when it comes to tourism. The only surprise is that 0.8% don't believe there is, but the finding is interesting. An accusation levelled at Mallorcans (and one dare says at people of the other islands) is that they are quite happy for there to be only a limited tourism season, i.e. the summer, and that they would rather the winter were reserved for them and them alone. 99.2% of people would suggest that this accusation (a perception and a false one at that) is wholly unwarranted.

It is when, however, the survey gets to issues being dealt with by the regional government and its new tourism law that things get more interesting. Take, for example, the go-ahead that has been given to four new projects. Only one of these, the redevelopment in Magalluf, gets anything like support and even then it is only 41%. Another, that planned for Sa Ràpita near Es Trenc beach, is rejected by 73%, a mere 15% being in favour of the development.

This opposition to the Sa Ràpita complex reflects another finding, that the one measure to enjoy a significant level of majority support in terms of the improvement of the tourism product in Mallorca, is the protection of the environment and natural heritage. 75% of people make this the single most important issue, way ahead of hotel conversion or redevelopment of mature tourist resorts (both aspects of government policy). Remarkably perhaps, given all the talk of alternatives to sun and beach, only a quarter of the general public consider diversification of the tourism product to be important.

This latter discovery does in fact link in with environmental protection and also with a recent addition to the tourism law, namely that the government is to permit the creation of new golf courses with hotels (except in Ibiza). This goes against previous blocks on the development of new courses and certainly against the building of hotels to accompany them. As such, this amendment to the tourism law raises yet again a big question mark over what might happen with the Son Bosc finca in Muro where the planned golf course (work on which is still suspended) has never included provision for a hotel, yet where the developers are a group of hotels.

On the tourism law itself (and one should point out that it still going through parliament and hasn't yet finally been approved), only 32% of people believe that it is positive. 43% think it is negative and is aimed at benefiting the hoteliers, and there is no real dispute that it does benefit the hotels. But a 25% don't know is a significant number and may reflect the fact that the law has indeed yet to be passed or that it isn't as simple as saying it will be positive or negative. The best conclusion one might draw, where the government is concerned, is that public opinion is fairly neutral on the matter of the new law.

The government probably won't take much notice of the survey, but it should. The attitude towards environmental and natural heritage protection is strong, and it is an attitude that can be seen as chiming with attitudes towards other governmental policies. The overwhelming rejection of the free selection of language in education and therefore the huge majority of parents who want Catalan as the language in which their children should be taught is a case in point. The Partido Popular government is running a great risk in meddling with Mallorcan and Balearic culture, and the language and the natural environment are two key components in this culture.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.