Noises In The Tramuntana

Towards the end of October the 800KM Mallorca Classic will take place. It is a five-day event for classic motorbikes that started last year in Argentina with the Patagonia Classic and is being brought to Spain this year. It is an occasion for bike enthusiasts and collectors to gather and head off together on one long road test. In Argentina, it is said, the event has had the support of sponsors and local authorities in towns and villages, and its route has included the Tronador mountains and the Moreno and Nahuel Huapi lakes.

The classic in Mallorca is being supported by, among others, the Balearic Motorcycling Federation and Palma365. According to the website, riders will be staying at exclusive five-star hotels in Palma and their excursions will be taking them onto the roads of the Tramuntana mountains.

Coming as it will towards the end of the summer season, a gathering of bike enthusiasts - the precise number isn't yet known - in top-quality accommodation sounds highly positive. These are presumably visitors, possibly with family or friends, who will have money to spend. They may well fit a profile, therefore, of the type of tourist the regional government seems so desperate to attract. However, will everyone look upon the event positively? Local authorities in Argentina in areas with mountains and lakes may do so, but will local authorities in Mallorca with mountains and artificial lakes, the reservoirs of Gorg Blau and Cuber?

Mayors of towns in the mountains, Soller's mayor in particular, have been expressing their concerns about the seemingly illegal motorbike races that take place on the mountains' roads each Saturday. The legality and safety of these races are two issues, another one is the noise, and the sound of motorbikes roaring around the mountains was one that was highlighted in the "manifesto" of a save the Tramuntana group not so long ago.

Bikes do make noise. There's no getting away from this. But, illegal races aside, are there too many complaints? And doubtless there will be ones when the classic race hits the mountain roads in October. Biking is a very good way of seeing Mallorca and especially the mountains, as also is cycling, yet there were complaints earlier this year that there were too many cyclists, and these complaints form part of a general pattern: there are too many tourists in the mountains full stop.

Another manifestation of this abundance of visitors has been a recent concern expressed at the volume of beachgoers in Sa Calobra, but this concern just reinforces what should be a pretty fundamental question as to what, touristically, Mallorca wants from its mountains. The Tramuntana has its status as a World Heritage Site (and are we ever allowed to forget the fact), but there is still a lack of clarity and vision as to what this means in terms of tourism promotion.

There are those who will argue that this Unesco status is a double-edged sword, its negative aspect being that it leads to so-called "massification". But are more cyclists, bikers, beachgoers in Sa Calobra the consequence of heritage status? I wouldn't have thought so for one moment. Having such status can be something to be banged on about incessantly, as it is, but there are numerous ways by which visitors are attracted to the mountains, to its beaches, to its cycling and biking potential that have absolutely nothing to do with Unesco. Social media are just one of them. Do visitors truly pay much attention to awards such as world heritage or even blue flags and other beach quality standards? Some might, but blue flag beaches of Mallorca that have been packed out at weekends this summer owe very little to the flags. They owe a great deal more to the sheer volume of visitors, popularity with residents and sharing via social media.

As for the classic motorbikes, noise there will be in October in the mountains, but it is not a noise that should be made to feel unwelcome.