Guess who's going to benefit most from this summer's tourism bonanza? There are no prizes for guessing as the answer is pretty obvious: tourism businesses, for which mostly read the hoteliers. The one surprise of the answer is that not more than 77% of Balearic citizenry believe that business will be the great beneficiary. The poor old regular citizen won't be cashing in, that's for sure. A mere 19% reckon that "social profitability" will gain; this being defined as, for instance, greater general welfare.
The latest Gadeso survey of opinions about tourism reflects the age-old dichotomies of the industry. The rich (the businesses) get richer, but the poor (the workers) don't get richer. They don't necessarily get poorer but the imbalance is as it has always been. And that, imbalance, is how tourism tends to be. Mallorca, Spain, mostly everywhere, it's the nature of the beast.
Tourism jobs are not typically among the best paid. Think for a moment about a recent report about current employment trends in Palma. Which jobs were proving the most popular? Waiters and waitresses, cleaners; these topped the lists of positions most on offer. Popular isn't the right word. Available would be more apposite. Almost two-thirds of those surveyed reckoned that one of the weaknesses of tourism was that it gives rise to work of low quality. Only two-thirds? I guess it depends on individual perceptions.
Ambivalence is how one might describe the overriding attitude towards tourism: positive and negative feelings held simultaneously. Under 50% feel that tourism is the basis of Balearic well-being and so therefore its principal strength. What else might they have in mind, either now or in the future, that would be of greater well-being? Oil exploration?
This under 50% - 47.3% to be pedantic in a percentage way - is almost equivalent to the percentage of GDP that tourism provides in the Balearics: 45.5% at last count. That's a lot of well-being. Nothing else comes anywhere like close, and nor does the GDP factor of other regions, not even the Canaries. The Balearic Islands do not live only from tourism, but they near as enough do.
The greatest weakness of tourism is recognised by a significantly greater percentage than the principal strength. Seasonality. Somewhere in the Balearics is one per cent of the population who don't consider it to be a weakness. Maybe they didn't understand the question.
Like jobs, though, what do people expect? A hell of a lot better obviously, but vastly improved pay, all-year contracts, all-year work because everywhere is open can be illusory. Tourism isn't like that. The Canaries, where the winter season is as good as summer, is the only sun-and-beach region of Spain to not be affected by seasonality: Benidorm, it might be suggested, ekes out a decent all-year trade, but that's one resort and not a whole region. Yet in the Canaries the unemployment rate is always greater than in the Balearics. Maybe it's because tourism only offers some 30% of GDP despite the twelve-month season.
Is it a case of the government (notably the current one in the Balearics) guiding the citizens in their attitudes or are they formed independently? A bit of both perhaps. The government drones on about seasonality and how it's new sustainable tourism will attack it. But governments have long droned on. Seasonality has always existed and always will exist. It is a subject that allows politicians to talk a good talk without doing anything truly fundamental that breaks the cycle.
And the sustainable part is there in the Gadeso survey as well. Which measure, more than most, will improve the tourist product? Protection of the environment and cultural heritage, say 85% of the citizens. Biel Barceló will love that, as he will also love the fact that a mere 13% believe that the tourist tax will harm tourism. He might love less the discovery that 43% think his administration is no better or worse than the last government.
There again, maybe the current government is responding to the citizens' views. Preservation and conservation are not new in being public priorities. And nor are hotel improvements and resort infrastructure makeovers being far lower priorities anything new. Attitudes don't habitually swing violently; they are mostly consistent with only slight shifts over time.
The prevailing attitudes are not wholly negative but nor are they wholly positive. It's that ambivalence. Love and hate. It might be tempting to suggest that people are being ungrateful for what tourism brings, but the temptation should be resisted. People can't be blamed for feeling their work is low-paid or that the quality of that work is low and insecure. Efforts by the current government to effect changes in this regard (though probably doomed to fail) should nevertheless be applauded. Spread the wealth and the well-being more widely, and the positivity would surely rise.
Showing posts with label Attitudes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Attitudes. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Mallorca Is Open To Business: Or is it?
The Balearic Government wants to make life easier for businesses. It wants to promote and encourage entrepreneurship, to simplify procedures, to make the finding of relevant information and relevant decision-makers easier, to attract foreign investors and to develop local talent.
It wants to do all these things and up to a point it is going about them in the right way. It talks the talk, but whether it walks the talk is another matter.
A gathering of mainly British businesspeople and others on Thursday last week at the offices of the Centre Balears Europa (CBE), part of the government's department of the presidency, was designed to impart information regarding "the changing landscape of business opportunity for European entrepreneurs in the the Balearic Islands". This was the title of the meeting at any rate.
It wasn't a bad meeting insofar as the most interesting aspect of it was to hear from a body that few people knew existed - the IDI, the institute for business innovation. It was interesting as there appear to be people within the institute, and by extension, therefore, the government, who do seem to know what they're talking about and who do seem to be genuinely committed to pursuing the objectives set out at the top of this article.
It was a pity, then, that I left the gathering with a distinct sense of pessimism, one formed by different factors: administrative structures, culture and attitudes.
There is an admission, and God knows why it has taken so long for there to be an admission, that governmental and agency structures that businesspeople have to confront are labyrinthine to say the least. Ultimately, what is needed is a flat structure, one which, culturally, places the user (the businessperson and/or company) above, and which serves this user. When there are as many agencies as there are, it is hard to see how such flatness can ever be achieved. Not while turf wars and vested interests remain endemic.
I give you a case in point as to how the government wanted to flatten decision-making but was denied the opportunity because of the interests of town halls and the Council of Mallorca. It was the process for obtaining permissions for hotel conversion. The town halls and Council were meant to have been taken out of the equation, but they refused to be. One-nil to the vested interests.
Changing bureaucratic structures can only come with a fundamental change of culture. This isn't necessarily a cultural change that brings about more Anglo-Saxon attitudes towards business, i.e. those which are more in tune with the needs of business and entrepreneurs, and away from an obstructive, everything in triplicate and then in triplicate again just to be sure, southern European mindset. These attitudes may well help, but there is also a question of cultural change of public sector mentality, and this is one that is universally obstinate in resisting change.
While the Balearics might look to northern Europe for guidance, it might be recalled how the British public sector once was. It still carries baggage from the past, but cultural change was one that proved hard, despite the insistence of Margaret Thatcher and then John Major. It can be done, but it doesn't happen overnight, especially if the structures inhibit or even prohibit its being effected.
Attitudes die hard. The landscape may apparently be changing for European entrepreneurs, but neither the CBE nor the IDI has fully cottoned on to the fact, if their websites are anything to go by. The best one can say is that the IDI does at least have a Castellano version; the CBE doesn't even have that. So much for an apparent wish to make English a language of business locally. Talking the talk (but only in Catalan), rather than walking it.
When there is a linguistic attempt to engage foreign investors, the attempt ends up being mind-boggling. I give you a different case in point: the translation into English of the new tourism law. Reader-friendly it most certainly wasn't.
Just how much do the Balearics and Mallorca want foreigners to invest and to pursue business activities? It is a key question, and I'm afraid that there is antagonism that stems from parochialism and even xenophobia (which is far more prevalent away from Palma and its cosmopolitan satellites, it should be noted). The reaction to Media Markt's opening from parts of the local business community has pretty much betrayed this antagonism, it being couched in an insular Mallorcan style.
But for big-ticket business, such xenophobia can be overcome. The labyrinth of bureaucracy can be worked through. Relationships can be formed easily with governmental leaders. Big-ticket business can do these things, but what of the small business or the one man? The IDI and the CBE might hope they can make life easier, and I wish them every success, but optimistic I am not.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It wants to do all these things and up to a point it is going about them in the right way. It talks the talk, but whether it walks the talk is another matter.
A gathering of mainly British businesspeople and others on Thursday last week at the offices of the Centre Balears Europa (CBE), part of the government's department of the presidency, was designed to impart information regarding "the changing landscape of business opportunity for European entrepreneurs in the the Balearic Islands". This was the title of the meeting at any rate.
It wasn't a bad meeting insofar as the most interesting aspect of it was to hear from a body that few people knew existed - the IDI, the institute for business innovation. It was interesting as there appear to be people within the institute, and by extension, therefore, the government, who do seem to know what they're talking about and who do seem to be genuinely committed to pursuing the objectives set out at the top of this article.
It was a pity, then, that I left the gathering with a distinct sense of pessimism, one formed by different factors: administrative structures, culture and attitudes.
There is an admission, and God knows why it has taken so long for there to be an admission, that governmental and agency structures that businesspeople have to confront are labyrinthine to say the least. Ultimately, what is needed is a flat structure, one which, culturally, places the user (the businessperson and/or company) above, and which serves this user. When there are as many agencies as there are, it is hard to see how such flatness can ever be achieved. Not while turf wars and vested interests remain endemic.
I give you a case in point as to how the government wanted to flatten decision-making but was denied the opportunity because of the interests of town halls and the Council of Mallorca. It was the process for obtaining permissions for hotel conversion. The town halls and Council were meant to have been taken out of the equation, but they refused to be. One-nil to the vested interests.
Changing bureaucratic structures can only come with a fundamental change of culture. This isn't necessarily a cultural change that brings about more Anglo-Saxon attitudes towards business, i.e. those which are more in tune with the needs of business and entrepreneurs, and away from an obstructive, everything in triplicate and then in triplicate again just to be sure, southern European mindset. These attitudes may well help, but there is also a question of cultural change of public sector mentality, and this is one that is universally obstinate in resisting change.
While the Balearics might look to northern Europe for guidance, it might be recalled how the British public sector once was. It still carries baggage from the past, but cultural change was one that proved hard, despite the insistence of Margaret Thatcher and then John Major. It can be done, but it doesn't happen overnight, especially if the structures inhibit or even prohibit its being effected.
Attitudes die hard. The landscape may apparently be changing for European entrepreneurs, but neither the CBE nor the IDI has fully cottoned on to the fact, if their websites are anything to go by. The best one can say is that the IDI does at least have a Castellano version; the CBE doesn't even have that. So much for an apparent wish to make English a language of business locally. Talking the talk (but only in Catalan), rather than walking it.
When there is a linguistic attempt to engage foreign investors, the attempt ends up being mind-boggling. I give you a different case in point: the translation into English of the new tourism law. Reader-friendly it most certainly wasn't.
Just how much do the Balearics and Mallorca want foreigners to invest and to pursue business activities? It is a key question, and I'm afraid that there is antagonism that stems from parochialism and even xenophobia (which is far more prevalent away from Palma and its cosmopolitan satellites, it should be noted). The reaction to Media Markt's opening from parts of the local business community has pretty much betrayed this antagonism, it being couched in an insular Mallorcan style.
But for big-ticket business, such xenophobia can be overcome. The labyrinth of bureaucracy can be worked through. Relationships can be formed easily with governmental leaders. Big-ticket business can do these things, but what of the small business or the one man? The IDI and the CBE might hope they can make life easier, and I wish them every success, but optimistic I am not.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, July 02, 2012
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
