When Maria Antonia Munar and Celesti Alomar, respectively the former president of the Council of Mallorca and regional tourism minister, once advocated a greater quality of tourist and took particular aim at the Germans, the reaction was one of outrage in Germany. Or one should say among certain elements of that country's media. As always, the words of the politicians were blown out of proportion, but the press in Germany, e.g. Bild, managed to whip up sufficient offence for the number of German tourists to fall sharply in 2002 (there were other factors, i.e. the ecotax and a faltering German economy at the time).
There is now something of a repetition. Palma's mayor Antoni Noguera has referred to "rubbish" tourists from Germany (his term might also be translated as junk or even scum). Bild has taken umbrage and so have opposition politicians in Palma. Irresponsible, says the PP's Marga Duran, ignoring the fact that Noguera was talking about recent incidents which quite clearly demonstrate that there is a breed of German tourist (in Playa de Palma) which is indeed rubbish.
The non-Bild-reading Germans will be among those agreeing with Noguera. He has called out a sector of German tourism and was not wrong to have done so. What Bild and some others might care to reflect on is the fact that this issue does crop up fairly repeatedly. The message might eventually get through.
The difference now is that Noguera has taken specific aim at behaviour. Munar and Alomar were more concerned with spending power, as was - in 2013 - the then deputy mayor with tourism responsibilities Alvaro Gijón. He had advocated a policy of increasing quality in Playa de Palma. His words were misinterpreted, Bild believing that "our favourite island" was coming to an end. Gijón was planning a resort for the rich in "Germany's most popular party zone". The assault on Gijón and the defence of German tourists was such that the paper took issue with any attempt to deny tourists the right to take "buckets of sangria" onto the beach.
One of the images of Playa de Palma over the years (and it is the case elsewhere) has been the bucket of booze with long straws. There is now renewed talk of banning supermarkets from selling the booze buckets, which is another aspect of the general attempt to eliminate rubbish tourism on a broad scale in Mallorca. It was this image that Bild defended, and so also defended the right of German tourists to get drunk. The headline was something along the lines of "hands off Ballermann", i.e. let the tourists drink at Balneario 6, which has long been the epicentre of drunken tourism.
A further difference now is that Noguera's rubbish tourism is not confining itself to the earlier season. Residents' groups are saying that it extends into the main season and they are identifying a type of tourism which unashamedly only comes to drink. As such, therefore, moves to promote greater quality in tourism and to place families, responsible tourists in general over the low-grade category are failing. Once more, the tour operators need to share some of the blame. But above all, it is the tourists themselves who are to blame. Rubbish tourists? Kick 'em out.
Showing posts with label German tourists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label German tourists. Show all posts
Sunday, July 09, 2017
Tuesday, June 06, 2017
The Lawlessness Of Cala Ratjada
Three springs ago, Capdepera town hall took pleasure in informing its citizens and any others who might have cared that the beach police unit was back on the beat. It had sprung into operation, as the official season demands, on 1 May. The town hall was able to also provide information about how well the unit had performed the previous year, which was when it was established. No fewer than 804 "denuncias" for non-compliance with bylaws had been issued.
Town halls love this sort of thing. Calvia is an even better example. Take, for instance, its report last year about the number of pineapples that had been impounded en route to Paguera and Magalluf beaches. Designed to impress, it ends up sounding limp if not slightly ridiculous.
The following summer, in July 2015, the town hall was giving information about its police night patrol, which was responding to citizen complaints regarding noise, street drinking and what have you. Before this season started, i.e. early April, it was reported that both the beach and night units could disappear. Police representatives were refusing to negotiate with the mayor. There was open warfare as the police felt badly let down. Their salaries, it was said, were the worst in Mallorca. Three officers from the night unit had decided to leave. The whole of the beach patrol looked as if it was on its way out as well.
Although one can (often with justification) mock the statistics that town halls enjoy lavishing on their citizenships, the police union said that the two units had generated successful results. Yet here they were, on the point of collapse because of low morale. Projecting ahead to the staging of the highly popular mediaeval market in May, union representatives were suggesting that only minimum services could be provided. Officers were refusing to perform "extraordinary services". The situation with their conditions - hours as well as pay - was "unsustainable".
Towards the end of April came news that certain weekend shifts had no police at all. This problem was expected to be repeated because of the lack of officers and the row over conditions. The prospect was looming of there being times in the main tourism season with no police patrols. The entire force of 37 was inadequate for a population that can increase to some 50,000, most of them in Cala Ratjada.
Last week, councillors from the opposition Partido Popular walked out of the council meeting. Protesting against the "authoritarianism" of PSOE (the mayor, Rafel Fernández, is from PSOE), they said that the administration was in chaos, one aspect of this being the failure to come to agreements with the police. The mayor pointed out that there had been a meeting the previous day at which there were some agreements, but not on pay. Increasing salaries would "not conform to legality" insofar as public employee pay is restricted under the terms of the so-called Montoro Law, named after the national finance minister.
At the weekend, there were various reports about the apparent total breakdown of control on the beaches of Cala Agulla and Son Moll. They had become "Comanche territory", invaded by hundreds of young people getting drunk, swimming nude, playing high-powered sound equipment and roasting chickens. These young people are Germans.
Responses to these reports didn't blame the police. They blamed the mayor and the town hall and the tourists. And for Cala Ratjada, this was hardly the first time that there was news of drunken German tourists. It's been going on for years, especially because of the spring break-type holidays. Cala Ratjada, so opinion goes, is the Magalluf of north-east Mallorca. That opinion is not wrong.
There are different issues here. One is policing. There are concerns elsewhere in Mallorca about the lack of police to deal with the greatly increased numbers of tourists. We all know about Magalluf and Playa de Palma, which are the resorts the politicians and much of the media are only ever interested in, but there are issues in places that don't normally attract attention. Playa de Muro is one, but it doesn't have the problems that Cala Ratjada has.
These are not the fault of the police or the town hall. The blame lies squarely with tour operators who organise spring-break holidays and with the hotels who accept the guests. The total disregard for coexistence and for the capabilities of local services, especially police, is scandalous.
So what's to be done? In all likelihood, nothing. What there is of the beach unit in Cala Ratjada - there were apparently two cops about at the weekend - cannot cope. The Guardia could be sent in but the Guardia have other matters to attend to. Compliance with local bylaws is first and foremost a local police issue and not a Guardia one. But as the police aren't there ... .
Town halls love this sort of thing. Calvia is an even better example. Take, for instance, its report last year about the number of pineapples that had been impounded en route to Paguera and Magalluf beaches. Designed to impress, it ends up sounding limp if not slightly ridiculous.
The following summer, in July 2015, the town hall was giving information about its police night patrol, which was responding to citizen complaints regarding noise, street drinking and what have you. Before this season started, i.e. early April, it was reported that both the beach and night units could disappear. Police representatives were refusing to negotiate with the mayor. There was open warfare as the police felt badly let down. Their salaries, it was said, were the worst in Mallorca. Three officers from the night unit had decided to leave. The whole of the beach patrol looked as if it was on its way out as well.
Although one can (often with justification) mock the statistics that town halls enjoy lavishing on their citizenships, the police union said that the two units had generated successful results. Yet here they were, on the point of collapse because of low morale. Projecting ahead to the staging of the highly popular mediaeval market in May, union representatives were suggesting that only minimum services could be provided. Officers were refusing to perform "extraordinary services". The situation with their conditions - hours as well as pay - was "unsustainable".
Towards the end of April came news that certain weekend shifts had no police at all. This problem was expected to be repeated because of the lack of officers and the row over conditions. The prospect was looming of there being times in the main tourism season with no police patrols. The entire force of 37 was inadequate for a population that can increase to some 50,000, most of them in Cala Ratjada.
Last week, councillors from the opposition Partido Popular walked out of the council meeting. Protesting against the "authoritarianism" of PSOE (the mayor, Rafel Fernández, is from PSOE), they said that the administration was in chaos, one aspect of this being the failure to come to agreements with the police. The mayor pointed out that there had been a meeting the previous day at which there were some agreements, but not on pay. Increasing salaries would "not conform to legality" insofar as public employee pay is restricted under the terms of the so-called Montoro Law, named after the national finance minister.
At the weekend, there were various reports about the apparent total breakdown of control on the beaches of Cala Agulla and Son Moll. They had become "Comanche territory", invaded by hundreds of young people getting drunk, swimming nude, playing high-powered sound equipment and roasting chickens. These young people are Germans.
Responses to these reports didn't blame the police. They blamed the mayor and the town hall and the tourists. And for Cala Ratjada, this was hardly the first time that there was news of drunken German tourists. It's been going on for years, especially because of the spring break-type holidays. Cala Ratjada, so opinion goes, is the Magalluf of north-east Mallorca. That opinion is not wrong.
There are different issues here. One is policing. There are concerns elsewhere in Mallorca about the lack of police to deal with the greatly increased numbers of tourists. We all know about Magalluf and Playa de Palma, which are the resorts the politicians and much of the media are only ever interested in, but there are issues in places that don't normally attract attention. Playa de Muro is one, but it doesn't have the problems that Cala Ratjada has.
These are not the fault of the police or the town hall. The blame lies squarely with tour operators who organise spring-break holidays and with the hotels who accept the guests. The total disregard for coexistence and for the capabilities of local services, especially police, is scandalous.
So what's to be done? In all likelihood, nothing. What there is of the beach unit in Cala Ratjada - there were apparently two cops about at the weekend - cannot cope. The Guardia could be sent in but the Guardia have other matters to attend to. Compliance with local bylaws is first and foremost a local police issue and not a Guardia one. But as the police aren't there ... .
Sunday, March 12, 2017
The Former Tui State Of Mallorca
I don't wish to alarm anyone, but war has been declared against Mallorca. You may not have noticed as this is a war that exists in its own separate Mallorcan universe, the inhabitants of which are tour operators and hoteliers. You will also be less than familiar with some of the names. They include, inter alia, Baumert, Frankenberg and Müller. These are among the commandants of the massed ranks of German tour operators who issued the Declaration of War in Berlin the other day. But you don't need to be too worried. They're not about to invade. Precisely the opposite.
The German occupation of Mallorca, which has existed for some fifty years, is drawing to a close. German tourists will cease to be. At last! Sun lounger liberation. The policy of "Sunbedsraum" is going into reverse. And once the retreat has been completed, Mallorca will be wholly de-saturated, save for the last remaining Brits before Brexit pulls down the shutters on their fifty-plus years of Mallorcan occupation as well. Resorts will become all-year ghost towns. The transformation of Magalluf will be another transformation. Tumbleweed will roll along the boulevard. Weeds will grow on the poolsides. Wild goats will come from the hills and colonise BCM.
Well, not quite all year, as Mallorca will sustain itself by being "Better in Winter" (registered slogan, reproduced courtesy of the Balearic Tourism Agency). The tourism ministry, which must surely be about to be renamed the Barceló Ministry of Sustainability, will have its wish. Pensioners will be warmly greeted at the airport, which will come under Balearic government co-management and see to it that flights will in any event be reduced by some three-quarters. These wintering pensioners, when not drowning in a January flood, will discover how much better Mallorca is in winter by being whisked off to Algaida to be given instruction in all things Ramon Llull. The occasional cyclist may pass them by, all the others having been warned off a Mallorca tainted by Team Sky brown packages.
German tourists, you see, prefer to go on holiday to actual war zones. Or at least to places where terrorism has seemingly become a tourist attraction. This is one of the conclusions of Tui, Thomas Cook, DER, Alltours and the rest. The Berlin Declaration of War makes it clear that Mallorca's hoteliers are to blame. Their prices are so high, so exorbitant that not a single German can afford to come to Mallorca. Ditto all other tourists, except the winter pensioners on subsidised deals.
There was, it must be said, something slightly peculiar about this declaration. This was the fact that before it was made last week in Berlin, the massed ranks of German tour operators had been insisting that Mallorca was all but sold out for this summer. Moreover, such was the motivation to head off to terrorism tourist attractions that sales to Turkey had barely scraped past the 30% mark.
All very weird, but not if you are a German tour operator (or any other one) who has no wish to meet the price demands of avaricious hoteliers. And there we were, thinking that it was the British tour operators who were aghast at the prices (well, they are more or less the same tour operators anyway). But the hoteliers can't really be blamed. They do after all need all the Mallorcan profit they can muster in order to invest it in Aruba and Vietnam.
Somewhat redundant in all this war declaration were the representatives of Balearic administrations, such as Barceló and Hila. In fact, they would have been hiding in the shadows lest they were spied fraternising with the hoteliers. With hoteliers putting prices up sky high, the Ministry of Sustainability is having its work done for it. There'll be no need for tourist limits, as there won't be any tourists anyway. Job done, albeit there'll be a hole in the tourist tax budget.
Moreover, the Minister of Sustainability will have been heartened by environmentalists GOB warning any German tourists who might be dithering in their choice between IS and Illetas that saturation is such that they will be trampled underfoot because of touristic "massification" this summer. Which of course they won't be, as there won't be any tourists, if one follows the logic of the tour operators' declaration, which one shouldn't.
Might this apocalyptic vision come to pass? Nah. Not a bit of it. Berlin was the stage for some propaganda, which has become the purpose for holding travel/tourism fairs (remember the tourist tax propaganda in London in 2015?). It'll all be forgotten by Easter, when the stories will be about rat-arsed Germans in Playa de Palma being chased by local police waving fines for anti-social behaviour. Sunbedsraum will never cease.
The German occupation of Mallorca, which has existed for some fifty years, is drawing to a close. German tourists will cease to be. At last! Sun lounger liberation. The policy of "Sunbedsraum" is going into reverse. And once the retreat has been completed, Mallorca will be wholly de-saturated, save for the last remaining Brits before Brexit pulls down the shutters on their fifty-plus years of Mallorcan occupation as well. Resorts will become all-year ghost towns. The transformation of Magalluf will be another transformation. Tumbleweed will roll along the boulevard. Weeds will grow on the poolsides. Wild goats will come from the hills and colonise BCM.
Well, not quite all year, as Mallorca will sustain itself by being "Better in Winter" (registered slogan, reproduced courtesy of the Balearic Tourism Agency). The tourism ministry, which must surely be about to be renamed the Barceló Ministry of Sustainability, will have its wish. Pensioners will be warmly greeted at the airport, which will come under Balearic government co-management and see to it that flights will in any event be reduced by some three-quarters. These wintering pensioners, when not drowning in a January flood, will discover how much better Mallorca is in winter by being whisked off to Algaida to be given instruction in all things Ramon Llull. The occasional cyclist may pass them by, all the others having been warned off a Mallorca tainted by Team Sky brown packages.
German tourists, you see, prefer to go on holiday to actual war zones. Or at least to places where terrorism has seemingly become a tourist attraction. This is one of the conclusions of Tui, Thomas Cook, DER, Alltours and the rest. The Berlin Declaration of War makes it clear that Mallorca's hoteliers are to blame. Their prices are so high, so exorbitant that not a single German can afford to come to Mallorca. Ditto all other tourists, except the winter pensioners on subsidised deals.
There was, it must be said, something slightly peculiar about this declaration. This was the fact that before it was made last week in Berlin, the massed ranks of German tour operators had been insisting that Mallorca was all but sold out for this summer. Moreover, such was the motivation to head off to terrorism tourist attractions that sales to Turkey had barely scraped past the 30% mark.
All very weird, but not if you are a German tour operator (or any other one) who has no wish to meet the price demands of avaricious hoteliers. And there we were, thinking that it was the British tour operators who were aghast at the prices (well, they are more or less the same tour operators anyway). But the hoteliers can't really be blamed. They do after all need all the Mallorcan profit they can muster in order to invest it in Aruba and Vietnam.
Somewhat redundant in all this war declaration were the representatives of Balearic administrations, such as Barceló and Hila. In fact, they would have been hiding in the shadows lest they were spied fraternising with the hoteliers. With hoteliers putting prices up sky high, the Ministry of Sustainability is having its work done for it. There'll be no need for tourist limits, as there won't be any tourists anyway. Job done, albeit there'll be a hole in the tourist tax budget.
Moreover, the Minister of Sustainability will have been heartened by environmentalists GOB warning any German tourists who might be dithering in their choice between IS and Illetas that saturation is such that they will be trampled underfoot because of touristic "massification" this summer. Which of course they won't be, as there won't be any tourists, if one follows the logic of the tour operators' declaration, which one shouldn't.
Might this apocalyptic vision come to pass? Nah. Not a bit of it. Berlin was the stage for some propaganda, which has become the purpose for holding travel/tourism fairs (remember the tourist tax propaganda in London in 2015?). It'll all be forgotten by Easter, when the stories will be about rat-arsed Germans in Playa de Palma being chased by local police waving fines for anti-social behaviour. Sunbedsraum will never cease.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
The Size Of A Cow: The early-season German tourist
Ah yes, spring. It seems so long. Warmth, that is. The snow and cold have been consigned to the dustbin of the wettest Mallorcan winter since the UK had one of its most severe winters - 1947. The birds are singing, all the other normal twaddle that gets waxed cliché-lyrically at this time of the year is twaddling, and the armies of the north are engaging in early-season Lebensraum. All of a sudden, great hordes have emerged, commandeering the space that is the local Eroski supermarket. These are not, or don't appear to be, the cycling Saxons; they're wearing normal clothes and when they walk they don't make a noise like comedy horses with coconut shells. But they are noisy, gutturally so, and vast. At what point in recent history did the Germans transmogrify into human high-rises? (And the same might be asked of the Dutch of whom there are also any number.)
Concentrate an invasion force into a confined area, e.g. a supermarket, and one is all but overwhelmed not just by its unexpected appearance but also by its sheer size, or rather their size - individually. The Germans, and the Dutch, are bipedal skyscrapers. Even the pre-secondary school ones could pass as England fast bowlers - of the Finn and Harmison variety, as opposed to rotund shortasses like Gough. Hovering high above the typically diminutive Mallorcans, they hoover up a month's shelf-life of sausage stock in a matter of minutes. Well they'd need to in order to fuel such giantism: the German economy runs not on engineering but on meat consumption. Which is all rather good news, so one would think, for the hard-pressed Mallorcan restaurant sector. Unhindered by the negative impact of a depressed currency rate, the Germans can seamlessly swap a ton of schnitzel in Stuttgart for the size of a cow in an Alcúdia or Muro eating-house.
Well you might think this would be the case, but there are those who would beg to differ. Tourists, or tourist nationalities to be more precise, are often defined according to how extravagantly or not they hand over hard cash in exchange for some marinaded and charcoal-grilled Porky or Ermentrude. For reasons that have long escaped me, the Germans are often viewed as bad spenders. It does, however, depend on what is being sold.
Which brings me to another tribe that has suddenly become quite evident. It would be falling into the stereotyping trap to assume that all the newly arrived Africans are "lookies" (aka "luckies"), but this might not be an unfair assumption. Like tour reps gather pre-season for what is comically referred to as "training" in venues such as Alcúdia's auditorium, so the lookies convene for their own learning experience - motivational speeches, sales techniques demonstrated with the aid of some ancient John Cleese Video Arts training videos (pirated of course), and so on. Or maybe they are programmed with some bird-like homing instinct to simply flock in a week or so prior to Easter. But some training aid might not go amiss. Approach a German woman at a café table and wave in front of her a CD compilation from the Spanish "X-Factor" equivalent is only likely to result in reinforcing the notion that Germans are not big spenders. It should all be about target marketing. The lookies should invest - or rather not invest, as I'm sure you see what I mean - in some Roger Whittaker downloads and they would be euros-in with a German market that has an unfathomable penchant for the weird-bearded-one's warbles. Possibly.
Ah yes, warbles. Warblers. Birds singing. Spring is here. And so are the first German tourists and illegal street-sellers of the phoney season. It's starting again.
QUIZ:
Yesterday: The Box Tops, "The Letter". The singer with the group, Alex Chilton, died three days ago. Today: which group sized up a cow?
Alex Chilton - RIP:
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Concentrate an invasion force into a confined area, e.g. a supermarket, and one is all but overwhelmed not just by its unexpected appearance but also by its sheer size, or rather their size - individually. The Germans, and the Dutch, are bipedal skyscrapers. Even the pre-secondary school ones could pass as England fast bowlers - of the Finn and Harmison variety, as opposed to rotund shortasses like Gough. Hovering high above the typically diminutive Mallorcans, they hoover up a month's shelf-life of sausage stock in a matter of minutes. Well they'd need to in order to fuel such giantism: the German economy runs not on engineering but on meat consumption. Which is all rather good news, so one would think, for the hard-pressed Mallorcan restaurant sector. Unhindered by the negative impact of a depressed currency rate, the Germans can seamlessly swap a ton of schnitzel in Stuttgart for the size of a cow in an Alcúdia or Muro eating-house.
Well you might think this would be the case, but there are those who would beg to differ. Tourists, or tourist nationalities to be more precise, are often defined according to how extravagantly or not they hand over hard cash in exchange for some marinaded and charcoal-grilled Porky or Ermentrude. For reasons that have long escaped me, the Germans are often viewed as bad spenders. It does, however, depend on what is being sold.
Which brings me to another tribe that has suddenly become quite evident. It would be falling into the stereotyping trap to assume that all the newly arrived Africans are "lookies" (aka "luckies"), but this might not be an unfair assumption. Like tour reps gather pre-season for what is comically referred to as "training" in venues such as Alcúdia's auditorium, so the lookies convene for their own learning experience - motivational speeches, sales techniques demonstrated with the aid of some ancient John Cleese Video Arts training videos (pirated of course), and so on. Or maybe they are programmed with some bird-like homing instinct to simply flock in a week or so prior to Easter. But some training aid might not go amiss. Approach a German woman at a café table and wave in front of her a CD compilation from the Spanish "X-Factor" equivalent is only likely to result in reinforcing the notion that Germans are not big spenders. It should all be about target marketing. The lookies should invest - or rather not invest, as I'm sure you see what I mean - in some Roger Whittaker downloads and they would be euros-in with a German market that has an unfathomable penchant for the weird-bearded-one's warbles. Possibly.
Ah yes, warbles. Warblers. Birds singing. Spring is here. And so are the first German tourists and illegal street-sellers of the phoney season. It's starting again.
QUIZ:
Yesterday: The Box Tops, "The Letter". The singer with the group, Alex Chilton, died three days ago. Today: which group sized up a cow?
Alex Chilton - RIP:
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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