So, Jaime Martínez has spoken. Another historic and record year awaits us. Praise the Lord. Jaime did so while shielding his ample presence behind an artillery of statistics. Tourist spend, overnight stays, occupancy. On and on and on. Does anyone really take any notice of this stuff? Jaime obviously does, as he is an example of tourist-bureaucrat writ large - very large in his case. Stats, spreadsheets, percentages, these are his stock in trade along with the minutiae and obfuscation of property regulations. This, everyone, is tourism in a Balearics government style. Numerate but touristically illiterate. There is little feeling for tourism only for its data and references to article this, that or the other of whatever law or decree.
As chance would have it, the Mallorca Tourist Board (aka the Fomento del Turismo) appeared on the winter flights scene this week, its president, Eduardo Gamero, lending his support to the campaign for more flights. Having done so, the inevitable misunderstandings followed. It is perhaps fair to say that the title Mallorca Tourist Board is nowadays rather misleading. One can appreciate the misunderstandings, but it is necessary to point out - yet again - that the board is not a government body. In all its 110 years of existence it never has been. It is quite wrong to level criticism at it, though, for any perceived failures of tourism policy; it has no role to play in this and more, perhaps, is the pity.
The chance that I refer to was in the context of Martínez's numerical version of the islands' tourism. The Balearics tourism ministry and its agencies, such as the Balearics Tourism Agency, which superseded the former IBATUR, is a regulatory authority and one more prone to drawing up property law than concerning itself with the realities of the tourist. Hindsight and all that, but I remain convinced that had the Mallorca Tourist Board not been neutered, deprived of funding, sidelined by political jealousies after the regional government (and tourism ministry) were created in 1983, there would today be a far greater feeling for tourism at an official level. There had to be a regulatory ministry, as none had previously existed, but the propensity for existence justification through hyper-lexis (too much legislation) has made subsidiary the very essence of tourism, something that the Mallorca Tourist Board understood very well and did so, moreover, by bringing together an enormously eclectic mix of interests and individuals; the painter Joan Miró was, for example, closely involved with it.
Had the board been allowed to continue with promotion and the type of tourism development it had been involved with from the time of its inception, I can't help but feel that a better fist would have been made of confronting issues such as seasonality. Here, after all, through a board membership of the private sector, was an organisation that had the ear and the input of all those who mattered in the industry. I would thus argue that 1983, the year that regional government started, was when Mallorca's tourism took a wrong turn. Not totally, but wrong in a shift in emphasis away from that feeling for tourism. Thirty-two years on, Jaime and his battery of statistics just reinforce the perception of a turn that went the wrong way.
Showing posts with label Private sector. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Private sector. Show all posts
Friday, February 20, 2015
Friday, April 13, 2012
Coasting Along To A New Coasts Law
You may have noticed that coasts and beaches have been washing over the news a fair bit recently. The Balearics tourism ministry, totally broke, is unable to send its little boats out to clean up the seas immediately next to the shores, while at the same time it has been putting the final touches to its new law, an aspect of which is likely to be greater exploitation - by the private sector - of Mallorca's beaches.
Amidst this news, one body has been conspicuous by its silence: the Costas Authority. This arm of national government, and specifically of the environment ministry, pretty much has the final say on anything that moves or doesn't move either on or off shores. But, as an example, it has seemingly been stunned into silence by suggestions such as that which will see hotels developing business on beaches.
Why the silence? Good question. The answer, or an answer, may have something to do with the fact that the Coasts Law is up for some reform, and it could be some pretty serious reform. The working of government and of government departments doesn't normally get put on hold while legislative reform makes its slow and tortuous progress through parliament (and most legislative reform in Spain does make slow and tortuous progress). But where the Costas is concerned, anything other than its usual bureaucratic procedures, i.e. its zealous searching for some pronouncement on coastal demarcation, appears to have been stilled by the anticipation of reform.
The national environment ministry has signalled its intention to introduce a new Coasts Law, but it hasn't signalled what this might entail. Environmental groups, though, sense a relaxation of rules governing the coasts and are getting their retaliation in early; there is no need for a new law, or so they say.
It doesn't really do to speculate, but this hasn't stopped the likes of GOB, the Great (environmental) Observers of the Balearics, which isn't of course what GOB stands for but could do, worrying that a law change will bring about economic development of the coasts and beaches, which is a pretty obvious conclusion, given that this is about to happen in the Balearics even without a change to the law.
Much though I have been critical of the Costas, largely because its actions at times seem arbitrary or even callous (as with the threatened demolition of the cottages of Ses Casetes des Capellans in Playa de Muro) as well as extreme, e.g. through the interpretation of land that has been influenced by the sea (which is most land in coastal areas, if you want to be strictly accurate), a strong governmental body with strong laws overseeing the coasts is now needed more than ever.
The threats to beaches and coastal areas are well-known. The overdevelopment of Mallorca's coastline has been referred to by many organisations, and not just environmental watchdogs such as Greenpeace. Coastal erosion is a fact, the environmental problems caused by shipping are a fact and climate change is also a fact (though some of course would choose to say otherwise). It is understandable that, at a time when the coasts are more vulnerable than ever, the pressure groups should be alarmed by possible relaxations. Indeed, it isn't just the environmental groups who should be alarmed; it is everyone.
Economics are, however, likely to dictate. As are politics. Plans such as those for hotels to stage beach parties, to create additional moorings or to exploit the beaches and coasts in other ways (all by the private sector, as with the redevelopment in Magalluf) take little or no account of what the Costas might have to say. But change the complexion of the Costas, change the law, and a different situation obtains. The national government, as with the regional government in the Balearics, knows it needs the private sector onside, and the private sector doesn't need the Costas getting in the way; now or later.
Changes to the law are one thing, but what of the Costas' role? Government could help everyone out by a demarcation of a type different to that which the Costas is involved, that of land: a demarcation of who does what. Why, for example, is the Balearics tourism ministry even involved with cleaning the immediate coast line? What's it got to do with them? It should be the Costas. Why do the Costas get involved with taxing frontline businesses when town halls are involved in the same process?
The government should proceed with caution and not play fast and loose with the coasts, but it should also tidy up responsibilities, as they, rather like what the tourism ministry is not able to clean up, are a mess.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Amidst this news, one body has been conspicuous by its silence: the Costas Authority. This arm of national government, and specifically of the environment ministry, pretty much has the final say on anything that moves or doesn't move either on or off shores. But, as an example, it has seemingly been stunned into silence by suggestions such as that which will see hotels developing business on beaches.
Why the silence? Good question. The answer, or an answer, may have something to do with the fact that the Coasts Law is up for some reform, and it could be some pretty serious reform. The working of government and of government departments doesn't normally get put on hold while legislative reform makes its slow and tortuous progress through parliament (and most legislative reform in Spain does make slow and tortuous progress). But where the Costas is concerned, anything other than its usual bureaucratic procedures, i.e. its zealous searching for some pronouncement on coastal demarcation, appears to have been stilled by the anticipation of reform.
The national environment ministry has signalled its intention to introduce a new Coasts Law, but it hasn't signalled what this might entail. Environmental groups, though, sense a relaxation of rules governing the coasts and are getting their retaliation in early; there is no need for a new law, or so they say.
It doesn't really do to speculate, but this hasn't stopped the likes of GOB, the Great (environmental) Observers of the Balearics, which isn't of course what GOB stands for but could do, worrying that a law change will bring about economic development of the coasts and beaches, which is a pretty obvious conclusion, given that this is about to happen in the Balearics even without a change to the law.
Much though I have been critical of the Costas, largely because its actions at times seem arbitrary or even callous (as with the threatened demolition of the cottages of Ses Casetes des Capellans in Playa de Muro) as well as extreme, e.g. through the interpretation of land that has been influenced by the sea (which is most land in coastal areas, if you want to be strictly accurate), a strong governmental body with strong laws overseeing the coasts is now needed more than ever.
The threats to beaches and coastal areas are well-known. The overdevelopment of Mallorca's coastline has been referred to by many organisations, and not just environmental watchdogs such as Greenpeace. Coastal erosion is a fact, the environmental problems caused by shipping are a fact and climate change is also a fact (though some of course would choose to say otherwise). It is understandable that, at a time when the coasts are more vulnerable than ever, the pressure groups should be alarmed by possible relaxations. Indeed, it isn't just the environmental groups who should be alarmed; it is everyone.
Economics are, however, likely to dictate. As are politics. Plans such as those for hotels to stage beach parties, to create additional moorings or to exploit the beaches and coasts in other ways (all by the private sector, as with the redevelopment in Magalluf) take little or no account of what the Costas might have to say. But change the complexion of the Costas, change the law, and a different situation obtains. The national government, as with the regional government in the Balearics, knows it needs the private sector onside, and the private sector doesn't need the Costas getting in the way; now or later.
Changes to the law are one thing, but what of the Costas' role? Government could help everyone out by a demarcation of a type different to that which the Costas is involved, that of land: a demarcation of who does what. Why, for example, is the Balearics tourism ministry even involved with cleaning the immediate coast line? What's it got to do with them? It should be the Costas. Why do the Costas get involved with taxing frontline businesses when town halls are involved in the same process?
The government should proceed with caution and not play fast and loose with the coasts, but it should also tidy up responsibilities, as they, rather like what the tourism ministry is not able to clean up, are a mess.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, March 03, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Private resources for Spain's tourism plan
A meeting of heads of Spanish tourism, including the Mallorcan Isabel Borrego, the secretary-of-state for tourism, has outlined a plan for revitalising mature resorts in Spain in which the private sector will be called upon to take the lead. There is also a confirmation of a concentration on promotion to emerging tourist markets, such as Russia.
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