The Weaknesses Of Transport Policy

May I ask a question? How many of you are particularly bothered whether there is a flat-rate inter-island flight tariff or not? May I ask a second question? How many of you are working yourselves up into a lather over a change to the residents' flight discount as it applies to certain group travel that is to be introduced later this month?

If there are any of you, then please raise your hands and make yourselves known. I'm guessing there have to be some. But relative to the amount of media attention both these questions are being given, the numbers, I would hazard a further guess, are disproportionately low. Put it this way, I am unaware of social media (or other forms of communication) having approached meltdown because of public angst.

Citizens' response to both questions has been less to do with the minutiae of the new arrangement for group travel and the proposal for an inter-island flat rate than with their politics. The Balearic government will be satisfied that this is the case. It has spent most of its time in office berating Madrid about absolutely everything. The flights' issues are part of the overall scheme of berating things.

Travel arrangements and deals for people in the Balearics should be as advantageous as possible. Living on islands in the Mediterranean demands that they should be. Government objections to the group travel discount change and its anger with Congress over blocking the inter-island flat rate are understandable within the context of seeking advantages. But both form part of the wider narrative that characterises the current administration. Madrid is the enemy and Madrid does everything in its power to make life difficult for the people of the Balearics.

The regional government wants a completely different overall deal for the islands. It's known as the special economic regime, a somewhat arcane device that involves financing, taxation, transport, infrastructure and more. Madrid is being obstructive in granting a new deal. But is it the enemy that it is made about to be? On financing, on investment, even on the flat-rate tariff, it has expressed willingness.

Penalising the Balearics, as far as the Palma government is concerned, is a political decision because of differing political ideologies and an unthinking one because Madrid fails to recognise the particular needs of the Balearic archipelago. There may be some truth in both these beliefs, especially the latter, but Madrid is commanded by a higher authority. The Rajoy government cannot willy-nilly ignore the requirements of Brussels.

The flat-rate tariff is subject to Brussels approval. The Spanish government cannot just sign it off. The funding for the tariff is subject to the Spanish government's budget, over which Brussels has its say. Twenty odd million more may not be a huge amount in overall terms, but if every region were to come up with schemes demanding such funding - and be granted them - then Brussels would come down on Madrid like a ton of bricks.

The fact is of course that the Balearic government is fully aware of this. European restraints are, however, generally ignored, as they do not suit the government's narrative of Madrid as enemy.

The flat rate had been mooted before the current administration took office, but it was made a policy of this government. It is one of its stellar projects to mark it out in the eyes of the electorate in much the same way as magicking up 120 million euros for Son Dureta will be. (On this, I note that the Partido Popular are asking the same question I have - where's the money going to come from?)

The government has made its demands, and goes further in that it wants the regular residents' discount (which applies to the vast majority of travellers) to be increased. All of this may come to form part of the negotiations over a new economic regime and financing system, but for now they are not negotiable items; they are demands.

Contrast this with another aspect of general transport policy, one over which Madrid doesn't have its say: the bus services to the resorts. The government, which says that it has never had any intention of pressurising anyone (i.e. the taxi drivers and so unlike its pressure on Madrid), has ended up by demonstrating its willingness to back down. The bus services will still go ahead but they are no longer what they were. Yes, they will serve some resorts, but rather than being resort bus services, they are, well, bus services. Four new ones that will meander through places like Algaida and Montuiri.

What really has all the fuss achieved? Very little. The services have been watered down. The government has been shown to be weak. And weakness sums up transport policy. Against the might of Madrid and Brussels, the government squeaks and is left with its constant sniping, designed for electorate consumption.

MALLORCA TODAY - Breakdown in general strike negotiations

The Balearic Government looks set to impose minimum service levels during the general strike (29 March) after talks with unions broke down yesterday. The main difficulty in the negotiations appeared to relate to transport services from the airport that would affect tourists.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Hopes that general strike will not affect Balearics tourism

Negotiations still going on, the Balearic Government is hopeful of limiting the effects of 29 March's general strike on tourism by guaranteeing good levels of transport to and from Palma airport. Any effects on flights themselves are not yet entirely clear. Other proposed minimum services are outlined here Ultima Hora, while in Palma, 80% of public transport workers are said to be prepared to support the strike.

Roll Out The Barrel: Oil and airport strikes

Just when you thought that all those nice Arab sorts, running around causing a spot of bother, were helpfully attempting to pack Mallorca with wall-to-wall tourists, along come ... . Well, along come some other Arab sorts, those standing smugly in their sunglasses in front of some giant desert derricks. And, just to make things really ducky, along also come some airport-worker sorts.

As one door opens, so several close. Airlines, motorists, bus operators, taxi-drivers; all held over an oil barrel. Airport workers, rather than rolling out the barrel in greeting the Easter holidaymaker, threaten anything other than a barrel of fun. The gang's all there, waiting to get all aboard to jet off to sunny Spain, but rather than being able to enjoy the oom-pa-pa of an Arenal or to throw their cares away in Alcúdia, they end up sleeping on a bum- and back-breaking plastic bucket of an airport-lounge seat.

You knew that something had to go wrong. All we need is for Iceland to get in on the act again. It was all looking so good, all a bit too good. It couldn't last, and it hasn't.

Thomas Cook, Air Berlin, Air Europa and British Airways all started the ball rolling. Thomson and First Choice have followed. A family of four now faces forking out an extra 60 quid for its flights to Palma, assuming they can get on a plane. The Spanish airport workers intend to turn what is known as "jueves santo" (holy Thursday) into bloody Thursday, followed by Bad Friday, as airplanes will all be in the wrong places. Bloody airport workers, moan the families of four, already a couple of ponies and a brace of Godivas more out of pocket, having to hand over excessive cash in a refugee-camp-style departures lounge, while they wait for the workers to clock back in.

The airport workers plan a strike because they're unhappy about proposals for the part privatisation of AENA, the national airports authority. AENA reckons the strike won't happen, but then it probably would reckon this. Even if the strike were not to take place at Easter, the brothers are holding their sword of Damocles over the rest of the tourism season. They haven't quite got the Spanish Government over a barrel, but they're readying their staves and metal hoops just in case.

The uncertainty about oil supply is proving to be even less a barrel of laughs than the airport workers walking out. While the airlines are slapping on surcharges left, right and centre, the local buses and taxi-drivers have got their own worries. The price of petrol and diesel is now at a record high in Spain, so all those transfers and excursions and cabs back to the hotel after a night on the razz might also start attracting some extra charge.

The bus operators, and these include those for public transport, are hoping that they can prise a subsidy out of the government and create a so-called "professional" fuel price, as opposed to an unprofessional one for the suckers who have to drive cars. It might help them, the bus operators, out, and it might help in preventing surcharges, but at the same time as the government is hoping to claw back God knows how many millions of euros by reducing the motorway speed limit, it would be handing it out again to the coach firm transferring tourists to and from the airport.

And with the rise in the price of petrol, might we also anticipate a new addition to the moaning car-hire noises? "I've had to pay 700 euros for a tatty old Focus and now they expect me to pay 1.3 euros a litre as well. The authorities must do something." If it's any consolation, petrol in Spain is still cheaper than in many other European countries. But it won't be a consolation. It'll just be another stick with which to beat the local tourism industry.

There is, though, some good news. The fifteen quid per person Thomson surcharge is a lot less than that for long-haul and it is also less than the surcharge for travelling to Greece and Turkey. And Egypt. "Ha-ha-heh-ha-ha, you're more expensive." "And you started it." Which they did, give or take the odd Tunisia. And it was all really, really nice of them to have done so. We could have settled back and contemplated a fine summer, tourism money rolling in, staring out at a serene, calm sea. Until someone woke us from the dream and there was a ruddy great oil slick washing over us.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Leader Of The Pack

And continuing what is likely to be theme of the month, the hotels and others have called upon President Antich to form an alliance with the heads of other regional governments across Spain, for which tourism is a vital part of their economies, in leading a lobby to get the central government to back track on the planned rise in IVA. In the report from the "Diario", the head of the hoteliers' federation in Mallorca is quoted as arguing that the IVA rise will be a worse move than the so-called eco-tax of some years ago, which was aborted almost as soon as it was introduced.

The strength of the opposition should not be underestimated and the argument against a rise is valid. However, it is also a case of special pleading. What about everyone else who is set to be affected by a two per cent rise on the top rate? Take away the one per cent for the tourism sector, and what might happen? Three per cent on the top rate?

The central government has to find money from somewhere. The alternative of course is cut public spending, but how? New funding is already in place for, for example, that investment finance for the hotels and additional assistance for those in need over the winter. A constant in the economic development of Spain during the boom years has been the role of public spending, especially for construction and civil engineering projects, and therefore for the construction industry, an industry neutered by the current lack of private finance from the banks. Without public spending in some parts of Spain, Mallorca for example, the economy would all but grind to a halt, save for tourism being bashed about by recession and now a possible tax increase.

The crisis, more than anything, has emphasised the underlying weakness of the Mallorcan economy and the short-sightedness of a model based on two key industries without a diversity to act as a safety net. There is an inevitability that taxes will need to rise, despite my assertion that a lowering might actually lead to increased revenues, and if not in the tourism sector then in the wider economy, resulting in shackles placed on consumer spending and thus a further limit to the capacity to come out of recession. In economics, recessions are often referred to with the aid of letters - a U is a fall, bumping along the bottom for a while and then coming up, a V is a sharp fall and then a sharp rise. Then there is a third - a W, two V's in other words. And that may indeed be the consequence of tax rises, a short-term recovery followed by another slump as consumers put their wallets away.


To other things, well, one other thing - the weather. The fortnight of storms that seemingly brought summer crashing to an end gave way, bang on 1 October, to a return to sun. It is extraordinary the number of times changes to the weather do seem to coincide with the first day of a new month. And the late summer weather has been remarkable. A temperature of 32 degrees has been registered in Sa Pobla, the weather station commonly used as the benchmark in the north, and meaning around 29 on the coast. Next week is forecast to see a drop to more normal temperatures of 22 to 23, and after that ... ? Hold on to your hats when November arrives.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Daft Punk, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH-0s0pRleg. Today's title - iconic song, iconic group from the '60s.

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One More Time

Following on from yesterday ... . The central government's tourism ministry reckons that an increase in IVA (VAT) of one per cent (to 8%) for certain tourism-related activities (accommodation, transport and bars/restaurants) will have no effect on the number of tourists. It also reckons, as noted in "The Diario", that the average price of a hotel stay (one night presumably) will rise by a mere 50 centimos as a consequence. The secretary of state for tourism believes that the fact that the rise will not be implemented until 1 July next year (as would be the case for all categories of IVA, including the general rate) will act as an incentive for bookings prior to this date. While true, it's also a tad disingenuous, a case of looking for a benefit from something essentially negative. The government is possibly on firmer ground when it points out that the hotel sector has been the beneficiary of a vast amount of investment finance, though to what extent this is actually being exploited one doesn't really know.

The date for the rise in IVA is probably not coincidental. It will kick in at the start of the third financial quarter in Spain - IVA inputs and outputs are calculated each quarter and payments or credits issued accordingly. The third quarter covers, of course, the peak months of July and August.

The wider point, though, is the drip-drip effect of a tax rise. With complaints about prices having been given a good old airing everywhere this summer, you can bet your life that once it becomes known that there is to be an increase, the forums and all the rest will be full of even more damning Mallorca's so expensive propaganda. One per cent, in the scheme of things, does not amount to much, but it does add to a cumulative perceptual impression of price rises. The tourism ministry, not least the local one in Mallorca, should be paying heed to those complaints. Indeed, the president of the regional government has expressed his concern about the planned rise.

The response by the central government to the criticisms of the tax rise from the boss of Thomas Cook suggests, at least in part, that it has been stung into making a statement, with its tourism ministry, headed by Joan Mesquida, himself a former director general of the Guardia Civil and National Police (interesting career progression, but there you go), to the fore in issuing this response. The suggestion that he, Mesquida, was actually seeking to keep the 7% rate - one that came from the Spanish tourism promotion organisation, Turespaña - has been rebutted. The party line, so to speak, is being held. But it speaks volumes that the intervention by the head of the second largest tour operator should provoke a response. The true power in the tourism market resides with the tour operators. The tourism ministry, as the frontline contact with the tour operators, should be seeking to distance itself from the argument and looking to keep the operators sweet, but of course it can't and is so backed into a corner, even if officials might actually agree with Thomas Cook. It will be interesting to hear what TUI, as the leading operator, might have to say about all this.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The splendidly-named chap from Thomas Cook made me think of Fontella Bass and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Yes, I know I should get a life. Today's title - simply great; French house.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

Smalltown Boy

I don't, as a rule, get involved with the world of art, but I met someone the other day who was looking for an outlet for some high-priced yachting paintings. Though not of the local area, the paintings sounded to me to be art investments that fitted with both the local yachting world and the local high-net-worth world. So I rang a gallery. Had I known then quite how much the paintings cost and how much the gallery might have stood to make, I would probably have approached the call differently, but I explained only that they were of high quality, from painters of international renown and that they would fetch a euro or two; well significantly more as it turns out. The response was not quite as I expected. Not only was it negative, it was the basis of the negativity that took me aback. It was as though any excuse would do not to have the paintings. And this was from someone I know well and get on with well; a Mallorcan someone.

The other day I was in a chemists in Alcúdia. It was taking an inordinately long time to get served. The reason for this was that two local ladies were spending an inordinately long time engaged in conversations far removed from the purpose of their visit.

Why should I mention these two cases together? The first struck me as an example, not for the first time here, of tunnel vision; of an inability to consider something outside of the norm. It was, if you like, a demonstration of an absence of entrepreneurialism. The second made me believe that a trip to the local chemists, as much as the café or the supermarket or indeed almost any other place of encounter, is a social event. Then I put them together and came up with the link - small town; small town mentality.

Much is said of the Mallorcan character and indeed I have written about it here, but to what extent is that character, in towns such as Alcúdia or Pollensa, just a reflection of small-townism that would be the same more or less anywhere? For visitors who find the resorts bustling with large numbers of people in summer, it is easy to overlook the fact that neither Alcúdia nor Pollensa can muster 20,000 inhabitants; they are small towns by any definition.

I grew up in small towns; indeed one of them, Bagshot, was really a village. It still is in the way that the place is now "marketed". Yet Bagshot had a railway - to London - from the nineteenth century; the first part of the M3 motorway, to include these towns, was opened in 1971. Alcúdia and Pollensa have a motorway, but only in the last year or so. The point is that, small towns they may have been, but the perspective that infrastructure offered was wider. Unlike much of England, with its transport heritage, the northern Mallorca towns were largely cut off until only relatively recently. The parochialism that this bred still exists, and it can be one that is centred on the individual towns; the rest of the island might as well not exist for some.

I'm not convinced that the art-gallery example is indicative of a wider lack of entrepreneurial vision on the island. One cannot draw a conclusion as to a Mallorcan character in this regard; Palma, as a city, is quite different. You may recall a piece I wrote which referred to education in Puerto Pollensa and how one local woman would much prefer to be living in Palma and exposing her son to the greater commercial influence of the city, rather than the laidback, almost unreal beach focus of the north. But combine a small-town mentality to a Mallorcan sense of superiority - as identified in "Beloved Majorcans" - and one has the potential for lack of advance.

The train may yet come to the north; it will have arrived some 150 years late by comparison with England, but not only England. What industrial revolution there was on mainland Spain at least had a railway network, albeit one that was a missed opportunity in historical terms, from the mid to late nineteenth century. When the train finally does arrive, symbolically it will - perhaps - mark the day when the towns of northern Mallorca begin to shed off their innate small-townism.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Amy Winehouse, "Valerie" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CJzMkvJUno). Today's title - "run away, turn away".

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