The Balearic and Catalonian governments are moving closer together on various issues, such as regional financing, and they are both on the same page when it comes to holiday rentals' websites. Under the law accompanying its 2017 budget, Catalonia will introduce a clause that will make websites charge the region's tourist tax. Not only will this raise extra revenue (some 7.5 million euros to add to the around 43 million that Catalonia already raises), it will act as a further means of detecting illegal apartment rental.
In the same way, the Balearic legislation on holiday rentals will stipulate that sites such as Airbnb have to charge the tax. Moreover, they will also be obliged to only market properties which have a registration number which verifies that they are legally registered - this registration is due to be extended to apartments, under tough quality conditions, which are currently "illegal" if they are marketed for holiday/tourism purposes.
Neither the Balearics nor Catalonia will find the demand to charge the tourist tax straightforward. That's because Airbnb and other similar sites, e.g. Homeaway and Rentalia, insist that they do not offer tourist activity, and there is an association in Spain - Adigital - which presents this case. The websites are just, according to its president, "technological intermediaries between the supply and demand".
This argument is already being used in challenging proceedings against Airbnb and Homeaway in Catalonia and Valencia for illegal promotion of tourist accommodation. As they are not offering a "tourist" service as such, then how can they be flouting regulations?
Here is a further example of how definitional technicalities can let abuse slip through the net. Spain's urban leasing act (aka tenancy act) is another, as it enables flagrant abuse of rental legislation.
In Ibiza, meanwhile, there are moves being made on the understanding that the regional government is permitting (or will permit) island councils to adopt specific regulations for rentals. The town hall of Santa Eulària has announced that it is to prohibit holiday rentals in apartment buildings. The Council of Ibiza is looking at adopting an island-wide regulation that would do likewise, a key justification for doing so being the threat to "co-existence" of residents and tourists.
With holiday rentals seemingly such a significant factor in increasing the overall number of tourists, it looks likely that further fuel will be added to the saturation debate. It is anticipated that by the year end, the Balearics will have received more than 14 million tourists for the first time; in fact, well over - the number could nudge 15 million.
Showing posts with label Websites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Websites. Show all posts
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
The Great Adventure Together: Tourism Websites
I don't normally click on website adverts, unless by mistake, which is what happened on Sunday. I was on a Spanish news site and clicked something that said "guardian de los volcanoes". It led to a great adventure. One together. There are fourteen languages for this adventure website; a fifteenth when you click on a short video.
The great adventure takes you into the world of the guardian of the volcanoes, the genie of the magic mountain, the wizard of the ocean waters, the fairy of the clear sky, the goblin of the enchanted forest, the empress of the trade winds, the queen of all living beings. The guardian needs help in finding giant sandcastles. The genie knows all the mysteries of the mountain. The wizard's powers lie under the water. The fairy can read the stars and fly above the clouds. The goblin moves swiftly through forests. The empress seeks help in getting rid of the clouds. The queen has all the animals in her kingdom. There is a place where stars shine brighter. Another with a cave that has paintings which are thousands of years old. One more which used only to be inhabited by wolves.
All these adventures are a prelude - a game before the main adventures of whales, spectacular routes, the ocean floor, nature, the waves. The fifteenth language is mysterious. A small boy in Paris is at a bakery. Eventually the baker understands. The boy wants a croissant. The video concludes with two messages. Travel to the best climate in the world. Your children know where adventure begins.
The fifteenth language is recognised as being a language, even though it isn't spoken. In 2009, Unesco declared it a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. It is a language that may be some three thousand years old. It's not possible to say. But it is very old. It is "silbo", the Gomeran whistling language from the island of La Gomera in the Canaries. The great adventure takes place on those islands.
Hellocanaryislands* is the official website for Canary Islands tourism. It has plenty of information the deeper you go into it, but the initial pages are principally devoted to imagery and to the adventure games. How does a destination capture family tourism? Appealing to the kids is one very good way. Children are as important to the holiday purchasing decision as the strength of the parental budget. Hook them with games, and ... .
This is a superb website. It doesn't preach. There's no sense of desperate overloading of explanation and justification. It just is. And it does it superbly. Aimed mainly at a family market, it doesn't disguise the sun-and-beach dimension. It isn't ashamed by the existence of year-round sun and the varying shades of sand. But it grafts on all the other elements - like nature, like routes. And the Canaries have nature in abundance, such as in the ravines of La Gomera. These alternative elements are presented in a family way.
Looking at this website makes one thoroughly depressed. Innovative, bold but at the same time simple, it is everything that Balearics promotion isn't. There is no such website.
The Canaries do obviously have an advantage over the Balearics - "travel to the best climate in the world" - but that is only part of the story. Rather like the Balearics, the Canaries are very well-known, the sun-and-beach aspect in particular. Why should they need to present such a lavish website if so much of the tourism sells itself, which is how the Balearics look upon the sales effort? Perhaps it is because the Canarian government doesn't adopt an arrogant attitude. Perhaps it is because it believes, despite soaring sales, that front of mind where the holidaymaker is concerned remains essential. Perhaps it is because it doesn't seem to be tearing itself apart in figuring out what its tourism represents. There's no sense of the idiotic notion of sun-and-beach being "obsolete", as has been said by certain Balearic politicians, who have no idea what tourism means.
These certain politicians would now doubtless stamp on any attempt to follow a Canarian lead. The budget would be just one reason. Yet the Canaries website has the sort of stuff that the Balearics so wish to promote - the Unesco sites and declaration, the nature routes, environmental consciousness.
The Balearics were years ago left behind in the promotional stakes, especially where the internet is concerned. Has it never crossed anyone's mind that, while the Balearics are easy to sell (in summer), holidaymakers should be shown greater respect? Front of mind is one justification. A sense of belonging and emotional attachment are others. And perhaps more than anything, there is the need to revive the idea of adventure. Just as holidays once were. In the Canaries, they have a great adventure. Together.
* http://www.hellocanaryislands.com/great-adventure-together
The great adventure takes you into the world of the guardian of the volcanoes, the genie of the magic mountain, the wizard of the ocean waters, the fairy of the clear sky, the goblin of the enchanted forest, the empress of the trade winds, the queen of all living beings. The guardian needs help in finding giant sandcastles. The genie knows all the mysteries of the mountain. The wizard's powers lie under the water. The fairy can read the stars and fly above the clouds. The goblin moves swiftly through forests. The empress seeks help in getting rid of the clouds. The queen has all the animals in her kingdom. There is a place where stars shine brighter. Another with a cave that has paintings which are thousands of years old. One more which used only to be inhabited by wolves.
All these adventures are a prelude - a game before the main adventures of whales, spectacular routes, the ocean floor, nature, the waves. The fifteenth language is mysterious. A small boy in Paris is at a bakery. Eventually the baker understands. The boy wants a croissant. The video concludes with two messages. Travel to the best climate in the world. Your children know where adventure begins.
The fifteenth language is recognised as being a language, even though it isn't spoken. In 2009, Unesco declared it a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. It is a language that may be some three thousand years old. It's not possible to say. But it is very old. It is "silbo", the Gomeran whistling language from the island of La Gomera in the Canaries. The great adventure takes place on those islands.
Hellocanaryislands* is the official website for Canary Islands tourism. It has plenty of information the deeper you go into it, but the initial pages are principally devoted to imagery and to the adventure games. How does a destination capture family tourism? Appealing to the kids is one very good way. Children are as important to the holiday purchasing decision as the strength of the parental budget. Hook them with games, and ... .
This is a superb website. It doesn't preach. There's no sense of desperate overloading of explanation and justification. It just is. And it does it superbly. Aimed mainly at a family market, it doesn't disguise the sun-and-beach dimension. It isn't ashamed by the existence of year-round sun and the varying shades of sand. But it grafts on all the other elements - like nature, like routes. And the Canaries have nature in abundance, such as in the ravines of La Gomera. These alternative elements are presented in a family way.
Looking at this website makes one thoroughly depressed. Innovative, bold but at the same time simple, it is everything that Balearics promotion isn't. There is no such website.
The Canaries do obviously have an advantage over the Balearics - "travel to the best climate in the world" - but that is only part of the story. Rather like the Balearics, the Canaries are very well-known, the sun-and-beach aspect in particular. Why should they need to present such a lavish website if so much of the tourism sells itself, which is how the Balearics look upon the sales effort? Perhaps it is because the Canarian government doesn't adopt an arrogant attitude. Perhaps it is because it believes, despite soaring sales, that front of mind where the holidaymaker is concerned remains essential. Perhaps it is because it doesn't seem to be tearing itself apart in figuring out what its tourism represents. There's no sense of the idiotic notion of sun-and-beach being "obsolete", as has been said by certain Balearic politicians, who have no idea what tourism means.
These certain politicians would now doubtless stamp on any attempt to follow a Canarian lead. The budget would be just one reason. Yet the Canaries website has the sort of stuff that the Balearics so wish to promote - the Unesco sites and declaration, the nature routes, environmental consciousness.
The Balearics were years ago left behind in the promotional stakes, especially where the internet is concerned. Has it never crossed anyone's mind that, while the Balearics are easy to sell (in summer), holidaymakers should be shown greater respect? Front of mind is one justification. A sense of belonging and emotional attachment are others. And perhaps more than anything, there is the need to revive the idea of adventure. Just as holidays once were. In the Canaries, they have a great adventure. Together.
* http://www.hellocanaryislands.com/great-adventure-together
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Piling On The Agony
What on earth has it come to when the prime minister of Spain can be found wandering around with a selfie stick? Mariano has suddenly got the camera bug. There he was, not so long ago, beaming close up and personal with the boy Nadal and last week he was waving the wand about in the company of some Young Conservatives. This is not the sort of behaviour we expect of him. Anyone would think he was a man of the people, more at home cowering behind a sofa rather than being snapped alongside the kids. And then, blow me, he was in Palma for a sort of dress-down Thursday on the streets of the city with his new found (renewed found) best friend José Ramón. Sans tie may be a de rigueur fashion statement by Mallorcan politicians, but really ... Rajoy? Mind you, as it was about 100 in the shade, he could have been forgiven for having donned flip flops and a Real Madrid t-shirt (so long as he kept the shirt on, because otherwise he would have contravened the city's civic ordinance). As it was, he stuck to the Armani-style suit trousers, while JR was in his best jeans. (Which are the favoured jeans brands of Mallorca's politicos, do you suppose?)
Then it was off to the Son Moix for a blue-flag-waving rally. "One Mariano, there's only one Mariano," they didn't chant as Mariano reeled off the good news of the previous 72 hours, the rabbits that had been plucked from the magician's hat, such as growth outstripping even that of Germany. JR announced there would be 40,000 new jobs. A tenth of that number - somewhat fewer than for a typical home match against a Second Division side no one has ever heard of - cheered and cheered. "Who are yer? Who are yer? Who are yer?" they didn't taunt PSOE or Podemos.
A Bauzá bounce had suddenly bound on to the pre-election scene, if only in JR's estimation. According to PP internal polls, there would be 26 seats in parliament and not the 20 that other polls had been predicting (who can trust polls these days?). "Boing, boing, boing," the blue-flag-wavers should have been belting out in a Baggies fans way. Or will it be a Zebedee boing come next Sunday? Time for bed.
While all this rallying of the troops was going on, someone with nothing better to do had been taking a look at the Balearics PP's election website. And what did they find? An advert for hemorrhoids. Or rather, the image of a model (female) who had appeared on a British website in 2013 which had been promoting its "detox for hemorrhoids". What was happening? Was this a case of JR bringing his family business to the party again? As the owner of a pharmacy, were the PP promising to rid the whole of the Balearic population of piles? What an electoral gambit that would be. But alas, no. The agency had cocked up. As it had also done by posting an image that Santander bank had previously used. The people in the photo didn't look Mallorcan, said the political scientist who had made the discovery but who really ought to get out more. Sadly, therefore, the PP's message of "per un futur bon" was not one of a bon future of relief from piles.
But back at the Son Moix, Mariano was going on about tourism. It is "indestructible in the islands," he announced (and for once didn't refer to Mallorca as the island of Palma). This was by way of an attack on ideas the left might have of reintroducing an eco-tax, but then there are other ways in which tourism can be destructible. Poor image, for instance, and so, naturally enough, Magalluf and its peculiarities were being laid bare by the British red tops once more. This time it was "The Mirror" and a video of some bloke dressed as a woman being given a thrashing by a dwarf during an S&M stag-party do in an - as yet - unnamed Maga bar. "The Mirror" conveniently posted a photo of a dwarf with a bike on its website and quoted "a source close to the Magalluf bar scene" who said that nothing had changed, despite the vow to clean the place up. Yep, the red tops will do anything they can to drag Maga's name down further, will ensure they have their slime-ball moles in place in order to try and dish some dirt and will also manage to misunderstand. Politicians had told local media last year, the paper said, that Magalluf would be a "mature tourist zone", thus totally failing to understand (or perhaps deliberately so) that this is not a reference to behaviour. Idiots.
Then it was off to the Son Moix for a blue-flag-waving rally. "One Mariano, there's only one Mariano," they didn't chant as Mariano reeled off the good news of the previous 72 hours, the rabbits that had been plucked from the magician's hat, such as growth outstripping even that of Germany. JR announced there would be 40,000 new jobs. A tenth of that number - somewhat fewer than for a typical home match against a Second Division side no one has ever heard of - cheered and cheered. "Who are yer? Who are yer? Who are yer?" they didn't taunt PSOE or Podemos.
A Bauzá bounce had suddenly bound on to the pre-election scene, if only in JR's estimation. According to PP internal polls, there would be 26 seats in parliament and not the 20 that other polls had been predicting (who can trust polls these days?). "Boing, boing, boing," the blue-flag-wavers should have been belting out in a Baggies fans way. Or will it be a Zebedee boing come next Sunday? Time for bed.
While all this rallying of the troops was going on, someone with nothing better to do had been taking a look at the Balearics PP's election website. And what did they find? An advert for hemorrhoids. Or rather, the image of a model (female) who had appeared on a British website in 2013 which had been promoting its "detox for hemorrhoids". What was happening? Was this a case of JR bringing his family business to the party again? As the owner of a pharmacy, were the PP promising to rid the whole of the Balearic population of piles? What an electoral gambit that would be. But alas, no. The agency had cocked up. As it had also done by posting an image that Santander bank had previously used. The people in the photo didn't look Mallorcan, said the political scientist who had made the discovery but who really ought to get out more. Sadly, therefore, the PP's message of "per un futur bon" was not one of a bon future of relief from piles.
But back at the Son Moix, Mariano was going on about tourism. It is "indestructible in the islands," he announced (and for once didn't refer to Mallorca as the island of Palma). This was by way of an attack on ideas the left might have of reintroducing an eco-tax, but then there are other ways in which tourism can be destructible. Poor image, for instance, and so, naturally enough, Magalluf and its peculiarities were being laid bare by the British red tops once more. This time it was "The Mirror" and a video of some bloke dressed as a woman being given a thrashing by a dwarf during an S&M stag-party do in an - as yet - unnamed Maga bar. "The Mirror" conveniently posted a photo of a dwarf with a bike on its website and quoted "a source close to the Magalluf bar scene" who said that nothing had changed, despite the vow to clean the place up. Yep, the red tops will do anything they can to drag Maga's name down further, will ensure they have their slime-ball moles in place in order to try and dish some dirt and will also manage to misunderstand. Politicians had told local media last year, the paper said, that Magalluf would be a "mature tourist zone", thus totally failing to understand (or perhaps deliberately so) that this is not a reference to behaviour. Idiots.
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Rambla: In the name of participation
In one of its not infrequent moments of translation comedy gold, the trilinguistically-correct Balearic Government recently pressed the click button on its machine translation system of choice and revealed - on its own website - that the minister for public administration had acquired a completely new name. Staggeringly, this was machine translation from Catalan to Castellano and thus Nuria Riera became Nuria Rambla. There is a fairly obvious question here. Why does a government with a firmly pro-Castellano policy in a land where Castellano is a co-official language supposedly spoken by everyone need to use Bing or Google to translate into Castellano? Catalan hasn't taken over that much, surely.
The machine-translation game is one with endless possibilities for amusement and entertainment, and it is one that the regional government has perfected. It has, just as one example, a form on its website in English that allows you to find out about activities of associations. It notes, however: "You can accede to the codes of the purposes and their activities doing click on the attached text document. We noticed to you that the data of the associations enrolled in this new computer science system come from the old application and some still are reviewing since they are updated periodically. By this, it is possible that some data still appear with the old code or information nonupdated. We worked with the objective to reach a complete information. You excuse the annoyances."
Strangely, when one clicks on "directori d'associacions", you get by default this English form. It is doubly strange given that there is virtually nothing else in English on this part of the public administration ministry's section of the government's website. It is a part of the website for "citizen participation" and in particular something called "Balear Opina". This is a new "virtual space", a press release has usefully informed us, to "enhance citizen participation" by bringing together "all resources and tools to enable (citizens') contributions". Just some of these contributions can be questions, suggestions and requests for information, but don't anyone go expecting that there is something approximating freedom of information, because there isn't, while these questions, suggestions and requests had better all be made in Catalan or Castellano. Try asking in English and God alone knows how Google will mangle the question. In fact, to be on the safe side, it would be best to ask in Catalan, as the government doesn't appear to understand Castellano either; hence, Nuria Rambla.
The Balear Opina and citizen participation thing are, so the website tells us, concepts to which the government is committed. As is normal for any government communication, it insists on citing laws and decrees which give credence to this commitment, and it starts by saying that "democracy is based on ... the plurality of ideas and opinions; it is necessary to create a mechanism for control and management (of elected representatives) by the public outside the election period".
Democracy is indeed based on the plurality of opinions, but some opinions become law whereas others remain simply opinions. Take, if you will, the language issue. As the majority of citizens reject the opinion of elected officials who have passed legislation which undermines Catalan, will the Balear Opina mechanism enable the citizens, through control and management, to have this legalised opinion changed? Of course it won't. You can read "mechanism for control and management" as meaning holding elected officials to account, and if they really were held to account, then they would alter legislation that is at variance with majority opinion. But government doesn't work like this. Here or anywhere. The participation thing is a grand illusion.
For Nuria Riera, no doubt, the Balear Opina is a fine creation of governmental openness, communication and explanation. As ever, though, there is a great difference between the practice of openness and its theory. Take another example, the Partido Popular's discount card for members. The hoo-hah over this was brought to an abrupt halt when Riera announced that the card was perfectly legal and that the government had nothing more to say on the matter. The correspondence was closed, so to speak.
Riera is relatively new to governmental circles. She clambered aboard the Good Ship Bauzá, listing because of the storms of Catalan, after the president sacked half his cabinet in May last year. She got the job at public administration, a ministry rarely under public scrutiny because no one is too sure what it does, and also took over the unenviable task of government spokesperson. She's the one, therefore, who has to try and explain what on earth it's up to. And now she can be conscious of what opinion the public has. Or ignore what opinion the public has. There is, if you play the Google-Bing game, a different translation of her name. From Castellano to English. Laugh. Having one.
The machine-translation game is one with endless possibilities for amusement and entertainment, and it is one that the regional government has perfected. It has, just as one example, a form on its website in English that allows you to find out about activities of associations. It notes, however: "You can accede to the codes of the purposes and their activities doing click on the attached text document. We noticed to you that the data of the associations enrolled in this new computer science system come from the old application and some still are reviewing since they are updated periodically. By this, it is possible that some data still appear with the old code or information nonupdated. We worked with the objective to reach a complete information. You excuse the annoyances."
Strangely, when one clicks on "directori d'associacions", you get by default this English form. It is doubly strange given that there is virtually nothing else in English on this part of the public administration ministry's section of the government's website. It is a part of the website for "citizen participation" and in particular something called "Balear Opina". This is a new "virtual space", a press release has usefully informed us, to "enhance citizen participation" by bringing together "all resources and tools to enable (citizens') contributions". Just some of these contributions can be questions, suggestions and requests for information, but don't anyone go expecting that there is something approximating freedom of information, because there isn't, while these questions, suggestions and requests had better all be made in Catalan or Castellano. Try asking in English and God alone knows how Google will mangle the question. In fact, to be on the safe side, it would be best to ask in Catalan, as the government doesn't appear to understand Castellano either; hence, Nuria Rambla.
The Balear Opina and citizen participation thing are, so the website tells us, concepts to which the government is committed. As is normal for any government communication, it insists on citing laws and decrees which give credence to this commitment, and it starts by saying that "democracy is based on ... the plurality of ideas and opinions; it is necessary to create a mechanism for control and management (of elected representatives) by the public outside the election period".
Democracy is indeed based on the plurality of opinions, but some opinions become law whereas others remain simply opinions. Take, if you will, the language issue. As the majority of citizens reject the opinion of elected officials who have passed legislation which undermines Catalan, will the Balear Opina mechanism enable the citizens, through control and management, to have this legalised opinion changed? Of course it won't. You can read "mechanism for control and management" as meaning holding elected officials to account, and if they really were held to account, then they would alter legislation that is at variance with majority opinion. But government doesn't work like this. Here or anywhere. The participation thing is a grand illusion.
For Nuria Riera, no doubt, the Balear Opina is a fine creation of governmental openness, communication and explanation. As ever, though, there is a great difference between the practice of openness and its theory. Take another example, the Partido Popular's discount card for members. The hoo-hah over this was brought to an abrupt halt when Riera announced that the card was perfectly legal and that the government had nothing more to say on the matter. The correspondence was closed, so to speak.
Riera is relatively new to governmental circles. She clambered aboard the Good Ship Bauzá, listing because of the storms of Catalan, after the president sacked half his cabinet in May last year. She got the job at public administration, a ministry rarely under public scrutiny because no one is too sure what it does, and also took over the unenviable task of government spokesperson. She's the one, therefore, who has to try and explain what on earth it's up to. And now she can be conscious of what opinion the public has. Or ignore what opinion the public has. There is, if you play the Google-Bing game, a different translation of her name. From Castellano to English. Laugh. Having one.
Sunday, April 06, 2014
Mainly On The Plain: Tourism in Mallorca's centre
The towns of the plain neither have much by way of tourism nor much by way of tourism presence, i.e. official information for tourists (so I thought) or tourist information offices. In fact, between the fourteen towns there is only one information office. It is in Sineu and it only opens on Wednesday market days.
Acknowledging this lack of presence, the fourteen have hit on the idea of beefing up Sineu's office. They are planning on it opening every day, being staffed by someone who can speak different languages (especially English and German) and offering information about all the towns and not just Sineu, which is the case at present.
Apart from it already having this office, Sineu as the centre of the plain's tourism presence makes some sense. The geographic centre of Mallorca doesn't quite lie within its municipal boundaries, but it almost does; it is actually in the neighbouring Lloret de Vistalegre. But unlike Lloret, which no one has ever heard of, Sineu has been heard of. The market is one thing, there is also the palace of the Kings of Mallorca, which was redeveloped in the early fourteenth century, having previously been a Moorish building.
So Sineu has some form in terms of history that might appeal to the more discerning tourist; more so perhaps than any of the other towns on the plain. Petra might, thanks to Father Junipero Serra, claim otherwise, but it doesn't have a feature quite as dominating as Sineu's Santa Maria church. When it comes to a tourist information office, therefore, Sineu it is.
The towns lack a tourist presence not just because they don't have any information offices; their official websites are similarly without tourist presence. Go to them and you won't find on any of them something which shouts out "tourism". Montuïri does have something called "visita turística prehistórica y tradicional", a PDF for the Son Fornés museum and talayotic site, some of which is conveniently upside down. It does, though, point out that guided tours can be booked. Otherwise, the towns' websites, while several of them have menu entries for places of interest and for fiestas, make no mention of tourism.
But, tucked away on some of them is a link to "Visit Pla de Mallorca". I probably should have known of the existence of this, but I didn't. It is a separate website. And it isn't at all bad. The information is even in English (and German), and the information is pretty decent. There are historical backgrounds to each of the towns and, under "sightseeing", there are lists of features in each town which, when you click on them, give good detail. For example, the palace of the Kings of Mallorca was handed over to an order of nuns in the late sixteenth century. The description tells us much about its architectural development since then.
Who, though, is aware of this little gem of a website? Why is it sitting there, lurking on some of the municipal websites and not on others? Why is it seemingly not linked into some grander portal? Why is not more known of the information for places to stay? The agrotourism, for instance. Why is there not more awareness of a promotional video on YouTube? It was uploaded four years ago. It has only had slightly over 4,500 views.
A regularly manned tourist information office in Sineu is an improvement. It could hardly be anything other than an improvement, but one has to question the determination and/or interest in developing tourism in the towns of the Mallorcan plain. All the towns have now had to submit tourism plans (and I've mentioned a couple of them previously; those for Algaida and Montuïri). This obligation under the tourism law has probably shaken them out of a certain lethargy. Yet astonishingly, they had already got together and produced a highly informative website. It's just that no one knew it was there.
http://www.visitplademallorca.net/
* Photo is of the convent at the former royal palace in Sineu. With due acknowledgement, it is taken from the website.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Lake Esperanza To The Inland Station
The "estaciones náuticas", of which there are now 23 throughout Spain, have increased their turnover from 980 million euros in 2005 to 2,300 million euros in 2012. This growth sounds impressive and would be even more so if we knew what the hell it represented.
The network of water-sports centres (and estaciones náuticas are water-sports centres, or resorts if you prefer) commercialises some 4,500 products in promoting nautical tourism in destinations with a long tradition of offering such tourism. The association for these water-sports centres has informed us that the turnover has more than doubled in seven years, but it is unclear how this turnover is accounted for. This is why I ask what it represents. The estación náutica concept, brand, call it what you will, is at best nebulous. It becomes even more so when it isn't obvious what the association is referring to. As the number of centres has increased along with the number of products over the past seven years, then a rise in turnover would be expected, but whether this rise owes anything to centres being part of the network must be open to some question.
Alcúdia is one resort that has joined the network during these seven years (it is the only one in Mallorca). It will have added some products to the overall number that are commercialised, but try telling anyone that Alcúdia is an estación náutica and they will look at you with bafflement. Ever since Alcúdia acquired the status of an estación náutica, it has been a concept that has been a mystery to virtually everyone.
Falling under the Turespaña tourism promotion agency, the association for the estaciones náuticas periodically gives out growth figures which suggest that the concept is a wonderful one. And though the estación náutica may indeed be wonderful, its marketing is anything but. This is why it is so unknown in Alcúdia. It will be why it will also be unknown by tourists.
The main means of promoting the estaciones náuticas is via the internet. So I put it to the test. I assumed that I was a British tourist who was interested in water sports in Alcúdia. I entered this into Google and, impressively enough, the estaciones náuticas website came up at number one in the ranking. I clicked on it and was taken to the entry for Water Sports Mallorca in Playa de Muro. Not quite Alcúdia, but near enough, albeit that Playa de Muro is a separate resort and is not, therefore, an estación náutica. Moreover, what I had been taken to was a company called Water Sports Mallorca.
I thought I would look around the website, so clicked "Destinations". It didn't work. I clicked "Accommodations" (sic) and then "Hotels". Marina Suites Hotel was the first one that came up. It is in Gran Canaria. I tried a couple of other hotel pages. Not one hotel for Alcúdia. I clicked "Nautical Activities" and then "Kitesurfing". All entries appeared to be for Delta de l'Ebre, wherever that is and it certainly isn't Alcúdia. At this point I gave up, and I would imagine any other surfer (so to speak) would as well.
To put it bluntly, the website, where Alcúdia is concerned at any rate, is all but useless. One could, sadly, say the same about the estación náutica concept as a whole. Little of it makes sense, including its name and its obvious translation into English. Googling water sports in Alcúdia might mean good news for Marc and his buddies in Playa de Muro, but it isn't much good for anyone else.
Nevertheless, Alcúdia has embraced the concept. "We love sport 365 days" is now an Alcúdia slogan, and the estación náutica has helped to make the town edge towards all-year sport-loving. Or has it? That there may be more sport, more days of the year and more tourists availing themselves of it could be due to factors other than the estación náutica concept; factors such as the marketing by others which is far more effective. For the association to imply that it has been behind the growth in turnover is hugely debatable.
One of the more obvious problems with the concept is that it suggests some sort of physical presence. I stress that it is only a concept but there is now some physical manifestation - at Alcúdia old town's Can Ramis municipal building where there are also references to sports for 365 days, such as canoeing on the great lake. A case of from Lake Esperanza to the inland station. But wouldn't it better if there were an estación where you would expect to find náutica? Like by the sea? Only a thought.
QUIZ: Making a brief return. From which line from which famous song is today's title adapted?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The network of water-sports centres (and estaciones náuticas are water-sports centres, or resorts if you prefer) commercialises some 4,500 products in promoting nautical tourism in destinations with a long tradition of offering such tourism. The association for these water-sports centres has informed us that the turnover has more than doubled in seven years, but it is unclear how this turnover is accounted for. This is why I ask what it represents. The estación náutica concept, brand, call it what you will, is at best nebulous. It becomes even more so when it isn't obvious what the association is referring to. As the number of centres has increased along with the number of products over the past seven years, then a rise in turnover would be expected, but whether this rise owes anything to centres being part of the network must be open to some question.
Alcúdia is one resort that has joined the network during these seven years (it is the only one in Mallorca). It will have added some products to the overall number that are commercialised, but try telling anyone that Alcúdia is an estación náutica and they will look at you with bafflement. Ever since Alcúdia acquired the status of an estación náutica, it has been a concept that has been a mystery to virtually everyone.
Falling under the Turespaña tourism promotion agency, the association for the estaciones náuticas periodically gives out growth figures which suggest that the concept is a wonderful one. And though the estación náutica may indeed be wonderful, its marketing is anything but. This is why it is so unknown in Alcúdia. It will be why it will also be unknown by tourists.
The main means of promoting the estaciones náuticas is via the internet. So I put it to the test. I assumed that I was a British tourist who was interested in water sports in Alcúdia. I entered this into Google and, impressively enough, the estaciones náuticas website came up at number one in the ranking. I clicked on it and was taken to the entry for Water Sports Mallorca in Playa de Muro. Not quite Alcúdia, but near enough, albeit that Playa de Muro is a separate resort and is not, therefore, an estación náutica. Moreover, what I had been taken to was a company called Water Sports Mallorca.
I thought I would look around the website, so clicked "Destinations". It didn't work. I clicked "Accommodations" (sic) and then "Hotels". Marina Suites Hotel was the first one that came up. It is in Gran Canaria. I tried a couple of other hotel pages. Not one hotel for Alcúdia. I clicked "Nautical Activities" and then "Kitesurfing". All entries appeared to be for Delta de l'Ebre, wherever that is and it certainly isn't Alcúdia. At this point I gave up, and I would imagine any other surfer (so to speak) would as well.
To put it bluntly, the website, where Alcúdia is concerned at any rate, is all but useless. One could, sadly, say the same about the estación náutica concept as a whole. Little of it makes sense, including its name and its obvious translation into English. Googling water sports in Alcúdia might mean good news for Marc and his buddies in Playa de Muro, but it isn't much good for anyone else.
Nevertheless, Alcúdia has embraced the concept. "We love sport 365 days" is now an Alcúdia slogan, and the estación náutica has helped to make the town edge towards all-year sport-loving. Or has it? That there may be more sport, more days of the year and more tourists availing themselves of it could be due to factors other than the estación náutica concept; factors such as the marketing by others which is far more effective. For the association to imply that it has been behind the growth in turnover is hugely debatable.
One of the more obvious problems with the concept is that it suggests some sort of physical presence. I stress that it is only a concept but there is now some physical manifestation - at Alcúdia old town's Can Ramis municipal building where there are also references to sports for 365 days, such as canoeing on the great lake. A case of from Lake Esperanza to the inland station. But wouldn't it better if there were an estación where you would expect to find náutica? Like by the sea? Only a thought.
QUIZ: Making a brief return. From which line from which famous song is today's title adapted?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Smoke And Mirrors: Brand Spain
Another day, another website. Ah, but what a website. One for the whole of Spain, but not any old Spain. This is "brand Spain": marcaespaña.gob.es. At some point in the not too distant future, you will be able to enjoy this website in English - I do hope therefore that they do something about the "gob" bit, someone really ought to tell them - but for now it is only in Spanish.
It is an odd thing, to say the least. The very title is odd, or might appear to be. Is there such a thing as a "brand Britain"? Actually, there is, and it is a website about designing brands, not about Britain as a brand. In Spain, the momentum behind establishing Spain as a brand started almost 30 years ago, in that the term "marca España" was first adopted, if only by a journalist. Since then, it has become official. And so official has it become that in June this year, a high commission for "brand Spain" within the national government was created. The website is the first obvious evidence of the commission's remit to, among other things, adopt measures to improve the external image of Spain.
The trouble with this title, though, is that it sounds presumptuous and even desperate. Why not just call the website "Spain"? A brand acquires brand status through the awareness of its reputation and its attributes and the constant reinforcement of these attributes. It doesn't acquire these simply because you call something a brand; literally, call it a brand. The desperation stems from marketing wrongheadedness that seeks to convince, by being so blatant, that all is well and good in the state of the brand of Spain.
The media, and not just foreign media, have considered the strength of this brand and were doing so before the launch of the high commission. There is, and the national government really should be aware of this, an appreciation that Spain as a brand, by which one really means its international standing and reputation, has taken an almighty great hammering. Creating a website and undertaking some sort of internet charm offensive aren't going to alter this; not in the short term at any rate. That the website is currently only in Spanish makes it appear as though it is less for international consumption and more for domestic propaganda. Again, I am afraid the government doesn't quite get it; Spanish people are not blind to the problems that the country faces and they are unlikely to be convinced by having the "brand Spain" message shoved down their throats.
At present, the website is very much for the home market. Its home page (as of 21 December anyway) reveals the face of someone who looks, on first glance, not dissimilar to Mariano Rajoy. It is in fact Jordí Folgado. Who is? No idea. The site has a message from the high commissioner for "marca España". The image of Spain overseas is "very solid" and "respected", he says. Spain's businesses are "admired", he continues. Which is fine, but then you wouldn't expect him to say otherwise.
At the end of this message, there is a tell-tale expression. "Marca España no quiere vender humo." What this means is that "brand Spain" does not wish to sell something that has no worth. One can apply an English metaphor or word instead; smoke and mirrors or smokescreen. It is a shocking mistake by the high commissioner or by the person who wrote his message for him. By introducing the notion of "vender humo", even if it is to refute it, some will assume that it is indeed all about smoke and mirrors. So why even mention it?
Why has the Spanish Government got so upset about the BBC programme, "The Great Spanish Crash"? Well, one reason is because it came out right on cue; just as the website was being launched. The government, through its ambassador, has complained to the BBC about Paul Mason's programme, but all that Mason has done is to delve into much of what is already known. Indeed, he had written about some of the issues in Valencia, on which the programme concentrated, on the BBC's website over almost three months previously.
The government would rather that attention was not paid to the various causes of the economic crisis, of course it would, and there is many a commentator, some of them Spanish, who see issues such as Gibraltar and Catalonia as smokescreens to divert attention. The government does this while at the same time influencing the neutering of leading journalists at the national broadcaster who ask difficult questions. Who else will the government complain about? Giles Tremlett at "The Guardian"? Javier Cercas at "El País"? Stefanie Müller, the German journalist who laid into the corrupt nature of the political system? Or how about the consultants Brand Finance which issued a report in August which reckoned that the "marca España" had lost 38% of its value in two years?
There are reasons why the brand has lost value, but the BBC and journalists aren't one of them.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It is an odd thing, to say the least. The very title is odd, or might appear to be. Is there such a thing as a "brand Britain"? Actually, there is, and it is a website about designing brands, not about Britain as a brand. In Spain, the momentum behind establishing Spain as a brand started almost 30 years ago, in that the term "marca España" was first adopted, if only by a journalist. Since then, it has become official. And so official has it become that in June this year, a high commission for "brand Spain" within the national government was created. The website is the first obvious evidence of the commission's remit to, among other things, adopt measures to improve the external image of Spain.
The trouble with this title, though, is that it sounds presumptuous and even desperate. Why not just call the website "Spain"? A brand acquires brand status through the awareness of its reputation and its attributes and the constant reinforcement of these attributes. It doesn't acquire these simply because you call something a brand; literally, call it a brand. The desperation stems from marketing wrongheadedness that seeks to convince, by being so blatant, that all is well and good in the state of the brand of Spain.
The media, and not just foreign media, have considered the strength of this brand and were doing so before the launch of the high commission. There is, and the national government really should be aware of this, an appreciation that Spain as a brand, by which one really means its international standing and reputation, has taken an almighty great hammering. Creating a website and undertaking some sort of internet charm offensive aren't going to alter this; not in the short term at any rate. That the website is currently only in Spanish makes it appear as though it is less for international consumption and more for domestic propaganda. Again, I am afraid the government doesn't quite get it; Spanish people are not blind to the problems that the country faces and they are unlikely to be convinced by having the "brand Spain" message shoved down their throats.
At present, the website is very much for the home market. Its home page (as of 21 December anyway) reveals the face of someone who looks, on first glance, not dissimilar to Mariano Rajoy. It is in fact Jordí Folgado. Who is? No idea. The site has a message from the high commissioner for "marca España". The image of Spain overseas is "very solid" and "respected", he says. Spain's businesses are "admired", he continues. Which is fine, but then you wouldn't expect him to say otherwise.
At the end of this message, there is a tell-tale expression. "Marca España no quiere vender humo." What this means is that "brand Spain" does not wish to sell something that has no worth. One can apply an English metaphor or word instead; smoke and mirrors or smokescreen. It is a shocking mistake by the high commissioner or by the person who wrote his message for him. By introducing the notion of "vender humo", even if it is to refute it, some will assume that it is indeed all about smoke and mirrors. So why even mention it?
Why has the Spanish Government got so upset about the BBC programme, "The Great Spanish Crash"? Well, one reason is because it came out right on cue; just as the website was being launched. The government, through its ambassador, has complained to the BBC about Paul Mason's programme, but all that Mason has done is to delve into much of what is already known. Indeed, he had written about some of the issues in Valencia, on which the programme concentrated, on the BBC's website over almost three months previously.
The government would rather that attention was not paid to the various causes of the economic crisis, of course it would, and there is many a commentator, some of them Spanish, who see issues such as Gibraltar and Catalonia as smokescreens to divert attention. The government does this while at the same time influencing the neutering of leading journalists at the national broadcaster who ask difficult questions. Who else will the government complain about? Giles Tremlett at "The Guardian"? Javier Cercas at "El País"? Stefanie Müller, the German journalist who laid into the corrupt nature of the political system? Or how about the consultants Brand Finance which issued a report in August which reckoned that the "marca España" had lost 38% of its value in two years?
There are reasons why the brand has lost value, but the BBC and journalists aren't one of them.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia's financial situation shown on town hall website
Alcúdia town hall, with a surplus of 11 million euros, has set out an analysis of its financial situation since 2007 on the municipality's website (http://www.alcudia.net), a development that is quite unusual in it providing some transparency as to town hall financing.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The BAFMAs: Awards for Mallorcan achievement
Yes, it's that time of the year. Time for the BAFMAs, the Blog Awards For Mallorcan Achievement. In no particular order, the following are variously well-known and less well-known or were well-publicised and less well-publicised ...
Politician Of The Year (Shared): Miquel Ensenyat and Carme Garcia
Ensenyat, the PSM Mallorcan socialist mayor of Esporles, stood as candidate for the PSM at the national elections. There was little remarkable about this, except that Ensenyat is an openly gay politician in a land where the Church can issue warnings of the danger of voting for politicians who support gay marriage.
Garcia, the "turncoat" of Alcúdia, was also a PSM politician. "Was" being the operative word. She sided with the Partido Popular after the regional elections, despite the wide gulf in political ideology, leading to her being expelled from the party and to her suffering recriminations led by the previous coalition of PSOE and the Convergència. Though her ex-party and the opposition had a legitimate point and though Garcia secured for herself a role as second-in-command to the new lady mayor, her decision could also be seen as a blow for the chumminess of the previous male-dominated coalition which did not have the moral authority to expect her to support it in denying the PP, which had gained eight out of nine seats required for a majority, the right to govern Alcúdia.
Celebrity Of The Year: Tom Hanks
They sought him here, they sought him there. Through their long lenses, they sought Tom everywhere. There he was, at long distance, speaking into an iPhone, or rather there was the back of Tom's head speaking into an iPhone. There he also was just hanging around and doing very little, assuming you could make out it was Tom behind the security and beneath his headgear.
Business Of The Year: Lidl
Disproving the notion that Mallorca is not open to foreign companies, Lidl, exploiting a relaxation in commercial developments, expanded across Mallorca, bringing jobs as well as competition to the supermarket sector.
Event Of The Year: The Inca bullfight
If campaigners sought more encouragement in banning bullfighting in Mallorca, they got it during the Inca bullfight. The promoter caused outrage by taking to the ring to kill the bull after the bull had effectively excluded itself from the fight when it broke a horn. Rules don't apparently permit non-combatants to enter the ring. The gruesome video of the killing of the bull went viral and the video also highlighted and criticised the fact that minors had been allowed into the arena.
Beach Of The Year: Playa de Muro
The extension of Puerto Alcúdia's beach (which was voted Mallorca's best beach on "Trip Advisor"), the beach in Playa de Muro was the target of efforts by the town hall to improve it even further. These included instituting a fine for urinating on the beach, which drew a response from some who wanted to know where else they were supposed to go to the toilet, and a similar fine for a similar act in the sea. It wasn't entirely clear how Muro town hall proposed policing the latter, but with concerns about rising sea levels, the consequence of climate change, a ban on using the sea was probably a wise precaution.
Website Of The Year: Mallorca Daily Photo Blog
Just going to show that wit, informativeness, striking photography and personal dedication count for far more than huge budgets chucked at websites in promoting Mallorca. It deserves an award very much more prestigious than a BAFMA.
Musician Of The Year: Arnau Reynés
While more celebrated musicians took to stages in Mallorca this year, Reynés, the professor of music from the Universitat de les Illes Balears, who has performed in some of Europe's finest cathedrals, brought a tradition of music in Mallorca that is often overlooked to the small church in Playa de Muro and gave a summer recital, as did other leading Mallorcan organists.
Historian Of The Year: Gabriel Verd Martorell
Thirty-five years is a long time for any one historian to have sought to have proved a point, but Verd was still at it, striving, once and for all, to establish that Christopher Columbus was born in Felanitx. In a "solemn" declaration in the town, he claimed that Columbus was the illegitimate nephew of King Ferdinand and that to have had the title of governor general bestowed on him, which he did, he had to have had royal blood. You can't blame a historian for persistence.
So, these are the BAFMAs. No science behind them, no text voting, purely my own choice. But if you have your own nominations or suggestions, please feel free ... .
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Politician Of The Year (Shared): Miquel Ensenyat and Carme Garcia
Ensenyat, the PSM Mallorcan socialist mayor of Esporles, stood as candidate for the PSM at the national elections. There was little remarkable about this, except that Ensenyat is an openly gay politician in a land where the Church can issue warnings of the danger of voting for politicians who support gay marriage.
Garcia, the "turncoat" of Alcúdia, was also a PSM politician. "Was" being the operative word. She sided with the Partido Popular after the regional elections, despite the wide gulf in political ideology, leading to her being expelled from the party and to her suffering recriminations led by the previous coalition of PSOE and the Convergència. Though her ex-party and the opposition had a legitimate point and though Garcia secured for herself a role as second-in-command to the new lady mayor, her decision could also be seen as a blow for the chumminess of the previous male-dominated coalition which did not have the moral authority to expect her to support it in denying the PP, which had gained eight out of nine seats required for a majority, the right to govern Alcúdia.
Celebrity Of The Year: Tom Hanks
They sought him here, they sought him there. Through their long lenses, they sought Tom everywhere. There he was, at long distance, speaking into an iPhone, or rather there was the back of Tom's head speaking into an iPhone. There he also was just hanging around and doing very little, assuming you could make out it was Tom behind the security and beneath his headgear.
Business Of The Year: Lidl
Disproving the notion that Mallorca is not open to foreign companies, Lidl, exploiting a relaxation in commercial developments, expanded across Mallorca, bringing jobs as well as competition to the supermarket sector.
Event Of The Year: The Inca bullfight
If campaigners sought more encouragement in banning bullfighting in Mallorca, they got it during the Inca bullfight. The promoter caused outrage by taking to the ring to kill the bull after the bull had effectively excluded itself from the fight when it broke a horn. Rules don't apparently permit non-combatants to enter the ring. The gruesome video of the killing of the bull went viral and the video also highlighted and criticised the fact that minors had been allowed into the arena.
Beach Of The Year: Playa de Muro
The extension of Puerto Alcúdia's beach (which was voted Mallorca's best beach on "Trip Advisor"), the beach in Playa de Muro was the target of efforts by the town hall to improve it even further. These included instituting a fine for urinating on the beach, which drew a response from some who wanted to know where else they were supposed to go to the toilet, and a similar fine for a similar act in the sea. It wasn't entirely clear how Muro town hall proposed policing the latter, but with concerns about rising sea levels, the consequence of climate change, a ban on using the sea was probably a wise precaution.
Website Of The Year: Mallorca Daily Photo Blog
Just going to show that wit, informativeness, striking photography and personal dedication count for far more than huge budgets chucked at websites in promoting Mallorca. It deserves an award very much more prestigious than a BAFMA.
Musician Of The Year: Arnau Reynés
While more celebrated musicians took to stages in Mallorca this year, Reynés, the professor of music from the Universitat de les Illes Balears, who has performed in some of Europe's finest cathedrals, brought a tradition of music in Mallorca that is often overlooked to the small church in Playa de Muro and gave a summer recital, as did other leading Mallorcan organists.
Historian Of The Year: Gabriel Verd Martorell
Thirty-five years is a long time for any one historian to have sought to have proved a point, but Verd was still at it, striving, once and for all, to establish that Christopher Columbus was born in Felanitx. In a "solemn" declaration in the town, he claimed that Columbus was the illegitimate nephew of King Ferdinand and that to have had the title of governor general bestowed on him, which he did, he had to have had royal blood. You can't blame a historian for persistence.
So, these are the BAFMAs. No science behind them, no text voting, purely my own choice. But if you have your own nominations or suggestions, please feel free ... .
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
No Hope: Private holiday lets
Justin in Paris has made 90,000 dollars. Daren in London has raked in 100 grand. In Mallorca, you can expect to coin in 2003 euros per month.
An advert on a Facebook page demanded a damn good clicking. Make money in Spain, it said. Rent out your place to travelers (all American travellers, therefore, as they are lacking an "l") and make 75 euros+ per night. Interesting, I thought. Not because I want to rent out to travelers or even travellers, but because it is quite possible that anyone wishing to - in Mallorca - shouldn't.
On the site, there was Daren, relaxing, sound in the knowledge of the 100 grand he had made. Novi from San Francisco was smiling, thanks to her 30,000 dollars. Justin looked suitably satisfied with his ninety thousand.
The 2003 euros was the calculation for a month to rent out an apartment in Palma or Pollensa. I went and had a look. Was anything actually available in Mallorca? Yes. Not much, but there were some places. By the night or longer. Some with photos, some without. Not having a photo doesn't really "sell" a place, but there might be good reason for there not being a photo.
It's kicking off again. The periodic wielding of the holiday-rental stick. The tourism ministry and friends at the tax authorities are spending their days in earnest perusal of websites, mainly British ones, seeking to identify properties for holiday rent. An announcement was made last year that web pages in particular would come under scrutiny, and a similar announcement has been made this year as well.
John Lance, in his letter to "The Bulletin" (Saturday, 2 July) made the point well enough, as he has in the past, about the lunatic situation in respect of holiday lets in Mallorca. The "grey area" he referred to isn't really all that grey. Want to now license your property for holiday rental? You can't.
There are plenty of properties which are licensed but they date back to and before the registration of, when was it, three, four years ago. Even then, however, there was massive confusion, and the dice were heavily loaded against apartment owners. The greyness of the situation is especially so with apartments, but it isn't so grey if you accept the version which states that you cannot rent out private apartments as holiday lets at all.
The tourism ministry has wielded its stick. In February, there were reports relating to action taken against owners of apartments in Santa Ponsa, to what was being offered, and to the fact that the apartments were being advertised via a UK website. And then there were the fines. Up to 30,050 euros.
We know the arguments in favour of more relaxed rules on holiday rentals: not everyone wants to stay in a hotel; tourists in private apartments and villas tend to spend more; a mix of accommodation types reflects the diversity of the tourism market. We know the hoteliers' arguments against: they have the hoops they have to go through; they invest heavily; they are a key source of employment. Like the endless all-inclusive debate, none of the arguments are new.
The hoteliers can, however, be somewhat disingenuous. When the Santa Ponsa reports were coming in, the head of the local hoteliers' association said that the competition from private apartments was unfair. Yes, but turn it around. Owners could argue the case of restriction of trade and of unfair competition that denies them the chance to properly register and market their properties.
As John Lance remarked, this could all end up with Europe getting involved. But for property owners, the problem is the lack of any co-ordinated voice. The hoteliers know this, and so, as importantly, does the Balearic Government.
It might be remembered that the hoteliers, well before the elections, expressed concern as to the appointment of Carlos Delgado as tourism minister. Now they express contentment, and Delgado, who one might hope might be more willing to throw off the shackles of trade restriction, has announced his intention to collaborate with the hotel sector in making the tourism law more flexible. And one aspect of this is the residential use of tourist establishments. Owned by the hoteliers, I think we can assume this to mean.
Just as is the case with its dealings with the major tour operators, a government in the Balearics, be it PP or PSOE, cannot afford to alienate the hotel sector. If there was hope that the private rental market might be treated more favourably by the new government, then I'm afraid it was probably a forlorn hope. And it will remain one.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
An advert on a Facebook page demanded a damn good clicking. Make money in Spain, it said. Rent out your place to travelers (all American travellers, therefore, as they are lacking an "l") and make 75 euros+ per night. Interesting, I thought. Not because I want to rent out to travelers or even travellers, but because it is quite possible that anyone wishing to - in Mallorca - shouldn't.
On the site, there was Daren, relaxing, sound in the knowledge of the 100 grand he had made. Novi from San Francisco was smiling, thanks to her 30,000 dollars. Justin looked suitably satisfied with his ninety thousand.
The 2003 euros was the calculation for a month to rent out an apartment in Palma or Pollensa. I went and had a look. Was anything actually available in Mallorca? Yes. Not much, but there were some places. By the night or longer. Some with photos, some without. Not having a photo doesn't really "sell" a place, but there might be good reason for there not being a photo.
It's kicking off again. The periodic wielding of the holiday-rental stick. The tourism ministry and friends at the tax authorities are spending their days in earnest perusal of websites, mainly British ones, seeking to identify properties for holiday rent. An announcement was made last year that web pages in particular would come under scrutiny, and a similar announcement has been made this year as well.
John Lance, in his letter to "The Bulletin" (Saturday, 2 July) made the point well enough, as he has in the past, about the lunatic situation in respect of holiday lets in Mallorca. The "grey area" he referred to isn't really all that grey. Want to now license your property for holiday rental? You can't.
There are plenty of properties which are licensed but they date back to and before the registration of, when was it, three, four years ago. Even then, however, there was massive confusion, and the dice were heavily loaded against apartment owners. The greyness of the situation is especially so with apartments, but it isn't so grey if you accept the version which states that you cannot rent out private apartments as holiday lets at all.
The tourism ministry has wielded its stick. In February, there were reports relating to action taken against owners of apartments in Santa Ponsa, to what was being offered, and to the fact that the apartments were being advertised via a UK website. And then there were the fines. Up to 30,050 euros.
We know the arguments in favour of more relaxed rules on holiday rentals: not everyone wants to stay in a hotel; tourists in private apartments and villas tend to spend more; a mix of accommodation types reflects the diversity of the tourism market. We know the hoteliers' arguments against: they have the hoops they have to go through; they invest heavily; they are a key source of employment. Like the endless all-inclusive debate, none of the arguments are new.
The hoteliers can, however, be somewhat disingenuous. When the Santa Ponsa reports were coming in, the head of the local hoteliers' association said that the competition from private apartments was unfair. Yes, but turn it around. Owners could argue the case of restriction of trade and of unfair competition that denies them the chance to properly register and market their properties.
As John Lance remarked, this could all end up with Europe getting involved. But for property owners, the problem is the lack of any co-ordinated voice. The hoteliers know this, and so, as importantly, does the Balearic Government.
It might be remembered that the hoteliers, well before the elections, expressed concern as to the appointment of Carlos Delgado as tourism minister. Now they express contentment, and Delgado, who one might hope might be more willing to throw off the shackles of trade restriction, has announced his intention to collaborate with the hotel sector in making the tourism law more flexible. And one aspect of this is the residential use of tourist establishments. Owned by the hoteliers, I think we can assume this to mean.
Just as is the case with its dealings with the major tour operators, a government in the Balearics, be it PP or PSOE, cannot afford to alienate the hotel sector. If there was hope that the private rental market might be treated more favourably by the new government, then I'm afraid it was probably a forlorn hope. And it will remain one.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Town With No Mayor
One day he was still there, the next he was finally gone, whisked away and hurtled into the oblivion of cyberspace. But for eleven days longer than he should have been, Joan Cerdà had remained mayor of Pollensa. According to the town hall's website anyway. The photo of the "batle" (Catalan for mayor) continued to be that of the smiling face of the departed Joan; a photo that had surely been taken before he had become mayor, as he didn't do a great deal of smiling once he was. For over a week, Joan was stubbornly fixed to the website's batle slot next to the lime-green banner declaring "Som Pollença Municipi Turístic". The batle of the som.
It wasn't only myself who, on not infrequent visits to the town hall's website, found it slightly odd to discover that Joan was still lingering. The A party, A for Alternativa but which might better stand for Awkward, also found it strange, and so told the press who duly brought the matter to the world's attention. No sooner made to look a bit silly, the town hall removed the photo.
But where once was Joan is now no batle to be seen. Has no one a photo of Tommy Cifre, not even an old one? He has after all been mayor before. The mayor's spot is now a link to a street map. I clicked on it, just for something to do. I didn't move the map, really I didn't, but zoomed in, zoomed in and zoomed in. And there, in centre frame, once the map was truly legible was Joan Cerdà, the Plaça Joan Cerdà. Spooky.
The town with no mayor is now also, in its virtual internet world, minus any political representatives at all. The political organigram has disappeared as well. Organigram, I ask you. Jobs for the boys and girls. The A party has also made a fuss about it not having been changed. The new administration has been talking a good talk about transparency, but it hasn't got round to posting info as to who now has their feet up on which town hall desk.
You could say that it was just a case of being a tad slow (and by the time you read this the site's missing mayor and organists will probably have been found), but the town halls' websites are intended to be a key means of communicating with towns' citizens. Which is why when you go to them and don't find what you are looking for, they can at best be a bit disappointing, always assuming you can make head or tail of Catalan, which you normally need to, and thereby confirm your disappointment.
Not updating the website is just one little local difficulty that the new administration has to contend with. With Joan no longer in the picture, except having his picture stay on the website, the hope for the good people of Pollensa was that all would suddenly become calm and orderly. They hadn't counted on Tommy Cifre and his number two Malena Estrany being cast in the role of Laurel and Hardy. "That's another fine mess you've got me into, 'Strany."
To be fair, it hasn't been her fault or Cifre's. They couldn't have been expected to have known that Endesa would come along and remove the electricity meter from the public swimming pool in Puerto Pollensa and cut off the supply, even if the recent history of problems with paying Endesa's bills would have made them know that not all was going swimmingly at the public baths.
It is not their fault that they have inherited the ongoing battle of the beaches in Puerto Pollensa and the new company that Cifre has told to get on with complying with its obligations. It is not their fault that if you go to the town hall's website and expect to find information for the Pollensa Music Festival programme (which typically starts in early July), you won't find it because the programme hasn't been sorted out. And it is only the fiftieth anniversary of the festival this year. Its founder, Philip Newman, must be turning in his grave and playing a lament on his violin.
It is not their fault that only slightly less well-established than the music festival is the sailing school of Sail and Surf. Forty years it has been in Puerto Pollensa, and suddenly some jobsworth comes along and finds it has been there all this time. It must stop, said mayor Cifre, who then said it could continue. Something about licences. It always is.
It's just like old times. Old times that are not even yet a fortnight old. Things will get better. Give them some time. Four years, for example. But meantime the A party will continue to make a nuisance of itself, it will continue to bombard my email inbox with photos and circulars to do with what the town hall's not doing correctly, and so life will go on as normal. As normal as it can ever be in a town with no mayor.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It wasn't only myself who, on not infrequent visits to the town hall's website, found it slightly odd to discover that Joan was still lingering. The A party, A for Alternativa but which might better stand for Awkward, also found it strange, and so told the press who duly brought the matter to the world's attention. No sooner made to look a bit silly, the town hall removed the photo.
But where once was Joan is now no batle to be seen. Has no one a photo of Tommy Cifre, not even an old one? He has after all been mayor before. The mayor's spot is now a link to a street map. I clicked on it, just for something to do. I didn't move the map, really I didn't, but zoomed in, zoomed in and zoomed in. And there, in centre frame, once the map was truly legible was Joan Cerdà, the Plaça Joan Cerdà. Spooky.
The town with no mayor is now also, in its virtual internet world, minus any political representatives at all. The political organigram has disappeared as well. Organigram, I ask you. Jobs for the boys and girls. The A party has also made a fuss about it not having been changed. The new administration has been talking a good talk about transparency, but it hasn't got round to posting info as to who now has their feet up on which town hall desk.
You could say that it was just a case of being a tad slow (and by the time you read this the site's missing mayor and organists will probably have been found), but the town halls' websites are intended to be a key means of communicating with towns' citizens. Which is why when you go to them and don't find what you are looking for, they can at best be a bit disappointing, always assuming you can make head or tail of Catalan, which you normally need to, and thereby confirm your disappointment.
Not updating the website is just one little local difficulty that the new administration has to contend with. With Joan no longer in the picture, except having his picture stay on the website, the hope for the good people of Pollensa was that all would suddenly become calm and orderly. They hadn't counted on Tommy Cifre and his number two Malena Estrany being cast in the role of Laurel and Hardy. "That's another fine mess you've got me into, 'Strany."
To be fair, it hasn't been her fault or Cifre's. They couldn't have been expected to have known that Endesa would come along and remove the electricity meter from the public swimming pool in Puerto Pollensa and cut off the supply, even if the recent history of problems with paying Endesa's bills would have made them know that not all was going swimmingly at the public baths.
It is not their fault that they have inherited the ongoing battle of the beaches in Puerto Pollensa and the new company that Cifre has told to get on with complying with its obligations. It is not their fault that if you go to the town hall's website and expect to find information for the Pollensa Music Festival programme (which typically starts in early July), you won't find it because the programme hasn't been sorted out. And it is only the fiftieth anniversary of the festival this year. Its founder, Philip Newman, must be turning in his grave and playing a lament on his violin.
It is not their fault that only slightly less well-established than the music festival is the sailing school of Sail and Surf. Forty years it has been in Puerto Pollensa, and suddenly some jobsworth comes along and finds it has been there all this time. It must stop, said mayor Cifre, who then said it could continue. Something about licences. It always is.
It's just like old times. Old times that are not even yet a fortnight old. Things will get better. Give them some time. Four years, for example. But meantime the A party will continue to make a nuisance of itself, it will continue to bombard my email inbox with photos and circulars to do with what the town hall's not doing correctly, and so life will go on as normal. As normal as it can ever be in a town with no mayor.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Cerdà still mayor in Pollensa?
The Alternativa per Pollença has brought to attention the fact that Pollensa town hall's website still carries a photo of former mayor Joan Cerdà, ten days after the new mayor was selected. The website also still lists the former departments of the town hall administration and those who are no longer responsible.
Monday, April 04, 2011
Taking The Biscuit: The language of promotion
Fancy having a biccy when you're in Palma? Seems like an odd thing to have a website to tell you about. It would indeed be odd, which is why bicipalma.es is of course nothing to do with biscuits. It is to do with bikes. Bikes you can use for free. Or can you? Can you in fact use them at all and how free are they?
The other day, in "The Guardian", there was this thing about what's new in the Balearics. "Life may be chilled in the Med's coolest islands, but it doesn't stand still." Hey, hip, daddy-o. Do people really talk like this? Presumably they do at Guardian house. So chilled are they, that they don't exactly pay a lot of attention.
One thing that isn't standing still and that is now cool is, the paper informed us, the fact that Mallorca has "gone all Boris" with a "free bike scheme". Just chill, and click onto Bicipalma. No HobNobs or Garibaldis, just a load of gibberish in Catalan; gibberish if you don't happen to speak Catalan. Many Guardian readers do of course.
Ah, but there is always a Spanish version, which is rather more intelligible, but still not exactly English. A Guardian readership may dream of hours riding around on a bike and being abused by car drivers and driven off the roads of Palma, but dreams are what they will remain. You see, the Palma biscuit ride isn't for tourists. The site says so. "It is not a public system for hiring bikes for tourist or recreational use." It says so, but in Spanish and in Catalan.
The chilled journos of The Guardian have rather overlooked this slight drawback, as they have also overlooked the fact that the site adds, but not in English of course, that "in order to use Bicipalma, you only have to have a citizen's card (and be over 16)". Yes, only have to have a citizen's card, for which read an identity card or a residency card, were one still available. I may be mistaken, but most British tourists would have neither; nor, indeed, would many a British resident of the Med's coolest islands.
So, life may not be standing still in the oh-so-cool islands. It may be clambering aboard two wheels, finding the roads of Palma mercifully free of buses because they're on strike, before being knocked over by a taxi, but life, for the cycling tourist, is well and truly stationary. Nice try, Guardian, better luck next time.
Oh, but there is also this free bit. Irrelevant the service being free or not may be to a tourist, its actual freeness is not all that it seems. There is a free period of use, but there is some confusion. Is this free period for 30 minutes or two hours? The site seems to suggest both, but to be fair I didn't tarry long in trying to fathom it out. I shall not be availing myself of the service anyway. You have to be insane to want to drive a car in Palma, but as for riding a bike ...
The absence of a language other than Catalan or Spanish on Bicipalma does rather give the game away. Or you would think that it does. That there may be no English doesn't automatically mean that the tourist is being ignored. What it usually means is that no one can be bothered. As is the case with pretty much any fair or fiesta you may care to mention.
Someone remarked to me recently that the poster for the upcoming extravaganza in Alcúdia that is the annual rubber-ring gastronomy fair is only in Catalan. What on earth does he expect? Of course it's only in Catalan. It's always only in Catalan. And even were it in English, it would still insist on referring to "sepia", which wouldn't mean anything to an English reader. Even if it were translated as cuttlefish, it wouldn't exactly have hordes of Brits rushing to the nearest restaurant, unless possibly they were Guardian readers of the cuttlefish-eating classes of middle Islington.
"Oh wow, amazing. Gideon, there's a cuttlefish gastronomy fair in Mallorca. How chilled and cool is that. We simply must go."
"Oh, yuh, amazing. Can you hire a bike as well?"
"I'm not sure, but there's something here about biscuits. They're free apparently."
"Cool."
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The other day, in "The Guardian", there was this thing about what's new in the Balearics. "Life may be chilled in the Med's coolest islands, but it doesn't stand still." Hey, hip, daddy-o. Do people really talk like this? Presumably they do at Guardian house. So chilled are they, that they don't exactly pay a lot of attention.
One thing that isn't standing still and that is now cool is, the paper informed us, the fact that Mallorca has "gone all Boris" with a "free bike scheme". Just chill, and click onto Bicipalma. No HobNobs or Garibaldis, just a load of gibberish in Catalan; gibberish if you don't happen to speak Catalan. Many Guardian readers do of course.
Ah, but there is always a Spanish version, which is rather more intelligible, but still not exactly English. A Guardian readership may dream of hours riding around on a bike and being abused by car drivers and driven off the roads of Palma, but dreams are what they will remain. You see, the Palma biscuit ride isn't for tourists. The site says so. "It is not a public system for hiring bikes for tourist or recreational use." It says so, but in Spanish and in Catalan.
The chilled journos of The Guardian have rather overlooked this slight drawback, as they have also overlooked the fact that the site adds, but not in English of course, that "in order to use Bicipalma, you only have to have a citizen's card (and be over 16)". Yes, only have to have a citizen's card, for which read an identity card or a residency card, were one still available. I may be mistaken, but most British tourists would have neither; nor, indeed, would many a British resident of the Med's coolest islands.
So, life may not be standing still in the oh-so-cool islands. It may be clambering aboard two wheels, finding the roads of Palma mercifully free of buses because they're on strike, before being knocked over by a taxi, but life, for the cycling tourist, is well and truly stationary. Nice try, Guardian, better luck next time.
Oh, but there is also this free bit. Irrelevant the service being free or not may be to a tourist, its actual freeness is not all that it seems. There is a free period of use, but there is some confusion. Is this free period for 30 minutes or two hours? The site seems to suggest both, but to be fair I didn't tarry long in trying to fathom it out. I shall not be availing myself of the service anyway. You have to be insane to want to drive a car in Palma, but as for riding a bike ...
The absence of a language other than Catalan or Spanish on Bicipalma does rather give the game away. Or you would think that it does. That there may be no English doesn't automatically mean that the tourist is being ignored. What it usually means is that no one can be bothered. As is the case with pretty much any fair or fiesta you may care to mention.
Someone remarked to me recently that the poster for the upcoming extravaganza in Alcúdia that is the annual rubber-ring gastronomy fair is only in Catalan. What on earth does he expect? Of course it's only in Catalan. It's always only in Catalan. And even were it in English, it would still insist on referring to "sepia", which wouldn't mean anything to an English reader. Even if it were translated as cuttlefish, it wouldn't exactly have hordes of Brits rushing to the nearest restaurant, unless possibly they were Guardian readers of the cuttlefish-eating classes of middle Islington.
"Oh wow, amazing. Gideon, there's a cuttlefish gastronomy fair in Mallorca. How chilled and cool is that. We simply must go."
"Oh, yuh, amazing. Can you hire a bike as well?"
"I'm not sure, but there's something here about biscuits. They're free apparently."
"Cool."
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, March 28, 2011
We'll Fight Them On The Beach Restaurants
So, here was an interesting little thing that caught my eye. In "The Bulletin" on Sunday. The headline was "Menorca fights all-inclusive tourist offer". The short news item said that the "Council of Menorca" (was) fighting back against the all-inclusive offer by setting up an online scheme where(by) visitors planning to come to the island can survey local restaurants giving meals at a special price, and calculate their expenses in advance."
What a very good idea, thought I. Visitors would also be able, the piece continued, to compare costs against that of an all-inclusive offer. Intrigued, I went in search of the website. I was intrigued not just by what seemed a good idea but also by the surprise of it. Why was I surprised? Well, would an island council, Menorca's or any other, actually be presenting something that might be seen to undermine its hotels? Yes, it wants to boost its restaurants and other businesses, and no, the councils aren't necessarily in cahoots with the hotels as such, but "fighting back" against AI? Was it really doing this?
Disappointingly, it isn't doing this. On the "Menorca Full Experience" site, the introduction says that we (tourists) want to know in advance costs of various things and that we have a problem with budgeting for lunches and dinners. Nowhere is there any mention of all-inclusives. Might this be for a reason other than letting tourists make some cost comparison, as in all-inclusives will soon be a thing of the past?
The island's tourism minister, Lázaro Criado, said, when the site was launched at the start of March, that "we understand that all-inclusive is not the agreed strategy for the long term in Menorca, although it can prove useful in the short term". Just like Mallorca, then. If anyone can decipher what the minister means (and it is hard to believe what he appears to mean), answers on a postcard with a picture of one of the participating restaurants, assuming you can find one of them.
The idea behind the site is that restaurants are listed, along with their menus, and a discount price is offered on production of a voucher that can be printed out. Fair enough. But hardly new. A slight problem with what there is on the website at present is that there are very few restaurants participating. How many? Three. Yes, three. In the whole of Menorca. In certain sections of cuisine and in certain "urbanisations", there are none listed. One presumes it's all early days.
This website has nothing to do with all-inclusives, but everything to do with promoting local gastronomy, all three restaurants' worth of it. There's nothing wrong with such promotion, while it would indeed have been a surprise had there been some sort of cost-comparison measures being presented, which there aren't. One can of course do one's own cost comparison, by schlepping through all manner of websites to get to the comparison, but you won't get it by "falling in love" with Menorca, the claim of the tourism board's site.
Giving some advance information about what it might cost to eat out is not, in itself, a completely bad idea. It is one of the questions holidaymakers ask all the time, along with how much does a pint cost and what's the weather like. The trouble is that the answers to them are of the string variety. How long is a piece of it? The weather you can be reasonably sure of, in July for example, but not in September. As for the costs of eating out, one man's meat is another man's pizza, as indeed one man's Burger King is another man's typical Mallorcan (or Menorcan) cuisine in a romantic, beach-side setting. It's not comparing eggs with eggs, or a fried egg with a rasher of bacon with quail's eggs and smoked salmon.
Calculating the holiday budget in advance, by sizing up less than a handful of restaurants' menus, with or without discounts, does rather overlook the increasing trend for the holidaymaker to have pretty much a set budget to spend, regardless of advance price information or discounts. And while a discount here or there might be tempting, it won't be if it means trekking across an entire island in search of it. To be of any real value, discounts have to be clustered in an area close to the holidaymaker, but if enough establishments offer them then the offer itself becomes standard and thus loses its capacity to incentivise.
As for a cost comparison between all-inclusives and a mix of accommodation and eating-out, it could well be that one can make a case for the latter working out cheaper. Again, it does all rather depend. But even this overlooks a crucial ingredient in the all-inclusive's favour, which is its sheer convenience. Holidaymakers should be more adventurous, but many have lost the capacity for adventure-seeking because they are handed everything on a paper plate, together with the poolside, plastic knife and fork.
Menorca is not fighting back. It is not fighting the all-inclusive on the beaches, as only one of the three restaurants is indeed a beach restaurant. Criado also reckoned that "with this formula (that of the website, whatever this formula actually is) we wish to respond specifically to the demand for all-inclusive in Menorca". If so, when why not say so. On the website. There again, all-inclusive is not for the long term, says Sr. Criado. Who's he trying to kid?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
What a very good idea, thought I. Visitors would also be able, the piece continued, to compare costs against that of an all-inclusive offer. Intrigued, I went in search of the website. I was intrigued not just by what seemed a good idea but also by the surprise of it. Why was I surprised? Well, would an island council, Menorca's or any other, actually be presenting something that might be seen to undermine its hotels? Yes, it wants to boost its restaurants and other businesses, and no, the councils aren't necessarily in cahoots with the hotels as such, but "fighting back" against AI? Was it really doing this?
Disappointingly, it isn't doing this. On the "Menorca Full Experience" site, the introduction says that we (tourists) want to know in advance costs of various things and that we have a problem with budgeting for lunches and dinners. Nowhere is there any mention of all-inclusives. Might this be for a reason other than letting tourists make some cost comparison, as in all-inclusives will soon be a thing of the past?
The island's tourism minister, Lázaro Criado, said, when the site was launched at the start of March, that "we understand that all-inclusive is not the agreed strategy for the long term in Menorca, although it can prove useful in the short term". Just like Mallorca, then. If anyone can decipher what the minister means (and it is hard to believe what he appears to mean), answers on a postcard with a picture of one of the participating restaurants, assuming you can find one of them.
The idea behind the site is that restaurants are listed, along with their menus, and a discount price is offered on production of a voucher that can be printed out. Fair enough. But hardly new. A slight problem with what there is on the website at present is that there are very few restaurants participating. How many? Three. Yes, three. In the whole of Menorca. In certain sections of cuisine and in certain "urbanisations", there are none listed. One presumes it's all early days.
This website has nothing to do with all-inclusives, but everything to do with promoting local gastronomy, all three restaurants' worth of it. There's nothing wrong with such promotion, while it would indeed have been a surprise had there been some sort of cost-comparison measures being presented, which there aren't. One can of course do one's own cost comparison, by schlepping through all manner of websites to get to the comparison, but you won't get it by "falling in love" with Menorca, the claim of the tourism board's site.
Giving some advance information about what it might cost to eat out is not, in itself, a completely bad idea. It is one of the questions holidaymakers ask all the time, along with how much does a pint cost and what's the weather like. The trouble is that the answers to them are of the string variety. How long is a piece of it? The weather you can be reasonably sure of, in July for example, but not in September. As for the costs of eating out, one man's meat is another man's pizza, as indeed one man's Burger King is another man's typical Mallorcan (or Menorcan) cuisine in a romantic, beach-side setting. It's not comparing eggs with eggs, or a fried egg with a rasher of bacon with quail's eggs and smoked salmon.
Calculating the holiday budget in advance, by sizing up less than a handful of restaurants' menus, with or without discounts, does rather overlook the increasing trend for the holidaymaker to have pretty much a set budget to spend, regardless of advance price information or discounts. And while a discount here or there might be tempting, it won't be if it means trekking across an entire island in search of it. To be of any real value, discounts have to be clustered in an area close to the holidaymaker, but if enough establishments offer them then the offer itself becomes standard and thus loses its capacity to incentivise.
As for a cost comparison between all-inclusives and a mix of accommodation and eating-out, it could well be that one can make a case for the latter working out cheaper. Again, it does all rather depend. But even this overlooks a crucial ingredient in the all-inclusive's favour, which is its sheer convenience. Holidaymakers should be more adventurous, but many have lost the capacity for adventure-seeking because they are handed everything on a paper plate, together with the poolside, plastic knife and fork.
Menorca is not fighting back. It is not fighting the all-inclusive on the beaches, as only one of the three restaurants is indeed a beach restaurant. Criado also reckoned that "with this formula (that of the website, whatever this formula actually is) we wish to respond specifically to the demand for all-inclusive in Menorca". If so, when why not say so. On the website. There again, all-inclusive is not for the long term, says Sr. Criado. Who's he trying to kid?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Going Up! Newspapers and the internet
"The Times" is set to end its free online service. It's a gamble, but for readers in places like Mallorca, who might otherwise pay an exorbitant price for the daily paper, two quid a week is extremely good value. Not that this is necessarily the point. Free should be free, say many, and a cover price for the online version will simply cause readers to go elsewhere. We'll see. The new site is actually pretty good.
The "Diario de Mallorca" is not "The Times", nothing like it of course. But there is something interesting about this paper. It has a good website - free - which has enjoyed increased traffic recently. At the same time, the printed version has also increased its circulation. Its main competitor, "Ultima Hora", has experienced a decline in circulation, and its website is not as good but is improving. Of daily papers in Spain with a circulation over 10,000 (not huge admittedly), the "Diario" has registered the second greatest increase in physical circulation among the 39 papers with circulation over this number.
On the face of it, the two increases seem illogical. As the website beefs up its traffic, so, you would think, the circulation of printed version would decrease. So how to explain the apparent contradiction, as evidenced by the "Diario"? Maybe it's all the free publicity I give it, but probably not. Perhaps it has something to do with its local nature. Despite the plans by "The Times" to create its own online "community", it is, like all big papers, rather removed. A paper like the "Diario" isn't. There is a far greater sense of reader "ownership" of the different formats; they are complementary, even if their content is basically the same.
I confess that I am casting around to find a reason. I don't know the answer. But answer there must be, and if the experience of the "Diario" is echoed elsewhere, the doomsday predictions for newspapers and/or their websites would not hold up. What will be interesting is whether the circulation and the site traffic continue to increase. If they do, then someone should try and discover the paper's secret. I should be at the paper's offices today, so maybe I'll ask.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for May 2010
All-inclusives - 6 May 2010, 12 May 2010
British election - 3 May 2010, 7 May 2010
Children's play garden, Sa Romana - 10 May 2010
Diario de Mallorca - 31 May 2010
Economic crisis gets worse - 25 May 2010
Economic diversification - 27 May 2010
Eroski queues and scales - 17 May 2010
Floods - 4 May 2010, 5 May 2010, 7 May 2010
Fraud operation based in Mallorca - 30 May 2010
Gay hotels - 8 May 2010
General strike - 30 May 2010
Holiday club and scratch cards - 21 May 2010, 30 May 2010
Hornblower Embroidery, Puerto Alcúdia - 15 May 2010
Jolly Roger - 9 May 2010
Match Point bar, Puerto Pollensa - 4 May 2010
Mulligans, Puerto Pollensa - 15 May 2010
Newspapers and the internet - 31 May 2010
Parking in Alcúdia - 12 May 2010
Phoning and personal communication - 11 May 2010
Prices - 13 May 2010
Protest in Puerto Pollensa - 26 May 2010, 29 May 2010
Public spending cuts in Spain - 14 May 2010
Rancho Ses Roques, Puerto Alcúdia - 20 May 2010
Sant Marti cave, Puerto Alcúdia - 20 May 2010
Season 2010 - 1 May 2010, 3 May 2010, 19 May 2010
Smoking ban - 18 May 2010
Telefonica - 28 May 2010
Tourism, opening hours & - 2 May 2010
Tourism problems - 11 May 2010
Tourism publications - 16 May 2010
Trip Advisor and review sites - 22 May 2010
Vandalism - 23 May 2010
The "Diario de Mallorca" is not "The Times", nothing like it of course. But there is something interesting about this paper. It has a good website - free - which has enjoyed increased traffic recently. At the same time, the printed version has also increased its circulation. Its main competitor, "Ultima Hora", has experienced a decline in circulation, and its website is not as good but is improving. Of daily papers in Spain with a circulation over 10,000 (not huge admittedly), the "Diario" has registered the second greatest increase in physical circulation among the 39 papers with circulation over this number.
On the face of it, the two increases seem illogical. As the website beefs up its traffic, so, you would think, the circulation of printed version would decrease. So how to explain the apparent contradiction, as evidenced by the "Diario"? Maybe it's all the free publicity I give it, but probably not. Perhaps it has something to do with its local nature. Despite the plans by "The Times" to create its own online "community", it is, like all big papers, rather removed. A paper like the "Diario" isn't. There is a far greater sense of reader "ownership" of the different formats; they are complementary, even if their content is basically the same.
I confess that I am casting around to find a reason. I don't know the answer. But answer there must be, and if the experience of the "Diario" is echoed elsewhere, the doomsday predictions for newspapers and/or their websites would not hold up. What will be interesting is whether the circulation and the site traffic continue to increase. If they do, then someone should try and discover the paper's secret. I should be at the paper's offices today, so maybe I'll ask.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for May 2010
All-inclusives - 6 May 2010, 12 May 2010
British election - 3 May 2010, 7 May 2010
Children's play garden, Sa Romana - 10 May 2010
Diario de Mallorca - 31 May 2010
Economic crisis gets worse - 25 May 2010
Economic diversification - 27 May 2010
Eroski queues and scales - 17 May 2010
Floods - 4 May 2010, 5 May 2010, 7 May 2010
Fraud operation based in Mallorca - 30 May 2010
Gay hotels - 8 May 2010
General strike - 30 May 2010
Holiday club and scratch cards - 21 May 2010, 30 May 2010
Hornblower Embroidery, Puerto Alcúdia - 15 May 2010
Jolly Roger - 9 May 2010
Match Point bar, Puerto Pollensa - 4 May 2010
Mulligans, Puerto Pollensa - 15 May 2010
Newspapers and the internet - 31 May 2010
Parking in Alcúdia - 12 May 2010
Phoning and personal communication - 11 May 2010
Prices - 13 May 2010
Protest in Puerto Pollensa - 26 May 2010, 29 May 2010
Public spending cuts in Spain - 14 May 2010
Rancho Ses Roques, Puerto Alcúdia - 20 May 2010
Sant Marti cave, Puerto Alcúdia - 20 May 2010
Season 2010 - 1 May 2010, 3 May 2010, 19 May 2010
Smoking ban - 18 May 2010
Telefonica - 28 May 2010
Tourism, opening hours & - 2 May 2010
Tourism problems - 11 May 2010
Tourism publications - 16 May 2010
Trip Advisor and review sites - 22 May 2010
Vandalism - 23 May 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Copy Cats: Internet and other rip-offs
Es Turó. It's a restaurant near Santa Margalida. It is part of a famous old building - S'Alqueria. I like the place immensely. And I must declare an interest - the restaurant is a client.
I googled Es Turó and S'Alqueria yesterday because I wanted some background information on a feature about the old building. I stumbled across an entry for the restaurant. Clicked. Seemed familiar. Very familiar. I recognised the words. I had written them. I went further. Very, very familiar. Restaurants, bars, other places. Alcúdia, Pollensa. Very familiar. My words, my photos. Many of them were mine, except for the logos or photos that clients had provided.
I'm not naming the website for the simple reason that I have no desire to publicise it or to give it houseroom. Am I bothered? Up to a point, but more than anything I just felt it was pathetic.
It's easy enough to lift from other websites. Often it goes unnoticed because the sites are unnoticed. I only found this particular one by chance and because Es Turó is rarely mentioned; it stuck out like a sore and copied thumb. I shall send the site an email, if I can be bothered. Depending on the response, I might let you know how I get on.
Lifting stuff from other sites, stuff that is proprietary in that it has been originated, is hardly unusual. It happens all the time. There isn't a lot you can do about it, unless you're a big or litigious organisation, of which there are some. But there is copying onto another site, and then there are other types of copying.
A while ago, I held back on doing a blog item, but I'm resurrecting the theme now, as it seems apposite to do so. It had to do with the excellent puertopollensa.com. The owner of the site, on its forum, mentioned an article from "The Sun", which - in part - bore similarity to the blurb on the home page of the site. Not intimate with this blurb, I had a look, and I had a look at the article. The two were indeed similar. Too similar for the article's reference to Puerto Pollensa not to have been based on it. In mitigation, it is just possible that this reference was found on another site, or indeed on more than one. So it may have seemed to have been somehow without origin. But this would not negate the similarity.
Plagiarism is something no journalist or writer ever wants to be accused of. It is also something that makes no sense. If you are a writer, you write - your own words. That's why you are a writer, or a journalist. You want to use your words, paint your own pictures. Yet the journalist in this instance was well-known, well-respected. I could hardly believe what I was reading when comparing the article and the site's home page.
I emailed the owner, Zelda, and told her that I was staggered by it. I can understand websites taking stuff (though I don't approve of it, anything but), but I can't understand a journalist doing the same. My impression was, and I apologise in advance if this was not the case, that the journalist had not even been to Puerto Pollensa. Had she, she surely would have penned her own words. Because Puerto Pollensa demands one's own impressions, and because this is what writers do.
Or so I thought.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for April 2010
Allergies, pollen and - 6 April 2010
April fool - 1 April 2010
Beach bars, Alcúdia - 5 April 2010
British election - 24 April 2010
Buses, fumes from - 21 April 2010
Car-hire prices and fleets - 7 April 2010
Corruption: Operación Bomsai and caso Plan Territorial de Mallorca - 15 April 2010
Corruption: Operación Voltor and Pollensa's mayor - 29 April 2010
Golf development, petition against - 21 April 2010
Holiday lets, Joana Barceló and - 18 April 2010
Internet advertising - 23 April 2010
Internet, copying material from the - 30 April 2010
Jaume Matas - 10 April 2010
Judge Baltasar Garzón - 16 April 2010
La Gola, Puerto Pollensa - 3 April 2010
Mobile information - 14 April 2010
Motor bike "volta" of Mallorca - 20 April 2010
Opening hours - 13 April 2010
Picnics and fairs - 11 April 2010
Pine trees - 8 April 2010
Playback - 4 April 2010
Pollentia, ancient port of Alcúdia and - 9 April 2010
Prices in Mallorca - 2 April 2010, 28 April 2010
Restaurant closure - 25 April 2010
Roundabout sculptures - 27 April 2010
Smoking ban - 17 April 2010
Swedish tourists - 28 April 2010
The Hustlers - 26 April 2010
Tourism minister (Joana Barceló) interviewed - 12 April 2010
Tourist publications/information - 26 April 2010, 27 April 2010
Volcano, impact of the Icelandic - 17 April 2010, 19 April 2010, 20 April 2010, 22 April 2010, 25 April 2010
Watchtowers - 27 April 2010
Zumba in Alcúdia - 29 April 2010
I googled Es Turó and S'Alqueria yesterday because I wanted some background information on a feature about the old building. I stumbled across an entry for the restaurant. Clicked. Seemed familiar. Very familiar. I recognised the words. I had written them. I went further. Very, very familiar. Restaurants, bars, other places. Alcúdia, Pollensa. Very familiar. My words, my photos. Many of them were mine, except for the logos or photos that clients had provided.
I'm not naming the website for the simple reason that I have no desire to publicise it or to give it houseroom. Am I bothered? Up to a point, but more than anything I just felt it was pathetic.
It's easy enough to lift from other websites. Often it goes unnoticed because the sites are unnoticed. I only found this particular one by chance and because Es Turó is rarely mentioned; it stuck out like a sore and copied thumb. I shall send the site an email, if I can be bothered. Depending on the response, I might let you know how I get on.
Lifting stuff from other sites, stuff that is proprietary in that it has been originated, is hardly unusual. It happens all the time. There isn't a lot you can do about it, unless you're a big or litigious organisation, of which there are some. But there is copying onto another site, and then there are other types of copying.
A while ago, I held back on doing a blog item, but I'm resurrecting the theme now, as it seems apposite to do so. It had to do with the excellent puertopollensa.com. The owner of the site, on its forum, mentioned an article from "The Sun", which - in part - bore similarity to the blurb on the home page of the site. Not intimate with this blurb, I had a look, and I had a look at the article. The two were indeed similar. Too similar for the article's reference to Puerto Pollensa not to have been based on it. In mitigation, it is just possible that this reference was found on another site, or indeed on more than one. So it may have seemed to have been somehow without origin. But this would not negate the similarity.
Plagiarism is something no journalist or writer ever wants to be accused of. It is also something that makes no sense. If you are a writer, you write - your own words. That's why you are a writer, or a journalist. You want to use your words, paint your own pictures. Yet the journalist in this instance was well-known, well-respected. I could hardly believe what I was reading when comparing the article and the site's home page.
I emailed the owner, Zelda, and told her that I was staggered by it. I can understand websites taking stuff (though I don't approve of it, anything but), but I can't understand a journalist doing the same. My impression was, and I apologise in advance if this was not the case, that the journalist had not even been to Puerto Pollensa. Had she, she surely would have penned her own words. Because Puerto Pollensa demands one's own impressions, and because this is what writers do.
Or so I thought.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for April 2010
Allergies, pollen and - 6 April 2010
April fool - 1 April 2010
Beach bars, Alcúdia - 5 April 2010
British election - 24 April 2010
Buses, fumes from - 21 April 2010
Car-hire prices and fleets - 7 April 2010
Corruption: Operación Bomsai and caso Plan Territorial de Mallorca - 15 April 2010
Corruption: Operación Voltor and Pollensa's mayor - 29 April 2010
Golf development, petition against - 21 April 2010
Holiday lets, Joana Barceló and - 18 April 2010
Internet advertising - 23 April 2010
Internet, copying material from the - 30 April 2010
Jaume Matas - 10 April 2010
Judge Baltasar Garzón - 16 April 2010
La Gola, Puerto Pollensa - 3 April 2010
Mobile information - 14 April 2010
Motor bike "volta" of Mallorca - 20 April 2010
Opening hours - 13 April 2010
Picnics and fairs - 11 April 2010
Pine trees - 8 April 2010
Playback - 4 April 2010
Pollentia, ancient port of Alcúdia and - 9 April 2010
Prices in Mallorca - 2 April 2010, 28 April 2010
Restaurant closure - 25 April 2010
Roundabout sculptures - 27 April 2010
Smoking ban - 17 April 2010
Swedish tourists - 28 April 2010
The Hustlers - 26 April 2010
Tourism minister (Joana Barceló) interviewed - 12 April 2010
Tourist publications/information - 26 April 2010, 27 April 2010
Volcano, impact of the Icelandic - 17 April 2010, 19 April 2010, 20 April 2010, 22 April 2010, 25 April 2010
Watchtowers - 27 April 2010
Zumba in Alcúdia - 29 April 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Make A Difference: Tourism and business promotion
The Balearic Government is to spend 12 million euros on a new "digital platform" which, so it says, will be a pioneering approach to internet tourism marketing. It is not entirely clear what this will entail, but President Antich was going large on this announcement at the Berlin ITB travel fair a couple of days ago. Whatever it is, the message is certainly getting through, that it is the internet which holds much of the key to tourism promotion and selling.
At the same time as the president was basking in the glory of this mooted, new technological shiny beast and was also saying that agreements with Air Berlin will see an increase in flights to the islands, a professor of marketing from ESADE was talking to "The Diario" about the advantages of "low-cost" businesses and also of the internet. (ESADE is not only one of Spain's most prestigious business and law schools, it is also one of the world's leading institutions.)
In this interview, Josep Valls said that there needs to be an almost wholesale shift in the direction of online activity and an end to investment in promoting the likes of fairs (and he probably means fiestas as well) and in massive publicity. There is something of an irony in this. The new tourism minister Barceló has been spending the past few days apologising for the fact that the Rafael Nadal ads had not been scheduled, shifting the blame onto her predecessor Miquel Ferrer, who seemingly wanted to cut costs at the ministry, and saying that there were negotiations with the Spanish tourism promotion unit, Turespaña, to actually pay for the adverts to be aired. Perhaps Ferrer took the view that celebrity advertising was of questionable benefit. Whatever his motivation, the point made by the good professor chimes well with what you will have read on this blog - that the internet can be both cheaper and more effective than older media, especially when it comes to tourism promotion. It just depends on how well it's done.
You can sum this up in terms of innovation, professionalism and in doing things differently. Much of what goes on in Mallorca's tourism industry adheres to these principles, but there is much which does not. While some of the island's hotel groups are paragons of professional virtue, the supply to the industry from elsewhere can leave something to be desired. There is much of the "old school" about great chunks of this supply (be it in the form of bars, restaurants, entertainment, whatever), mired in the past and forgetful of what actually constitutes holiday.
In the past couple of days, I have spoken to the heads of the main franchise operation for Burger King in the north of the island and of Grupo Boulevard (the dreaded Dakotas etc.). These are both hard-nosed businesses, varying in terms of innovation but with strong streaks of professionalism. They are not to everyone's taste, but it was illuminating to hear the Boulevard response to the impact of all-inclusives in Playa de Muro where it is headquartered and is expanding further this season. There has not been an effect. Talk to the old school and you will get a totally different answer. People dislike Boulevard because it's brash and because it's successful, and because it conforms to notions of being a business rather than the cottage industry of so many establishments. But in its product development Boulevard is representative of what the director at the Bellevue hotel in Puerto Alcúdia had to say about how businesses need to respond to market changes; it does things differently.
There is a bar in Puerto Alcúdia which this summer will be doing things very differently. Different types of event, parties. Anything to get people talking and coming. There are bars which are successfully using Facebook as a complement to, almost a replacement for, the more traditional PR in-front-of-bar approach. Rather than blame all-inclusives or the "crisis", here are examples of confronting the problems, changing how things are done and therefore winning business. In the case of the first bar, there is also a recognition that there needs to be a return to the idea that holiday is an event, or it should be. Regulatory forces, combined with complacency and a lack of vision, have taken away much of the "event" nature of holiday. There is no going back to days of parties and barbecues on beaches - the regulations have seen to this - but this does not mean formulaic, uninspiring and largely unthinking offers.
Holiday means different things to different people. Of course it does. And of course there is and always will be a call for and provision of the traditional; of the quaint family restaurant or the generally unsophisticated bar. But perhaps more than anything, there has to be a collective generation of a certain buzz, the notion of something happening. In Alcúdia at any rate, there are people and businesses looking to do just this; create a buzz. Doing things differently, use of technology, innovation; these can all lead in the right direction, and it should all be aimed at the tourist, of whatever style, and at giving the tourist an experience; an experience of something different. This is what holiday is, or should be, about. And not just the same old, same old.
QUIZ
Some of you have asked what's happened to it. Well, it's not gone, but will only be more occasional. To be honest, it often took me longer to figure out a song title - or some such - than to write the entries. But the musical theme will continue anyway, even if it is by way of a now-and-then day's song. Here's one such - Monsters Of Folk:
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
At the same time as the president was basking in the glory of this mooted, new technological shiny beast and was also saying that agreements with Air Berlin will see an increase in flights to the islands, a professor of marketing from ESADE was talking to "The Diario" about the advantages of "low-cost" businesses and also of the internet. (ESADE is not only one of Spain's most prestigious business and law schools, it is also one of the world's leading institutions.)
In this interview, Josep Valls said that there needs to be an almost wholesale shift in the direction of online activity and an end to investment in promoting the likes of fairs (and he probably means fiestas as well) and in massive publicity. There is something of an irony in this. The new tourism minister Barceló has been spending the past few days apologising for the fact that the Rafael Nadal ads had not been scheduled, shifting the blame onto her predecessor Miquel Ferrer, who seemingly wanted to cut costs at the ministry, and saying that there were negotiations with the Spanish tourism promotion unit, Turespaña, to actually pay for the adverts to be aired. Perhaps Ferrer took the view that celebrity advertising was of questionable benefit. Whatever his motivation, the point made by the good professor chimes well with what you will have read on this blog - that the internet can be both cheaper and more effective than older media, especially when it comes to tourism promotion. It just depends on how well it's done.
You can sum this up in terms of innovation, professionalism and in doing things differently. Much of what goes on in Mallorca's tourism industry adheres to these principles, but there is much which does not. While some of the island's hotel groups are paragons of professional virtue, the supply to the industry from elsewhere can leave something to be desired. There is much of the "old school" about great chunks of this supply (be it in the form of bars, restaurants, entertainment, whatever), mired in the past and forgetful of what actually constitutes holiday.
In the past couple of days, I have spoken to the heads of the main franchise operation for Burger King in the north of the island and of Grupo Boulevard (the dreaded Dakotas etc.). These are both hard-nosed businesses, varying in terms of innovation but with strong streaks of professionalism. They are not to everyone's taste, but it was illuminating to hear the Boulevard response to the impact of all-inclusives in Playa de Muro where it is headquartered and is expanding further this season. There has not been an effect. Talk to the old school and you will get a totally different answer. People dislike Boulevard because it's brash and because it's successful, and because it conforms to notions of being a business rather than the cottage industry of so many establishments. But in its product development Boulevard is representative of what the director at the Bellevue hotel in Puerto Alcúdia had to say about how businesses need to respond to market changes; it does things differently.
There is a bar in Puerto Alcúdia which this summer will be doing things very differently. Different types of event, parties. Anything to get people talking and coming. There are bars which are successfully using Facebook as a complement to, almost a replacement for, the more traditional PR in-front-of-bar approach. Rather than blame all-inclusives or the "crisis", here are examples of confronting the problems, changing how things are done and therefore winning business. In the case of the first bar, there is also a recognition that there needs to be a return to the idea that holiday is an event, or it should be. Regulatory forces, combined with complacency and a lack of vision, have taken away much of the "event" nature of holiday. There is no going back to days of parties and barbecues on beaches - the regulations have seen to this - but this does not mean formulaic, uninspiring and largely unthinking offers.
Holiday means different things to different people. Of course it does. And of course there is and always will be a call for and provision of the traditional; of the quaint family restaurant or the generally unsophisticated bar. But perhaps more than anything, there has to be a collective generation of a certain buzz, the notion of something happening. In Alcúdia at any rate, there are people and businesses looking to do just this; create a buzz. Doing things differently, use of technology, innovation; these can all lead in the right direction, and it should all be aimed at the tourist, of whatever style, and at giving the tourist an experience; an experience of something different. This is what holiday is, or should be, about. And not just the same old, same old.
QUIZ
Some of you have asked what's happened to it. Well, it's not gone, but will only be more occasional. To be honest, it often took me longer to figure out a song title - or some such - than to write the entries. But the musical theme will continue anyway, even if it is by way of a now-and-then day's song. Here's one such - Monsters Of Folk:
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Sitting Here On The Bench
Well, it all seemed to be kicking off in Puerto Pollensa's market square yesterday morning. I say kicking off; that is a bit of an exaggeration. But were it Easter already, there would be some unhappy Easter bunnies among the restaurant and bar owners. It's all to do with how much, or how many. Metres. Metres of terrace. It is not a new story in that restrictions have been anticipated for some while, but a by-law was passed last month which stipulated that terraces could be no deeper than 3.4 metres. Why 3.4 and not 3.5 I don't know, but that - apparently - is how far the tables and chairs of the establishments in the square can stretch. 3.5 metres are not very much, and - from a tourism and business point of view - it sucks; sorry, they suck. The owners can appeal, and have. Just as well; the last day of appeal is 24 March. As far as I am aware, this is just something that applies to the square, though it seems that - buried in the town hall - is a document which shows how far terraces can go, even for places that don't currently have them. Whatever. Anyway, the mayor was there in person, flanked by the local plod, while the traders put forward their case. I can't believe that this will not be challenged and overturned. An argument is that, because the tables stretch right across the pavement, they prevent people from sitting on the benches. Maybe so. In which case, why do they allow the market to take place? It may only be one morning, but the same problem applies. Why not move the benches? If I had to guess, there would be more people, far more people wanting to sit at a table in the square to have a meal on a warm summer's eve than there would be those who want to sit on a bench.
You do wonder at times if town halls would rather just kill off the tourism industry. If they got rid of it, then they would get rid of a number of headaches. Of course, one other development in Puerto Pollensa which, so the spurious argument went, would be a benefit to tourism, was that of the pedestrianisation. It seems like a long time since that was mentioned here, but what I am hearing is that, as far as traffic restrictions are concerned, vehicles will be able to use the whole of the coast road into Puerto Pollensa coming from Alcúdia. What's the point of that? If today is anything to go on, there are vehicles currently coming from the other direction as well. But were the road to be made one-way, it would not be a pedestrianisation, so why bother? This was never about benefits to tourism; it was all about an obscure piece of road legislation dating back to 1967, which appears to have brought ruination to some businesses since the so-called and botched trial was started last autumn. It was always a pointless exercise, and now it seems even more so.
Take it easy - sitting on roundabouts
More on the latest tourist excursion - the island tour of roundabout furniture and art. Further nominations for the birds nest affair in front of the Parc Natural (11 March: Fat Albert Rotunda) include a tornado (if you can actually sculpt a tornado), while the roundabout at what were the traffic lights and junction in Las Gaviotas now boasts something which is quite clearly a deckchair. Actually, it's pretty good in a sort-of contemporary, robust, IKEA or perhaps Paco Muebles deckchair style, as opposed to a Bognor-beach-circa-1965 way. I shall take a photo and you will be able to see for yourselves. I wonder how much it costs to sit on? Perhaps it is an ironic statement regarding the beach wars in Playa de Muro these past few years; those to do with sun beds and so on. Hopefully though, no-one will see fit to slash the sculpture in the dead of night.
The best election
Yes, that is election. Thank God. They could have got the word wrong I guess, rather than just the wrong word. And they are? GC Hotels. I was checking through the Google map that I have done and it seems the link to what were the Almarsa hotels (Estrella de Mar, Coral de Mar etc.) is out of date: it diverts to GC Hotels. The thing is that when you go to that site, you are greeted with a legend which states "The best election". Now, the word "elección" can mean election or selection (choice). Clearly, they have picked the wrong possibility for translation. They shouldn't have. Please, no more of the oh well it's quite funny when foreigners make poor translations excuses. It is not funny. It is downright unprofessional. The hotels of Mallorca are meant to offer quality. And quality should exist in all aspects of their business, including translations. Poor.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Daniel Bedingfield (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxI2DEE_Nco). Today's title - line from a fabulous song from the '60s. Circa 1965 in fact: the British hit was by a well-known George.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
You do wonder at times if town halls would rather just kill off the tourism industry. If they got rid of it, then they would get rid of a number of headaches. Of course, one other development in Puerto Pollensa which, so the spurious argument went, would be a benefit to tourism, was that of the pedestrianisation. It seems like a long time since that was mentioned here, but what I am hearing is that, as far as traffic restrictions are concerned, vehicles will be able to use the whole of the coast road into Puerto Pollensa coming from Alcúdia. What's the point of that? If today is anything to go on, there are vehicles currently coming from the other direction as well. But were the road to be made one-way, it would not be a pedestrianisation, so why bother? This was never about benefits to tourism; it was all about an obscure piece of road legislation dating back to 1967, which appears to have brought ruination to some businesses since the so-called and botched trial was started last autumn. It was always a pointless exercise, and now it seems even more so.
Take it easy - sitting on roundabouts
More on the latest tourist excursion - the island tour of roundabout furniture and art. Further nominations for the birds nest affair in front of the Parc Natural (11 March: Fat Albert Rotunda) include a tornado (if you can actually sculpt a tornado), while the roundabout at what were the traffic lights and junction in Las Gaviotas now boasts something which is quite clearly a deckchair. Actually, it's pretty good in a sort-of contemporary, robust, IKEA or perhaps Paco Muebles deckchair style, as opposed to a Bognor-beach-circa-1965 way. I shall take a photo and you will be able to see for yourselves. I wonder how much it costs to sit on? Perhaps it is an ironic statement regarding the beach wars in Playa de Muro these past few years; those to do with sun beds and so on. Hopefully though, no-one will see fit to slash the sculpture in the dead of night.
The best election
Yes, that is election. Thank God. They could have got the word wrong I guess, rather than just the wrong word. And they are? GC Hotels. I was checking through the Google map that I have done and it seems the link to what were the Almarsa hotels (Estrella de Mar, Coral de Mar etc.) is out of date: it diverts to GC Hotels. The thing is that when you go to that site, you are greeted with a legend which states "The best election". Now, the word "elección" can mean election or selection (choice). Clearly, they have picked the wrong possibility for translation. They shouldn't have. Please, no more of the oh well it's quite funny when foreigners make poor translations excuses. It is not funny. It is downright unprofessional. The hotels of Mallorca are meant to offer quality. And quality should exist in all aspects of their business, including translations. Poor.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Daniel Bedingfield (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxI2DEE_Nco). Today's title - line from a fabulous song from the '60s. Circa 1965 in fact: the British hit was by a well-known George.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Head Over Heels
It's some 18 months now since I complained about an encounter with a hole in the street - one near to Alcúdia Pins that, with the lack of street lighting, claimed my ankle and probably had already claimed ankles of others and went on to have other victims, too. I should have taken the matter up with Muro town hall. If it weren't such a bloody schlep to Muro town from Playa de Muro, I probably would have done. At least I didn't exactly fall in it. Some holes are made for falling into. As Gavin has discovered. Gavin, as in Gavin At The Port Gavin. There's a hole, a manhole, in the area of Hidropark, that deserves a blue plaque or something equivalent. It would say: "This is the hole that Gavin fell into". Perhaps it should be "The man who fell into the earth", which would be a bit of a Bowie reference and far too obscure for anyone who normally inhabits the vicinity of Hidropark - so forget that. Coming back to Gavin and his predicament partially underground, he was, fortunately, able to climb out again. Equally fortunately, the manhole cover didn't collide with his anatomy in a way that might have been particularly unpleasant or might have limited the line of ancestry. But I've seen the marks on the legs, and those are enough. He should take it up with Alcúdia town hall, as I should have taken it up with Muro. There may not be as many holes in Alcudia as there are in Pollensa, but they are still numerous. And numerous enough to do a fair deal of damage. In these litigious times when someone cries foul and compensation for the slightest mishap, the town halls might be wise to check their insurance and public liability policies. Get a stroppy tourist, and things could get nasty.
And talking of stroppy. I will not name names, as I did not name names when I could have done, but let me tell you about something surprising that happened yesterday. It was surprising because someone apologised. Saying sorry is hard enough for many people, but the local population struggles more than most.
There are very, very few people with whom I have had a personal problem here. And when I have, it has been because of some totally irrational outburst of rudeness - on behalf of the other party. In fact, I can count the number of occasions and therefore people - three. The last time occurred about this time twelve months ago. A restaurant owner in Puerto Alcúdia lost it. Just lost it. Much as he deserved a smack in the mouth, I walked away. As far as I was concerned, that was the last time we would ever communicate. And then yesterday, I happened to pass by his restaurant. Not only did he break off from talking to the person he was with, he came up to me, shook my hand and said how sorry he was - for an incident that had happened a year ago. He put it down to his being "nervioso", which you can translate in different ways - stressed, anxious, worried.
The point about this is that I could, given what I do with this blog and other things, have told the world about that irrational rudeness. It is where the internet becomes highly tempting and also highly irresponsible. But I chose not to. It did cross my mind, but I soon dismissed any notion of using cyberspace to slag off a restaurant owner and, by implication, his restaurant and, by extension, to hint that people should give his restaurant a miss. I dismissed this notion because ... because why should I? Because it's where the internet is at its worst. I could have, but I didn't. And a year later, the restaurant owner who must have been thinking about this all that time, came up to me and apologised. I had been right; he had been wrong and completely out of order. Sometimes, just keeping quiet is the best course of action.
On thealcudiaguide.com, there is now a Google map of Alcúdia and Playa de Muro. Currently, it shows all the hotels and apartments. More things will be added no doubt. They are a fine thing - Google maps. But they're not without faults. The map of Alcúdia and Playa de Muro has certain roads which don't exist and names that don't exist, or are certainly never used. The Carretera de Marjals. Where's that, do you think? It is in fact the main road that comes out of Muro town going towards Can Picafort. I have never known it to be used to refer to part of the Carretera Artà in Playa de Muro.
Like almost all other maps, the Google map has three roads where three roads no longer exist. Rather, they exist but only as stubs at either end. Most of their lengths have long gone, and the reason why Calles Tord, Merlera and Verderol in Puerto Alcúdia are only bits of road is that there is a ruddy great complex on top of them - a complex called Sea Club. Yet, most maps show these as complete roads, including the Google map. And how often are these maps updated? With all the roundabout construction going on, they need to be done every year.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - James Blunt, and what's more the youtube has Spanish sub-titles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztc4V3ttlso). Today's title - Gavin fell in feet first, but this is a cracking song and band: who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
And talking of stroppy. I will not name names, as I did not name names when I could have done, but let me tell you about something surprising that happened yesterday. It was surprising because someone apologised. Saying sorry is hard enough for many people, but the local population struggles more than most.
There are very, very few people with whom I have had a personal problem here. And when I have, it has been because of some totally irrational outburst of rudeness - on behalf of the other party. In fact, I can count the number of occasions and therefore people - three. The last time occurred about this time twelve months ago. A restaurant owner in Puerto Alcúdia lost it. Just lost it. Much as he deserved a smack in the mouth, I walked away. As far as I was concerned, that was the last time we would ever communicate. And then yesterday, I happened to pass by his restaurant. Not only did he break off from talking to the person he was with, he came up to me, shook my hand and said how sorry he was - for an incident that had happened a year ago. He put it down to his being "nervioso", which you can translate in different ways - stressed, anxious, worried.
The point about this is that I could, given what I do with this blog and other things, have told the world about that irrational rudeness. It is where the internet becomes highly tempting and also highly irresponsible. But I chose not to. It did cross my mind, but I soon dismissed any notion of using cyberspace to slag off a restaurant owner and, by implication, his restaurant and, by extension, to hint that people should give his restaurant a miss. I dismissed this notion because ... because why should I? Because it's where the internet is at its worst. I could have, but I didn't. And a year later, the restaurant owner who must have been thinking about this all that time, came up to me and apologised. I had been right; he had been wrong and completely out of order. Sometimes, just keeping quiet is the best course of action.
On thealcudiaguide.com, there is now a Google map of Alcúdia and Playa de Muro. Currently, it shows all the hotels and apartments. More things will be added no doubt. They are a fine thing - Google maps. But they're not without faults. The map of Alcúdia and Playa de Muro has certain roads which don't exist and names that don't exist, or are certainly never used. The Carretera de Marjals. Where's that, do you think? It is in fact the main road that comes out of Muro town going towards Can Picafort. I have never known it to be used to refer to part of the Carretera Artà in Playa de Muro.
Like almost all other maps, the Google map has three roads where three roads no longer exist. Rather, they exist but only as stubs at either end. Most of their lengths have long gone, and the reason why Calles Tord, Merlera and Verderol in Puerto Alcúdia are only bits of road is that there is a ruddy great complex on top of them - a complex called Sea Club. Yet, most maps show these as complete roads, including the Google map. And how often are these maps updated? With all the roundabout construction going on, they need to be done every year.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - James Blunt, and what's more the youtube has Spanish sub-titles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztc4V3ttlso). Today's title - Gavin fell in feet first, but this is a cracking song and band: who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Are You Experienced?
Another day, another tourist website. I suppose I shouldn't complain given that I have vague connections with such a thing myself, but does one reach a point at which destinations get websited out? The latest is yet another from the Balearic Government - all to do with culture, hence its name http://www.balearsculturaltour.es - and designed to make all-year-round tourists come to the islands. If only. To be fair, it is quite a decent site, quite informative, but it makes the mistake - again - of missing the Mallorcan (or Menorcan or Ibizan) target. People do not go to the Balearics, they go to Mallorca, or to Menorca or to Ibiza or even Formentera. Yet, here once more we have something in the name of the Balearics, and something that has cost close to 100,000 euros. Apparently, "a good part" of the moolah has been spent on getting the site into its different languages. Sounds like a fair amount to me for a site that hops around the islands giving some cultural recommendations. The trouble is that no-one would actually do a tour of that sort; it's one island or not at all.
Nevertheless, culture, if we are to believe another survey, ranks number three on the list of things of importance to the Brit holidaymaker. This is a survey by ABTA and was reported on in "The Bulletin" a couple of days ago. Culture appears to be defined here as local food and customs: it seems you can include pretty much anything under the culture banner these days, including local sausage. Whatever. Culture, however one wishes to categorise it, ranks higher - at 18% - than either sunshine in the form of sunbathing or having sex (with one's partner). Did it occur to ask if having sex with someone other than one's partner might have ranked higher? Chances are it might have done, and one should not forget that sex tourism in Mallorca is worth a significant amount of money - apparently. But be that as it may. The trouble, as always with surveys, is what the question is and who is asked. There is also the fact that people lie. Were one to try and draw a conclusion from this survey and to link it to this new "cultural tour" website and suggest that the survey proves the value of the site, I'm afraid one would be taking the wrong tour.
I was curious enough to find out some more about this survey. So I went to ABTA's website. The results, as presented in The Bulletin, were as they were stated in the press release on the site, but if you go to the actual survey - which you can - you will find that this "culture" aspect is made up of different components. In answer to the question "what do you value most about going on holiday", five per cent said "the culture", so it is not 18% after all, although it is 18% when one adds on "gaining life experience", "new people" and "the food". Food, though, was rated by only 1.63%. What "gaining life experience" is I'm not sure, but it has been assumed - by ABTA - to mean culture. I don't know that this follows; indeed I'm sure it doesn't follow. ABTA have made much of "culture-vulture Brits ... ditching their 'sex on the beach' image", but I stress - only 5% actually responded to the specific culture prompt. The survey, as such, doesn't say anything about a sex on beach image, only through this totally tenuous connection with rating sex with a partner lower than traipsing round a museum.
You do, I'm afraid, have to be very, very careful when it comes to surveys and especially when it comes to press releases offering a biased interpretation, because bias is exactly what there is. Oh, and you do also have to be careful when it comes to surveys which are reported on in the press that were actually published over a month before - http://www.abta.com/resources/news/view/85.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - A-Ha (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24eif_aha-the-sun-always-shines-on-tv_music). Today's title - who did this? Pretty damn easy I'd reckon.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Nevertheless, culture, if we are to believe another survey, ranks number three on the list of things of importance to the Brit holidaymaker. This is a survey by ABTA and was reported on in "The Bulletin" a couple of days ago. Culture appears to be defined here as local food and customs: it seems you can include pretty much anything under the culture banner these days, including local sausage. Whatever. Culture, however one wishes to categorise it, ranks higher - at 18% - than either sunshine in the form of sunbathing or having sex (with one's partner). Did it occur to ask if having sex with someone other than one's partner might have ranked higher? Chances are it might have done, and one should not forget that sex tourism in Mallorca is worth a significant amount of money - apparently. But be that as it may. The trouble, as always with surveys, is what the question is and who is asked. There is also the fact that people lie. Were one to try and draw a conclusion from this survey and to link it to this new "cultural tour" website and suggest that the survey proves the value of the site, I'm afraid one would be taking the wrong tour.
I was curious enough to find out some more about this survey. So I went to ABTA's website. The results, as presented in The Bulletin, were as they were stated in the press release on the site, but if you go to the actual survey - which you can - you will find that this "culture" aspect is made up of different components. In answer to the question "what do you value most about going on holiday", five per cent said "the culture", so it is not 18% after all, although it is 18% when one adds on "gaining life experience", "new people" and "the food". Food, though, was rated by only 1.63%. What "gaining life experience" is I'm not sure, but it has been assumed - by ABTA - to mean culture. I don't know that this follows; indeed I'm sure it doesn't follow. ABTA have made much of "culture-vulture Brits ... ditching their 'sex on the beach' image", but I stress - only 5% actually responded to the specific culture prompt. The survey, as such, doesn't say anything about a sex on beach image, only through this totally tenuous connection with rating sex with a partner lower than traipsing round a museum.
You do, I'm afraid, have to be very, very careful when it comes to surveys and especially when it comes to press releases offering a biased interpretation, because bias is exactly what there is. Oh, and you do also have to be careful when it comes to surveys which are reported on in the press that were actually published over a month before - http://www.abta.com/resources/news/view/85.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - A-Ha (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24eif_aha-the-sun-always-shines-on-tv_music). Today's title - who did this? Pretty damn easy I'd reckon.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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