Don't Worry

You would think that language was one of the last things that would have a potentially negative impact on tourism. For your Brits, it matters little that they can't use the lingo. But where they can, it is Castilian that they use. Or should it be? We are back in Catalan territory, and one local politico, the mayor of Calvià (Magaluf etc.), reckons that leading tour operators - Spanish ones, that is - are seeing a reduction in the numbers of Spanish mainland tourists coming to the Balearics because they are worried that they are going to be confronted not with the national language but with Catalan. As the mayor represents the Partido Popular, which traditionally is somewhat antagonistic towards Catalan, you might say that, well, he would say that. Except that it appears to be tour operators who are saying it. Whether these Spanish tourists need to be worried is questionable, but they appear to have the perception that Catalan prevails, even if this may not turn out to be the case.

These worries, one supposes, stem from the publicity given to various initiatives to have Catalan as the language of bars and restaurants. A far from insignificant sum of money has been devoted to just that, and the other day I mentioned this bizarre idea of people being encouraged to go to their local café for the purposes of having a chat in Catalan. The Calvià mayor is accused by the opposition parties (socialists and nationalists) of having an obsession with the Catalan question, reports "The Diario", but one might argue that they - the opposition parties, especially the Unió Mallorquina - have an obsession as well: that of imposition. At a time when there are rather weightier matters with which everyone should be concerning themselves, the politics of language - as it may or may not affect tourism - is a ridiculous diversion.

It might be argued, well what about the poor old tourist from Mallorca who goes to the mainland and is confronted with Castilian. It could be argued, but the problem does not exist that way round to any such extent; mostly everyone here can speak both languages. Only those from Catalan areas of the mainland would be able to do likewise.

In truth though, I suspect the mayor is rather overstating the case. Whatever other politicians or other bodies may have in mind, the practicalities of language are not lost on those who really matter, i.e. those with bars or restaurants. They will continue to use whatever language is necessary, and much as some town halls may use Catalan only for some things, e.g. fiesta publicity, there is no evidence - as far as I am aware - of their adopting Catalan exclusively for other material: they would be crazy to do so. Go to a local tourist information office and spend any time observing - which I do from time to time - and you will hear staff using several languages, of which Catalan is but one. The Catalan thing is not an issue, except when politicians make it so.


THE CALA RATJADA HOTEL TRAGEDY
The atrocious weather is being blamed for the collapse of the upper floors of a hotel (Son Moll) in Cala Ratjada (along the coastline going east from Alcúdia) and for the deaths of four workers engaged in renovation work. There was, so it would seem, an undermining of the building brought about by the recent rains. There is other blame being thrown around, and that has to do with the fact that, allegedly, the renovation work was being done illegally: in other words, there was no licence to do it. Shocking though the story is and though someone, or some people, will get a hammering, the question has to be asked as to why the renovation work would be done without a licence. And we may well be back to what I have said before - bureaucracy and costs of obtaining the permissions. It is just this bureaucracy that the Balearic Government wishes to now cut through in order to enable hotels to go ahead with modernisations (the hotel in question was in the process of being upgraded to a four-star). The case might just cause the authorities to seriously address the circumstances as to why alleged illegal works are done, the sort that do go on and which take a tragedy to bring into focus.

Updating the above, two architects and the manager of the works have been arrested, while the owners and the construction companies are, potentially, implicated. The owners say that all the documents they had, related to the renovation, were in order, including those for health and safety regulations, and that they were in the process of negotiating the licence. A key question, I suppose, is whether or not a licence would have been granted on the grounds of safety. Anyway, it's all in the hands of the police now, so no pre-judging.


SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - WARNING, WARNING
I received yesterday an extraordinary email from someone I know in Alcúdia. I have no reason to believe that it is anything but genuine. What it is, is a warning not to pick up the likes of mobile phones or keyrings that may seem to have been abandoned, for example in the street. They could be dynamite - literally. This is apparently an ETA ploy. The warning seems especially aimed at those in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, but it could apply anywhere I guess. See a mobile, get away quick!


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Today's title - the other half of the title seems rather inappropriate given the Cala Ratjada and ETA stories, but anyway, who was it?

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