Solid Air

At the Fitur tourism trade fair in Madrid, it has been a tale of two Nadals. Two Christmases. Every day is like Christmas in a Mallorca tourism wonderland. One Nadal is Miquel of that ilk, the tourism minister, who has been granted the air of a mediaeval pope, thanks to the "decreto Nadal" (Nadal's decree) which is the one by which the island's hotels can enjoy rather loosened "procedures" in order that they can go ahead with modernisations. The papal bull, or rather its equivalent, was signed and sealed at Fitur. Hotels can increase their land areas, but not their heights; they can develop pools, spas and the like but cannot build more rooms; they still need licences, but the period for their granting is to be shortened (at least that is the hope; there are still, doubtless, those in the hotels' managements who would question whether all the parties involved in the tortuous licensing bureaucracy will actually see to a shortening).

In the "Ultima Hora" newspaper, there was a piece that asked: "why is GOB keeping quiet?". GOB, as I'm sure you all know by now, is the island's environmental pressure group. And if you don't know, what have you been doing? The headline was particularly interesting because GOB is never knowingly quiet about anything that has even the merest hint of the environment to do with it. So what caused the question? It has all to do with the Nadal decree. Some of the "procedures" do, of course, have an environmental nature, but the initiative is designed to help not just the hotels but also the construction industry and to enhance Mallorca's "quality" in light of competition from other holiday destinations. No-one really objects to any of this, including - so claims the author in the newspaper - GOB. The reason for the alleged silence, it is said, is political. Had this been an administration of the conservative Partido Popular, there would probably have been demonstrations. Maybe so, but is this really a party political thing? Nadal is also the leader of the Unió Mallorquina. This is not a left-wing party. The president of the Balearic Government may be socialist, but his administration is an eclectic mix of left and nationalist centre. Moreover, GOB has not been totally silent. As soon as the initiative was first mooted, it was argued - by the environmental lobby - that this was all a way of destroying procedures to protect the environment in the name of doing something because of the economic crisis. Which is precisely true. The crisis has brought it about, as the building trade needed a boost and someone noticed that other countries were stealing a march on Mallorca because their hotels were in better nick. At a time of economic difficulty, you do all you can to ensure what market you do have does not get eroded by factors over which you do actually have some control, i.e. the state of the hotels. So, GOB has been both vocal and silent. Maybe it has realised it needs to be a tad pragmatic, which is not a word one normally hears in association with the environmentalists.

And then there is the other Nadal - Rafa. With something of an ace and a winner down the line, he's been unfurled as the face of Mallorca and the Balearics at Fitur, thus consummating, as it were, the agreement between the government and Nadal that he should be its main man for tourism promotion. As I said when this was first discussed, it's a no-brainer. Nadal has the right image and, as importantly, he is Mallorcan, which is more than can be said for previous "faces". It is a no-brainer, but then ... . Just think about it. There is to be a TV campaign in the UK (one in Germany is already underway) which features Nadal in enticing holidaymakers to Mallorca and the Balearics. So, you are sitting there. There is a break between the two halves of the latest episode of "Corrie" and up pops Rafa. Is his appearing going to make you come to Mallorca? I don't know. He is obvious as a face of promotion, but will he make any difference? And there again, he's promoting the Balearics as opposed to just Mallorca, and one has to ask if that is right. Firstly, he is Mallorcan and not Balearican (or whatever the word is). Secondly, we had this thing quite recently (the head of the Mallorcan hotel federation) talking about the strength of the "Mallorca" brand, not of the Balearic brand. You can add to all this the facts that many holidaymakers come to Mallorca every year, and so it is questionable how effective a Rafa message is, other than as reinforcement, and also that tennis is largely a middle-class sport in the UK. Rafa may have a global appeal, but were they thinking their ABC social classifications when they offered him several million for the campaign? And I suppose, in the current circumstances, is a highly-paid tennis player going to convince people to take a holiday, or might someone offering a whacking great discount do rather better? I also suspect they don't quite have Rafa in mind when it comes to much of the all-inclusive brigade. Rafa's right, but not totally right.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - ELO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpPlzeK7RM).

Today - this is not a quiz question, it is the title of the greatest album by one of the all-time greats who died yesterday and is therefore one of the blog's occasional obits, this time celebrated with a title - John Martyn, ladies and gentlemen. God, how sad how is that. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_Utj4Aljc).

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