To The Finland Station

The great and the good, the businesspeople of Alcúdia, the likes of Piero Rossi, Toni from No Frills, oh and me. There was a fair old gathering in the old "sala" of Alcúdia town hall on Tuesday evening. One could admire the considerable height of the room and the sense of nobility both of this altitude of local democracy and of the chairs that would normally be for the even greater and better, i.e. the local councillors, who dispense such democracy. Looking rather out of place in this room of some antiquity was a screen and the beam of PowerPoint. I think the chap probably needs to pay a bit of attention to his presentation technique. Shouldn't really have something up on screen for the audience to read whilst doing your spiel; distracts them, you see. Anyway, the chap was there to sell the Estaciones Náuticas idea - or water-sports centres if you prefer. To remind you - Alcúdia is to become the first such centre in Mallorca; they exist everywhere else in Spain but, for some reason, they seemed to have overlooked Mallorca until now, which might actually have been a question for the chap, but too late now.

The point is, of course, what is the point of it all, and what does it all mean? And one felt that, even after the presentation, there were some who didn't quite get the whole point - PowerPoint or no PowerPoint. It's not altogether surprising. One of the rare occasions during the presentation when I nodded with something approximating comprehension was when he drew a comparison with a ski resort. I'm not entirely sure why I did this nodding, but it seemed to make sense at the time, but on reflection I'm not sure that it does. But I suppose if one thinks of a ski resort as some sort of integrated tourist destination which generally has a reputation for quality, then I guess that this was what he was getting at and what I was agreeing with.

What would it mean in practice, though? There would not be anything new in a physical sense, except perhaps for an information and bookings centre and some transport between different things. Essentially, all it would be would be a coming together of existing facilities, and not just those on water, but also accommodation and restaurants etc.; all under this umbrella concept. Basically, it would be a branding exercise with a website. Alcúdia would become known as a water-sports centre and would use the Estaciones Náuticas logo as a mark of quality, and businesses associated with it could also display the logo. Or something like that.

If this brings about greater co-operation between businesses for the betterment of Alcúdia, then well and good, though one might ask why such co-operation has not existed in the past. There are meant, also, to be additional benefits both in terms of new products, whatever these might be, and a lessening of seasonality, though quite how this would occur I am not entirely sure, except that, through some co-operation, packages of holiday offer could be made, perhaps of the sort I have mentioned here before.

Alcúdia would be the first of these centres in Mallorca. Pollensa, I understand, is likely to follow. If it were to, would there then not be a danger that whatever sense of differentiation that Alcúdia might benefit from in being a water-sports centre would be diminished? If you have two such centres next to each other, does the message (whatever this might be) for both resorts not get rather lost? And what about other places, most obviously Can Picafort? It has as much claim to be a water-sports centre as Alcúdia and Pollensa, more so in one sense than Pollensa and that's because of the second marina at Son Serra. If its two richer neighbours, which already enjoy a reputation for rather superior quality, were to be branded with this mark of implied further quality, would it not suffer by comparison? Or would the intention be for it to also become part of the Estaciones Náuticas network? And then what would the point be, if everywhere could make the same claim?

If you are still a bit mystified about the whole thing, and I wouldn't really blame you if you were, you might want to take a look at the Estaciones Náuticas website for Menorca (http://www.enmenorca.org/); there are three resorts on that island that have this title. What you will find is that there are various sports and activities as well as accommodation and bars and restaurants. In other words, it's what was already there. And if there is meant to really be an advantage in reducing seasonality, I'm afraid Menorca is a poor advert as they don't even bother flying planes there in the off-season.

Much as I may appear to be cynical on this blog, I am not when it comes to new ideas. I was quite expecting to be saying that this is a great idea, but I'm afraid I can't get that enthusiastic about it. Beyond a bit of branding, it strikes me as something and nothing, albeit that there are also grants available from Turespaña, the national tourism organisation to which the Estaciones Náuticas network is attached. Will it bring more tourists to Alcúdia? Will they spend more money? Will the season stretch for longer? These are the questions businesses want positive answers to. I don't know that the Estaciones Náuticas concept can offer such answers. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not convinced.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - UB40 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCGcljqOSW0). Today's title - it's all about water, you see, as well as "stations". There is much water in Finland, and the thing is that I had intended this as the title the other day but Valentine's (and Kylie and Jason) intruded. Where's it from? One of the greatest of all singles.

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