The Seven Pillars Of Tourism Wisdom

Exceltur is the "alliance for touristic excellence". It is a body that comprises some of Spain's leading hotel groups (and therefore Mallorca's hotel groups as many of them are Mallorcan) as well as travel agencies, car-rental agencies, financial services companies and more. Its remit, as you might gauge from what it stands for, is to look at how to improve and develop Spanish tourism. As part of this mission, it undertakes annual surveys of tourism competitiveness in the different regions of Spain.

The survey for 2010 (MoniTUR - very clever) has just been published. A collaboration with the consultancy group Deloitte, the new survey doesn't make great reading for the Balearics. The islands are still in the top half of Spain's regions, but they have slipped one place to sixth. In itself, this doesn't sound particularly dramatic, but when you study closely the so-called "seven pillars" of competitiveness that form the basis of the survey, it is.

Of the seven regions that lost competitive value in 2010, the loss by the Balearics is greater than that of any other region. Of the seven "pillars", a gain has been made in only two, one of which (economic and social results) is insignificant. The other gain, that in transport accessibility and connections, is significant. More of this below.

The other five measures all register a fall. The two greatest are in "diversification and categorisation of tourism products" and in "strategic marketing vision and commercial support". This latter measure has tumbled almost ten points compared with 2009. Only one other region of Spain has performed worse - Murcia - and it is one of the least competitive parts of the country.

As with strategic vision, only one autonomous community does worse when it comes to diversification, the Basque Country. Yet, diversification has meant to have been one of the "big things". You might remember what this entails. Golf, hiking, gastronomy, culture ... . Do you really want me to go on?

Diversification and the vision thing are two sides of the same coin, a badly minted one in Balearics terms. One, diversification, leads from the other. Or at least I think this is how it's meant to go. A problem, however, is what strategic marketing vision means. In consultancy management speak, very little usually. But we can just about suss what they're on about: lack of leadership, lack of planning, lack of any meaningful action. In the Spanish league table of tourism competitiveness, the collective Balearics tourism officialdom has been the Avram Grant - they haven't known what they've been doing.

This isn't completely true. The disgraced ex-tourism minister Miguel Nadal knew full well what he was doing. Allegedly. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything to do with tourism. And Nadal did have a strategy institute that he could call on at the ministry, the now defunct Inestur, up to its neck in as much alleged wrongdoing as the one-time minister.

But let's not dwell too much on the past. A whole bright new tourism competitiveness future beckons for the Balearics, thanks to he In Whom We Trust. Unlike his predecessors, who gave the impression of not having graduated beyond the Janet and John book of tourism clichés, Carlos Delgado does seem to get it. He appears to have been on the 101 course of Strategic Marketing for New Balearics Tourism Ministers, if an observation as to how Calvia should be spoken about in marketing terms is anything to go by. Don't call it Calvia, because no one knows where Calvia is or what it is. Do call the individual resorts Santa Ponsa, Magalluf and so on. It's an encouraging start. Blindingly obvious to anyone other than a tourism official, but encouraging nonetheless.

And Delgado will, we hope, set in motion some diversification. Converting Mallorca into one giant theme park is an excellent idea. Not that he has actually said this, but he has given encouragement to the idea of theme parks that the enviro-lobby have hitherto so successfully managed to boot into the long grass of a finca or several.

So, next year we can look forward, with any luck, to MoniTUR giving the Balearics some better marks. But there just remains this business of transport accessibility and connections, the one area of improvement, according to the report. Which connections is it referring to exactly? Those with Germany? With Russia? Yes, both good and getting better. The UK? In winter?

Strategic marketing vision and diversification are fine. They can lead to new products and new opportunities for tourism. But they're not much use if no one can get a flight. Or perhaps the UK isn't part of the strategic marketing vision.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.