Niumba is TripAdvisor's holiday rentals arm. Some 20% of all properties it offers (the total worldwide is more than 300,000) are in Spain. Niumba, in keeping with one of TripAdvisor's apparent missions to be "the word" when it comes to determining bests-of, has set up a poll to decide the best beach in Spain. However, unlike the free-for-all that one normally gets, there has been a pre-selection process. There are only 25 beaches to vote for, two of which are in Mallorca. These two are, in a sense, the same beach - Puerto Alcudia and Playa de Muro. The beach on the bay stretches for kilometres and is only interrupted in a minor way by the canal from the Lago Esperanza and in a more major way by the canal from Albufera.
So, Niumba blog users are being asked to distinguish between the two. For what it's worth (and frankly it isn't worth very much), the Puerto Alcudia stretch is not the proud possessor of a Blue Flag, whereas Playa de Muro is. People have until 25 June to cast their votes. As of yesterday morning, there were only two beaches in it. Guess which ones. Playa de Muro had suddenly leapt ahead of Puerto Alcudia with a 41% share against 38%; Puerto Alcudia had, the day before, been well ahead.
There were, up to half seven on Friday morning, 573 votes. Fifteen of the 25 beaches had polled not a single vote. It seems that no one is paying this a great deal of attention, apart from the town halls in Alcudia and Muro plus some of the local media. Facebook has been used to generate votes, which is fair enough, but if nowhere else is particularly bothered, then one is bound to get a distorted view. Which isn't to say that the two beaches don't deserve to be vying for the number one spot. They are both excellent. But the poll, because of its pre-selection, clearly eliminates other beaches on the island and, in truth, is all a bit silly. Still, publicity, one supposes, for Niumba, though even that is questionable. 573 votes?
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