Spain Is Not Croatia: Tourism ministers

Tourism is an odd thing politically. Important as it is, it isn't generally granted high political status. In the European Union, there appear to be only three countries which have a minister devoted to tourism alone: Bulgaria, Croatia and Malta. The latter of these is never mentioned in discussions of Mallorca and Spain's competitor destinations, but the first two most certainly are. The advances of their sun-and-beach tourism have been plotted strategically around the cabinet table.

There are other countries which relegate tourism to a lowly political level. The UK is one of them. It has a parliamentary under secretary of state for sport, tourism and heritage: Tracey Crouch, whose CV suggests that her knowledge of tourism is significantly less than her knowledge of football.

For the most part, EU nations place tourism within ministries which have cabinet status. In Germany, as an example, tourism comes under the ministry of economic affairs and energy. The French find a place for tourism in the foreign ministry. The nation which receives more tourists than anywhere else - France - doesn't have a dedicated minister.

Spain doesn't have a specific minister either. There was hope, prior to the announcement of the new cabinet, that it would. In the end Mariano Rajoy lumped tourism together with energy (as had previously been the case) and with the "digital agenda". In so doing, Rajoy failed to remove the potential conflict of responsibilities which dogged José Manuel Soria and that caused the disputes with the Balearics over oil. The apparent need for tourism to co-exist with energy is a source of bafflement. There again, what's good for the Germans ... even if tourism in that country is delegated downwards from the cabinet table. It could be more baffling: in Luxembourg, hive of tourist activity as it is, they have a minister for tourism, housing and, bizarrely enough, the middle classes.

At least tourism is directly represented at the Spanish cabinet table, when it is not in the UK, France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Slovakia and Slovenia.

EU countries clearly have varying degrees of economic dependence on tourism. In Spain, it contributes 11.5% of GDP, a percentage that rises dramatically according to region, such as the Balearics. This is greater than in France, where it is just under 10%, but well below Croatia with 20%. In a Daily Telegraph list of the twenty countries on the planet most reliant on tourism, Croatia sits at number eighteen. Malta is five places above it. No wonder they have dedicated tourism ministers.

Of the major economic powers in the EU, Spain's dependence on tourism is the greatest; Italy lags behind by around one per cent. Although high, this dependence is not as fundamental as in, say, Croatia. But GDP figures can explain only so much. There is the indirect contribution as well and perhaps just as importantly there is the social and psychological contribution. While miscreants are going around daubing anti-tourist slogans - and not just in Palma - no one can (or should) forget that it was tourism above all that turned Spain into a major economic power. It is in the national psyche, therefore, which maybe helps to explain the degree to which a ministerial appointment has been discussed. The column inches have been numerous, the analysis of the new minister has been intense. The debate as to the need to a dedicated tourism minister continues, though some are counting blessings that Rajoy didn't go back to how things were for a time under Zapatero when there was no cabinet representation.

Yet it remains something of a mystery as to why tourism doesn't enjoy greater status in political affairs. Alvaro Nadal, the new minister, has said that "tourism is our jewel in the crown that has a snowball effect on the whole of the economy". Quite so; 11.5% of GDP does indeed explain only so much. Moreover, as Rajoy sought to bring Spain out of economic crisis, he repeatedly referred - quite correctly - to tourism being the motor of the economy. Its reward is to be allied to the nation's digitalisation and energy needs. It doesn't appear to make sense.

Nadal has also said that there is a need for tourism to be given "a strong impulse to reinvent itself". What does he mean by this? Is the sector not already heading in new directions of diversification and greater quality? In the Balearics, we'd like to believe so. But then, the Balearics are not Extremadura or Castile and Leon.

Spain's tourism diversity is vast. And herein perhaps lies the rub. While Balearic tourism interests must at all costs be defended, these interests are not as reliant on a national minister as is the case with other regions. The islands arguably have far more need of a national energy minister, so long as he doesn't want to start drilling for oil.

Christmas Comes Early To The Tourism Ministry

Bon Nadal. A bit early admittedly, but some were saying it. The Mallorcan hoteliers, for instance. Alvaro Nadal, rather than, say, Rafa, was handed tourism by Super Mariano, now anointed - by PSOE - as president (prime minister) for life. With a name like Nadal, some were foolish enough to think that a Mallorcan boy had done good and climbed to the top of the tourism mountain. They were wrong. Alvaro is every bit a member of the Madrid cartel as mostly all others are within the PP's high command.

Inma Benito, president of the Mallorca Hoteliers People's Party, is never slow to recognise a soul mate whose aversion to an ecotax is such that his facial expression suggests a bad smell at its very mention. This disgust can melt into a look of vague warmth when addressing the vexed issue of IVA (VAT). Yes, he has said to the delight of the nation's hotelier parties, a super-reduced rate for hoteliers would be good, knowing full well that Super won't sanction it and nor indeed would Brussels. 

Alvaro is the closest thing that the Balearics have to a man on Super's council of war, i.e. the cabinet, already forming a circle of wagons in preparation for the missiles to be launched that will be the consequence of governing with 39.14% Congress representation. He is only close because of his name, which is purely the result of reproductive fluke. This Nadal has never opened a tennis academy in Manacor or played for Real Mallorca. He's an economics boffin, hewn from the capital's academia.

Despite this absence of Mallorcan connection, there were others who were swift to praise his appointment. Jaime "Two Paellas" Martínez, the gastronomic-promoting former minister of Balearic tourism, opined that Nadal would be very positive for the Balearics. Jaime could afford to lavish praise. While his name had mysteriously been mentioned as a possible national tourism minister, he was always a rank outsider, given that there's the investigation into the small matter of the money his local ministry forked out to demolish the Rocamar in Soller. Better odds had been on J.R., if only because Bauzá had opened the book on himself. In truth, the ex-Balearic president was never destined to be anywhere near the short list.

And the truth was that he knew that his name was not to be announced by Super on Thursday. The day before, he had chaired a meeting of the PP in his home town of Marratxi. Next to him, somewhat bewilderingly, was Sebastià Sagreras, the mayor of Campos and general secretary of the party in the Balearics but also one of the principal wielders of the knife in the back that ended with Bauzá being exiled to the Senate. Everyone at that meeting, including J.R., knew by then that his self-promotion as tourism minister had been a complete disaster. And when Inma announced that Nadal's appointment was "very good news", another knife was stuck into the Bauzá heart. She would not have said the same had J.R. been given the job.

He'll keep lingering like an unwanted guest at a party, but the party won't take him back. He needs to come to terms with that fact.