The award of the concession to manage Can Picafort beaches this summer is still causing a fuss. It was back in March that the award to Bernart Riutort was made, despite the tender having been lodged seven minutes after the deadline and despite also opposition from town hall technical staff. The company that lost out, Boom Boom Muro, has now raised a further appeal against Santa Margalida town hall's decision, considering that there were irregularities with the award.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Showing posts with label Beach management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beach management. Show all posts
Friday, August 24, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - La Gola and Pollensa beaches sorted
Two of Pollensa's most pressing tourism issues have been resolved. The information centre in the La Gola park has been re-opened with an attendant provided by the Espais de Natura Balear (environment ministry), while the town hall will look after cleaning in the park.
The management of beaches in Puerto Pollensa and Cala San Vicente will be under local residents' associations. This used to be the case in Puerto Pollensa, but wasn't last year, something which helped to contribute to the problems of beach management, and will be the case for the first time in Cala San Vicente. A contract is also being drawn up to provide lifeguards. Final submissions for this contract were not until 7 May, a week after the official season had started.
The management of beaches in Puerto Pollensa and Cala San Vicente will be under local residents' associations. This used to be the case in Puerto Pollensa, but wasn't last year, something which helped to contribute to the problems of beach management, and will be the case for the first time in Cala San Vicente. A contract is also being drawn up to provide lifeguards. Final submissions for this contract were not until 7 May, a week after the official season had started.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Guarding Lives - Or Not
The exceptionally warm weather for early May has led to the beaches being busier than might normally be the case. But not all beaches are as busy as they might be, because there is an absence of personnel one would hope would be there. We are, I'm afraid, back once again to Pollensa's beaches.
It is simply no good the town hall trotting out one of its annual excuses as to the tardiness with which beach management is finalised, the excuse of gaining clearance by the Costas. The town hall has no credibility in this regard, not, that is, when other town halls in the area can manage to commence arrangements for beach management in time for the official 1 May start of the tourism season (or earlier in some instances).
Personally, I couldn't care less whether there were sunbeds and umbrellas, but then I am far from being everyone. They form a service that is expected, and one that is expected to operate throughout the season and not once the town hall finally gets its backside into gear.
It isn't just the beds and parasols, though. There are also the lifeguards. On Pollensa town hall's website, the announcement of the tender for beach safety had allowed for submission up to 7 May, a week after the season started. The website also announced that this was "urgent". I'd say it was urgent.
The fiasco with Pollensa's beach management is such that the town's mayor should have the courtesy to issue a clear explanation as to why Pollensa is so lethargic when other towns are not. This should not be an explanation made in a town hall meeting, but in wider communication with the public, the whole of the public, including the town's many foreign residents and tourists.
Unfortunately, the town hall doesn't go in for this sort of communication. Very few town halls in Majorca do. Their press and public relations are poor to the point of being negligible. And then they wonder why dissatisfaction grows.
To return to the issue of the lifeguards, there is a further PR dimension to this, i.e. the fact that there was a spate of drownings last summer in Muro, Can Picafort and Pollensa. These were not attributable to inaction by lifeguards or emergency services, as they were as a consequence of cardiac arrest being suffered by mainly elderly swimmers. But any drowning isn't good for business, and if lifeguards are not to be found, then it's worse for business.
At least Pollensa appears to be allowing for the possibility of contracts running for three years when it comes to beach management, which will be something, but not for the safety service, which will still be renewable annually. Why? Who knows? It will probably be because of the Costas Authority; but then it always is.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It is simply no good the town hall trotting out one of its annual excuses as to the tardiness with which beach management is finalised, the excuse of gaining clearance by the Costas. The town hall has no credibility in this regard, not, that is, when other town halls in the area can manage to commence arrangements for beach management in time for the official 1 May start of the tourism season (or earlier in some instances).
Personally, I couldn't care less whether there were sunbeds and umbrellas, but then I am far from being everyone. They form a service that is expected, and one that is expected to operate throughout the season and not once the town hall finally gets its backside into gear.
It isn't just the beds and parasols, though. There are also the lifeguards. On Pollensa town hall's website, the announcement of the tender for beach safety had allowed for submission up to 7 May, a week after the season started. The website also announced that this was "urgent". I'd say it was urgent.
The fiasco with Pollensa's beach management is such that the town's mayor should have the courtesy to issue a clear explanation as to why Pollensa is so lethargic when other towns are not. This should not be an explanation made in a town hall meeting, but in wider communication with the public, the whole of the public, including the town's many foreign residents and tourists.
Unfortunately, the town hall doesn't go in for this sort of communication. Very few town halls in Majorca do. Their press and public relations are poor to the point of being negligible. And then they wonder why dissatisfaction grows.
To return to the issue of the lifeguards, there is a further PR dimension to this, i.e. the fact that there was a spate of drownings last summer in Muro, Can Picafort and Pollensa. These were not attributable to inaction by lifeguards or emergency services, as they were as a consequence of cardiac arrest being suffered by mainly elderly swimmers. But any drowning isn't good for business, and if lifeguards are not to be found, then it's worse for business.
At least Pollensa appears to be allowing for the possibility of contracts running for three years when it comes to beach management, which will be something, but not for the safety service, which will still be renewable annually. Why? Who knows? It will probably be because of the Costas Authority; but then it always is.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, April 16, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Challenge to beach management contract award in Can Picafort
Two companies which lost out on the tender to provide services to beaches in Can Picafort this summer have challenged the award by Santa Margalida town hall on the grounds that the winning bid was submitted six or seven minutes after the time that it should have been.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Making Waves: Resort re-imagination
The excitement down Magalluf way has, as you might have expected, been exciting the media. For once, Maga isn't finding a dubious place in the media sun because of drunkenness, violence, balcony-diving, PR "tiqueteros" and prostitution (choose as applicable).
More is emerging of Meliá Hotels International's grand vision for Magalluf. There is, for instance, going to be a "wave house", artificial surf created by submersible pumps. "Flowing water is a symbol for wealth and prosperity in Feng Shui". So says the waveloch.com website; Wave Loch has, since 1991, "been on a mission to wave the world". There is a wave house in San Diego, in Durban, in Santiago (Chile) and in Singapore. Just as Magalluf coming at the end of a list of locations for a fashion house - London, Paris, New York, Rome - would sound daft, so it sounds out of place with the current Wave Houses. Still, think of all that wealth and prosperity, and how long will it be before Magalluf ceases to be Magalluf and is completely renamed after the Meliá concept - the Sol Calvià Resort? It sounds altogether more impressive.
The idea that Magalluf might be renamed isn't as ridiculous as it might seem. By going along with Meliá's plan, the regional government and Calvià town hall have all but ceded responsibility for the resort. Or at least this is the impression one gets. Some years ago, I suggested that sponsorship deals for individual resorts, and renaming them with the sponsor's name, might not be a bad idea. It was a suggestion made in jest. Little did I know.
The government, bending over backwards to take the private-sector shilling - as well it might, as the private sector is the only sector that has a shilling - is now making it clear what President Bauzá meant by his version of "small government". It isn't small so much as non-existent, where tourism is concerned at any rate. Tourism minister Carlos Delgado has done the talking for Bauzá. There won't be more public money for the Playa de Palma redevelopment, he appears to have decided; enough has already been spent on fat salaries for members of the consortium who have succeeded in achieving pretty much nothing.
Another of the plans for Magalluf involves the beach. Meliá will in effect end up running it. There is the slight matter, however, of the Costas authority, that wing of national government which issues decrees on matters of a beach nature. Does the regional government know something we don't? Almost certainly it does. The Costas may well get its wings clipped. It might even be stripped of its wings completely along with its feathers and beak. Delgado has had less than good words for the Costas. Incompetent and slothful was how he described the authority back in July. Whatever the Costas' thoughts regarding the Magalluf plan might currently be, you can be reasonably sure that they will change once Delgado's friends in the Partido Popular return to power in November.
Calviá town hall, another party with an interest in the beach, presumably poses little problem. Delgado, former Calvià mayor, will surely have had words with his PP successor. There seems, therefore, little to prevent Meliá operating the beach and doing all the rest that it has in mind, except for the minor irritation of a need to change laws. We can safely assume, however, that this irritation will be dealt with in due course.
The Magalluf project, for all that is hugely praiseworthy, does raise questions as to how interventionist (or not) the government is likely to be in other matters to do with tourism. It is no bad thing if it takes a back seat and lets the private sector take the lead, but how realistic might it be for similar projects to be rolled out in other resorts? As I pointed out previously, Magalluf is ideal for Meliá because of the number of hotels it has and their convenient concentration near to each other. Not all resorts are like Magalluf though; far from it.
There is more to tourism, however, than just the resorts and the hotels. And more to what falls under the tourism ministry's remit. Take, for example, its responsibilities for arts festivals. Delgado has stated that grants will be limited in the future, if available at all. The ministry left Pollensa town hall high and dry by not providing all the emergency assistance for this year's music festival, as it seemed to have promised. Pollensa's festival is not the only one to feel the cold blast of cuts. If the private sector doesn't come to its aid and to the aid of other festivals, their future has to be in doubt.
The Magalluf plan represents way more than just the re-imagination of a resort. It represents a total shift away from public provision, and it is a shift that will become apparent in other spheres of Mallorca's tourism. Magalluf is a re-imagination and also a re-invention, one in which it is the hoteliers and the private sector which rule the roost and not the regional government. The whole picture of the island's tourism is about to be redrawn. There is excitement certainly, but there is going to also be uncertainty.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
More is emerging of Meliá Hotels International's grand vision for Magalluf. There is, for instance, going to be a "wave house", artificial surf created by submersible pumps. "Flowing water is a symbol for wealth and prosperity in Feng Shui". So says the waveloch.com website; Wave Loch has, since 1991, "been on a mission to wave the world". There is a wave house in San Diego, in Durban, in Santiago (Chile) and in Singapore. Just as Magalluf coming at the end of a list of locations for a fashion house - London, Paris, New York, Rome - would sound daft, so it sounds out of place with the current Wave Houses. Still, think of all that wealth and prosperity, and how long will it be before Magalluf ceases to be Magalluf and is completely renamed after the Meliá concept - the Sol Calvià Resort? It sounds altogether more impressive.
The idea that Magalluf might be renamed isn't as ridiculous as it might seem. By going along with Meliá's plan, the regional government and Calvià town hall have all but ceded responsibility for the resort. Or at least this is the impression one gets. Some years ago, I suggested that sponsorship deals for individual resorts, and renaming them with the sponsor's name, might not be a bad idea. It was a suggestion made in jest. Little did I know.
The government, bending over backwards to take the private-sector shilling - as well it might, as the private sector is the only sector that has a shilling - is now making it clear what President Bauzá meant by his version of "small government". It isn't small so much as non-existent, where tourism is concerned at any rate. Tourism minister Carlos Delgado has done the talking for Bauzá. There won't be more public money for the Playa de Palma redevelopment, he appears to have decided; enough has already been spent on fat salaries for members of the consortium who have succeeded in achieving pretty much nothing.
Another of the plans for Magalluf involves the beach. Meliá will in effect end up running it. There is the slight matter, however, of the Costas authority, that wing of national government which issues decrees on matters of a beach nature. Does the regional government know something we don't? Almost certainly it does. The Costas may well get its wings clipped. It might even be stripped of its wings completely along with its feathers and beak. Delgado has had less than good words for the Costas. Incompetent and slothful was how he described the authority back in July. Whatever the Costas' thoughts regarding the Magalluf plan might currently be, you can be reasonably sure that they will change once Delgado's friends in the Partido Popular return to power in November.
Calviá town hall, another party with an interest in the beach, presumably poses little problem. Delgado, former Calvià mayor, will surely have had words with his PP successor. There seems, therefore, little to prevent Meliá operating the beach and doing all the rest that it has in mind, except for the minor irritation of a need to change laws. We can safely assume, however, that this irritation will be dealt with in due course.
The Magalluf project, for all that is hugely praiseworthy, does raise questions as to how interventionist (or not) the government is likely to be in other matters to do with tourism. It is no bad thing if it takes a back seat and lets the private sector take the lead, but how realistic might it be for similar projects to be rolled out in other resorts? As I pointed out previously, Magalluf is ideal for Meliá because of the number of hotels it has and their convenient concentration near to each other. Not all resorts are like Magalluf though; far from it.
There is more to tourism, however, than just the resorts and the hotels. And more to what falls under the tourism ministry's remit. Take, for example, its responsibilities for arts festivals. Delgado has stated that grants will be limited in the future, if available at all. The ministry left Pollensa town hall high and dry by not providing all the emergency assistance for this year's music festival, as it seemed to have promised. Pollensa's festival is not the only one to feel the cold blast of cuts. If the private sector doesn't come to its aid and to the aid of other festivals, their future has to be in doubt.
The Magalluf plan represents way more than just the re-imagination of a resort. It represents a total shift away from public provision, and it is a shift that will become apparent in other spheres of Mallorca's tourism. Magalluf is a re-imagination and also a re-invention, one in which it is the hoteliers and the private sector which rule the roost and not the regional government. The whole picture of the island's tourism is about to be redrawn. There is excitement certainly, but there is going to also be uncertainty.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, May 27, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Hoteliers slam Puerto Pollensa beaches
The hotel association in Puerto Pollensa has unleashed a savage criticism of Pollensa town hall over the delay in sorting out the management of the beaches. Though the sunbeds and parasols should now be coming out, the contract having been firmed up, the hoteliers find it unacceptable that at the end of May the beaches should be stripped of their sunbeds. They complain that this does nothing for the image of Puerto Pollensa and threatens repeat tourism.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Puerto Pollensa beaches and the sunbeds
The issue as to which organisation will be operating the sunbeds and parasols on Puerto Pollensa's beaches seems to now be settled, the company F&A having finally formally been given the contract by the town hall. The neighbourhood association, which had put out sunbeds and which operated the beach last year, had then to remove them as no contract existed. The association may still take the town hall to arbitration over the matter.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Fight 'Em On The Beaches
Puerto Pollensa is not going down without a fight. You wouldn't expect anything else. The bell is due to sound on the end of the four-year bout and, punch-drunk, they're still at it.
If it's May, it is time for the quadrennial elections and also for the annual kerfuffle surrounding Puerto Pollensa's beaches. All you need to know by way of background to this is that each year the town hall manages not to get the contract sorted out for the umbrellas and sunbeds in time for the season. True to form, it has happened again this year.
In an act of altruism, the neighbourhood association in the port has taken on the task. But not everyone has been happy, including the company that is meant to be getting the contract, while it would not be a matter of town hall affairs in the port were Pepe Garcia and the Alternativa not to have its say.
Garcia, who is standing for mayor, suggested that there might be some financial shenanigans. From a report I read, it seemed as though he was levelling this charge at the neighbourhood association, a most unwise thing to do given that he would hope its members might support him.
The association seemed to read it as I had and said it would consider whether it had been defamed. Garcia insisted that he hadn't meant the association but the town hall, but he may suffer a loss of votes because of the misunderstanding. Which goes to prove that beaches, and their management, are not something to be trifled with. Nor are their local politics and local turf wars.
Other towns have their issues with the management of beaches. I shall not identify the town or the beach, but the following example is indicative of the potentially lucrative business of being awarded with the concessions for beach management and of how the "system" can operate.
One particular lot on the beach in question had, the relevant town hall's inspectorate was to discover midway through the summer, too many sunbeds and umbrellas. The company with the concession was duly fined. Was it unhappy? Not really; too many sunbeds and a consequent fine were part of the "system".
When the tenders were put out for the lots on the beach, excessive bids were lodged as a means of securing the concession. The town hall was more than happy with this; of course it was. The winning bidder then went ahead and put out more sunbeds than it should have. More revenue for the town hall coffers; this time through a fine. The concessionaire was still not unhappy. Yes, it had paid more than it should have done and yes, it was fined, but it was still making money. More in fact than it should have been making. One imagines the fines and the excessive bid were taken into account in the business plan.
It wasn't as though the town hall ordered the removal of the offending sunbeds. No, they were allowed to stay. And why do you think that was?
This "game" demonstrates how the process of beach management can and does operate. In this particular instance, however, there was a twist to the story, because local people, fed up with the sheer volume of sunbeds, took action. It should be remembered that beaches are public spaces. They belong to the Spanish state, and ordinary members of the public are entitled to use them without the space being over-invaded by money-making ventures.
What then happened was that the town hall itself faced a fine for allowing the situation to come to pass. Our old friends the Costas authority may usually trample across dunes in heavy boots looking for illegal buildings, but it does also have the final say-so when it comes to what goes on on the beaches.
As a result, the concessionaire was presented with a situation that hadn't been bargained for; the government's fine to the town hall being passed on. But even more was to come. A concessionaire, and there was more than one, suffered from having its sunbeds slashed. Over 500 were wrecked, and the cost of repair was put at 40 grand.
Which all goes to show that management of the beaches and sunbeds is far from being as gentile a past-time as building sandcastles. What's been happening in Puerto Pollensa is positively serene compared with what can happen elsewhere. Fights on beaches, and kicking sand in faces.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
If it's May, it is time for the quadrennial elections and also for the annual kerfuffle surrounding Puerto Pollensa's beaches. All you need to know by way of background to this is that each year the town hall manages not to get the contract sorted out for the umbrellas and sunbeds in time for the season. True to form, it has happened again this year.
In an act of altruism, the neighbourhood association in the port has taken on the task. But not everyone has been happy, including the company that is meant to be getting the contract, while it would not be a matter of town hall affairs in the port were Pepe Garcia and the Alternativa not to have its say.
Garcia, who is standing for mayor, suggested that there might be some financial shenanigans. From a report I read, it seemed as though he was levelling this charge at the neighbourhood association, a most unwise thing to do given that he would hope its members might support him.
The association seemed to read it as I had and said it would consider whether it had been defamed. Garcia insisted that he hadn't meant the association but the town hall, but he may suffer a loss of votes because of the misunderstanding. Which goes to prove that beaches, and their management, are not something to be trifled with. Nor are their local politics and local turf wars.
Other towns have their issues with the management of beaches. I shall not identify the town or the beach, but the following example is indicative of the potentially lucrative business of being awarded with the concessions for beach management and of how the "system" can operate.
One particular lot on the beach in question had, the relevant town hall's inspectorate was to discover midway through the summer, too many sunbeds and umbrellas. The company with the concession was duly fined. Was it unhappy? Not really; too many sunbeds and a consequent fine were part of the "system".
When the tenders were put out for the lots on the beach, excessive bids were lodged as a means of securing the concession. The town hall was more than happy with this; of course it was. The winning bidder then went ahead and put out more sunbeds than it should have. More revenue for the town hall coffers; this time through a fine. The concessionaire was still not unhappy. Yes, it had paid more than it should have done and yes, it was fined, but it was still making money. More in fact than it should have been making. One imagines the fines and the excessive bid were taken into account in the business plan.
It wasn't as though the town hall ordered the removal of the offending sunbeds. No, they were allowed to stay. And why do you think that was?
This "game" demonstrates how the process of beach management can and does operate. In this particular instance, however, there was a twist to the story, because local people, fed up with the sheer volume of sunbeds, took action. It should be remembered that beaches are public spaces. They belong to the Spanish state, and ordinary members of the public are entitled to use them without the space being over-invaded by money-making ventures.
What then happened was that the town hall itself faced a fine for allowing the situation to come to pass. Our old friends the Costas authority may usually trample across dunes in heavy boots looking for illegal buildings, but it does also have the final say-so when it comes to what goes on on the beaches.
As a result, the concessionaire was presented with a situation that hadn't been bargained for; the government's fine to the town hall being passed on. But even more was to come. A concessionaire, and there was more than one, suffered from having its sunbeds slashed. Over 500 were wrecked, and the cost of repair was put at 40 grand.
Which all goes to show that management of the beaches and sunbeds is far from being as gentile a past-time as building sandcastles. What's been happening in Puerto Pollensa is positively serene compared with what can happen elsewhere. Fights on beaches, and kicking sand in faces.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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