An odd thing about travel fairs is that they have official destination partners. Of all the countries represented, one rises above all the rest. Maybe they have a draw to decide which one, though I doubt it. The official partner for the Berlin ITB fair is Botswana. Lucky old Botswana. Will Spanish representatives refrain from going to the Botswana stand and asking about elephant-hunting packages? Ones fit for a king (a former one)?
Botswana would be a prime case for a sustainable tourism makeover, though it has almost certainly already had one. Sustainable consultants and advisors will have been sustaining themselves for some years, providing reports and recommendations to facilitate sustainable virtues. The sustainable tourism industry is a subsidiary of Tourism Industry International Inc, and it is a subsidiary that is doing very nicely for itself. It is self-sufficiently sustainable and capable of seemingly infinite sustainable growth.
The World Tourism Organization (WTO), the UN's über-advisor to Tourism Industry International Inc, champions sustainability. It has provided the support and wherewithal for the likes of Botswana to pursue sustainable tourism development. Indeed, it may have been that Botswana had been in mind when the founders of sustainability - some thirty years ago - invented the concept. It was originally all about development in the underdeveloped and developing worlds.
Nowadays it is far more than this. Far, far more. Hard-nosed businesspeople from hotel chains, airlines and tour operators subscribe to the WTO sustainable doctrine. As fully signed-up partners within Tourism Industry International Inc, they need to be. Tourism as globalisation has to portray its greatest benefits, as these businesspeople colonise parts of the globe which - once upon a time - one only heard of if they had stamps, were engaged in wars or were suffering from famine.
This colossus of an industry now principally has one thing on its mind (apart from money). Sustainability. This is why the subsidiary is doing so well. There may come a time when sustainability acquires such strength that it buys out Tourism Industry International Inc and becomes Sustainability Inc. Tourists will no longer be tourists; they will be sustainers. The world will sustain itself courtesy of this ultimately virtuous global industry.
In the Balearics we are of course doing our own bit. I say we, when I really mean the government. Not that everyone agrees that even the government is doing its bit. It's all bluster, say environmentalists such as GOB. If there were true sustainability, then the government would have reduced the number of sustainers (tourists) by now. The government, as in the tourism ministry and its promotional agency, has naturally therefore bought into the WTO's latest "big thing". And what could be bigger than the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development? The Balearic Tourism Agency was one of the first to climb aboard the sponsors' merry-go-round for this international year. Does this cost anything? Have Podemos been informed?
Such is the unstoppable growth of sustainability that it touches all parts of the tourism industry. Everything has become affected by the desperate requirement to display the sustainable badge of honour. This everything includes the stands in Berlin. There is, I kid you not, a whole page in the ITB exhibitor guide devoted to "sustainable trade show presence".
In a way this isn't surprising. The Germans more or less invented sustainability in that they were first movers in environmental do-gooding. How well I remember the old days of this with fondness. The local company in charge of waste was referred to as the "gestapo". Their inspectors would sneak around, checking the contents of rubbish containers to ensure everything was in its rightful place. The same company oversaw the town's dump, an industrial-scale operation with gigantic containers for every conceivable type of junk. The inspectors checked the contents of your car boot and directed you to the several containers you would need. More inspectors stood guard to watch the actual dumping. This was sustainability in action. Environmentally sound and rich in employment creation. There was a small army of inspectors.
The Balearic Tourism Agency will have taken due note of the page in the guide when it came up with its new stand and when it was taking account of the management of the stand. Its personnel at ITB will doubtless comply with advice to use certified organic products, to separate its waste diligently and put it in the corresponding recycling containers (remember the gestapo). The stand will be made from environmentally friendly building materials and paints. The agency will, if possible, "go paperless".
And when a jury of thirty junior tourism experts from the Cologne Business School go to evaluate the stands and make the best exhibitor awards, sustainability will be high among the criteria. After this, and when it's all over, the Balearics contingent, the Botswana people and everyone else will ... . Ah yes, get on a plane. I knew there had to be a catch.
Showing posts with label Berlin ITB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Berlin ITB. Show all posts
Thursday, March 09, 2017
Friday, March 11, 2016
Don't Mess With The Germans
History can never repeat itself exactly. Certain and basic circumstances may be similar but there are new ones to throw into the contemporary mix. These do not, however, disguise the potential for repetition that stems from the basic elements.
Let's start with the history and the story of the old eco-tax. There is, as I explained in an article last July, some selective memory regarding its impact. The facts were that prior to its introduction in May 2002, there had been a drop in tourism numbers the previous year. In its first year of implementation, there was a far greater drop: the percentage was 7.6% down. In 2003, the second and final year of the tax, tourism numbers grew again, so much so that the losses of 2002 were all but made up: the percentage growth was 6.6%.
What is conveniently overlooked when considering the eco-tax is the fact that the German economy was experiencing a period of downturn and then upturn. The overwhelming bulk of tourists who went awol in 2002 were German. While the eco-tax was partly to blame for the 2002 decline, it wasn't the only factor. Economic circumstances were at play, as was the lousy public relations that had emanated from Mallorca and which had led to an impression in Germany that certain elements of its tourism market were not welcome on the island. This lousy PR was to be rectified with a charm offensive.
The German and British markets are equally important to Mallorca, but the German association with Mallorca is stronger than Britain's, which has created a far deeper interest in Mallorcan affairs than is the case in Britain. And so we come to the present day and the potential for history to repeat itself.
London's World Travel Market was held in November. At the time the tourist tax was a glint in the eye of a politician on a distant horizon. Now, at Berlin's ITB fair, the tax is being brought to shore, soon to disembark. The proximity of its introduction is thus drawing sharper attention but it is not all that is drawing attention.
There are parts of Mallorca which are and always will be German. Playa de Palma, Arenal in particular, is one such part. By no means all Germans are drawn to it. There are many who despair of the behaviour of some of their fellow countrypeople who go there. As two twenty-year-olds, staying in Playa de Muro, once said to me in disparaging tones, having gone and taken a look for themselves. "There are many drunken tourists in Arenal."
Critical or not, the crackdown on behaviour is causing a rumbling not wholly dissimilar to that which occurred at the start of the century. The message, misinterpreted though it might be by some, has echoes of the one which had suggested Germans were not welcome. It also has echoes of what has occurred in Magalluf with the British market, but in Arenal there is one very important difference. It is a territorial one, centred primarily on Balneario 6 - the "Ballermann" - and the beach. This is German land and it is under attack by the Palma moves to stamp out street and beach drinking.
There are other issues. One is the concern with a shortage of water. Another is sewage. Issues such as this receive greater attention in Germany than they would do in Britain, which is the consequence of that deeper interest in Mallorcan affairs and corresponding coverage given to them by the German media. On the opposite side of the island from Playa de Palma, there is the matter of the sewage plant that serves resorts very popular with the German market - Playa de Muro and Can Picafort. Last year there were numerous complaints about bad odours, while there was also some alarm at what appeared as though it might have been sewage discharge close to the shore.
In Berlin, it is understood, tour operators and leading Mallorcan hoteliers have been wanting words with the regional government representatives about this. Biel Barceló, President Armengol, the environment minister, Vicenç Vidal, have all been quizzed, and the interrogators have included leading executives from Iberostar, which has several hotels in the Muro-Can Picafort zone.
But it is the tourist tax, above all, that is under scrutiny in Berlin. If the government got away with too much negativity regarding the tax in London, it can't avoid it in Berlin. The German association of tour operators and travel agents, DRV, sent a strongly worded letter to the government a month ago, expressing its concerns with the tax. ABTA had done so as well, but the German message was fiercer.
History doesn't repeat itself precisely, but it can conspire to bring similar circumstances together. The government can take solace in the Hobson's choice for tourists created by problems elsewhere. But for how long? The Germans are not happy.
Let's start with the history and the story of the old eco-tax. There is, as I explained in an article last July, some selective memory regarding its impact. The facts were that prior to its introduction in May 2002, there had been a drop in tourism numbers the previous year. In its first year of implementation, there was a far greater drop: the percentage was 7.6% down. In 2003, the second and final year of the tax, tourism numbers grew again, so much so that the losses of 2002 were all but made up: the percentage growth was 6.6%.
What is conveniently overlooked when considering the eco-tax is the fact that the German economy was experiencing a period of downturn and then upturn. The overwhelming bulk of tourists who went awol in 2002 were German. While the eco-tax was partly to blame for the 2002 decline, it wasn't the only factor. Economic circumstances were at play, as was the lousy public relations that had emanated from Mallorca and which had led to an impression in Germany that certain elements of its tourism market were not welcome on the island. This lousy PR was to be rectified with a charm offensive.
The German and British markets are equally important to Mallorca, but the German association with Mallorca is stronger than Britain's, which has created a far deeper interest in Mallorcan affairs than is the case in Britain. And so we come to the present day and the potential for history to repeat itself.
London's World Travel Market was held in November. At the time the tourist tax was a glint in the eye of a politician on a distant horizon. Now, at Berlin's ITB fair, the tax is being brought to shore, soon to disembark. The proximity of its introduction is thus drawing sharper attention but it is not all that is drawing attention.
There are parts of Mallorca which are and always will be German. Playa de Palma, Arenal in particular, is one such part. By no means all Germans are drawn to it. There are many who despair of the behaviour of some of their fellow countrypeople who go there. As two twenty-year-olds, staying in Playa de Muro, once said to me in disparaging tones, having gone and taken a look for themselves. "There are many drunken tourists in Arenal."
Critical or not, the crackdown on behaviour is causing a rumbling not wholly dissimilar to that which occurred at the start of the century. The message, misinterpreted though it might be by some, has echoes of the one which had suggested Germans were not welcome. It also has echoes of what has occurred in Magalluf with the British market, but in Arenal there is one very important difference. It is a territorial one, centred primarily on Balneario 6 - the "Ballermann" - and the beach. This is German land and it is under attack by the Palma moves to stamp out street and beach drinking.
There are other issues. One is the concern with a shortage of water. Another is sewage. Issues such as this receive greater attention in Germany than they would do in Britain, which is the consequence of that deeper interest in Mallorcan affairs and corresponding coverage given to them by the German media. On the opposite side of the island from Playa de Palma, there is the matter of the sewage plant that serves resorts very popular with the German market - Playa de Muro and Can Picafort. Last year there were numerous complaints about bad odours, while there was also some alarm at what appeared as though it might have been sewage discharge close to the shore.
In Berlin, it is understood, tour operators and leading Mallorcan hoteliers have been wanting words with the regional government representatives about this. Biel Barceló, President Armengol, the environment minister, Vicenç Vidal, have all been quizzed, and the interrogators have included leading executives from Iberostar, which has several hotels in the Muro-Can Picafort zone.
But it is the tourist tax, above all, that is under scrutiny in Berlin. If the government got away with too much negativity regarding the tax in London, it can't avoid it in Berlin. The German association of tour operators and travel agents, DRV, sent a strongly worded letter to the government a month ago, expressing its concerns with the tax. ABTA had done so as well, but the German message was fiercer.
History doesn't repeat itself precisely, but it can conspire to bring similar circumstances together. The government can take solace in the Hobson's choice for tourists created by problems elsewhere. But for how long? The Germans are not happy.
Friday, March 06, 2015
Then They Took Berlin
And then, as Leonard Cohen very nearly sang, they took Berlin; they being the global tourism industry, one part of which is Mallorca. They have all descended on the German capital for the ITB fair, the third and final of the big-three tourism trade fairs where Mallorca is concerned. Naturally enough, because it wouldn't be a fair without them, forecasts for the coming season were being made and, depending on who you bothered to listen to (if anyone), the German market for Mallorca was at present either slow or buoyant.
Jaime Martínez, the regional government's minister for tourism statistical data (sometimes also referred to as the minister for tourism and sport), arrived early, tucking in to the 255,000 euros budget for the fair, which makes it the second most expensive promotional "action" that the ministry will indulge in this year. Strangely perhaps, the Madrid Fitur fair, the number one "action", cost considerably more - 124,000 euros more. But be this as it may, the German market is only the largest tourism market that Mallorca can call upon: a third of all tourists in 2014.
Jaime, data readily to hand, announced that following last year's "historic" tourist performance the German market in 2015 will be one of improvement and consolidation (is this not a contradiction?). Bookings figures are already up on this time last year, he said, and moreover there won't be any World Cup for the Germans to celebrate and so get in the way of what will doubtless be a new historic year. However, not everyone is quite so optimistic. There again, not everyone is a Partido Popular politician desperately hoping against hope that his party will be re-elected in May. There will be some growth but it will probably only be small, and the data, were Jaime to acknowledge them, showed a tendency in 2014 for the German tourist to spend less and to stay for fewer nights.
It was reassuring to note that individuals towns weren't relying on Jaime and the tourism agency to go into promotional bat for them. Hence, the likes of Palma, Calvia, Felanitx, Pollensa, Manacor and Cala Millor (not a town as such, I realise) were all in attendance. Interesting that Calvia had pitched up. Are they trying to entice the Germans to Calvia Beach Resort and so de-Anglicise Magalluf and make it a resort of peace and harmony? Not that the Germans should be needed in order to do this, Calvia having declared the streets of old Magalluf (and Santa Ponsa) alcohol-free zones from ten in the evening. Nary a word about prostitutes who happily divest passing tourists of their smartphones and give them a sound slapping in the process, but as Calvia has, at a stroke, eliminated drunken tourism, the lads on tour will now be more aware of a mugger lurking in the shadows. Somehow, one doesn't imagine that this will be how it is.
Jaime Martínez, the regional government's minister for tourism statistical data (sometimes also referred to as the minister for tourism and sport), arrived early, tucking in to the 255,000 euros budget for the fair, which makes it the second most expensive promotional "action" that the ministry will indulge in this year. Strangely perhaps, the Madrid Fitur fair, the number one "action", cost considerably more - 124,000 euros more. But be this as it may, the German market is only the largest tourism market that Mallorca can call upon: a third of all tourists in 2014.
Jaime, data readily to hand, announced that following last year's "historic" tourist performance the German market in 2015 will be one of improvement and consolidation (is this not a contradiction?). Bookings figures are already up on this time last year, he said, and moreover there won't be any World Cup for the Germans to celebrate and so get in the way of what will doubtless be a new historic year. However, not everyone is quite so optimistic. There again, not everyone is a Partido Popular politician desperately hoping against hope that his party will be re-elected in May. There will be some growth but it will probably only be small, and the data, were Jaime to acknowledge them, showed a tendency in 2014 for the German tourist to spend less and to stay for fewer nights.
It was reassuring to note that individuals towns weren't relying on Jaime and the tourism agency to go into promotional bat for them. Hence, the likes of Palma, Calvia, Felanitx, Pollensa, Manacor and Cala Millor (not a town as such, I realise) were all in attendance. Interesting that Calvia had pitched up. Are they trying to entice the Germans to Calvia Beach Resort and so de-Anglicise Magalluf and make it a resort of peace and harmony? Not that the Germans should be needed in order to do this, Calvia having declared the streets of old Magalluf (and Santa Ponsa) alcohol-free zones from ten in the evening. Nary a word about prostitutes who happily divest passing tourists of their smartphones and give them a sound slapping in the process, but as Calvia has, at a stroke, eliminated drunken tourism, the lads on tour will now be more aware of a mugger lurking in the shadows. Somehow, one doesn't imagine that this will be how it is.
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