How have you been this week? Been feeling ok? Or have you had a touch of flu perhaps? Been confined to bed? Been unable to travel to Berlin? If your travel plans were indeed disrupted owing to illness, then you don't need to feel too guilty. You are in good company. Well, you are in company. Good or bad, that's for you to decide, the company being that of national minister for energy, industry and tourism, José Manuel Soria, and Balearics president, José Ramon Bauzá. The two Joes both came down with a bad dose of political infirmity.
Mallorca Joe, i.e. the president, had, even before seeking a refund from or rearrangement with Air Berlin (something that's probably not too difficult), put in a sick note and absented himself from the presidential seat in the Balearics Parliament. The empty chair was poignantly photographed next to a serious-looking vice-president, who probably wasn't serious on account of fearing for the presidential well-being but because he was pressing the parliamentary case for him and his fellow cabinet members enjoying a 25% increase in their salaries. Antonio Gómez, the vice-president, was mayor of Escorca in a former life, a task which entailed administering a municipality comprising one man, his dog and several hundred mountain goats. Had he not been reborn as the governmental VP, he might still be mayor of Escorca and be struggling to draw any form of salary in future, thanks to his friends in Madrid having changed the rules regarding salaries for mayors of municipalities with barely any inhabitants (other than the goats).
On a better earner therefore than he would have been on back in the mountains, the VP took issue with legal opinion on the small matter of the 25% salary rise. This legal opinion had been offered by the Balearics High Court, which had revoked the rise, but the VP was having none of it. The cabinet's own legal opinion begged to differ with m'luds at the High Court. Moreover, the rise was fair because the total salary bill for cabinet members had in fact gone down because there were fewer members than previously. Which is an interesting piece of logic and one that the VP might care to run past workforces which remain following major job losses and which have not experienced a rise; more likely, they have experienced a fall in wages and greater demands on their working hours and responsibilities.
As he was already on a sickie, Bauzá's change of travel plans might have been anticipated, but the ranks of the press massed at Berlin's ITB travel fair were none too impressed by both his absence and that of Canaries Joe, minister Soria. There are various sub-plots where the two Joes are concerned, one being that they don't see eye to eye other than for Bauzá to eye Soria up with a suggestive I'm-after-your-job look (or so it has been alleged). But the bigger sub-plot is the one to do with the oil exploration business, Soria having reported the content of a private conversation in which Bauzá admitted to knowing that there was nothing that Madrid could do to prevent exploration going ahead. The two Joes aren't the best of mates just at the moment, and they weren't about to kiss and make up in Berlin. Had they, then they would have passed on even more political infirmity bugs.
A press conference at which oil was going to feature large was, therefore, cancelled, leaving the hacks decidedly hacked off. A general view coming out of Berlin was that it was better to keep mum about the oil and not spoil the good news about even more thousands of Germans descending on Balearics beaches this summer. But, though Soria was away, nursing his ministerial malady, his second-in-command at tourism, the Mallorcan Isabel Borrego, hadn't succumbed to the virus that was decimating the political class. She was in Berlin and she spoke to tour operators and yes the O-word did crop up together with the G-word. Much to everyone's astonishment, she said that all this prospecting that might take place off the Balearics wasn't for oil after all. Only for gas. So, there we are. No worries about any oil being washed up on the beaches, because the secretary-of-state for tourism has said so.
Showing posts with label Berlin travel fair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Berlin travel fair. Show all posts
Saturday, March 08, 2014
Friday, March 07, 2014
The Certainty Of Mallorca
This is the week of the Berlin ITB travel fair, the biggest of the winter's fairs and the last one before the season commences. It was the scene of acute embarrassment for the Balearics last year when a stripped-down presence reduced to the stand to hiding itself away inside the grander pavilion for Turespaña, the budget having been slashed by over half a million euros. One critic, from the socialist opposition, denounced the "ridiculous size" of the "chiringuito", saying that it undermined any impression of international prestige at a time when the islands' tourism was not certain.
This year, the Balearics tourism agency is once more sharing with Turespaña. Indeed, it also has the Palma 365 Foundation, Manacor town hall and the Cala Millor hoteliers to keep it company. No doubt there will be more criticisms. But are they really valid?
Fairs such as Berlin's are an exercise in showing-off. The bigger, the better the stand, the greater the kudos. It doesn't automatically follow that bigger and better mean more business. Perhaps Mexico, the fair's official "partner" this year will secure a substantial rise in tourism. Or perhaps it won't. Putting on a show only amounts to so much.
The travel fair plays to different audiences. The public, only admitted for two days, is one, but it is less important than the tour operators and other decision-makers, and the fact is that these decision-makers do not make decisions based on the nature of an exhibition stand. The fairs are talking-shops and networking opportunities for the travel and tourism industry, but much talking and networking occur without the need to attend fairs. Size of a stand doesn't really matter, and one only has to consider some of the news coming out of Berlin to know that it doesn't. Far from the islands' tourism being uncertain, as was alleged last year, it couldn't be much more certain. Tour operators are on the prowl, buying up hotels in Mallorca in order to guarantee beds for the next few years. Mallorca's tourism is certain, because Mallorca's tourism is safe. This has been a key message over the past few years. While other destinations have experienced problems, such as unrest, Mallorca has kept going on its own sweet way, causing very little or no trouble.
Avoiding trouble is the key to tourism success. Tour operators need to minimise risk, just as tourists need to know there is minimum risk where their holidays are concerned, but one piece of trouble might yet loom, and that is the threat of strikes in the hotel sector. They are never far away from being a possibility, given the somewhat volatile nature of certain unions, but the current round of wage negotiations for the coming season are stalled; the unions are looking for at least a 3% rise, but the hoteliers aren't budging an inch.
The unions, though, can point to price rises by hoteliers and ask, perhaps legitimately, where are our rises. Some concern has been expressed by tour operators who believe that the quality of some of Mallorca's hotels does not match the prices being demanded by the hoteliers. These tour operators are not about to accept any additional prices because of higher wages, and it is this price-quality equation which goes to the heart of much discussion of Mallorca's tourism. A reason, only one, why hotels don't open in winter and why Mallorca is a less than attractive proposition is because prices and so therefore costs are that much lower in other parts of the world. The tour operators can extract far higher margins as a consequence.
And if the tour operators are buying up hotels - as also are foreign investors, such as those from China - they are likely to insist on a harder playing of the hardball with unions. There may be an at-times frosty relationship between unions and Mallorca's hoteliers, but add multinational, foreign ownership into the mix and the relationship could be destined to become tundra-like.
The prognosis from Berlin is very positive, but down the line might there be trouble? The current round of wage negotiations will say much, and they are being conducted against a background of the hoteliers asking the regional government for specific legislation to limit the possibility of strike action in the tourism sector, a demand that is naturally opposed by the unions. If there were to be strikes this summer then the certainty of Mallorca suddenly becomes less certain.
This year, the Balearics tourism agency is once more sharing with Turespaña. Indeed, it also has the Palma 365 Foundation, Manacor town hall and the Cala Millor hoteliers to keep it company. No doubt there will be more criticisms. But are they really valid?
Fairs such as Berlin's are an exercise in showing-off. The bigger, the better the stand, the greater the kudos. It doesn't automatically follow that bigger and better mean more business. Perhaps Mexico, the fair's official "partner" this year will secure a substantial rise in tourism. Or perhaps it won't. Putting on a show only amounts to so much.
The travel fair plays to different audiences. The public, only admitted for two days, is one, but it is less important than the tour operators and other decision-makers, and the fact is that these decision-makers do not make decisions based on the nature of an exhibition stand. The fairs are talking-shops and networking opportunities for the travel and tourism industry, but much talking and networking occur without the need to attend fairs. Size of a stand doesn't really matter, and one only has to consider some of the news coming out of Berlin to know that it doesn't. Far from the islands' tourism being uncertain, as was alleged last year, it couldn't be much more certain. Tour operators are on the prowl, buying up hotels in Mallorca in order to guarantee beds for the next few years. Mallorca's tourism is certain, because Mallorca's tourism is safe. This has been a key message over the past few years. While other destinations have experienced problems, such as unrest, Mallorca has kept going on its own sweet way, causing very little or no trouble.
Avoiding trouble is the key to tourism success. Tour operators need to minimise risk, just as tourists need to know there is minimum risk where their holidays are concerned, but one piece of trouble might yet loom, and that is the threat of strikes in the hotel sector. They are never far away from being a possibility, given the somewhat volatile nature of certain unions, but the current round of wage negotiations for the coming season are stalled; the unions are looking for at least a 3% rise, but the hoteliers aren't budging an inch.
The unions, though, can point to price rises by hoteliers and ask, perhaps legitimately, where are our rises. Some concern has been expressed by tour operators who believe that the quality of some of Mallorca's hotels does not match the prices being demanded by the hoteliers. These tour operators are not about to accept any additional prices because of higher wages, and it is this price-quality equation which goes to the heart of much discussion of Mallorca's tourism. A reason, only one, why hotels don't open in winter and why Mallorca is a less than attractive proposition is because prices and so therefore costs are that much lower in other parts of the world. The tour operators can extract far higher margins as a consequence.
And if the tour operators are buying up hotels - as also are foreign investors, such as those from China - they are likely to insist on a harder playing of the hardball with unions. There may be an at-times frosty relationship between unions and Mallorca's hoteliers, but add multinational, foreign ownership into the mix and the relationship could be destined to become tundra-like.
The prognosis from Berlin is very positive, but down the line might there be trouble? The current round of wage negotiations will say much, and they are being conducted against a background of the hoteliers asking the regional government for specific legislation to limit the possibility of strike action in the tourism sector, a demand that is naturally opposed by the unions. If there were to be strikes this summer then the certainty of Mallorca suddenly becomes less certain.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Ich Bin Ein Berliner Protester
The Berlin travel fair is over for another year. It is an event which attracts much media attention in Mallorca because of the importance of the German tourism market. This year's event has attracted the attention of the German media; Mallorca's presence at the fair has been news.
Of Mallorca's big-two tourism markets, the German relationship with the island is different to that of the British. It is a deeper relationship to that of the British, for whom the island is primarily and only a holiday destination. The Germans are more students of Mallorca than the British. The association is so strong, it is as though there were an imaginary land connection between Mallorca and Germany. Weather forecasts specifically feature Mallorca and German newspapers from Mallorca are widely available in Germany.
It was once said by a Mallorcan politician that the British have Mallorca "in their genes". If they do, then these genes are partly German. Mallorca is a holiday birthright for the Germans as much as the Chiemsee, South Tyrol and the islands of Sylt and Rügen are.
The participation of Mallorca and the Balearics at the Berlin travel fair has been news in Germany in a way that would be unimaginable in the UK; unimaginable, because events at the Berlin travel fair wouldn't have occurred at London's travel fair. And they wouldn't have occurred because of the different nature of the relationship.
The environmental pressure group GOB chose the Berlin fair to draw attention to concerns it has with policies of the regional government. It was chosen because, more than any other audience, GOB wanted to hammer home its message to the Germans. GOB will know that German environmental consciousness has traditionally been stronger than in other European countries. When TUI, a German company of course, makes the big deal that it does about ecologically sound hotels being an important sales point, it is referring mainly to the German market. Green matters were matters in Germany well before they were in the UK.
What happened in Berlin last week has not, however, put Mallorca in a terribly good light. Neither GOB nor the Balearics government (for which, read the Partido Popular) covered itself in glory in Berlin in what was a follow-on from a video that GOB had launched just prior to the fair. This video, which features the Mallorcan artist Miguel Barceló, is one in which GOB denounces the import of waste and developments such as Es Trenc. It denounces the government and so the PP.
The tourism minister Carlos Delgado had already criticised GOB for releasing the video and for presenting it at the travel fair. He said that it was irresponsible and could cause harm to the islands. But it was what then happened at the fair that caught the attention of the German media, and it did so because both GOB and the government grossly exaggerated what happened. GOB's representatives planned to raise questions at a press conference which President Bauzá was to attend. It was thought that GOB might also stage a protest. As a consequence, the organisers were told of the possibility and they in turn informed the police who did what police normally do, which is to attend the scene and to ensure control and to keep the peace.
The exaggerations then started to fly. GOB claimed the government had called the police in, when it hadn't. GOB also claimed that there were police "cordons" created at the request of the government and implied that there was some aggression by the German police. There were no cordons and there was no aggression. Had the government then kept quiet and let the matter rest, it might have come out of Berlin with its public relations intact, but it didn't. It insisted that GOB had planned "violent" protests; all three of its representatives. The accusation was exaggerated, hysterical and downright wrong.
GOB may believe that it has succeeded in publicising its gripes with the PP, but, and regardless of what one thinks about waste imports and Es Trenc, Delgado was not wrong in suggesting that its stunts could be harmful. In fact, it probably won't make any difference to German tourism, despite the coverage in the German media, but it might make Germans look askance at politics of the environment in the Balearics. Germans like consensus, it is the cornerstone of their political philosophy. In the Balearics there is no consensus. There never is. And the environment is a subject about which the polemic has no end and which has become as tedious as it is divided. Perhaps it would be better if mouths were just kept shut for a change.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Of Mallorca's big-two tourism markets, the German relationship with the island is different to that of the British. It is a deeper relationship to that of the British, for whom the island is primarily and only a holiday destination. The Germans are more students of Mallorca than the British. The association is so strong, it is as though there were an imaginary land connection between Mallorca and Germany. Weather forecasts specifically feature Mallorca and German newspapers from Mallorca are widely available in Germany.
It was once said by a Mallorcan politician that the British have Mallorca "in their genes". If they do, then these genes are partly German. Mallorca is a holiday birthright for the Germans as much as the Chiemsee, South Tyrol and the islands of Sylt and Rügen are.
The participation of Mallorca and the Balearics at the Berlin travel fair has been news in Germany in a way that would be unimaginable in the UK; unimaginable, because events at the Berlin travel fair wouldn't have occurred at London's travel fair. And they wouldn't have occurred because of the different nature of the relationship.
The environmental pressure group GOB chose the Berlin fair to draw attention to concerns it has with policies of the regional government. It was chosen because, more than any other audience, GOB wanted to hammer home its message to the Germans. GOB will know that German environmental consciousness has traditionally been stronger than in other European countries. When TUI, a German company of course, makes the big deal that it does about ecologically sound hotels being an important sales point, it is referring mainly to the German market. Green matters were matters in Germany well before they were in the UK.
What happened in Berlin last week has not, however, put Mallorca in a terribly good light. Neither GOB nor the Balearics government (for which, read the Partido Popular) covered itself in glory in Berlin in what was a follow-on from a video that GOB had launched just prior to the fair. This video, which features the Mallorcan artist Miguel Barceló, is one in which GOB denounces the import of waste and developments such as Es Trenc. It denounces the government and so the PP.
The tourism minister Carlos Delgado had already criticised GOB for releasing the video and for presenting it at the travel fair. He said that it was irresponsible and could cause harm to the islands. But it was what then happened at the fair that caught the attention of the German media, and it did so because both GOB and the government grossly exaggerated what happened. GOB's representatives planned to raise questions at a press conference which President Bauzá was to attend. It was thought that GOB might also stage a protest. As a consequence, the organisers were told of the possibility and they in turn informed the police who did what police normally do, which is to attend the scene and to ensure control and to keep the peace.
The exaggerations then started to fly. GOB claimed the government had called the police in, when it hadn't. GOB also claimed that there were police "cordons" created at the request of the government and implied that there was some aggression by the German police. There were no cordons and there was no aggression. Had the government then kept quiet and let the matter rest, it might have come out of Berlin with its public relations intact, but it didn't. It insisted that GOB had planned "violent" protests; all three of its representatives. The accusation was exaggerated, hysterical and downright wrong.
GOB may believe that it has succeeded in publicising its gripes with the PP, but, and regardless of what one thinks about waste imports and Es Trenc, Delgado was not wrong in suggesting that its stunts could be harmful. In fact, it probably won't make any difference to German tourism, despite the coverage in the German media, but it might make Germans look askance at politics of the environment in the Balearics. Germans like consensus, it is the cornerstone of their political philosophy. In the Balearics there is no consensus. There never is. And the environment is a subject about which the polemic has no end and which has become as tedious as it is divided. Perhaps it would be better if mouths were just kept shut for a change.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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