The Dark Night Sky Of Tourism

"The dark night sky is the underlying resource," explains a piece of worthy research. A definition of "underlying" is real but not immediately obvious. I would suggest that the dark night sky is more than underlying when it comes to astronomical tourism. Without the dark night sky there is no astronomical tourism.

The resource itself is abundant. It is theoretically infinite. The dark night sky as with the light day sky is always there in its unfathomable vastness. The resource is, however, greater - or rather better - in different parts of the globe, especially if someone has taken the trouble to advance the cause for its particular dark night sky resource. Here is where underlying enters the adjective-noun conjunction. The resource is certainly real but its status as better is not immediately obvious until it is explained that it is better.

Astronomical tourism is a segment of the tourism market, a niche product. It has existed for centuries, if one cares to define travellers who have wanted to search the dark night skies as tourists. They went to Stonehenge, at least in part, to wonder at the dark night sky. Ancient skies of an English summer might not have been habitually clouded. They most certainly were not affected by light pollution, and nowadays the absence of this pollution holds the key to unlocking the niche potential of the dark night sky and of astronomical tourism.

Mallorca has (or had) an underlying resource other than its dark night sky. One day we might know what really occurred at the observatory in Costitx. What we can say is that it was a resource which was woefully underexploited. It was managed well as a scientific resource but was mismanaged in terms of its tangential potential. Administrations must share the blame. And in this day and age of sustainable tourism, they have missed an almighty trick. The sky is sustainability writ very large. Tourism attracted by the sky is respectful of one of the greatest resources known to mankind.

The Starlight Foundation explains the various dimensions to its activities. One is economic: "To boost the economy through the contemplation and interpretation of the starry sky, promoting infrastructure, products and activities in the field of sustainable tourism which we call 'star tourism'." Starry, starry night; every astronomical tourist is a star.

The Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) was founded in 1982. A Spanish public research institution, it is an international benchmark for astrophysics, advanced scientific instrumentation, university education and the cultural dissemination of science. There are observatories in Tenerife (the Teide Observatory) and in La Palma (the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory).

In 2012, the Starlight Foundation, a body that was created by the IAC, recognised La Palma as the first Starlight destination on the planet. There are now others. In the Canaries, the dark night skies - away from the urban centres - are unrivalled for their clarity. The foundation and the IAC might have seemed to have been somewhat self-serving in accrediting La Palma as they did six years ago, but to qualify as "Starlight" there is a requirement to be able to observe the stars in optimal conditions while at the same time being an example of environmental protection and conservation, including protecting the environment from artificial light pollution.

At the Madrid Fitur tourism fair in January, La Palma received a new distinction. It was deemed to be the "best active tourism product"; active as in tourists undertaking an activity - stargazing in this instance. Above all, La Palma - and this is the whole island - was given the award because of the public and private sector collaboration which has enabled the island to become Spain's foremost destination for astronomical tourism; not only Spain's, one of the world's foremost.

Mark the words of Inés Jiménez, the councillor for tourism in Gran Canaria, where they also pursue astronomical star tourism. Various municipalities and the whole business sector - large and small - have come together in not only appreciating that the island is for tourism but also has an "alternative product to sun and beach". The Canaries, admittedly benefiting from the backing that goes back to the 1980s, have made a sustainable tourism virtue of their dark night skies. Not so Mallorca; not so the Balearics.

The Canaries are not alone. In Castile-La Mancha, there is a multi-municipality cooperation project that has created an astronomical park - Serrania de Cuenca. Work has started on certifying as Starlight a new park in the Valle del Alcudia. This is an Alcudia in the Ciudad Real province, not an Alcudia in Mallorca.

Cordoba, Aragon, Navarre, Extremadura; here are other parts of Spain where the underlying resource of dark night skies has been developed to beneficial effect, and all in the name of sustainable tourism. In Mallorca, meanwhile, they seek to blame each other for the loss of what was a real resource.

The Canaries: The Brand That Won

We're coming to that time of year when they start handing out awards. In the case of the Asociación Española de Anunciantes - Spanish Association of Advertisers - they've already dished them out.

The Spanish word "eficacia" can be a touch problematic. It can mean both efficiency and effectiveness. As anyone with any managerial and business experience will know, there is a difference between the two. There can be efficiency in doing things well and in an organised fashion, but the effectiveness doesn't necessarily always follow - the results, and good results at that. Let's just say, for the purpose of the association's awards, that "eficacia" is the happy combination of the two.

The awards bear the title of "Eficacia en Comunicación Comercial". They are the highest professional recognition of advertising achievement in Spain. They are the only awards that focus on the results of advertising communication. Efficient ways meet effective ends.

The gold award for "most innovative strategy" went to a tourism brand - Islas Canarias, the Canary Islands. It picked up other awards - another gold for #StopBlueMonday and a bronze for "La sonrisa del sol", the smile of the sun. Since 2015, the Canary Islands' brand has amassed more awards than any other Spanish tourist brand: over thirty national and international prizes. In the Canaries they clearly know a thing or two about efficiency and effectiveness.

A year ago I highlighted the official website for Canary Islands tourism. Hellocanaryislands, I concluded, was a superb website. Its innovation was matched by its simplicity. Contained within it was an adventure in an almost Disney style. It appealed to children and to adults. The adventure told the story of wonders to be discovered on the various islands. And it did this, moreover, in multiple languages. Not three or four, but fifteen.

Promotur, which is the tourism agency in the Canaries, has been credited by the advertisers association with having developed a tourism brand that is superior to all others. What it doesn't do is carry out one single campaign. A key reason for having gained the award is that over the course of a year there are 250 individual promotional actions, using the same fifteen languages as on the website. The effectiveness lies in the detail - the micro-segmentation of content, targeted at specific market segments. Through innovation and creativity, Promotur is delivering a brand concept which stands out from all the other advertising noise.

While the mechanics of the advertising clearly impressed the 170 or so judges, there is the fact of this brand concept. The Canaries as a single entity are in a sense easier to brand than, say, the Balearics. At a most basic level, just think about it for a moment. The chances are that you refer to the Canaries rather than specific islands, whereas you would be most unlikely to refer to the Balearics. Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and the others have their individual identities and images, yet it is proving and has proved possible to apply a unity. And this unity manifests itself in another way. Messages from the advertising will vary according to the time of year, but the climate in the Canaries offers a consistency to support these messages. The brand is thus seamless.

The contrast with the Balearics is great. The abandonment of attempting to convey a Balearic brand is being further advanced by the transferring of promotional responsibilities to the islands. The need for this was recognised by the previous government. The Balearics are not the Canaries. There simply isn't the same attachment in terms of consumer perception. It's Mallorca which matters, or Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.

In the Canaries they are enhancing an already enviable brand of all-year tourism by micro-managing the tourism market with messages and images to add ever greater strength to the brand from revealing the diversity that exists on those islands. In the Balearics they are deconstructing a brand through a distancing from what has always sustained the brand, be it individual island or the Balearics as a collective. This deconstruction is based on a brand proposition of shaky attributes, those of a winter that conflicts squarely with the solid foundations of sun and beach.

This is being done, moreover, without coming close to criteria that the advertisers association appreciates about the Canaries. The brand thinking in the Balearics might be chaotic, but it's not as if there is (theoretically) any absence of technological knowhow. Biel Barceló has been celebrating the ParcBit fifteenth anniversary, the technology park once destined to be a centre of tourism technology excellence. So where is it? And where also is the social media "guru", appointed by Barceló as director-general of technology at the ministry of tourism, innovation and research? He's a mystery figure, of whom we know little and even less in terms of results.

The Balearics, we can conclude, will not be invited to the association's 2018 awards.

There Are Just Too Many Palms

You'll doubtless recall all that business about renaming Palma de Mallorca Palma. It currently is just Palma, until it gets changed back when the Partido Popular get in. One reason, one very good reason, for maintaining the "de Mallorca" is to avoid confusion, and don't they just know about this in La Palma in the Canary Islands.

In the Canaries, there is also Las Palmas, and the different variants of Palma(s) have caused any number of headaches for those living in La Palma. Not just the island's residents. According to a Canarian parliament deputy, a British couple ended up in La Palma, having believed that they were in fact travelling to Palma (de Mallorca).

Because of this, the Canarian tourism, culture and sports commission has asked the Canarian government to study a solution to avoid the confusion. Place-name analysing toponymy experts are inevitably being dragged in, because they always are when such matters surface.

And what might the solution be? Who can possibly say? La Palma de las Canarias wouldn't be much use because of the confusion with Las Palmas. Here's a thought, though. Why not change it to English? The Palm.

No, they'd never accept that. And strange how, when you put it in English, it doesn't have anything like the same exotic quality. Confusion, one fancies, will endure.

The Great Adventure Together: Tourism Websites

I don't normally click on website adverts, unless by mistake, which is what happened on Sunday. I was on a Spanish news site and clicked something that said "guardian de los volcanoes". It led to a great adventure. One together. There are fourteen languages for this adventure website; a fifteenth when you click on a short video.

The great adventure takes you into the world of the guardian of the volcanoes, the genie of the magic mountain, the wizard of the ocean waters, the fairy of the clear sky, the goblin of the enchanted forest, the empress of the trade winds, the queen of all living beings. The guardian needs help in finding giant sandcastles. The genie knows all the mysteries of the mountain. The wizard's powers lie under the water. The fairy can read the stars and fly above the clouds. The goblin moves swiftly through forests. The empress seeks help in getting rid of the clouds. The queen has all the animals in her kingdom. There is a place where stars shine brighter. Another with a cave that has paintings which are thousands of years old. One more which used only to be inhabited by wolves.

All these adventures are a prelude - a game before the main adventures of whales, spectacular routes, the ocean floor, nature, the waves. The fifteenth language is mysterious. A small boy in Paris is at a bakery. Eventually the baker understands. The boy wants a croissant. The video concludes with two messages. Travel to the best climate in the world. Your children know where adventure begins.

The fifteenth language is recognised as being a language, even though it isn't spoken. In 2009, Unesco declared it a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. It is a language that may be some three thousand years old. It's not possible to say. But it is very old. It is "silbo", the Gomeran whistling language from the island of La Gomera in the Canaries. The great adventure takes place on those islands.

Hellocanaryislands* is the official website for Canary Islands tourism. It has plenty of information the deeper you go into it, but the initial pages are principally devoted to imagery and to the adventure games. How does a destination capture family tourism? Appealing to the kids is one very good way. Children are as important to the holiday purchasing decision as the strength of the parental budget. Hook them with games, and ... .

This is a superb website. It doesn't preach. There's no sense of desperate overloading of explanation and justification. It just is. And it does it superbly. Aimed mainly at a family market, it doesn't disguise the sun-and-beach dimension. It isn't ashamed by the existence of year-round sun and the varying shades of sand. But it grafts on all the other elements - like nature, like routes. And the Canaries have nature in abundance, such as in the ravines of La Gomera. These alternative elements are presented in a family way.

Looking at this website makes one thoroughly depressed. Innovative, bold but at the same time simple, it is everything that Balearics promotion isn't. There is no such website.

The Canaries do obviously have an advantage over the Balearics - "travel to the best climate in the world" - but that is only part of the story. Rather like the Balearics, the Canaries are very well-known, the sun-and-beach aspect in particular. Why should they need to present such a lavish website if so much of the tourism sells itself, which is how the Balearics look upon the sales effort? Perhaps it is because the Canarian government doesn't adopt an arrogant attitude. Perhaps it is because it believes, despite soaring sales, that front of mind where the holidaymaker is concerned remains essential. Perhaps it is because it doesn't seem to be tearing itself apart in figuring out what its tourism represents. There's no sense of the idiotic notion of sun-and-beach being "obsolete", as has been said by certain Balearic politicians, who have no idea what tourism means.

These certain politicians would now doubtless stamp on any attempt to follow a Canarian lead. The budget would be just one reason. Yet the Canaries website has the sort of stuff that the Balearics so wish to promote - the Unesco sites and declaration, the nature routes, environmental consciousness.

The Balearics were years ago left behind in the promotional stakes, especially where the internet is concerned. Has it never crossed anyone's mind that, while the Balearics are easy to sell (in summer), holidaymakers should be shown greater respect? Front of mind is one justification. A sense of belonging and emotional attachment are others. And perhaps more than anything, there is the need to revive the idea of adventure. Just as holidays once were. In the Canaries, they have a great adventure. Together.

* http://www.hellocanaryislands.com/great-adventure-together

Limiting Hotel Places In The Balearics

Putting a cap on the number of holiday places in private property is likely to prove to be an almost impossible task for the Balearic government, but places in hotels are easier to control. Biel Barceló has in the past differentiated between the two types of accommodation, stating that there is (or can be) a finite number of places in hotels, a situation which doesn't exist with private property. Concerned with overcrowding, it may seem discriminatory to seek to shore up this finite number when there is such an absence of regulation for the non-hotel sector, but this is what the government will do.

Under existing tourism law there are already constraints on adding further hotel places. If there is new development, then the new places have to take the place of others. This was all part of a drive by the previous government to weed out obsolete and outdated hotel stock and replace it with greater quality, and this has been happening principally through re-development of hotels. However, the law does make allowance for exceptions when it comes to building new five-star hotels or creating urban hotels, agrotourism establishments and rural tourism hotels. These do not have to replace others, meaning that there will be an increase in the total number of hotel places.

Barceló intends to change this law by removing these exceptions. Regardless of the type of hotel, new places would have, in every instance, to replace existing ones. This wouldn't necessarily mean that there couldn't be new building, but were there to be then existing hotels would either have to have their capacities reduced or close.

This latter option is also addressed under the current tourism law. It permits, subject to approvals, changes in use, one being that hotels can be converted into residential accommodation. In reality there has been very little evidence of this happening (there have been one or two notable cases but not much more). However, such a change in use was always going to provide the possibility of ever more private apartments coming on to the market (mostly illegally) for tourist purposes.

Barceló will therefore need to consider the change in use provisions that were included in the tourism law by Carlos Delgado. It would fly in the face of all his talk about overcrowding were they to remain on the statute, as it should be clear to anyone that not all residential accommodation will be used solely by owners. This then raises the question as to what might happen to hotels which in effect become redundant. A bold initiative, might one suggest, would be to arrive at accords with hoteliers to either expropriate old hotel stock or to permit conversion into social housing or accommodation expressly for rental to seasonal workers. At a stroke issues of pressure on the housing market, as have been highlighted already this season, would be greatly lessened.

Meanwhile, the complexities of drafting effective legislation for holiday rental regulation are being highlighted in the Canary Islands. The regional government there has come up with a raft of measures designed to curb the growth of private accommodation. These include the setting of standards through mandatory minimum sizes of beds, ensuring accommodation is equipped with certain kitchen devices, towels and so on. This doesn't sound unreasonable but the National Competition Commission is taking a rather dim view. It is opposing in particular a Canarian measure that would prevent holiday apartments being in areas which are already predominantly tourist zones: the centres of resorts in other words. The Commission has observed that the likes of Airbnb currently offer up to 85% of accommodation in areas that are otherwise dominated by hotels. To not permit apartments in these areas, the Commission argues, would severely limit competition.

It's Back: The eco-tax

So, it's pretty much official. It has yet to be ratified, but a Balearics eco-tax, or a tax on tourists under some other name, will in all likelihood feature in the manifestos of Podemos, Més and PSOE. If, as seems possible, these three parties form a coalition government, an eco-tax it almost certainly will be.

It comes as no surprise that Podemos and Més should favour such a tax. PSOE is more of a surprise. I had previously doubted that PSOE would wish to revisit the crash scene of a tax it was responsible for introducing during its first administration (the pact of 1999-2003). The PSOE hierarchy might, when push comes to manifesto shove, take the view that it is too emotive an issue and too much of a risk, but Cosme Bonet, one of the party's electoral programme co-ordinators, appears to believe it is a risk worth taking in order that "tourism contributes to the conservation of the environment". He prefers to not refer to the tax as an eco one, but eco-tax is precisely what it would be.

Bonet has also said that it would be a tax with the consensus of the tourism sector. If he believes there will be consensus, he is probably deluding himself. The hoteliers, for one, will take a great deal of persuading. It was, after all, they who got the Matas Partido Popular administration from 2003 to abandon PSOE's unpopular tax. There again, the hoteliers had every reason to have been indignant with the old tax. It was they who shouldered the burden for its collection. One of the flaws of the eco-tax was that it was discriminatory; it was not applied to non-hotel accommodation.

This time, as far as the Més spokesperson David Abril is concerned, the hoteliers will not be singled out. The tax would be universal, and by that he means the inclusion of private holiday accommodation, currently not regulated, that Més would regulate. As PSOE has previously suggested that it would also seek regulation and as Podemos has intimated as much, a tax would apply more widely, just as it does in Catalonia, where private accommodation is properly registered and regulated. But this will hardly be a move to mollify the hoteliers or guarantee a consensus.

Tourist taxes are the flavour of the moment and not only among the Balearics left. In the Canaries, the Nueva Canarias party has presented a proposal for a tax to the regional parliament. Its purpose would be to raise additional funds for modernising outdated resorts and tourist services. The party reckons that 100 million euros could be raised. The hoteliers in the Canaries are dead against the idea. Among reasons for their objections is the Balearics eco-tax fiasco. Others include arguments that the sector is over-taxed as it is and that far too little of the revenue raised by the Canaries' tourism sector actually finds its way back into the system. This is a reasonable argument. The tourism sector generates tax revenues of over 1,500 million euros annually, yet, as an example, only 17 million are earmarked for tourism promotion (which is still a lot more than in the Balearics). It is an argument which, not for the first time, raises questions as to how tax revenues raised by the regions are then redistributed and used.

In Madrid, the PSM (Madrid socialist party) wants to introduce a tourist tax, one that has been spoken about for years but regularly rejected. The difference here though is that it would be a tax for a city, and there are plenty of examples of European cities which have such a tax. The Canaries' objections refer to the fact that tourist taxes are applied to cities and not tourist regions, but they then run up against one very important exception. Catalonia. Its tax is for the whole region and so includes tourist areas such as the Costa Brava as well as Barcelona.

Catalonia's experience of a tourist tax was always going to be one closely observed by other regions of Spain; it hasn't had any harmful impact. It is a tax that isn't too onerous (ninety cents a night is a typical rate) and that is limited in terms of the number of overnight stays: for a two-week holiday, for instance, it only applies to a maximum of seven nights. But Catalonia is not Mallorca and nor is it Tenerife. It clearly has hugely popular mass-tourism areas, but these don't generate quite the same media interest that Mallorca does. The old eco-tax was as much a PR disaster because of negative international media coverage as it was a disaster of discriminatory implementation. Any new tax would come in for the same treatment; the same hue and cry. Would it, therefore, be too great a risk? 

When Canaries Sing Rebel Songs

Spain's awkward squad has just got bigger. The latest member to join the rebel souls of Catalonia and the are-they-aren't-they's in the Basque Country is the Canary Islands which, cast adrift in the Atlantic, originally Berber African rather than Spanish, were not fully brought under the control of Castile until 1495, a necessity to facilitate the use of the islands as a stopover for Columbus's voyages. The distance from Spain makes the Canaries a curiosity of colonialism contemporised within a framework of nationhood; it's as though Iceland were a part of the UK or was still a dependency of Denmark. Far away, there is none of the geographical umbilicism that hauls the Balearics towards Barcelona and Valencia while the political cord - the current one - has been twisted; accord between Santa Cruz and Las Palmas and Madrid has been ruptured, whereas the bond between Palma and Madrid remains, generally, harmonious.

One says generally, but the Balearics have their disagreements with Madrid. Financing and oil are the two most prominent, but presidential protests are ones that play to a Balearics gallery with a plot hidden behind the act; Bauzá's ambitions to tread the corridors of Madrid power may still exist, even if they have been weakened by too much hamming it up to his Balearics audience and by his being Brutus to the Madrid-admired Caesar of Mateo Isern. By contrast, the president of the Canaries, Paulino Rivero, has no such need for the duplicitousness of the staged political plot as he owes no debt to masters in Madrid. Paulino, his party - the Coalición Canaria - indeed the whole of Canaries politics at present are symbolic of the islands' remoteness; they are as though there has been a separate development.

Rivero's political interests were initially pursued within Adolfo Suarez's post-Franco democratic union coalition. He then moved on to something called the Agrupación Tinerfeña de Independientes (Tenerife independents), a party that had links to Francoism. This then became part of a Canaries-wide independence party and ultimately became what it now is - the Coalición Canaria, an unlikely conglomeration of Canaries' nationalists, ex-commies and right-wingers. Notwithstanding the former communist element, the coalition can best be described as centre-right with its unifying theme being that of Canaries' nationalism. If one were to look for a Mallorcan comparison, it would be that of the now defunct Unió Mallorquina.

Remote from the Spanish mainland, the Canaries find themselves divorced from the political mainstream in a similar fashion to Catalonia. But unlike Catalonia, there is no agitation for independence. Instead, Paulino and his nationalist coalition seek specific rebel causes. One of these had been the oil prospecting, until Repsol discovered that the oil was far from being black gold and ceased its exploration. The coalition were not left as rebels without a cause, though. They had another one. AENA.

The government in the Canaries has taken the matter of AENA's privatisation to the Supreme Court, and it has accepted the Canaries' request to look into a Canaries' demand that the privatisation is suspended. The justification for this is two-fold. One, was an acknowledgement of a lower court that a meeting of the commission overseeing affairs between the Canaries and the state had not been called to address the management of airports in the Canaries. The second was the notice that the Canaries Government had issued in July last year of a widening of powers under its statutes of autonomy in the event that the state ceases to have direct management of airports. What this all boils down to is the fact that the Canaries Government wants to have management of its eight airports, two of which - Gran Canaria and Tenerife South - are treated by AENA in the same way as Palma in that their taxes are the same.

It is difficult to see how the privatisation could be suspended given that shares are now on the market, but the court could, in principle, agree with the Canaries' argument. AENA, for its part, says that direct state management hasn't ceased because national government still holds a majority of shares. But whatever the outcome, there is a marked difference between the Canaries and the Balearics. The Bauzá government has mumbled about having management of the airports, and especially Palma, but has done absolutely nothing about it. Rivero has, and one can attribute this to the fact that, unlike Bauzá and the Balearics PP, he and his coalition are independent of Madrid. As such, one can argue that Rivero is genuinely sticking up for regional interests, whereas Bauzá merely alludes to them.

Even if the court dismisses the Canaries' claim, the point will have been made, and it is one that goes to the heart of state-regions' relationships and political associations. The Canaries can sing rebel songs, while the Balearics hum, not having the courage to sing the words.

Talk, Talk: Airlines

There has been talk, you may be aware, of the Balearics forming its own airline. Talk is likely to be all it ever is, whether such a venture might be viable or not, whatever routes such an airline might serve or not. One established airline that would probably be against the idea is Ryanair, whose commercial director David O'Brien, you will recall, was doing the rounds last week in the Balearics and the Canaries, celebrating thirty years of the airline. The Balearic Islands are not unique in there being talk of an airline. They're talking in much the same manner in the Canaries, and Mr O'Brien has added to the talk. It would not be a good idea, he said the other day. Not a good idea to open the market, which in a sense is a rather odd thing for a representative of an airline that has long trumpeted the need for open markets to say. He was, after all and on a different subject, raising an objection last week to the monopoly that AENA has on Spanish airports. But when it comes to the Canaries having their own airline, he is against the idea. He went on to say that Ryanair do what others claim they will do, inferring that such an airline wouldn't work, and then to highlight ways in which Ryanair has been successful: "the key to success is in treating the passenger well, and this is what we have been doing for thirty years".

Mr O'Brien's comments haven't been greeted with universal support. A contributor to "Preferente" magazine, for example, referred to the "hypocrisy" of the "Anglo-Saxons" when talking about customer service (the Irish, it might be said, are more Anglo-Celtic, but be this as it may) and to the Spanish air industry being "in the hands of villains". So, not a lot of sympathy for the Ryanair position there, but the same contributor went on to imply that he didn't have a great deal of sympathy for Spanish airlines either: "Im not going to defend the Spanish air industry". And this industry has seen its position whittled away to the point that it has lost any previous domination of the market and is mostly owned by foreign companies (those villainous Anglo-Saxons, or Anglo-Celts in the case of Willie Walsh).

Because it remains a significant, Spanish-owned player, Air Europa does stand out, and it has reinforced its position in the Balearics by announcing that it will start operating inter-island flights from May, so creating competition to Air Nostrum. Fares should therefore come down, though they are already subject to a form of capping because they are considered to be flights that are a "public service obligation". There had been a great deal of huffing and puffing by Air Europa, which at one point appeared to be going to pull out of any future inter-island service, but presumably the arguments it had with the national ministry for development regarding scheduling have been resolved.

Over on the mainland, Air Nostrum was helping to make history by providing the first flight to take off from the white elephant airport of Castellón in the Valencia region. It was a flight with 88 passengers, all of them supporters of Villarreal football club who were off to the match against Real Sociedad. The club expects to use the airport, as it will save time and money to do so. Whether Castellón does now become a fully operational airport, we will have to wait and see. Ryanair might take note. The airport fees will probably be very favourable.

Fly South This Winter

Summer's coming to an end and with the same inevitability of clocks going back there will be a wailing and gnashing of teeth across the island as Mallorca shuts down, the flights stop and the questions are asked why there is no winter tourism. There is one very simple reason. Much though we may get some unusually warm weather - the first week of November last year and for much of February, when Mallorca's weather is typically at its worst - there is just not the guarantee. Three hundred days of sun and all that, but it's the warmth of the sun that matters, and so the tourist, the tour operator and the airline head south for the winter. South means the Canary Islands, and the Canaries will be receiving more tourists than ever this winter. Between October and April, the number of airline seats available to the winter sunseeker will rise by over 10%; over half a million more than last winter. And these sunseekers will mostly be going from the UK and Germany, the two countries, you might be aware, which form Mallorca's largest tourism markets.

While the Canaries' tourism authorities were basking in this warm winter sun news, Thomas Cook was letting us know which were the four destinations which have the shortest flight times for winter sun (shortest from the UK, that is). Sadie Geoghegan, who appears to be Thomas Cook's blogger-in-chief, informed us on the tour operator's blog that the four are the Costa del Sol, Morocco, Tunisia and ... the Balearics. Which is a bit odd when you consider that Thomas Cook comes nowhere near the Balearics during the winter. Or is the company telling us something we don't know? Probably not. Sadie and marketing might need to speak to each other.

http://www.thomascook.com/blog/holidays/shortest-flights-warmest-places/

Balearics Out Of Step On Holiday Lets

Something significant has happened in the Canary Islands. The regional government headed by Paulino Rivero has announced that it will regulate private holiday accommodation in the islands. The draft legislation will be ready before the end of the year, Rivero's government having given a commitment to this effect to the Canaries association of holiday rentals.

Rivero had signalled his willingness to consider such regulation some time ago. That his administration is now going to turn this willingness into firm legislation does mark a very significant moment for Canaries' tourism. Those islands have typically been as antagonistic towards the private accommodation sector as the Balearics. But even more significant is the fact that the Canaries will join Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia in either having a system of regulation or being on the point of introducing one. Of the five main sun-and-beach tourism regions of Spain, the Balearics will be the exception to the rule. Other regions of Spain, among them the less sun-and-beach-dependent Basque Country and the not sun-and-beach-dependent-at-all Madrid are also in the process of regulating.

As ever, it is important to point out what regulation means or might mean. It doesn't mean stamping out (this is a commonly made mistake by some commentators who confuse the term regulation with prohibition). It means putting in place specific rules governing the rental of private accommodation for holiday purposes, Catalonia's regulation being the model that other regions are inclined to follow.

With the Balearics out of step with other regions, might there be a change of heart here? Not while the current government is in power. But what might happen following the next regional elections? It's anyone guess at present to try and figure out what sort of hybrid shambles of an administration might emerge, assuming the PP doesn't win (and it looks unlikely that it will, or be in a position to carry on in coalition). But PSOE, at the heart of this probable unholy alliance of Podemos and the left collective of other parties, would be inclined to go down the regulation route. Put it this way, it voiced its support for a relaxation in rules when all the tenancy act furore arose last year.

It's some time off, but the holiday-lets issue could yet prove to be a major political matter come next spring. The hoteliers, for one, will be doing all they can to try and ensure the PP stay in power. But if doesn't, then there's going to be one hell of a fight between the hoteliers and a PSOE-led pact.

Divorced From Reality: Holiday lets

I have the power of prophesy. A couple of weeks or so ago I wrote that "around this time of the year the Mallorca hoteliers federation leaps into propaganda action by issuing dire warnings about the consequences of the so-called illegal offer". And what do you know? They have leapt. I shouldn't be immodest. I don't have the power of prophesy. It is predictable and pathetically so.

Predictability has not been occurring in the Canary Islands which, those of you who are observant will have noticed, share certain things in common with the Balearics. Yes, they are islands. They are also remote and they also have a track record of taking a hard line against holiday lets. Their greater remoteness does place them on the European periphery, but nevertheless, I have been surprised at the almost total lack of attention that has been paid to the approval from the European Commission for there to be subsidies of landing fees for new routes to the islands. The Balearics aren't on the periphery in quite the same way, but their isolation causes the same issue of connectivity. Has anyone here been taking note of the Canaries' subsidies? Perhaps they have, but as these are paid by the regional government there, the one here would probably rather not know.

I have also been surprised at the fact that news that the regional government in the Canaries is edging towards legalising holiday lets has been given a similar lack of attention. There is a way to go, but the president of the Canaries, Paulino Rivero, is to meet representatives of something called the Plataforma para la Regulación del Alquiler Vacacional next week. The platform is encouraged, and the stance against holiday lets in the Canaries does appear to be softening in the face of a petition with more than 16,000 signatures and what has been a co-ordinated effort by the platform to publicise its cause.

If the Canaries were to go down the path of regulating holiday lets, the region would join three of the other four main "sun-and-beach" tourism regions in having some form of permissive regulation. Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia all have systems of regulation. (Andalusia will actually approve its "decreto de viviendas de uso turístico" after the summer, but this is a formality.) The one other region, the Balearics, would therefore be on its own in having legislation which prohibits apartment holiday lets. It would be isolated. Remote.

When national government washed its hands of the whole holiday-rental issue and handed over responsibilities to the regions, it created even more confusion than had existed regarding a subject that was already crowded by confusion. In abrogating any responsibility, it acted in a manner totally contrary to its own tourism plan, one through which legislative harmony and standardisation was to be pursued. Pity the poor old tourist (as well property owner) who has to understand not one but several legislative systems in order to do something as simple as go on holiday.

Confusion, I think it fair to say, is a state that satisfies the tourism political class. It certainly appears to in the Balearics. Where the rental of apartments is concerned, the confusion has been made that much greater since the head of the Balearics estate agents association said recently that he understood that the tourism ministry would not be going around fining anyone for illegally renting out property this summer. Now, inevitably, we have the hoteliers engaging in their ritualistic, annual utterances of illegal-offer high dudgeon. 

Confusion is one thing. Divorced from reality is another. In the Balearics, tourism politicians have long since given the impression of existing in an unreal other world (think PSOE's Celesti Alomar, for example), but now there are other realities that they flatly refuse to accept or, more likely, understand. The market for accommodation rental, and not just for holiday apartments, is being turned totally on its head because of the so-called P2P market, e.g. the likes of Airbnb. To insist on maintaining the outlawing of private apartment rental (in a transparent, regulated and properly commercialised fashion) is an attempt at holding back the waves, when instead the tide should be allowed to come in in an orderly and regulated fashion.

In other regions, they seem to understand this. They have sought to reduce the confusion, not add to it, and if the Canaries were to go the way of Andalusia and the others, then the Balearics would be shown up for what its tourism politicians have made it: out of step with reality and wholly subservient to the commands of the hoteliers. Possible changes in the Canaries are going unnoticed, because in the Balearics, they don't want attention being drawn to them. Well, I have. And for my next prophesy ... 

Oil Politics: Balearics and Canaries

"It's all about the price of oil," lamented Billy Bragg. The oil men in the White House didn't give a damn, but one in particular gave enough of a damn to give the appearance of a justified, non-oil-driven adventure by bringing along whichever ally, irrelevant or not, he could. José María Aznar was such an ally. If he was then mocked for being "Tony's little friend", he must have been Bush's very tiny friend. All about the price of oil.

In 2002, a royal decree of the government of José María Aznar was finally approved and published in the Official Bulletin. It paved the way for oil prospecting off the coasts of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. It was a decree with the backing of Aznar, the then vice-premier, Mariano Rajoy, and the environment minister at the time, the now disgraced ex-president of the Balearics, Jaume Matas. 

For various reasons, this prospecting didn't happen. One was that the Spanish Supreme Court blocked Repsol's attempts to start exploration in 2004. This was after the government had changed and Aznar was no longer prime minister. But while the arguments over the exploration centred on the environmental impact, in the background were international political issues.

Following 9/11, the American Government moved to strengthen its relations with Morocco, and a free trade treaty was signed between the two countries. Morocco became the first African country to have such a treaty. This, however, was problematic for Spain. And the reason why was oil. Or the possibility of oil and to which country it might actually belong.

If you look at a map you will see that the Canaries lie off the coast of Morocco. Only a comparatively short distance to the south is the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Morocco claims sovereignty over Western Sahara, a territory which, under US-led pressure at the United Nations, Spain was forced to give up in 1975; the UN doesn't recognise Morocco's sovereignty claims. Exploration for oil off Western Sahara started, at the behest of the Moroccan Government, in 2002. It has since come to a halt, partly because of the lack of clarity over legal status. But the point is that oil fields which may or not exist off the Canaries could extend into territorial waters that are not Spanish and are either Moroccan or Western Saharan.

The trade agreement and cosier relationship between the US and Morocco were problematic for Spain because it needed (or would need) US support in any dispute over rights to oil. Was it all about the price of oil? Well, there are those who would argue that the only reason Aznar and Spain sided so strongly with Bush against Saddam wasn't so much to do with oil in Iraq but to do with oil in the Atlantic.

The international politics may have shifted since then, but the arguments are still the same, and they have been boiling up in the Canaries. An oil platform belonging to Cairn Energy sits in readiness for drilling work on behalf of Repsol to start this year. Aznar is no longer prime minister, but his one-time second-in-command is, and the Partido Popular administration has given the go-ahead to prospect for what could amount to 38 million barrels of oil a year.

Opposition in the Canaries has come from hoteliers and others in the tourism industry, from environmentalists and from local politicians in the regional government and at island councils. It is only really the Canaries business confederation that supports the national government in undertaking a venture which, for some in the Canaries, amounts to the islands being treated "like a colony" and being exploited against their wishes.

There is a much more tangled web surrounding the exploration off the Canaries than that to do with a subterranean sea mountain which runs from a location some 70 kilometres from the mainland at Cabo de la Nao to 45 kilometres off Ibiza. It is this mountain that has been designated for oil exploration. At one end is rare seaweed; at the other, in the waters near Ibiza, is posidonia sea grass, which is not unique to the Balearics but is otherwise also rare. The opposition to the exploration is as unified in the Balearics as it is in the Canaries, but it has a notable difference; the political leadership in the Canaries is not Partido Popular.

So, one has a situation in which the regional PP in the Balearics opposes the national PP. President Bauzá is against the exploration because of the potential harm that could be caused to tourism. Whether the opposition, in more general economic terms, is right is another matter. At least in the Balearics, though, there are no international politics to be concerned with other than those of a European Commission nature. And the EC, for one, needs convincing as to environmental safeguards. 

Junk Bonds For Tourist Resort Modernisation?

Bankia is Spain's fourth largest bank. The name will mean a great deal to a great number of people, especially those who are customers in Mallorca of Bancaja. They will recall some of the slight inconveniences which occurred when Bancaja, along with six other banks, were rolled into the formation of Bankia. In its three years of existence Bankia has enjoyed anything but a smooth journey. The bank required a bailout last year, trading in its shares were suspended, it made a loss of 4.3 billion euros, its chairman Rodrigo Rato, at one time a leading figure in the Partido Popular and a former managing director of the IMF, stepped down, having been named the worst chief executive of 2012 by "Business Week" and then being charged with accounting irregularities, and its creditworthiness was reduced by Standard & Poor to junk bond status.

By March of this year, the bank's losses were put at 19.06 billion euros. Had the Spanish Government not partially nationalised Bankia and taken a 45% ownership, Bankia would almost certainly have collapsed. The toxic debt it had assumed through the merger of the different banks would have killed it.

The story of Spain's economic crisis and the role of badly managed banks (mainly the "cajas", the local savings banks) is well known. Bancaja and the Caja Madrid were the two largest banks and the two biggest offenders that went into the formation of Bankia. It was the mad, uncontrolled lending of these savings banks which helped to bring Spain to its knees. The consequence of the banking crisis was that credit all but dried up. Yet, it is beginning to be released again and, astonishingly enough, Bankia is one of the banks providing the credit.

The regional government in the Canary Islands has arrived at an agreement with Bankia whereby up to one hundred million euros will be made available as credit. The money is intended to modernise and diversify the islands' tourist sector and will be targeted principally at projects to improve tourist accommodation and areas and the "complementary offer" (more or less anything which isn't hotels); there will be an emphasis in innovation as well as on renovation. The credit isn't therefore being thrown straight at the Canaries government but will be used once Bankia has studied proposals and financing requirements.

In principle, the scheme has merits. The main drawback with it might be that the very name Bankia, with its lousy creditworthiness, is being associated with it. But then, as the Spanish Government has such an interest in the bank and as tourism is supposedly a driver of overall economic recovery, then the assets that the bank is sitting on might as well be put to some good effect. (It may be heavily in debt but it has vastly greater assets than debt.)

Revitalising the tourism sector cannot be something which the government funds or funds alone. The investment budgets for the regions, such as that for the Balearics, show how little money there is for general infrastructure. The money has to come from somewhere else, and typically it has come from the banks. But if the Balearics were to look at a similar arrangement to the one that the Canaries have concluded with Bankia, what could one hundred million euros achieve?

To put this into perspective, the transformation of Magalluf that is being driven by Meliá Hotels has a budget (that of Meliá and its partners) of 45 million euros. It is expected that the amount will increase to 150 million once other businesses and investors join in. The Bankia credit in the Canaries is for the whole of the Canaries. If it will cost 150 million to renew one resort, then 100 million, spread across various resorts, doesn't therefore necessarily get you a great deal.

The Balearic Government has set its stall out to modernise the "mature" resorts in Mallorca and the Balearics. But which resorts aren't mature? Magalluf might appear to be a special case deserving of special investment, but it isn't a special case. It has been made special for the wrong reasons and also for the fact that Meliá has such a strong presence in the resort. One can name any number of other resorts which need similar investment and similar projects.

The government's desire for modernisation has one big problem - its financing. The Spanish economy may be showing signs of life returning and the stock market may be performing well, but it is difficult to see the banks unlocking the coffers and chucking huge amounts of euros at the resorts for what are essentially construction projects. There is still too much baggage and there are too many weather eyes being cast on the Spanish banking sector for this to happen. But at some point the funding has to be released. And how much might this be? Don't forget some of the extraordinary sums that were spoken about for renewing Playa de Palma alone. 4,000 million up to 2020 was one.

Bank finance is going to be needed for Mallorca's resorts, but which bank's? Bankia's? The name would be enough to make you shudder.

The Tourist's Revenge

The national tourism minister, José Manuel Soria, would like to see more developments similar to Eurovegas. He would like to see such developments in the Canary Islands in particular, something you might expect him to say; he is the former president of the islands.

Soria is in a difficult position. His association with the Canaries makes him susceptible to accusations of bias. But in calling for a Eurovegas-style creation in the Canaries, he is recognising the stasis that exists on the islands with regard to new development. The economic situation is not the sole reason for inactivity out in the Atlantic. A further one is attempting to find a sensible compromise between doing anything that would upset sustainable development on the Canaries, i.e. doing absolutely nothing, and unbridled permissiveness. So heightened have been environmental sensibilities in the Canaries that the director of the islands employment service was sacked after having had the audacity to suggest that, as unemployment was so high but that there was so much demand for tourism, consideration should be given to building more accommodation.

Though the Balearics are hardly enjoying a period of feverish development, the contrast here with the Canaries is striking. Opponents of developments can argue that the Balearic Government is hastening the arrival of the new environmental Armageddon, but in citing regional interests as a justification for activity in Magalluf, Canyamel and Sa Rapita (for starters), the government is prepared to throw off the shackles of what has amounted to a virtual self-imposed economic blockade, one created by the inertia-inducing troika of leftist political parties, the eco-warriors and the idealistic Luddite tendency of romantic Catalanist agrarian patrimony.

Soria, in outlining the national plan for tourism, has defended the need to diversify the tourist offer and has also defended the national government's reformed coasts law. Eurovegas is an example of this diversification, designed to reduce dependence on sun and beach tourism and on the summer season. The coasts law, far from being a speculator's charter for unchecked coastal vandalism, has been a largely sensible response to the unfairness of the 1988 act. Even national plans, though, can run up against regional barriers. These have well and truly been erected in the Canaries, but in the Balearics there is a will to pull some if not all of them down.

Where the national government and the Balearics regional government face difficulty is in confronting an attitude that is both parochial and anti-modernity. This is an attitude that isn't solely confined to the usual suspects on the left, it is also one of current officialdom. The head of the Balearics tax agency, in responding to the row over the tax for hire cars, has implied that Mallorca would be better off without these cars in order that Mallorcans could head off to the beaches in peace. It is a most extraordinary observation but it captures the essence of objections to new tourism development. Opposition to Sa Rapita-Es Trenc has been founded, to no small extent, on a desire to keep Es Trenc for the Mallorcans, and only the Mallorcans, a laudable enough wish but not when it flies in the face of the need for badly needed economic activity in a key industry - tourism - that has suffered from a lack of investment and has so seen its competitiveness eroded by newer destinations.

Gabriel Escarrer of Meliá Hotels has said that "the cost of doing nothing was too great". Yet doing nothing has been the preferred option. Until now. Meliá's prescription for Magalluf is an excellent example of urban tourist redevelopment, and more is the pity that there are not similar concentrations of a single hotel chain's establishments in other mature resorts that might easily permit other Magallufs.

The governments in Madrid and Palma have appreciated the need for greater liberalism in the tourism sector, but of the reasons for embarking on development, the emergence of new tourism markets, especially the Russian market, has been a major impulse behind much of this liberalism. The desire to capture this affluent and huge market is fair enough, but it speaks volumes for the way in which traditional tourism markets - British, German, Scandinavian - have been taken for granted for way too long. An attitude of complacent insularity combined with inertia and the wish for Mallorcans to go to the beaches in peace has meant the kind of stasis that the Canaries are experiencing. It has taken the Russian invasion to wake some people up, and with the Russians comes a new reality for tourism, one that attacks the former lethargy and complacent attitude. It is a new reality that is the tourist's revenge for having been taken for granted.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

A Little Local Outrage: The British Consul

Over four weeks ago I learned that Paul Abrey, the British Consul to the Balearics, was to leave his post and that he would not be replaced. The official news of his non-replacement only emerged last week. Once it had emerged, the hyperbole went into overdrive. The reaction was different to that over four weeks ago when there was barely a murmur among those who I spoke with. Crank up the outrage, and you create an outcry, so it seems. 

There are two aspects to this story. One is Paul's departure, the other is the decision not to replace him and so deprive the Balearics of a Consul. The two may or may not be linked. I understand that there had been hope that Paul might reconsider his own decision to go back into the private sector. If so, then the fact that he is not to be replaced seems less a strategic one and more an opportunistic one.

The British Embassy and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) claim that the non-replacement is not a cost-saving exercise. Though neither may have wanted Paul to leave, once he had decided that he was leaving, the temptation to cut some cost must have come into the equation. Indeed, I would be amazed if it hadn't been in the equation for some time.

If you look at the FCO's annual report from this year and at its document on Consular Strategy 2010-2013, you will begin to appreciate why there is to no longer be a Consul in the Balearics. Both reports are littered with managerialist doublespeak, the strategy document being subtitled "putting people first" and making much of the Consular Service's four priorities: "Our Customers. Our People. Our Network. Our Finances" (and the capitalisation is the FCO's, thus elevating these priorities to the status of "values" or whatever other managerialist jargon the FCO prefers).

It is of course all rubbish, but then managerialist speak always is rubbish. It is designed to impress while at the same time also obfuscate. And obfuscation and dissembling are at play in what has been going on with Abrey and his non-replacement. The FCO in its annual report refers to the delivery of 100 million pounds of administrative savings by 2014-2015. In 2011-2102, it delivered a quarter of these savings.

Delve deeper into the report and you find that the 100 million is to include savings in corporate services, human resources and estate. ""We are restructuring the FCO global estate by ... (creating) country or regional hubs." The Consular Strategy document says: "By 2013, our Consular Service will be different - and better. Smaller and cheaper".

Abrey's departure is not the only one. The consulate in the Canaries is being merged with Malaga. It is, therefore, a similar situation to the Balearics now coming under Barcelona. The Canaries are part of a "restructuring process" - doublespeak for cost-cutting - just as the Balearics are a part of the same restructuring of overall consular services in Spain.

As can be seen from the FCO's annual report and strategy document, there is a move towards the use of greater technology for service delivery and towards centralisation. While there is to be a concentration of consular direction on the mainland and while references to restructuring the "global estate" and to the 100 million saving might be something to be concerned about, the Palma consulate is not being run down. The appointment of a second Vice-Consul certainly doesn't sound like it anyway. Yet.

The departure of Paul Abrey has not been handled well, but the reaction last week has more than a hint of over-reaction. And a reason for the over-reaction lies with what a British Consul represents to certain elements within the expatriate community. There will no longer be a British Consul to hob-nob with, to have photos taken with. The usual suspects will no longer be able to acquire kudos by rubbing shoulders with our man in Palma or through inviting him to their latest event.

I wonder, therefore, how long the "outrage" might last. When Andrew Gwatkin, our man in Barcelona and now "our man" pitches up in Palma, will the expat glitterati shun him? Will they express their displeasure by snubbing him? No. Let the new schmooze begin.

Paul was popular. Had he not been, the reaction would have been different. The Embassy and the FCO could, should have been more up-front and should have communicated better. The two issues - Abrey's departure and his non-replacement - have become confused because of poor communication. Had Paul not been popular, there would not be the same "outrage".


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

We Are The World, We Are The Tourists

Today is a good day to be a tourist. If you are, then consider yourself well and truly a part of World Tourism Day. This, dear tourist, is your day. Moreover, this is your day when you also contribute to sustainable energy. You are a tourist in the brave new world of environmental and resource righteousness. Let the words of Ban Ki-moon, the secreatry-general of the UN inspire you: "tourism is especially well placed to promote environmental sustainability, green growth and our struggle against climate change through its relationship with energy". (Oh and if you're wondering about the "secreatry" bit, this is how it is spelt on the World Tourism Day website; never mind, eh.)

What happens on World Tourism Day? Do tourists the world over join hands, form a global human chain and partake in a worldwide karaoke? To borrow from USA For Africa - "We are the world, we are the tourists, we are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving", with the giving being in the form of massive renewable energy subsidies provided by Spain. 

Were there such an international singalong, it would be organised from Maspalomas in Gran Canaria, where this year's World Tourism Day is being staged. And how very apt that it is. The UN's World Tourism Organisation is based in Spain (Madrid to be precise) and Spain is both a force in world tourism and a pioneer in renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaics, "in which we are number one in the world, and wind power, where we are number two".

This quote comes from someone who should know about the relationship between tourism and energy (as the UN secreatry-general has pointed out). They are the welcoming words of Spain's own José Manuel Soria López, the minister of industry, energy and tourism; oh, and the former president of the Canary Islands, to boot. How doubly fortuitous that the minister should be so familiar with the host location of World Tourism Day and be a minister responsible for both energy and tourism, this year's theme. It's almost as if this year's World Tourism Day had been arranged with him in mind.

At a time when Spain is being shown up as a case study in how not to run a modern economy, it is good that José Manuel should be able to cast the country in a more positive light for once (a positive light supplied by renewables of course). However, as I mentioned in January: "The recent history of developing alternative energy sources has been a shambles. A much-heralded national plan for a green economy has backfired spectacularly. It has driven up the cost of energy and has created little or nothing by way of new sources. Indeed, central-government policy has been such that getting on for fifty separate projects for solar energy on the Balearics have been rejected."

But don't just take my word. Try the words of César Molinas, a writer, economist and one-time MD of Merrill Lynch in London, who in a forthcoming book talks about the "renewable energy bubble": "Spain represents two per cent of world GDP yet it is paying 15% of the global total of renewable energy subsidies. This absurd situation, which was sold to the public as a move that would put Spain at the forefront of the fight against climate change, creates lots of fraud and corruption. In order to finance these subsidies, Spanish households and businesses pay the highest electricity rates in all of Europe, which seriously undermines the competitiveness of our economy. Despite these exaggerated prices, the Spanish power system debt is several million euros a year, with an accumulated debt of over 24 billion euros that nobody knows how to pay".*

So, that good is Spain at being a pioneer in renewables, they provide very little and cost an absolute arm and a leg. Still, as it is World Tourism Day, it is reassuring to know that tourists in other parts of the world are benefiting from Spain's renewable energy subsidies ("so let's start giving"). That's something for José Manuel to brag about, though he probably won't.

Of course, he can put it all down to the previous lot if something has gone slightly wrong with the renewables strategy, whilst neglecting to thank them for having put Spain on the path to a green economy (even if it has been an unmitigated disaster).

But, I hear you say, let's not worry about all this, what is there to do on World Tourism Day? Well, you can get into some museums and such like for free and in Playa de Muro there are all sorts of things to do - like beach volleyball, building sandcastles, and tasting wines. All of it energetically sustainable no doubt and all of it in the name of world tourism.

* César Molinas, "What To Do With Spain?", quoted from "El País" (English), 12 September: http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/09/12/inenglish/1347449744_053124.html


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

From Canary Yellow To Black Gold

Sixty kilometres from the coasts of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the Spanish energy company Repsol is to start prospecting for oil. The arguments that have raged over oil exploration off the Balearics (further away than in the case of the Canaries) are being repeated but are creating more of a fuss and more by way of potentially bad publicity.

The arguments do, though, put into perspective the situation with regard to prospecting in the seas between the Balearics and the peninsula. While concerns for the environment and for tourism are as pronounced in the Canaries as in the Balearics, the potential economic benefits are being expressed far more strongly.

Repsol believes that there is a high probability of discovering oil (if you accept that a 20% probability is high) and that exploitation of these "probable" oil beds would eventually realise the equivalent of 10% of Spain's total oil and gas consumption for at least 20 years. (How such a calculation can be made based on a 20% probability I'm not entirely sure, but then I am neither a geologist nor an oil expert.)

Were such production of oil to come to pass, then there would be a clear economic benefit. And there is another strong economic case for Repsol's activities, that of employment. The Canaries, despite an all-year-round tourism industry and despite, like the Balearics, having enjoyed a record tourism summer in 2011, suffer the second highest level of unemployment in Spain - 31%. A light has gone on in the head of José Manuel Soria who has said that this unemployment demonstrates that tourism is not sufficient and that more industry is needed. Soria, if you need reminding, is the national minister for industry and energy and also for tourism. He also just so happens to be a former president of the Canaries.

You might think that industry and energy should not be combined with a portfolio for tourism as well, as they have competing demands. There will doubtless be many who disagree, but I believe that in Soria, especially as he knows full well from his Canaries experience what tourism means in terms of real employment prospects, here is a minister ideally placed to balance these competing demands. Tourism does not exist in an island all by itself; it is part of the total economy, and that economy would be partially transformed by oil.

There is a further economic factor that has influenced national government's authorisation of the Repsol prospecting. The oil beds lie not far from the imaginary line between Spanish and Moroccan waters; indeed they probably cut across this line. The Moroccans are in favour of exploration, and the fear has been that if Spain doesn't seek to exploit what oil there may be, then Morocco could nab it all for itself. There may yet, at some time in the future, be some almighty row over who owns the oil, but for now there is accord. This political dimension distinguishes the Balearics argument from that in the Canaries; there is no argument about who owns what may lie in the bay of Valencia and towards the Balearic Islands. But the politics make it more urgent that Spain (and Repsol) get a move on.

The politics within Spain are another matter. It is a curiosity that the Partido Popular in the Canaries, the Balearics and Valencia have all voiced their opposition to exploration; curious, as you might believe that the PP would be more disposed to display economic and business pragmatism than other parties. The PP in the Canaries are none too impressed by national government having gone over their heads, but someone has to, and the oil would be in the national interest (and also in the interests of the Canaries if their diabolical unemployment rate could be tackled).

The prominence being given to the prospecting is where the bad publicity comes in, and it is bad publicity fairly and squarely of a tourist style. TUI, for one, has expressed its concern, and the bad publicity has mainly surfaced in Germany, causing fears that the Canaries will acquire a different sort of reputation, i.e. for oil, and one that runs counter to a general culture in Germany of environmental concern and for clean energy.

Notwithstanding these admittedly legitimate fears, I would reiterate a point I have made previously in the context of prospecting off Balearic waters, and this is that oil and tourism can co-exist, as they do in the likes of Trinidad and Tobago. National government is right to press ahead, and for this we have to thank the existence of a minister who "gets it" where a combination of industry, energy and tourism is concerned.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The Three Degrees: Mallorca's winter tourism

I was dreaming of a less-than-white Christmas. No rubbish weather for me. Bronzed, golden brown. I was dreaming and then I was told to stop. By the BBC website home page. Make it real. Make what real? Make a holiday in the Canaries real, courtesy of Iberostar. I clicked the link. Dreams can come true.

You're given no false impression as to why you would wish to make it real in the Canaries. Off you go with the family, one of whom is the child with the snorkel kit who greets you as you click from the BBC site. And why is he wearing snorkel kit? Because he wants to go snorkelling of course. In the sea. Departing from a beach. In the sun. Sun and beach. In winter.

This is a promotion by the same Iberostar which grew rich on the back of Mallorcan tourism - Mallorcan summer tourism. Once you have scrolled down the list of the 13 four or five-star hotels on the four main Canary islands - all available with special offers to the end of November, for booking through the winter to the end of April - you come to a footnote. It is under "most popular destinations". Hotels in Majorca. Click.

Well, having clicked, you can probably guess. The red squares on the calendar mean the hotels are closed. All of them. Until April. Mallorca is "most popular", when it is open. But who can blame Iberostar for flogging the Canaries? They're doing what has long been one half of the mainstay of winter tourism promoted by tour operators, travel agents and now hotels. What do they all promote? Either snow or winter sun.

Summer tourism means sun and the movement of millions in its pursuit; winter tourism means snow or sun and the movement of millions more. But you move the millions to where you can pretty much guarantee good coverings of snow or good amounts of sun in temperatures of at least 20 degrees.

Sorry, Mallorca, but you fail the 20-degree test. By three degrees. It may not seem much, but the average temperature for the six months of the off-season is only 17. The psychological barrier is 20 degrees (minimum). Tenerife, by comparison and despite having almost as many days of rain if not as much rain as Mallorca (10 millimetres less on average), comes in at 21.9 degrees (which also happens to break the 70 Fahrenheit barrier). This is why the boy has his snorkel kit on, this is why dreams can be made real - in the Canaries - and this is why Iberostar makes them real there, and not in Mallorca.

Weather does matter. In fact, it is all that matters.

Mallorca's winter tourism. Discuss. Culture, gastronomy, bird-watching, hiking, Nordic walking, cycling, golf, senior tourism. There is much which is available and promoted; it combines to create an under-mass of winter tourism approximately one-tenth the size of that which comes in summer. Unless there were real incentives, such as major, and one means major, attractions, the ratio is unlikely to ever alter fundamentally. And it's all down to those missing three degrees.

There is a great deal of what one might call apologism for Mallorca in winter. And it is apologism that entails preaching to oneself or the converted. It is apologism that can cover all the list above and more that bring about the around one million off-season visitors. But it can only ever get the apologists so far, because something's missing. Three degrees' worth. At least.

This all said, it's a nonsense when you think about it. A nonsense, not that Iberostar or any other hotel chain, airline or tour operator would choose Tenerife over Mallorca, but that Iberostar and all the other hotel chains are sitting on colossal amounts of prime real estate in Mallorca which sit idle for six months of the year. All that asset being unproductive, being wasted; an asset and an investment that have contributed to the cost of land in Mallorca for everyone else, largely deprived of their own productiveness for twelve months of the year.

The tourism industry in Mallorca would probably like to believe that it is efficient. It isn't. It is massively inefficient. Inefficient in terms of asset and resources and inefficient in having been singularly incapable of arriving at solutions to make these resources more efficient, twelve months of the year. But then, what can it do about the weather? Not much. It makes efficient use of one resource - the sun - for six months, and that's it. In the Canaries, on the other hand ... .


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.