Hainan And Mallorca's High Noon

The World Travel & Tourism Council sounds as though it should be some quasi international governmental body. It isn't. It is private, the forum for business leaders in the travel and tourism industry. Part of its reason for being is to conduct tourism research, and I have a copy of an impressive research document it has produced, the foreword to which states that "WTTC stands ready to work with you to help you achieve your vision" and then goes on to offer congratulations on behalf of WTTC members.

What is this document about? It concerns the island of Hainan, the Asian Hawaii or even the Asian Mallorca. The WTTC stands ready to work with the Hainan Provincial Government, and it is to it that the Council offers its congratulations for achievements thus far. You bet it stands ready to work with the government.

At the start of the report, a host of members, vice-chairmen and executive committee members are listed. The chairman is Michael Frenzel of TUI. One of the executive committee members is Sebastián Escarrer of Meliá Hotels. Stakeholders, no doubt, in an island whose tourism growth potential is on a scale that Mallorca could only dream of and whose diversity is unlike anything Mallorca could offer. Hainan is the next big thing.

Hainan is an island in the South China Sea. It is roughly equivalent in size to Catalonia, so its scope is that much greater than Mallorca's. And what scope it is. Much as Mallorca likes to boast about culture, nature, beaches, sea, sport, this boast pales against what Hainan has to offer. A tropical island with exotic flora and fauna, lush forest and jungle, waterfalls, hot springs, even an extinct volcano, Hainan is set to be the jewel in the crown of China's burgeoning tourism industry. And so much of a jewel is it, that by 2021 it will be ranked in first position on all of the WTTC performance measures: contributions of tourism to GDP; contributions of tourism to employment; tourist spending; capital investment.

Hainan isn't a competitor to Mallorca. It is up against the likes of Bali, Phuket and Penang. Its market is international, with the Russians an important element, but it has a massive market on its doorstep, the Chinese. It could only assume the position it is going to over the next ten years because of the strength of the Chinese economy, which enables the finance that is being pumped into it and guarantees it a home-grown and ever more affluent and sophisticated market.

For an international hotel group such as Meliá, Hainan is a potential gold mine. The major Mallorcan hotels are to the fore in being represented in new developments like those in Hainan. There are not just the opportunities for business growth, there are also those for the export of know-how. The WTTC report observes that one weakness that Hainan has is the quality of staff. And training, a point Miguel Fluxà of Iberostar made at the 2011 ABTA convention in Palma, is something that these top Mallorcan hotel groups are very good at providing.

It is small wonder that the top hotels eye up destinations such as Hainan. The scope for growth in Mallorca is limited. It is not that there isn't investment, as Meliá are demonstrating in Magalluf, but there are so many constraints in Mallorca: the political and environmental climate; the ancient nature of resorts; and the sheer lack of money.

Though it isn't a competitor, the development of Hainan is reminiscent of that in destinations which are Mallorca's competitors. Egypt and Turkey emerged because of the high priority given to tourism and the fact that decision-making was right at the top of government. And as Hainan and other resorts become better known and so add to the general tourist experience already had in the newer Mediterranean destinations, so Mallorca looks more and more the victim of it having been the first mover in mass tourism. The tattiness that can be found in some (if not all) of the island's resorts will increasingly conflict with altered expectations on behalf of the tourist.

Concerns about the environmental impact of new complexes by Es Trenc and in Canyamel merely highlight the difficulties which Mallorca faces. However, these new complexes are conceived partly because transforming existing resorts to anything like the standards being set elsewhere runs up against similar concerns. The current government is being criticised for returning to the days of playing fast and loose with the environment (an over-exaggerated criticism in my opinion), but it does have a certain vision, one for which it should be getting more credit than it is. Of course there isn't the money to splash around like the Chinese have, but without some investment and without some new development, Mallorca will gradually slip and the tattiness will become ever tattier. And the Hainans will make it look tattier still.


QUIZ: "Twenty Twenty" was The Beach Boys. In the film "High Noon", who played Gary Cooper's love interest, as in wife, and who had a number one hit with a song with her name?


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Mallorca: Big In Japan?

The first time I went to Haworth in West Yorkshire I discovered that signs were all in Japanese. The signs were of course there for Japanese tourists. Thousands of them flock to Haworth as it is at the heart of Brontë country. What I hadn't appreciated was that the Brontës are central to English teaching in Japan, hence students and others who came in search of Heathcliff or perhaps Kate Bush.

Mallorca doesn't have any Brontës. It doesn't have any historical literary greats or any that anyone outside of Mallorca will have ever heard of. Ramon Llull might just qualify, but an obscure thirteenth century novel ("Blanquerna") written in Catalan is not the stuff of promoting huge tourist interest, be the tourist Japanese or from any other country, while the plot - a hermit who becomes pope - doesn't have quite the same power as Catherine and Heathcliff's passion.

It's a pity that Mallorca doesn't have a few Brontës, Shakespeares or Dickens lurking in its past. Imagine what even one of them would do for winter tourism. In the absence of any giants from the world of literature, it really would help if they could get a move on and prove once and for all that Columbus was from Porto Colom, especially as the Ibizans are currently trying to steal the Columbus thunder. As Mallorca has, in addition to no literary figures of any great importance, no legends from history, it can't get the Japanese (or anyone else for that matter) flocking to the island in winter. (And please for God's sake don't mention Chopin.)

Despite the slight drawback of being unable to boast of any characters from the past who would be meaningful to an international traveller, Mallorca is nonetheless hopeful of attracting more Japanese tourists. And top of the list of reasons why the Japanese would come (possibly) are shoes. According to the Japanese ambassador to Spain, Mallorcan footwear is very popular in Japan. Which will doubtless be welcome news to Camper and other footwear manufacturers on the island. It might even prove to be a boost to Inca's footwear museum which, when last heard of, was a footwear museum without much by way of footwear.

"Very bright" is how the ambassador has described the island's footwear companies' future. But there is a slight snag. The shoes may be popular or even very popular, but once the Japanese have schlepped as far as Spain they tend to stick with the mainland cities. More promotion is needed to get the Japanese tourist to eschew Barcelona in favour of Palma and hopefully other parts of the island. Shoes, by themselves, are not enough.

There is, his excellency has added, plenty to attract his fellow countrymen and women. Culture, history, the landscapes. Which sounds all quite novel. I can't think that these have ever been highlighted as potential attractions to tourists from other countries. Like China, for example.

Chinese tourism to Spain apparently grew by 30% in the first quarter of this year, and it would seem that Chinese tour operators consider it their duty to support European tourist economies, which is mightily altruistic of them. This sudden spurt in Chinese tourism hasn't, however, meant a great deal to Mallorca. There certainly haven't been hordes of Chinese on the local beaches this summer, though as the Chinese, as we have previously been told, don't really go in for beach tourism, their absence from the beaches wouldn't have been that surprising. Maybe they were hiding themselves away in Palma Cathedral instead.

The Japanese, on the other hand, are apparently pretty keen on beach tourism, which would make them more of an all-round option as a developing tourism market. With their love of footwear, a whole new opportunity - for upmarket flip-flops - beckons.

Potential tourism from the Far East is very much flavour of the month. The South Korean ambassador was recently in Mallorca and he spoke with President Bauzá about the possibility of a delegation going to Korea to help strengthen tourist ties with the Balearics. One says strengthen, but as none of the 100,000 or so Korean tourists who come to Spain currently venture as far as Mallorca, it would be more a case of establishing tourist ties, though were a delegation to head off to Seoul, there would be an outcry about the expense.

But this is the sort of effort that needs to be made and needs to be paid for. It's all well and good talking about markets like Japan, China or Korea, but they need cultivating, and this takes time and money. If Mallorca is to ever be big in Japan, some big investment is going to be required.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.