There is a well in Alcudia which, in August 1707, was covered over by the order of what then constituted a town hall. The local authority was concerned about the number of stones that children were throwing into it and possibly also by how many children might have disappeared into it.
A well from over three hundred years ago might seem like a peculiar starting-point for considering Mallorca's golfing heritage, but it was to prove be crucial in the creation of the island's first golf course. The well came to eventually be sited within Alcudia's electricity plant in the early years of the last century. The water was used to drive that plant, and the owner of the electricity distribution network in the town was a gentleman by the name of Pere Mas i Reus.
In 1933, Mas i Reus and Jaume Ensenyat acquired 198 hectares (around 490 acres) of land. It was sold to them by Joaquim Gual de Torrella, who himself had obtained the land from the bankrupt New Majorca Land Company, established by the British engineer Frederick Bateman for the purposes of draining and cultivating the Albufera wetland.
Mas i Reus, Ensenyat and Gual de Torrella's son, Mariano, were involved with an ambitious project. They planned to create a resort. Some one hundred plots were to be sold, a hotel was built and, central to the whole project, a golf course was created. Which was where the well came into the story. Its water was needed for the course and for the properties that were to be built on the plots. The well was, by then, no longer inside an electricity plant. The building had become a textile factory - Tapices Vidal - and Mas i Reus paid the factory two centimos of a peseta per cubic metre for general use of the water and seven centimos for watering purposes. In addition, he had to install a pipeline for the water to be supplied from the old town to the site.
The hotel was called the Hotel Golf. It is now the adults-only Vanity Golf, the home also to Team Sky when they train in Mallorca in the winter. The golf course was officially opened in February 1934. Ensenyat, in addition to believing that tourists could be attracted, felt that the course would be of value to the British (and American) residents in neighbouring Pollensa. Some members of this foreign community were invited to the opening.
What they witnessed and what they played was rudimentary. The course had nine holes, all of them on totally flat land. The greens were indistinguishable from the fairways, which were marked out with stones and shells. How successful (or not) the course was to prove to be, its life was short. The Civil War came, and the course was taken over and used as a landing-strip.
As for the well, that remains. The factory has long since closed, but it too remains, occupying a corner of Alcudia's market area. The well, though, has been accorded a certain status in the town's history, which speaks of it having a well-deserved place in the economic development of Alcudia and of Mallorca. How much greater or swifter that development might have been is purely hypothetical. The golf course and resort project were killed off by war. It wasn't until the 1960s that the plan for the resort, minus the golf course, was revived.
The importance of the well and therefore the provision of water cannot be underestimated. An indication of this was the fact that the Alcudia course wasn't strictly speaking the first. Mas i Reus and Ensenyat were both heavily involved with the Mallorca Tourist Board. Mas i Reus, though known more as an engineer, had joined its governing board as a spokesperson for the association of hoteliers in the mid-1920s. Both he and Ensenyat would almost certainly have attended a function at the Hotel Formentor in 1930, which was specifically for members of the tourist board. They would probably have observed that the hotel had a golf course.
Little is known about this course and it seems that it was never actually used. And the reason why not was that there wasn't sufficient provision for water to maintain it. A subsequent plan for the Formentor course never got off the ground. The year was 1936.
The Civil War and then the world war put everything on hold, including another plan for a resort with a golf course. Habitat Golf Santa Ponsa was founded in 1932, the garden city design of the whole resort having principally been the work of two Germans - a Berlin building tycoon Heinrich Mendelssohn and architect Max Säume.
It wasn't to be until 1964 that a golf course - a sustainable one - was inaugurated. The concept for the Son Vida course, originally just nine holes, was mainly that of one of the partners in the hotel, the American Steve Kusak. Another of the partners, Jose Luis Ferrer of Binissalem wine fame, was said by his daughter to have had no idea about golf or golf courses. Once he had visited courses in Monaco and Zurich, his enthusiasm for the development of the course was kindled. It was Prince Rainier of Monaco who teed off for the first time. Mallorca's golf was finally, and after the stuttering attempts before the war, on course.
Showing posts with label Golf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golf. Show all posts
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Friday, October 31, 2014
Talking Shop: Tourism forum
The great and good of Mallorcan tourism gathered this week to talk about tourism. Talking shop at this talking shop at the Nixe Palace were, among others, senior representatives of Air Berlin, Globalia, Grupotel, Garden Hotels, Soller's Jumeirah, Melía, Palma 365, Barceló, the attractions association, Festival Park, shipping companies, banks, car-hire agencies ... . The whole tourism world and its wife were in Cala Major for Foro Turismo+.
So, what did the great and good have to say for themselves? There was a fair old amount of management-marketing semantic jargon, such as the need for "paradigm shifts" in terms of market segmentation to tackle the problem of seasonality (i.e. no tourists in winter) and in how the so-called complementary offer is perceived and perceives itself. This non-hotel sector now has to think of itself as the "specialised offer". Therefore, let's say, if you are a British bar, you must become specialised. Erm, isn't specialising in serving a British market already specialised? Or am I missing something? Just as, for instance, the aquarium specialises in being an aquarium.
New technologies were high on the agenda. They can enable paradigm shifts apparently. Rather than the gobbledegook, why not simply call a tweet a tweet? Mercifully, someone did. The point was made that a tweet can have more effect than an advertising campaign. Hallelujah, and with all due immodesty, they must have read what I have been saying for an age. Social media are so much part of the game now that the continuing and lamentable inability of the tourism ministry, tourism agency and others to get their social media acts together should be something drawing serious scrutiny of those in high places in these bodies. And talking of which, I am hearing that there are more rumblings within the ministry, where internal politicking under Martínez is pushing people to seek transfers.
The tourism agency - in paradigm shift mode itself - revealed that Mallorca and the Balearics need to make clear what makes the islands different. Such difference, beyond the summer tourism of sun and beach, is essential in promoting the segments of culture, gastronomy, blah, blah. Again, sorry, I've said this myself on many an occasion. These guys can talk to each other and state the bleeding obvious, but when and how are they going to effect this "difference"? The rest of the Med is pitching for the same off-season market with the same off-season products. There has to be a uniqueness and a supporting marketing campaign in order to establish this difference, whatever this might be, and therein lies the rub. There may well not be any difference.
The future, if there is one, for off-season tourism lies with sports. This is how Thomas Cook sees things at any rate. It has had success with its Ironman sponsorship, and this points a way forward. Possibly it does, but neither of the Ironmans in Alcúdia takes place in the off-season. They couldn't do because there wouldn't be the flights available. Or the hotels open. And were they to, it might unfortunately turn out to be the case that the weather decides to play tricks, churning up the sea or blowing a gale and rain into the faces of runners and cyclists. Nevertheless, off-season sports tourism requires, among other things, more golf courses. Again, maybe it does, but more golf courses run up against innumerable obstacles. Think Son Bacó in Campos (now being spoken about for the first time in some years), Son Bosc in Muro or Son Saletes in Sencelles. The fingers of doom belonging to GOB, to environmental reports, to island planning laws, to the impossibilities of political consensus point at each of them and are wagged with a telling "no".
Talking shop is a wonderful thing. One day they might just find that the shop is closed for business for good.
Index for October 2014
Airplane history in Mallorca - 30 October 2014
Airport privatisation - 17 October 2014
Alcúdia Fair - 4 October 2014
Balearics and state budget - 5 October 2014
Caja Madrid black cards - 16 October 2014
Calvia con Futuro - 19 October 2014
Can Picafort - 1 October 2014
Coronation Street in Mallorca - 13 October 2014
Croatia 365 vs. Palma 365 - 7 October 2014
Geographic centre of Mallorca - 14 October 2014
Halloween - 26 October 2014
Henry Waring and Albufera - 21 October 2014
Holiday lets: easing of regulations - 24 October 2014
Inca fairs - 18 October 2014
Insults - 25 October 2014
Mallorca's history in Catalan - 23 October 2014
Masonry - 28 October 2014
Operación Púnica and PP corruption - 29 October 2014
Podemos and future uncertainty - 6 October 2014
Podemos and UKIP - 15 October 2014
Processionary caterpillar spraying - 8 October 2014
Son Castelló industrial estate - 27 October 2014
Torrente 5 and Bert films - 2 October 2014
Tourism forum - 31 October 2014
Tourism organisation pre-regional government - 9 October 2014
Tourism planning and improvisation - 22 October 2014
Tourism promotion transferred to island councils - 20 October 2014
Transhotel - 10 October 2014
Trilingual teaching - 12 October 2014
Velodromes in Mallorca - 11 October 2014
Winter flights - 3 October 2014
So, what did the great and good have to say for themselves? There was a fair old amount of management-marketing semantic jargon, such as the need for "paradigm shifts" in terms of market segmentation to tackle the problem of seasonality (i.e. no tourists in winter) and in how the so-called complementary offer is perceived and perceives itself. This non-hotel sector now has to think of itself as the "specialised offer". Therefore, let's say, if you are a British bar, you must become specialised. Erm, isn't specialising in serving a British market already specialised? Or am I missing something? Just as, for instance, the aquarium specialises in being an aquarium.
New technologies were high on the agenda. They can enable paradigm shifts apparently. Rather than the gobbledegook, why not simply call a tweet a tweet? Mercifully, someone did. The point was made that a tweet can have more effect than an advertising campaign. Hallelujah, and with all due immodesty, they must have read what I have been saying for an age. Social media are so much part of the game now that the continuing and lamentable inability of the tourism ministry, tourism agency and others to get their social media acts together should be something drawing serious scrutiny of those in high places in these bodies. And talking of which, I am hearing that there are more rumblings within the ministry, where internal politicking under Martínez is pushing people to seek transfers.
The tourism agency - in paradigm shift mode itself - revealed that Mallorca and the Balearics need to make clear what makes the islands different. Such difference, beyond the summer tourism of sun and beach, is essential in promoting the segments of culture, gastronomy, blah, blah. Again, sorry, I've said this myself on many an occasion. These guys can talk to each other and state the bleeding obvious, but when and how are they going to effect this "difference"? The rest of the Med is pitching for the same off-season market with the same off-season products. There has to be a uniqueness and a supporting marketing campaign in order to establish this difference, whatever this might be, and therein lies the rub. There may well not be any difference.
The future, if there is one, for off-season tourism lies with sports. This is how Thomas Cook sees things at any rate. It has had success with its Ironman sponsorship, and this points a way forward. Possibly it does, but neither of the Ironmans in Alcúdia takes place in the off-season. They couldn't do because there wouldn't be the flights available. Or the hotels open. And were they to, it might unfortunately turn out to be the case that the weather decides to play tricks, churning up the sea or blowing a gale and rain into the faces of runners and cyclists. Nevertheless, off-season sports tourism requires, among other things, more golf courses. Again, maybe it does, but more golf courses run up against innumerable obstacles. Think Son Bacó in Campos (now being spoken about for the first time in some years), Son Bosc in Muro or Son Saletes in Sencelles. The fingers of doom belonging to GOB, to environmental reports, to island planning laws, to the impossibilities of political consensus point at each of them and are wagged with a telling "no".
Talking shop is a wonderful thing. One day they might just find that the shop is closed for business for good.
Index for October 2014
Airplane history in Mallorca - 30 October 2014
Airport privatisation - 17 October 2014
Alcúdia Fair - 4 October 2014
Balearics and state budget - 5 October 2014
Caja Madrid black cards - 16 October 2014
Calvia con Futuro - 19 October 2014
Can Picafort - 1 October 2014
Coronation Street in Mallorca - 13 October 2014
Croatia 365 vs. Palma 365 - 7 October 2014
Geographic centre of Mallorca - 14 October 2014
Halloween - 26 October 2014
Henry Waring and Albufera - 21 October 2014
Holiday lets: easing of regulations - 24 October 2014
Inca fairs - 18 October 2014
Insults - 25 October 2014
Mallorca's history in Catalan - 23 October 2014
Masonry - 28 October 2014
Operación Púnica and PP corruption - 29 October 2014
Podemos and future uncertainty - 6 October 2014
Podemos and UKIP - 15 October 2014
Processionary caterpillar spraying - 8 October 2014
Son Castelló industrial estate - 27 October 2014
Torrente 5 and Bert films - 2 October 2014
Tourism forum - 31 October 2014
Tourism organisation pre-regional government - 9 October 2014
Tourism planning and improvisation - 22 October 2014
Tourism promotion transferred to island councils - 20 October 2014
Transhotel - 10 October 2014
Trilingual teaching - 12 October 2014
Velodromes in Mallorca - 11 October 2014
Winter flights - 3 October 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
An Old Well In Alcúdia
This article starts out by referring to the book of "Determinations of the faithful town of Alcúdia (1702-1707)". One of these determinations, i.e. decisions, was dated 14 August, 1707. It was a decision to cover the well at the Xara gate in the old town. The reason why was to stop children from throwing stones down the well and to so further prevent costs of having to clean the well up each year.
A question this raises is - where is the Xara gate? It is in fact the gate more commonly referred to as the Porta des Moll, the one in the market square (or Plaça Carles V). The next question is - what does Xara refer to? The word is encountered in different places in Alcúdia. There is a road called Xara which leads out of the town towards Bonaire. The beach next to the marina is sometimes referred to as Xara beach, and the building by the beach, under which are restaurants such as Pippers and El Yate, is the Xara building. So what's the significance?
Xara has different meanings. One of them is a corruption from Arabic to mean Sharia, and thus Sharia Law. This, despite the Arabic history of Alcúdia, is not what is meant. Or at least one assumes not. A xara (also Arabic in origin) is a place with rocky shrubs. Where these rocky shrubs were is anyone's guess, but Alcúdia's xara is almost certainly derived from them.
The point of the article, though, is that well at the Xara (aka Moll) gate. We discover from the article that the well was positioned "106 steps from the cross", i.e. of Sant Jaume church, but where actually was it? It came to have considerable significance in the twentieth century, as it was in fact where the old Balearic Electricity Energy was, a building on the Carles square which, in 1927, was sold to the company Tapices Vidal (tapices meaning tapestries but also fabrics). The well, therefore, was what drove both the old electricity plant (and I doubt many of you will know that there was such a plant right in the old town) and then the factory, which is now a listed building.
The well then took on a greater significance. Enter into its story Pere Mas i Reus (aka Pedro Mas y Reus, after whom the Bellevue Mile is named). Mas y Reus owned the electricity distribution network in Alcúdia. The water from the well was extracted and pumped by electricity to fire this network. In 1933, Mas y Reus bought 198 hectares of land on and by Albufera. It was sold to him by Joaquim Gual de Torrella, the aristocrat who had acquired that land when he bought out what remained of the bankrupt company started by Frederick Bateman (one of the engineers responsible for the draining of Albufera in the second half of the nineteenth century).
What Mas y Reus bought corresponded, more or less, with what is now Alcúdia's main tourism centre. (He was, it should be noted, not the only one involved in the purchase; Jaume Ensenyat was, too.) They set about selling off one hundred plots and also set about creating the golf course, which was shortlived because of the Civil War, and building the Hotel Golf, which today is the Vanity Golf. On this land there was another building, the Club House, which is now the Calypso by Sea Club.
The well was important because it was needed to water the golf course and to provide water to the urbanisation which Mas y Reus and Ensenyat envisaged, but which didn't really get off the ground because of the war and only came to be realised in the 1960s when the land was properly reclaimed from the Albufera wetland. So, a pipeline was created to take the water from the old town, and Mas y Reus and Ensenyat paid Tapices Vidal two centimos of a peseta for each cubic metre for general use and seven centimos for water destined to water gardens.
All of this came to a stop in 1936, but this old well, says the article, has a well-deserved place in the economic development of Alcúdia and of Mallorca in general.
You never know what you might find in fiesta programmes. A bit of history which, I imagine for most people, is all but unknown.
* Photo of the old factory, taken from the programme for this year's Sant Jaume fiestas.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Son Bosc All Over Again?
Two weeks after highlighting Muro's "model town hall", there is more evidence of good things at the council and also evidence of Muro suddenly having found itself propelled very much into the spotlight. The good housekeeping that has left the town hall with zero debt has not, as mayor Martí Fornes said a fortnight ago, meant that there is no investment, a package of just over two million euros spend having been proposed by Fornés's coalition administration, including 400,000 euros to be spent, subject to agreement from higher authority, on the first phase of the "boulevard" in Playa de Muro. This apart, an issue which has raised itself is one that had appeared to have been forgotten about. And it is one that will be destined to once more kick off all the debate and argument that surrounded it in the past. It is the building of the golf course on the Son Bosc finca next to Albufera.
The town hall's tourism plan, approved thanks to the coalition's majority at the council, mentions the golf course as part of potential development in 2014 to 2015. A report is to be presented in January next year, so there is nothing, as yet, which indicates the restarting of work on the finca that was stopped during the last regional government's administration.
At the heart of the argument over Son Bosc has been the environmental consequences of the course being built. All manner of flora and fauna have in the past been invoked as reasons for it not being built. They include everything from a rare orchid to the mating habits of a bee-eating bird. The construction has been referred to international bodies, such as the Ramsar wetlands secretariat, as well to national and Mallorcan governmental bodies. Experts on this and that have been consulted and have offered opinions. The views of politicians and hoteliers have been made clear, those of the former being pro and con, those of the latter being firmly pro.
The course's promoter is a company which comprises shareholders from hotel companies. The largest shareholder is Grupotel. Fornés used to work for them. But although hotelier interests are to the fore and although Son Bosc would naturally entail transformation of the land, does it automatically follow that those interests would be especially harmful to the environment and eco-system? There is now a great deal more sensitivity applied to the building of golf courses than might once have been the case. Consequently, a course can be created in such a way that it is in harmony with the immediate environment.
Son Bosc has really been a tale of political dogma and fighting as much as it has been an argument over the environment. At one point during the last administration (PSOE-led), it looked as though the course would happen, and indeed work did start. However, the moment that President Antich threw the Unió Mallorquina out of his coalition and installed Gabriel Vicens of the PSM Mallorcan socialists as environment minister, the development was likely to be halted. And so it was. The PSM and the UM hated each other's guts, and Son Bosc was one of their battlegrounds.
Fornés will know that he has a battle on his hands in having the finca's development declared as being in the island's general interest. He might hope for regional government support, but with elections moving closer, would the PP risk any more potentially negative publicity than it already has? Doubtful. The chances of the course ever actually being built must still be considered slim.
Index for May 2014
Bikinis - 15 May 2014
Can Picafort nautical sports and club - 23 May 2014
Complementary offer confederation - 7 May 2014
Eco-tax - 6 May 2014
Education conflict - 25 May 2014
Football and tourism - 14 May 2014
Giants of Mallorca - 22 May 2014
Holiday lets (private apartments) - 5 May 2014
Ironman - 9 May 2014
Jaume Sastre, hunger strike - 28 May 2014
Land law chaos - 20 May 2014
Llorenç Roses Bermejo, Palmanova - 12 May 2014
Magalluf 25 years ago - 21 May 2014
Mallorca land legislation - 13 May 2014
McDonald's Spain Brekkie Wrap ad - 26 May 2014
Microbreweries - 3 May 2014
Muro town hall - 16 May 2014
Museums - 18 May 2014
New tourism policy - 1 May 2014
P2P tourism - 8 May 2014
Partido Popular discount card - 17 May 2014
Partido Popular voting against oil prospecting - 11 May 2014
Podemos and European elections - 27 May 2014
Pollensa wine fair and wine history - 2 May 2014
Primark and Mallorca's retail history - 30 May 2014
Prostitution and violence - 4 May 2014
PSOE: the future - 29 May 2014
Son Bauló dolmen - 19 May 2014
Son Bosc golf - 31 May 2014
Stone fair - 24 May 2014
Wine Days Mallorca - 10 May 2014
The town hall's tourism plan, approved thanks to the coalition's majority at the council, mentions the golf course as part of potential development in 2014 to 2015. A report is to be presented in January next year, so there is nothing, as yet, which indicates the restarting of work on the finca that was stopped during the last regional government's administration.
At the heart of the argument over Son Bosc has been the environmental consequences of the course being built. All manner of flora and fauna have in the past been invoked as reasons for it not being built. They include everything from a rare orchid to the mating habits of a bee-eating bird. The construction has been referred to international bodies, such as the Ramsar wetlands secretariat, as well to national and Mallorcan governmental bodies. Experts on this and that have been consulted and have offered opinions. The views of politicians and hoteliers have been made clear, those of the former being pro and con, those of the latter being firmly pro.
The course's promoter is a company which comprises shareholders from hotel companies. The largest shareholder is Grupotel. Fornés used to work for them. But although hotelier interests are to the fore and although Son Bosc would naturally entail transformation of the land, does it automatically follow that those interests would be especially harmful to the environment and eco-system? There is now a great deal more sensitivity applied to the building of golf courses than might once have been the case. Consequently, a course can be created in such a way that it is in harmony with the immediate environment.
Son Bosc has really been a tale of political dogma and fighting as much as it has been an argument over the environment. At one point during the last administration (PSOE-led), it looked as though the course would happen, and indeed work did start. However, the moment that President Antich threw the Unió Mallorquina out of his coalition and installed Gabriel Vicens of the PSM Mallorcan socialists as environment minister, the development was likely to be halted. And so it was. The PSM and the UM hated each other's guts, and Son Bosc was one of their battlegrounds.
Fornés will know that he has a battle on his hands in having the finca's development declared as being in the island's general interest. He might hope for regional government support, but with elections moving closer, would the PP risk any more potentially negative publicity than it already has? Doubtful. The chances of the course ever actually being built must still be considered slim.
Index for May 2014
Bikinis - 15 May 2014
Can Picafort nautical sports and club - 23 May 2014
Complementary offer confederation - 7 May 2014
Eco-tax - 6 May 2014
Education conflict - 25 May 2014
Football and tourism - 14 May 2014
Giants of Mallorca - 22 May 2014
Holiday lets (private apartments) - 5 May 2014
Ironman - 9 May 2014
Jaume Sastre, hunger strike - 28 May 2014
Land law chaos - 20 May 2014
Llorenç Roses Bermejo, Palmanova - 12 May 2014
Magalluf 25 years ago - 21 May 2014
Mallorca land legislation - 13 May 2014
McDonald's Spain Brekkie Wrap ad - 26 May 2014
Microbreweries - 3 May 2014
Muro town hall - 16 May 2014
Museums - 18 May 2014
New tourism policy - 1 May 2014
P2P tourism - 8 May 2014
Partido Popular discount card - 17 May 2014
Partido Popular voting against oil prospecting - 11 May 2014
Podemos and European elections - 27 May 2014
Pollensa wine fair and wine history - 2 May 2014
Primark and Mallorca's retail history - 30 May 2014
Prostitution and violence - 4 May 2014
PSOE: the future - 29 May 2014
Son Bauló dolmen - 19 May 2014
Son Bosc golf - 31 May 2014
Stone fair - 24 May 2014
Wine Days Mallorca - 10 May 2014
Thursday, November 14, 2013
The Impressive Value Of Golf Tourism
There has been a flurry of golf tourism promotional effort just recently. The tourism agency took itself off to Vienna at the end of September to attend a golf forum and immediately afterwards, tour operators and others from Ireland were in Mallorca for their annual get-together at which the agency regaled them with golfing information. Included among the Irish contingent was the European Director of Aer Lingus.
Spain as a whole is the most popular golfing destination in Europe, and of the regions of Spain, the Costa del Sol attracts, by some distance, the most golf tourists. The Costa Brava is in second place, the Canary Islands are in third, leaving the Balearics ...?
Golf has enjoyed a generally upward curve in demand. In Palma, specifically, there has been an annual increase of around 4% in golf tourism. Through the first decade of this century, the number of golf tourists to the Balearics rose steadily if not dramatically; from slightly fewer than 100,000 in 2002 to almost 115,000 by 2008. While recognised as one of the principal golf destinations in Spain, the Balearics golf tourism market is relatively small, which isn't all that surprising when one considers that Andalusia, and so the Costa del Sol, has approximately four times as many courses.
Despite the market's size, the value of golf tourism has been understood as long as there have been plans for its exploitation. The golf tourist does typically spend more than the regular tourist, around 171 euros per day, which is not far off twice the amount which is typically attributed to the regular tourist. And this spend, when compared with the national golfing leader, Andalusia, is really quite revealing. There, the daily spend is more in line with that of the regular tourist, less than one hundred euros per day. But by contrast with the Balearics, where the average length of stay by a golf tourist is five days, in Andalusia it is almost a fortnight.
A simple explanation of these comparative numbers is that the golf tourist in Andalusia spreads his or her spend out, but is this too simplistic? Do the comparative numbers not suggest that the Balearics, rather than just looking to increase the overall number of golf tourists, need to try and get them to stay longer? With a spend of almost double the norm, then a doubling in the average length of stay would have a far from insignificant benefit.
Ah but, is this spend not mainly made on green fees and is it not the case that these fees are regularly criticised for being too high in the Balearics? There is some truth to the argument that fees are high by comparison with other destinations, but there is less truth about where the golf tourist's money is spent.
The Chamber of Commerce, in an outstanding piece of research into emerging tourism trends in the Balearics, showed that only 18% of average daily spend went on golf courses. More was in fact spent on restaurants and bars, while between them, shopping and excursions amounted to a spend of 23.5%. What this suggests is that the golf tourist doesn't just come for the golf. This might sound obvious but one wonders if it is well understood and so translates into how Mallorca is marketed as a golfing destination with way more to offer than golf alone. And there is much to be said for such a more rounded approach to golf tourism marketing. One disadvantage Mallorca has, and there's no getting away from it, is the weather. In golfing circles, and one only needs look at forums to understand this, Mallorca and the Balearics are known for not offering weather as good as that to be had in, for example, the Costa del Sol.
The European market for golf tourism is growing. Russia, as with other forms of tourism, is an example of a new market. But the established markets are sizable. The UK, in terms of registered golfers, is by far the biggest, but which country has the sixth highest number of registered golfers? Ireland. The presence of the chap from Aer Lingus in Mallorca recently might have been useful. How many flights to Palma are there from Ireland in winter? Any?
The International Golf Travel Market, with its 500 exhibitors, showed the extent of competition in the golf tourism market. The Balearics have to work damn hard against this competition, but, and it's a familiar enough story, if the flights aren't there, then it's difficult.
Photo of Alcanada Golf, taken from the club's website: http://www.golf-alcanada.com/
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Olé, Olé, Olé: The Ryder Cup is British
The Ryder Cup is arguably the greatest team sports event in the world. Even the non-sports fan can be enthralled by the sheer tension that it creates. But the Ryder Cup is also one of the strangest team sports events. It throws together sportsmen who normally engage in the most individual of sports, and in the case of the European team, golfers who are not required to have a common national background but who represent one of the major power blocks in the sport - the European golf tour.
International sport, as in sporting events between different nations, supplies its own inherent tension simply because of a nationalistic ingredient. Combining nations should, in theory, lessen both the nationalism and therefore the tension, but when it comes to the Ryder Cup it doesn't. Nationalism is cast aside in favour of supra-nationalism, that of Europe, and for once an Englishman can be proud of a German.
For all this, just how European is the Ryder Cup? The roots of the competition - Britain versus the US then briefly (and officially) Britain and Ireland versus the US before the Europeans got involved - are still very evident. Britain supplied seven of the 2012 team but more importantly, it is Britain where the real interest in the competition lies.
The temporary acquisition of supra-nationalism by the British sports fan is really little more than British nationalism with a twist. Within all the feedback and comments that surfaced on the social media during Europe's astonishing comeback at Medinah were constant references along the lines of the icing on the cake for a great summer of British sport. Not European, British. The Ryder Cup was placed alongside the Olympics, Wiggins and Murray.
The supporters who had travelled to the US adopted the pan-European chant of "olé, olé, olé". While this might have been taken as a nod in the direction of the team captain, José María Olazabal, it was more a case of the football terraces having supplied a ready-made song for all to join in and to understand. "Olé, olé, olé" is a sort of universal sports-speak, one that has been adopted by cricket's Barmy Army and by others with no obvious Spanish origins. The singing of "You'll Never Walk Alone" has also become more global, but its roots are very obvious; it was one of the songs of the European supporters.
It is when one considers media coverage that the picture of where the real interest lies is revealed. The Spanish clearly had an interest in this year's competition in that the captain was Spanish, Garcia was on the team and the inspiration was the memory of Severiano Ballesteros. The event itself though was almost secondary to Seve.
Of four news websites on Monday morning, one carried no mention at all of the Ryder Cup, another managed to put a report in its football section, one did at least place the victory on its home page (with suitable reference to Seve) and another carried a report under "more sports". The national obsession with Barcelona and Real Madrid was of greater significance. One other website, that for the sports newspaper "Marca", did do the event justice, but then it is a sports publication. Compare this coverage with, for example, "The Guardian". I typed Ryder Cup into the paper's search engine and 366 articles came up. I gave up after ten pages, but they were all related to the 2012 event.
For the Spanish, much though there was meaning because of Seve's memory, there wasn't anything like the level of interest as in Britain. And even the Seve memory angle was as important to the non-Spaniard as it was to the Spaniard; more so perhaps. Ballesteros was never lauded as much in his own country as he was outside it, especially in Britain. Olé, olé, olé; it was the emergence of Seve (and others) that was to prove crucial to the success that Europe now has at the Ryder Cup. Without it, there might never have been the change to a European team rather than a British (and Irish) team which was ritually humiliated every two years by superior American golfers.
Of non-British players on the European team, Colsaerts is a virtual unknown in his own country, Kaymer is not big news in Germany. In Britain, though, McIlroy is a superstar. Westwood, Donald and McDowell may not be but they are still well-known. There is a sense in which the non-British players become honorary Brits for three days of golf. To many British sports fans, they do, as Medinah capped a great year for British sport. Apparently.
N.B. In order to pre-empt the pedants, I do of course recognise that McIlroy and McDowell being British is a question of definition.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
International sport, as in sporting events between different nations, supplies its own inherent tension simply because of a nationalistic ingredient. Combining nations should, in theory, lessen both the nationalism and therefore the tension, but when it comes to the Ryder Cup it doesn't. Nationalism is cast aside in favour of supra-nationalism, that of Europe, and for once an Englishman can be proud of a German.
For all this, just how European is the Ryder Cup? The roots of the competition - Britain versus the US then briefly (and officially) Britain and Ireland versus the US before the Europeans got involved - are still very evident. Britain supplied seven of the 2012 team but more importantly, it is Britain where the real interest in the competition lies.
The temporary acquisition of supra-nationalism by the British sports fan is really little more than British nationalism with a twist. Within all the feedback and comments that surfaced on the social media during Europe's astonishing comeback at Medinah were constant references along the lines of the icing on the cake for a great summer of British sport. Not European, British. The Ryder Cup was placed alongside the Olympics, Wiggins and Murray.
The supporters who had travelled to the US adopted the pan-European chant of "olé, olé, olé". While this might have been taken as a nod in the direction of the team captain, José María Olazabal, it was more a case of the football terraces having supplied a ready-made song for all to join in and to understand. "Olé, olé, olé" is a sort of universal sports-speak, one that has been adopted by cricket's Barmy Army and by others with no obvious Spanish origins. The singing of "You'll Never Walk Alone" has also become more global, but its roots are very obvious; it was one of the songs of the European supporters.
It is when one considers media coverage that the picture of where the real interest lies is revealed. The Spanish clearly had an interest in this year's competition in that the captain was Spanish, Garcia was on the team and the inspiration was the memory of Severiano Ballesteros. The event itself though was almost secondary to Seve.
Of four news websites on Monday morning, one carried no mention at all of the Ryder Cup, another managed to put a report in its football section, one did at least place the victory on its home page (with suitable reference to Seve) and another carried a report under "more sports". The national obsession with Barcelona and Real Madrid was of greater significance. One other website, that for the sports newspaper "Marca", did do the event justice, but then it is a sports publication. Compare this coverage with, for example, "The Guardian". I typed Ryder Cup into the paper's search engine and 366 articles came up. I gave up after ten pages, but they were all related to the 2012 event.
For the Spanish, much though there was meaning because of Seve's memory, there wasn't anything like the level of interest as in Britain. And even the Seve memory angle was as important to the non-Spaniard as it was to the Spaniard; more so perhaps. Ballesteros was never lauded as much in his own country as he was outside it, especially in Britain. Olé, olé, olé; it was the emergence of Seve (and others) that was to prove crucial to the success that Europe now has at the Ryder Cup. Without it, there might never have been the change to a European team rather than a British (and Irish) team which was ritually humiliated every two years by superior American golfers.
Of non-British players on the European team, Colsaerts is a virtual unknown in his own country, Kaymer is not big news in Germany. In Britain, though, McIlroy is a superstar. Westwood, Donald and McDowell may not be but they are still well-known. There is a sense in which the non-British players become honorary Brits for three days of golf. To many British sports fans, they do, as Medinah capped a great year for British sport. Apparently.
N.B. In order to pre-empt the pedants, I do of course recognise that McIlroy and McDowell being British is a question of definition.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Binissalem golf course set to go ahead
The Council of Mallorca seems likely to give the green light to the construction of a golf course on the finca of Son Saletes that lies partly in Binissalem and partly in Sencelles. The Council's decision would seemingly take precedence over any decisions of the two town halls (Binissalem has recently reversed a local order prohibiting the construction of a golf course). As mentioned in an article (http://alcudiapollensa.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/ventura-fairway-binissalem-and-golf.html), the promoter of the course is Ventura Rubí, the president of the Partido Popular in Sencelles, and also the father of the secretary for communication in the cabinet of the Balearics presidency.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Monday, March 05, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - More golfers in 2012
Further to the news of a record number of golfing tourists in the Balearics in 2011 (2 March), the expectation is that 2012 will be even better, partly as a consequence of ongoing uncertainty in north Africa.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Friday, March 02, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Record number of golfers in the Balearics
2011 witnessed a slight increase in the total number of golfing tourists in the Balearics, the figure being just over 159,000 - a record high. This has to be placed in context, though. It represents roughly around 1.5% of all tourism.
Friday, October 21, 2011
When Enough Luxury Is Enough
Are the Partido Popular environmental vandals? Judging by responses from eco groups and the usual suspects on the left to plans to "unblock" certain developments on Mallorca, then the answer is yes.
As sure as governmental night followed electoral day then no sooner had the PP returned to Balearics political leadership in May than the bulldozers' engines were being revved up. It was simply a question as to how long it would take for parts of the island to be flattened and to then be built on.
I am not, though, without some sympathy for the PP, if only because they are cocking a snook at the maddeningly zealous previous administration and its PSM (Mallorcan socialists) component in particular. The decision of the Bauzá government to revoke laws of 2007 and 2008 and so permit development of some ten sites in Mallorca and Ibiza stems partly from the fact that it was facing claims of nigh on one thousand million euros from developers whose bulldozers had been stopped in their tracks.
This financial justification is probably a convenience, however. A stronger one is that, by loosening the legal noose, some activity can be put into the local economy. Which is probably true, but only up to a point.
The projects that had been put on ice range from the development of an entertainment and commercial centre in Playa de Palma to apartments in Cala Carbó in Cala San Vicente. But the projects may not stop with these. Enviro group GOB reckons that a new law would open the way to building of a sort that had been expressly prohibited - that of residential accommodation on golf courses.
Why should this matter? In a way, it shouldn't, except that it would raise the prospect of plans, such as those for the Muro golf course, currently on hold, being expanded to include accommodation. It has always been maintained that this development would be for golf and for golf alone.
It matters in this regard: Opposition to the Muro course from ordinary people of the town, and not that drummed up by the normal agitators, has centred on what is seen as being a development for the rich. You could be reasonably sure that whatever accommodation was built on a golf course, wherever it is, would not be for the ordinary people. And so it would also be with some of the projects that would be unblocked: Cala Carbó, luxury houses; two in Andratx, luxury apartments and villas.
At a time when the PP government is cutting back, when it is unable to pay various suppliers and when it has shown not the slightest hint of having something approximating to a sensitive social policy, it enters dangerous territory if all that appears to be on offer is some employment, the consequence of putting up luxury homes; luxury homes, moreover, which are likely to find foreign and part-time occupants.
It is less that environmental objections should be of concern and more that the PP appears to be betting the house on the private sector exclusively and on exclusive developments, to boot. Short-term boosts to employment in the construction industry are fine, but longer-term economic gains by flogging property to what are often absentee landlords are minor. It is a policy that heightens social division and has the potential for heightening social tensions.
There is also a certain disingenuousness on behalf of the government when it comes to the environmental aspects of developments. The reform of the tourism law, while making it easier for hotels to renovate existing sites, will not involve new building, or so the tourism minister has said. However, the tourism law is not the same as land law. In addition to luxury hotel projects in Capdepera and Campos that have already been announced, there would be a further one in Andratx. Don't discount there being others.
Again, these should all generally be welcome, but they add to a growing perception of Mallorca reclaiming for itself its old cliché of a playground for the rich but also claiming for itself a society riven by division, a chasm made wider by the vociferous noises of the environmentally-appalled left and independence elements.
At some point, enough is going to become enough, and the phenomena of the "indignados" and Occupy will take on a specifically Mallorcan characteristic. The island has yet to experience what has occurred in Sardinia, where the wealthy have been pelted with wet sand, but trouble is being stored up. What might seem like practical changes to land use could cut an awful lot deeper than might be imagined.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
As sure as governmental night followed electoral day then no sooner had the PP returned to Balearics political leadership in May than the bulldozers' engines were being revved up. It was simply a question as to how long it would take for parts of the island to be flattened and to then be built on.
I am not, though, without some sympathy for the PP, if only because they are cocking a snook at the maddeningly zealous previous administration and its PSM (Mallorcan socialists) component in particular. The decision of the Bauzá government to revoke laws of 2007 and 2008 and so permit development of some ten sites in Mallorca and Ibiza stems partly from the fact that it was facing claims of nigh on one thousand million euros from developers whose bulldozers had been stopped in their tracks.
This financial justification is probably a convenience, however. A stronger one is that, by loosening the legal noose, some activity can be put into the local economy. Which is probably true, but only up to a point.
The projects that had been put on ice range from the development of an entertainment and commercial centre in Playa de Palma to apartments in Cala Carbó in Cala San Vicente. But the projects may not stop with these. Enviro group GOB reckons that a new law would open the way to building of a sort that had been expressly prohibited - that of residential accommodation on golf courses.
Why should this matter? In a way, it shouldn't, except that it would raise the prospect of plans, such as those for the Muro golf course, currently on hold, being expanded to include accommodation. It has always been maintained that this development would be for golf and for golf alone.
It matters in this regard: Opposition to the Muro course from ordinary people of the town, and not that drummed up by the normal agitators, has centred on what is seen as being a development for the rich. You could be reasonably sure that whatever accommodation was built on a golf course, wherever it is, would not be for the ordinary people. And so it would also be with some of the projects that would be unblocked: Cala Carbó, luxury houses; two in Andratx, luxury apartments and villas.
At a time when the PP government is cutting back, when it is unable to pay various suppliers and when it has shown not the slightest hint of having something approximating to a sensitive social policy, it enters dangerous territory if all that appears to be on offer is some employment, the consequence of putting up luxury homes; luxury homes, moreover, which are likely to find foreign and part-time occupants.
It is less that environmental objections should be of concern and more that the PP appears to be betting the house on the private sector exclusively and on exclusive developments, to boot. Short-term boosts to employment in the construction industry are fine, but longer-term economic gains by flogging property to what are often absentee landlords are minor. It is a policy that heightens social division and has the potential for heightening social tensions.
There is also a certain disingenuousness on behalf of the government when it comes to the environmental aspects of developments. The reform of the tourism law, while making it easier for hotels to renovate existing sites, will not involve new building, or so the tourism minister has said. However, the tourism law is not the same as land law. In addition to luxury hotel projects in Capdepera and Campos that have already been announced, there would be a further one in Andratx. Don't discount there being others.
Again, these should all generally be welcome, but they add to a growing perception of Mallorca reclaiming for itself its old cliché of a playground for the rich but also claiming for itself a society riven by division, a chasm made wider by the vociferous noises of the environmentally-appalled left and independence elements.
At some point, enough is going to become enough, and the phenomena of the "indignados" and Occupy will take on a specifically Mallorcan characteristic. The island has yet to experience what has occurred in Sardinia, where the wealthy have been pelted with wet sand, but trouble is being stored up. What might seem like practical changes to land use could cut an awful lot deeper than might be imagined.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Mouthing Off
Certain acronyms for organisations don't do these organisations any favours. The FA, for instance, can all too easily represent what critics claim it does, or rather doesn't do. And it's sweet.
Acronyms come in different forms. Some, like the FA, are spoken as individual letters; others are spoken as words. One of these is GOB. Its full name is a mouthful - Grup Balear d'Ornitolgia i Defensa de la Naturalesa. The D and the N have been discarded in allowing for a simpler pronunciation and in also allowing for an Anglicisation and for jokes at its expense. Got a hell of a gob on it. It's got a gob on. A gobby bunch of environmentalists.
Whenever an environmental issue emerges from some threatened undergrowth, and sometimes when it doesn't, GOB has a lot to say for itself. It is in the nature of the work of nature's defenders that it should feel compelled to make utterances against the designs of government, constructors, hotels, tourists, buses, road builders, drivers, and whoever else happens to loom onto the potentially harmful environmental horizon. It is work that is never done.
Mallorca For Sale is GOB's latest campaign. Not that it wants to sell Mallorca of course; it is fearful that Jolly Joe Bauzá and his Partido Popular chums will. GOB is outraged that Bauzá is contemplating creating some dynamism for the moribund Mallorcan economy by easing laws to enable the building of theme parks, more commercial centres and even a Formula 1 circuit. Consequently, it has started an online petition against the forces of development.
Some of this is dreadfully old hat. In the case of Muro's golf course, the hat dates back to the nineties and we're still no nearer knowing who might actually get to wear it. So old are some of the projected developments that GOB complains about, and so tedious are the endless arguments, that most people gave up long ago taking any interest in them.
It's not to say that GOB doesn't engage in good works. It does. But its constant carping has a touch of the cry-wolf; the public might believe in what GOB says but it withdraws its sympathy because there is so much carping and precious little by way of alternative solutions, save for the we should all go back to the land and live off wind and solar energy variety.
Nevertheless, it is an indication of the degree to which the environment plays a key role in decision-making in Mallorca, that of both business and government, that GOB's voice is given such prominence. Because the environment is such an important issue to the island, it is only right and proper that a strong environmental lobby exists to try and prevent excesses. GOB serves this purpose, and it does its job well in looking to meet its objectives of the "conservation, dissemination and study of nature and the environment of the Balearic Islands".
However, the centrality of the environment to the decision-making process has pushed GOB ever further towards politicisation. It is a charity, but its independence and indeed its objectives have become potentially compromised.
The Muro golf course was a case in point. When the PSM (Mallorcan socialists) assumed control of the environment department in the last regional government, the immediate decision to put a halt to the course's development came as absolutely no surprise; the closeness between the PSM and GOB and the similar statements the two were coming out with made it appear as though GOB was like the PSM's provisional wing.
The left having been pretty much eclipsed at the last election, the strongest voices of opposition are emanating from groups which are, in theory at any rate, not political, e.g. GOB. And when the established political left has managed to raise its weary voice, there too is GOB to add its support. But to issues that have nothing to do with GOB. Go back and look at its objectives. Where in any of these is there anything about the TV Mallorca radio and television station? Yet, there was GOB leaping to the station's defence. When an anti-corruption platform emerged last year, which was one of the groups? Yep, GOB. Again, there is nothing in its objectives about corruption.
In the past, GOB has been challenged to basically put up or shut up by coming out and making itself a political entity. It won't do, and nor should it, because it does perform an important function. But as it allows itself to be so constantly involved in the political process and to be involved in matters which are not within its remit, then its function does become open to question.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Acronyms come in different forms. Some, like the FA, are spoken as individual letters; others are spoken as words. One of these is GOB. Its full name is a mouthful - Grup Balear d'Ornitolgia i Defensa de la Naturalesa. The D and the N have been discarded in allowing for a simpler pronunciation and in also allowing for an Anglicisation and for jokes at its expense. Got a hell of a gob on it. It's got a gob on. A gobby bunch of environmentalists.
Whenever an environmental issue emerges from some threatened undergrowth, and sometimes when it doesn't, GOB has a lot to say for itself. It is in the nature of the work of nature's defenders that it should feel compelled to make utterances against the designs of government, constructors, hotels, tourists, buses, road builders, drivers, and whoever else happens to loom onto the potentially harmful environmental horizon. It is work that is never done.
Mallorca For Sale is GOB's latest campaign. Not that it wants to sell Mallorca of course; it is fearful that Jolly Joe Bauzá and his Partido Popular chums will. GOB is outraged that Bauzá is contemplating creating some dynamism for the moribund Mallorcan economy by easing laws to enable the building of theme parks, more commercial centres and even a Formula 1 circuit. Consequently, it has started an online petition against the forces of development.
Some of this is dreadfully old hat. In the case of Muro's golf course, the hat dates back to the nineties and we're still no nearer knowing who might actually get to wear it. So old are some of the projected developments that GOB complains about, and so tedious are the endless arguments, that most people gave up long ago taking any interest in them.
It's not to say that GOB doesn't engage in good works. It does. But its constant carping has a touch of the cry-wolf; the public might believe in what GOB says but it withdraws its sympathy because there is so much carping and precious little by way of alternative solutions, save for the we should all go back to the land and live off wind and solar energy variety.
Nevertheless, it is an indication of the degree to which the environment plays a key role in decision-making in Mallorca, that of both business and government, that GOB's voice is given such prominence. Because the environment is such an important issue to the island, it is only right and proper that a strong environmental lobby exists to try and prevent excesses. GOB serves this purpose, and it does its job well in looking to meet its objectives of the "conservation, dissemination and study of nature and the environment of the Balearic Islands".
However, the centrality of the environment to the decision-making process has pushed GOB ever further towards politicisation. It is a charity, but its independence and indeed its objectives have become potentially compromised.
The Muro golf course was a case in point. When the PSM (Mallorcan socialists) assumed control of the environment department in the last regional government, the immediate decision to put a halt to the course's development came as absolutely no surprise; the closeness between the PSM and GOB and the similar statements the two were coming out with made it appear as though GOB was like the PSM's provisional wing.
The left having been pretty much eclipsed at the last election, the strongest voices of opposition are emanating from groups which are, in theory at any rate, not political, e.g. GOB. And when the established political left has managed to raise its weary voice, there too is GOB to add its support. But to issues that have nothing to do with GOB. Go back and look at its objectives. Where in any of these is there anything about the TV Mallorca radio and television station? Yet, there was GOB leaping to the station's defence. When an anti-corruption platform emerged last year, which was one of the groups? Yep, GOB. Again, there is nothing in its objectives about corruption.
In the past, GOB has been challenged to basically put up or shut up by coming out and making itself a political entity. It won't do, and nor should it, because it does perform an important function. But as it allows itself to be so constantly involved in the political process and to be involved in matters which are not within its remit, then its function does become open to question.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Son Bosc bird protection order
A regional government order that extends an area of special protection for birds from the Albufera nature park into parts of the neighbouring Son Bosc finca in Muro has come into effect. This order means that these parts of the finca cannot be used for the planned golf course.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Playground Of The Rich? Mallorca's luxury tourism
The rich get richer and the tourism of the rich offers ever greater riches. Airtours, TUI's luxury tourism division, will be increasing the number of wealthy German tourists that it brings to Mallorca by 25% this year. As with the luxury property market - Engel & Völkers having recently issued positive forecasts for its German sales in the 4 to 8 million bracket - so luxury tourism refuses to succumb to the savaging of economic crisis.
Mallorca, despite competition from the likes of Sardinia, continues to hold an appeal to wealthy tourists, Germans in particular. The island is also benefiting from an increase in the niche gay luxury tourism market. The company Mallorca Luxury Gay has added a further element to its offer to gay tourists, that of high-quality dental treatment, in a bid to increase its market on the island for a tourism group that typically spends more significant amounts than the "straight" market.
Positive though this may seem, the luxury market, assuming one can arrive at an exact definition as to what it means, remains small. In Spain as a whole, according to a report in 2008, the luxury tourist, said to spend some 450 euros a day, was catered for by five-star accommodation that amounted to a mere 6% of all hotels. The spend equated to just over 7% of total tourism outlay.
One of the difficulties with increasing this market lies with the costs of creating the right type of hotel and of maintaining it. The prices that can be charged, high though they may be, do not necessarily result in high returns. The profitability of the luxury hotel, compared with other destinations, such as the Caribbean, is weighed down because it is simply that much more expensive to run it. This is exactly the same equation that dogs hotels' abilities to provide superior-quality all-inclusives such as those in Turkey where there are four individual categories of all-inclusive - from "classic" to "ultra class".
It is this price-quality-return conundrum which puts into some perspective the desire of the Mallorcan hotel federation to upgrade hotel stock. The luxury market may have deep pockets, but the market itself isn't so large that it can compensate for the investment needed to attract it. And there is a further issue, one that has to do with where these hotels are located.
To take an example, in Playa de Muro there are 33 hotels, three of which are five star and several more of which are excellent four star. An up-market image of hotels is not, despite a fine beach, matched by what else the resort has to offer, namely parts of it in a state of virtual abandonment and, with the greatest of respect, a lack of genuinely quality restaurants. Rather, you have an almost uniform offer of the standard "grill" and pizzeria.
The restaurants are caught in a dilemma. They may wish to invest, may wish to change their cuisine, but to what end? They have come to realise full well that the image of all-inclusive being exclusively for the economy-class tourist is something of a myth. It only partially applies in Playa de Muro, and in a wider context it is applying less and less; demand for all-inclusive within the higher, 4-star end of the market has increased and is likely to go on increasing if what exists outside hotels is unable to match this market's more sophisticated tastes, assuming that the hotels can actually deliver the required service. But do the restaurants adapt to try and capture this market when they fear that such effort will be undermined by the all-inclusive offer?
What is on offer in restaurants is, though, an important ingredient when it comes to the luxury market. All the attention that is paid to some of the "alternative" tourism offers, notably gastronomy and golf, is understandable if this market is to grow significantly. Both these are cited as important aspects of attracting the luxury market. In Playa de Muro, the obstacles to the building of the golf course on the Son Bosc finca are seen as detrimental to the expansion of the market.
Crucially, however, the question is whether this luxury market will grow significantly and whether the investment to make it grow will be matched by results. There is, and has long been, an element of wishful thinking, some of which is now being turned towards the nouveau riche of Russia and eastern Europe. Nevertheless, if TUI is increasing the number of its minted Germans, then there is cause for some gentle optimism.
The issue will be whether Mallorca has the quality of hotel and, as importantly, quality of resort to make anything like a quantum leap. And, as has been seen with Playa de Palma, the hoteliers, pressing for upgrades and the removal of bureaucratic hoops that would facilitate them, contradict themselves by insisting (not unreasonably) that the bread and butter remains the 3-star mass tourist.
And there is lurking perhaps an additional issue, a social one. Mention of Sardinia as a competitor to Mallorca in the luxury market is a reminder of what surfaced there back in 2008. Wealthy and celebrity tourists being greeted with barrages of wet sand and cries of "louts, go home" as their motorised dinghies came ashore.
Wealth is very welcome, but in times of deprivation, more of it, ostentatiously on show, does not guarantee a welcome.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Mallorca, despite competition from the likes of Sardinia, continues to hold an appeal to wealthy tourists, Germans in particular. The island is also benefiting from an increase in the niche gay luxury tourism market. The company Mallorca Luxury Gay has added a further element to its offer to gay tourists, that of high-quality dental treatment, in a bid to increase its market on the island for a tourism group that typically spends more significant amounts than the "straight" market.
Positive though this may seem, the luxury market, assuming one can arrive at an exact definition as to what it means, remains small. In Spain as a whole, according to a report in 2008, the luxury tourist, said to spend some 450 euros a day, was catered for by five-star accommodation that amounted to a mere 6% of all hotels. The spend equated to just over 7% of total tourism outlay.
One of the difficulties with increasing this market lies with the costs of creating the right type of hotel and of maintaining it. The prices that can be charged, high though they may be, do not necessarily result in high returns. The profitability of the luxury hotel, compared with other destinations, such as the Caribbean, is weighed down because it is simply that much more expensive to run it. This is exactly the same equation that dogs hotels' abilities to provide superior-quality all-inclusives such as those in Turkey where there are four individual categories of all-inclusive - from "classic" to "ultra class".
It is this price-quality-return conundrum which puts into some perspective the desire of the Mallorcan hotel federation to upgrade hotel stock. The luxury market may have deep pockets, but the market itself isn't so large that it can compensate for the investment needed to attract it. And there is a further issue, one that has to do with where these hotels are located.
To take an example, in Playa de Muro there are 33 hotels, three of which are five star and several more of which are excellent four star. An up-market image of hotels is not, despite a fine beach, matched by what else the resort has to offer, namely parts of it in a state of virtual abandonment and, with the greatest of respect, a lack of genuinely quality restaurants. Rather, you have an almost uniform offer of the standard "grill" and pizzeria.
The restaurants are caught in a dilemma. They may wish to invest, may wish to change their cuisine, but to what end? They have come to realise full well that the image of all-inclusive being exclusively for the economy-class tourist is something of a myth. It only partially applies in Playa de Muro, and in a wider context it is applying less and less; demand for all-inclusive within the higher, 4-star end of the market has increased and is likely to go on increasing if what exists outside hotels is unable to match this market's more sophisticated tastes, assuming that the hotels can actually deliver the required service. But do the restaurants adapt to try and capture this market when they fear that such effort will be undermined by the all-inclusive offer?
What is on offer in restaurants is, though, an important ingredient when it comes to the luxury market. All the attention that is paid to some of the "alternative" tourism offers, notably gastronomy and golf, is understandable if this market is to grow significantly. Both these are cited as important aspects of attracting the luxury market. In Playa de Muro, the obstacles to the building of the golf course on the Son Bosc finca are seen as detrimental to the expansion of the market.
Crucially, however, the question is whether this luxury market will grow significantly and whether the investment to make it grow will be matched by results. There is, and has long been, an element of wishful thinking, some of which is now being turned towards the nouveau riche of Russia and eastern Europe. Nevertheless, if TUI is increasing the number of its minted Germans, then there is cause for some gentle optimism.
The issue will be whether Mallorca has the quality of hotel and, as importantly, quality of resort to make anything like a quantum leap. And, as has been seen with Playa de Palma, the hoteliers, pressing for upgrades and the removal of bureaucratic hoops that would facilitate them, contradict themselves by insisting (not unreasonably) that the bread and butter remains the 3-star mass tourist.
And there is lurking perhaps an additional issue, a social one. Mention of Sardinia as a competitor to Mallorca in the luxury market is a reminder of what surfaced there back in 2008. Wealthy and celebrity tourists being greeted with barrages of wet sand and cries of "louts, go home" as their motorised dinghies came ashore.
Wealth is very welcome, but in times of deprivation, more of it, ostentatiously on show, does not guarantee a welcome.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Ryder White Swan
All sports are, at a basic level, absurdly simple. Football - bloke kicks ball into net. Cricket - bloke hits ball with a bit of wood or bloke hits bits of wood with ball. Golf - bloke hits ball with a stick into a hole. They cease to be simple when they become tangled up with jargon, statistics, strategies, tactics and, with some, the sheer length of time they take. Someone once had the bright idea for golf that rather than a bloke hitting his ball with a stick into one hole, or five or seven or eleven, he should do it eighteen times. In the process, he came up with the most tedious sports spectacle known to man.
My resentment of watching golf is based largely on having once been abandoned on Sunningdale's course by my father and his mates who had escaped to the beer tent while I was left to get soaked to the skin following a player who may or may not have been Tony Jacklin; it was hard to tell through the rain. It was a short and irrational pitch from the misery of a drenching to a lifelong condemnation of golf-spectating as mind-numblingly dull.
Except when it comes to the Ryder Cup. It has entirely to do with team sports. There's something in that CV stuff you get presented with and the modern mantra of finding "team players". You simply file in the bin anyone who under interests and activities lists chess (mad), boxing (mad with violent tendencies) or golf (mad with an obsessive disorder). No, you look for those who will willingly hurl themselves against an eighteen-stone lock forward as evidence of common sense and the placing of the team before their own mortality. In the same way, you look for a team event to ignite the passions of collective spectator identification and involvement.
It's only when golf does team play that it becomes interesting. Not just interesting, but also unbearably exciting and tense. Which is the Ryder Cup all over. And no more so than when McDowell was coming down the seventeenth.
But what is it about the Ryder Cup? The team, after all, is an amalgamation of individuals from different countries, an all-star twelve engaged in what Rory McIlroy had described as an exhibition. Yet a patriotic spirit rises to the surface, one which makes it possible to be supportive of a totally useless German for heaven's sake. Maybe it's all to do with putting one over the Yanks and their full metal jacket whooping.
For all this though, the Ryder Cup is not like football. Does it pack the bars of Mallorca - the Swans, the White Roses - with face-painted, flag-waving, replica-shirt wearing "Europeans"? For starters, what flag are you supposed to wave? What shirts are you supposed to wear? Who really wants to go around pretending they're Miguel Angel Jimenez by having his name on their back in the way they would a Rooney or Gerrard? The odd Spaniard perhaps, celebrating the fact that golf can permit a cigar-chomping vision of non-health and efficiency in the way that only golf can - think such porkers as John Daly and Craig Stadler. But otherwise the local sports shops aren't suddenly going to stock up with juniors' and seniors' Westwood or Fisher shirts.
Then there's the singing. "YOU-ROPE, YOU-ROPE." No one can do it with conviction because no one is really sure what they're supporting. It's a false identification that hides the temporarily submerged nationalism of an "inger-land, inger-land". Do you get groups of lagered-up lads in the bars giving it large with a Europe chant? Because golf takes so damn long and thus goes way beyond the average tourist's 90-minute attention span, do you get anyone bothering to spend several hours in a bar when there is something else to do - like sitting around the pool?
The answer is - remarkably - that you do. The bars do get taken over. Why? Because the Ryder Cup is one of the most remarkable sporting contests known to man. It totally transcends the tedium of a normal golf event, it does indeed have the power to mould an unlikely European nationalism. And it comes down to the fact that sport is very simple. Not just in how it's played, but in the fact that one team wins and one team loses. And guess which team won.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
My resentment of watching golf is based largely on having once been abandoned on Sunningdale's course by my father and his mates who had escaped to the beer tent while I was left to get soaked to the skin following a player who may or may not have been Tony Jacklin; it was hard to tell through the rain. It was a short and irrational pitch from the misery of a drenching to a lifelong condemnation of golf-spectating as mind-numblingly dull.
Except when it comes to the Ryder Cup. It has entirely to do with team sports. There's something in that CV stuff you get presented with and the modern mantra of finding "team players". You simply file in the bin anyone who under interests and activities lists chess (mad), boxing (mad with violent tendencies) or golf (mad with an obsessive disorder). No, you look for those who will willingly hurl themselves against an eighteen-stone lock forward as evidence of common sense and the placing of the team before their own mortality. In the same way, you look for a team event to ignite the passions of collective spectator identification and involvement.
It's only when golf does team play that it becomes interesting. Not just interesting, but also unbearably exciting and tense. Which is the Ryder Cup all over. And no more so than when McDowell was coming down the seventeenth.
But what is it about the Ryder Cup? The team, after all, is an amalgamation of individuals from different countries, an all-star twelve engaged in what Rory McIlroy had described as an exhibition. Yet a patriotic spirit rises to the surface, one which makes it possible to be supportive of a totally useless German for heaven's sake. Maybe it's all to do with putting one over the Yanks and their full metal jacket whooping.
For all this though, the Ryder Cup is not like football. Does it pack the bars of Mallorca - the Swans, the White Roses - with face-painted, flag-waving, replica-shirt wearing "Europeans"? For starters, what flag are you supposed to wave? What shirts are you supposed to wear? Who really wants to go around pretending they're Miguel Angel Jimenez by having his name on their back in the way they would a Rooney or Gerrard? The odd Spaniard perhaps, celebrating the fact that golf can permit a cigar-chomping vision of non-health and efficiency in the way that only golf can - think such porkers as John Daly and Craig Stadler. But otherwise the local sports shops aren't suddenly going to stock up with juniors' and seniors' Westwood or Fisher shirts.
Then there's the singing. "YOU-ROPE, YOU-ROPE." No one can do it with conviction because no one is really sure what they're supporting. It's a false identification that hides the temporarily submerged nationalism of an "inger-land, inger-land". Do you get groups of lagered-up lads in the bars giving it large with a Europe chant? Because golf takes so damn long and thus goes way beyond the average tourist's 90-minute attention span, do you get anyone bothering to spend several hours in a bar when there is something else to do - like sitting around the pool?
The answer is - remarkably - that you do. The bars do get taken over. Why? Because the Ryder Cup is one of the most remarkable sporting contests known to man. It totally transcends the tedium of a normal golf event, it does indeed have the power to mould an unlikely European nationalism. And it comes down to the fact that sport is very simple. Not just in how it's played, but in the fact that one team wins and one team loses. And guess which team won.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Adopting Positions: Chopin should have played golf
Chopin is to be made an adoptive son of Mallorca. No doubt he'll be rubato-ing with contentment in his Parisian grave, well away from where his interred non-missus, Amandine Dupin (aka George Sand), will be cursing the fact of his joining her in adoption but rejoicing in her having secured the gig before him; she was made an adoptive daughter of Mallorca some years ago. Beat yer to it, Freddie, you sexual inadequate.
Chopin and Sand were simultaneously enchanted and appalled by Mallorca, and specifically Valldemossa. It's the enchantment that gets hyper-brochured, alongside mentions of Chopin's output while in his mountain retreat and of Sand's legacy to the island, commemorated in the annual Winter in Mallorca cultural programme, named after her book. The selective writing of the history of the Chopin-Sand stay in Mallorca disguises the brevity of that stay and the deterioration in Chopin's health during it, a consequence of a miserable and cold winter. How he actually managed to play the piano, rubato or otherwise, is a mystery. Or perhaps he was blessed with warm extremities. Well, a couple if not one other, if George is to be taken at her word.
Chopin was from Poland. It's a happy coincidence. Name some of the "new" markets from which Mallorca hopes to attract more tourists, and Poland will appear high on the list. Having an adoptive son to boast about doesn't presumably harm that objective: the tourism juan-ies should be frantically casting around for a few Russians or Chinese who might have some adoption credentials, other than members of the Russki Mafia or owners of shops in a Mallorcan McDonald's style - the Chinese bazar; one on every street.
While Chopin and the not-missus Chopin are invoked as part of the island's cultural and winter tourism, they might have greater contemporary impact had they played golf. Perhaps someone could conveniently unearth a 170-year-old pitch 'n' putt in Valldemossa; it would do wonders for the golf tourism project. Possibly. Golf, though, holds the key to greater off-season riches than piano playing. Or that's what they would have you believe.
It's doubtful that Chopin ever made it as far as Muro or the north of the island. But it is here that the battle for golf tourism is being waged - as if you weren't aware of this already. Muro's golf course development is going through yet another eighteen holes of it's on, then it's off; the promoters threatening to sue is the latest. Not, I imagine, that you care. No one much does any longer, except the main protagonists, one of which is the enviro doom merchants GOB.
The pressure group has been playing its own statistics game. What it has found, it reckons, are figures which "prove" that golf doesn't do anything to bolster tourism off-seasonality. I had hoped that the figures would be proof, as at least it would have been evidence of someone making a hard case one way or the other as to whether the Muro course, or indeed others, are of any significant tourism value.
The statistics show that in the lower months of the "summer" season, i.e. April and October, occupation in hotels in Muro and Santa Margalida (for which, read Playa de Muro and Can Picafort) is higher than those in Alcúdia and Pollensa. From this, GOB argues that golf does not benefit either of the latter two resorts, ones where there are golf courses extant, while it also argues that Muro and Can Picafort are already doing nicely thank you by comparison, and therefore, by dubious extrapolation, don't need a golf course (or courses). It then goes on to extol what are the highly limited business virtues of small niche tourism in the resorts, e.g. bird-watching.
What this argument overlooks is the fact that the early-season occupancy of hotels in Playa de Muro and Can Picafort can be explained by these resorts being centres of cycling tourism, more so than the other two resorts. By concentrating on hotel occupancy figures, it also neglects the fact that Pollensa has a far lower number of hotel places by comparison with the other resorts. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the fact that golfers might stay in other types of accommodation (and GOB doesn't take this into account), the findings do underline a point that I have made in the past, which is precisely the one that GOB is implying. Were there real tourist demand for golf in Alcúdia and Pollensa, then more hotels would open. Wouldn't they?
GOB's argument is persuasive up to a point, but there is one big hole in it - there are no figures for the months of November to March. The seasonality issue is a twelve-month affair. Winter tourism, or the lack of it, cannot be defined in terms of April and October. Which brings us back to Chopin and Sand. Has anyone ever attempted to prove a link between Winter in Mallorca and winter tourism? Maybe they have, and they're keeping schtum. GOB's claims are based on some science, but they seem post-hoc. However, they are not without a dash of merit. There ought to be more science, but one suspects that certain vested interests would rather there weren't.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Chopin and Sand were simultaneously enchanted and appalled by Mallorca, and specifically Valldemossa. It's the enchantment that gets hyper-brochured, alongside mentions of Chopin's output while in his mountain retreat and of Sand's legacy to the island, commemorated in the annual Winter in Mallorca cultural programme, named after her book. The selective writing of the history of the Chopin-Sand stay in Mallorca disguises the brevity of that stay and the deterioration in Chopin's health during it, a consequence of a miserable and cold winter. How he actually managed to play the piano, rubato or otherwise, is a mystery. Or perhaps he was blessed with warm extremities. Well, a couple if not one other, if George is to be taken at her word.
Chopin was from Poland. It's a happy coincidence. Name some of the "new" markets from which Mallorca hopes to attract more tourists, and Poland will appear high on the list. Having an adoptive son to boast about doesn't presumably harm that objective: the tourism juan-ies should be frantically casting around for a few Russians or Chinese who might have some adoption credentials, other than members of the Russki Mafia or owners of shops in a Mallorcan McDonald's style - the Chinese bazar; one on every street.
While Chopin and the not-missus Chopin are invoked as part of the island's cultural and winter tourism, they might have greater contemporary impact had they played golf. Perhaps someone could conveniently unearth a 170-year-old pitch 'n' putt in Valldemossa; it would do wonders for the golf tourism project. Possibly. Golf, though, holds the key to greater off-season riches than piano playing. Or that's what they would have you believe.
It's doubtful that Chopin ever made it as far as Muro or the north of the island. But it is here that the battle for golf tourism is being waged - as if you weren't aware of this already. Muro's golf course development is going through yet another eighteen holes of it's on, then it's off; the promoters threatening to sue is the latest. Not, I imagine, that you care. No one much does any longer, except the main protagonists, one of which is the enviro doom merchants GOB.
The pressure group has been playing its own statistics game. What it has found, it reckons, are figures which "prove" that golf doesn't do anything to bolster tourism off-seasonality. I had hoped that the figures would be proof, as at least it would have been evidence of someone making a hard case one way or the other as to whether the Muro course, or indeed others, are of any significant tourism value.
The statistics show that in the lower months of the "summer" season, i.e. April and October, occupation in hotels in Muro and Santa Margalida (for which, read Playa de Muro and Can Picafort) is higher than those in Alcúdia and Pollensa. From this, GOB argues that golf does not benefit either of the latter two resorts, ones where there are golf courses extant, while it also argues that Muro and Can Picafort are already doing nicely thank you by comparison, and therefore, by dubious extrapolation, don't need a golf course (or courses). It then goes on to extol what are the highly limited business virtues of small niche tourism in the resorts, e.g. bird-watching.
What this argument overlooks is the fact that the early-season occupancy of hotels in Playa de Muro and Can Picafort can be explained by these resorts being centres of cycling tourism, more so than the other two resorts. By concentrating on hotel occupancy figures, it also neglects the fact that Pollensa has a far lower number of hotel places by comparison with the other resorts. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the fact that golfers might stay in other types of accommodation (and GOB doesn't take this into account), the findings do underline a point that I have made in the past, which is precisely the one that GOB is implying. Were there real tourist demand for golf in Alcúdia and Pollensa, then more hotels would open. Wouldn't they?
GOB's argument is persuasive up to a point, but there is one big hole in it - there are no figures for the months of November to March. The seasonality issue is a twelve-month affair. Winter tourism, or the lack of it, cannot be defined in terms of April and October. Which brings us back to Chopin and Sand. Has anyone ever attempted to prove a link between Winter in Mallorca and winter tourism? Maybe they have, and they're keeping schtum. GOB's claims are based on some science, but they seem post-hoc. However, they are not without a dash of merit. There ought to be more science, but one suspects that certain vested interests would rather there weren't.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Suck It And See: The golf course in Muro
Never think that matters in Mallorca draw to a simple conclusion. If you are inclined to think this, then consider the matter of the Muro golf course. Yes, the arguments are of course still going on. What appeared as though it might have been a conclusion, when a bird protection order was made to cover the site of the course, is nothing of the sort, and now the Balearic parliament, thanks to block voting by the centre-right parties (Partido Popular and Unió Mallorquina), has effectively given the development the green light again, the right arguing that the course is in the interest of the island. The left say it is all about private interests, while the enviro lobby group GOB reckons the decision will bring "shame" to the people of Mallorca. The protection order might still hold sway, but if so it will, in all likelihood, need the matter to be booted upstairs, all the way to Brussels. Some 14 years after the project was first talked about, a definitive agreement and indeed conclusion is still to be made.
Something interesting has been happening with the press coverage of the golf development. There have recently been two interviews with the head of the Grupotel hotel chain, one of the main shareholders in the golf course, as well as one with the director of the development company. This has been interesting as the coverage suggests a shift away from what has seemed like press favouritism towards the environmental case. Or perhaps it is just a case of greater balance being applied. The arguments set out by Grupotel and its fellow hotel groups are well known: the course will help to reduce tourism seasonality and to add dynamism to tourism in the area; the development has received favourable environmental reports, and potentially harmful environmental issues have been addressed.
Despite the endless environmental points raised by GOB and the left, the environment is not, for many, the most important issue. What is, is whether the damn course is necessary or can be justified in terms of "adding dynamism". The pronouncements in the interviews have been vague, as has always been the case where the real value of the course is concerned. The PR problem for the developers is two-fold: the environment and a persuasive business argument. They have singularly failed to be persuasive. No assessment is ever made, at least publicly, as to how many additional tourists the course will generate or as to how much value it will bring to the local economy, except in creating a small number of jobs.
There is an inherent lack of logic to the business case. Firstly, the developers cannot count on a return from the sale of real estate, which is often a core feature of golf developments; there will be no residential construction. Secondly, while making his case for the course, the director of the company pointed out that the Muro course will have advantages over other local courses - unlike Pollensa, it will have eighteen holes, and unlike Alcanada, it will not be a luxury course. However, though this hints at a course for everyone, is a "luxury" aspect not part of a course's attraction, especially to hotel groups with four- and five-star hotels in their portfolio? Moreover, whatever might be designed in Muro can surely not benefit from the landscapes of Pollensa and Alcanada or the demanding links-style nature of the latter course. Thirdly, there are several hotel groups represented in Playa de Muro which are involved in the development. How can they all benefit, especially as there is seemingly an unknown, and a very important one - the number of tourists?
The course would add to the intangibility of the "quality" of Playa de Muro as a resort. This shouldn't be underestimated, but it is - once again - a somewhat vague concept, just as the real benefits of the course remain vague. Rather like the so-called "active well-being" branding of the area that is now to be initiated seems like an exercise in sucking it and seeing, with no hard numbers being given and any number of hotels which would be most unlikely to gain any benefit, so it is with the golf course. In business terms, the Muro course has all the feel of being product-led. Here's a course, now here come the tourists. It doesn't work like that.
As ever though, the business case for the course might still be redundant if GOB and the left were to finally have their way, and given the tortuous nature of the arguments and challenges over the years, one really shouldn't rule that out.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Something interesting has been happening with the press coverage of the golf development. There have recently been two interviews with the head of the Grupotel hotel chain, one of the main shareholders in the golf course, as well as one with the director of the development company. This has been interesting as the coverage suggests a shift away from what has seemed like press favouritism towards the environmental case. Or perhaps it is just a case of greater balance being applied. The arguments set out by Grupotel and its fellow hotel groups are well known: the course will help to reduce tourism seasonality and to add dynamism to tourism in the area; the development has received favourable environmental reports, and potentially harmful environmental issues have been addressed.
Despite the endless environmental points raised by GOB and the left, the environment is not, for many, the most important issue. What is, is whether the damn course is necessary or can be justified in terms of "adding dynamism". The pronouncements in the interviews have been vague, as has always been the case where the real value of the course is concerned. The PR problem for the developers is two-fold: the environment and a persuasive business argument. They have singularly failed to be persuasive. No assessment is ever made, at least publicly, as to how many additional tourists the course will generate or as to how much value it will bring to the local economy, except in creating a small number of jobs.
There is an inherent lack of logic to the business case. Firstly, the developers cannot count on a return from the sale of real estate, which is often a core feature of golf developments; there will be no residential construction. Secondly, while making his case for the course, the director of the company pointed out that the Muro course will have advantages over other local courses - unlike Pollensa, it will have eighteen holes, and unlike Alcanada, it will not be a luxury course. However, though this hints at a course for everyone, is a "luxury" aspect not part of a course's attraction, especially to hotel groups with four- and five-star hotels in their portfolio? Moreover, whatever might be designed in Muro can surely not benefit from the landscapes of Pollensa and Alcanada or the demanding links-style nature of the latter course. Thirdly, there are several hotel groups represented in Playa de Muro which are involved in the development. How can they all benefit, especially as there is seemingly an unknown, and a very important one - the number of tourists?
The course would add to the intangibility of the "quality" of Playa de Muro as a resort. This shouldn't be underestimated, but it is - once again - a somewhat vague concept, just as the real benefits of the course remain vague. Rather like the so-called "active well-being" branding of the area that is now to be initiated seems like an exercise in sucking it and seeing, with no hard numbers being given and any number of hotels which would be most unlikely to gain any benefit, so it is with the golf course. In business terms, the Muro course has all the feel of being product-led. Here's a course, now here come the tourists. It doesn't work like that.
As ever though, the business case for the course might still be redundant if GOB and the left were to finally have their way, and given the tortuous nature of the arguments and challenges over the years, one really shouldn't rule that out.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Protect The Birds: End of the line for the golf course?
Have we come to the end of the Muro golf course saga? Almost certainly not, but the latest development is intended to put an end to it, once and for all. Or so it would seem.
The Balearic Government has approved the widening of a zone of special protection for birds, currently applied to the Albufera nature park, which will take in the Son Bosc finca where the golf development is planned. There is still a suggestion that this is not definitive, though it's hard to see how it isn't. From the reports, the word "inviable" stands out. Swap an "in" for an "un" and you have the English.
Ever since the change at governmental level which saw the environment ministry pass to the Mallorcan socialists, putting a stop to the golf course has been high on the agenda. A previous order seems not to have done the trick. Now comes the protection of birds one.
One can, with a degree of certainty, predict that those in favour of the course - the developers (i.e. Muro hoteliers) and the town hall - won't take this lying down. It could well end up in the courts.
There is nothing in the least bit wrong with the extension of this protection, but the move smacks of finding anything behind which can be hidden what is surely the real impulse - that of politics. Why is this extension being sought now? The politics of, essentially, right versus left are so transparent as to be laughable. But if this is to be the end, then for God's sake let it be the end. It won't be.
Elsewhere in Muro, down on the playa, two vivid lime-green t-shirts loomed amongst the sunbathers the other day. They were being worn by two chaps who tramped across the sand up to where there are chalets by the beach, one of which has been abandoned for some years (a photo of which is on the HOT! Facebook page). One chap stayed in front of the abandoned building, just looking at it, while the other walked on a bit, looked at the other chalets, walked back, took his mobile from his pocket and gestured to his companion. They walked away. On the back of their t-shirts were the words "Demarcación de costas".
What did it all mean? Maybe nothing, but the Costas have had their eye on Playa de Muro for a while and on buildings that may or may not have the right to be where they are.
Finally. Greatly removed, but the Moat thing has been given only little prominence by the Spanish media. Compare this with the coverage by the UK media. Rather extraordinary, rather like unfolding events during wars, listening - at a distance - to Five Live as the man on the riverside holds his gun and is surrounded by police. How extraordinary the analysis of when nothing much happens, the analysis of the situation and of the man himself. And how extraordinary that Gazza turned up. Which brings us back to the World Cup. Sunday will be mental. Like Gazza.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The Balearic Government has approved the widening of a zone of special protection for birds, currently applied to the Albufera nature park, which will take in the Son Bosc finca where the golf development is planned. There is still a suggestion that this is not definitive, though it's hard to see how it isn't. From the reports, the word "inviable" stands out. Swap an "in" for an "un" and you have the English.
Ever since the change at governmental level which saw the environment ministry pass to the Mallorcan socialists, putting a stop to the golf course has been high on the agenda. A previous order seems not to have done the trick. Now comes the protection of birds one.
One can, with a degree of certainty, predict that those in favour of the course - the developers (i.e. Muro hoteliers) and the town hall - won't take this lying down. It could well end up in the courts.
There is nothing in the least bit wrong with the extension of this protection, but the move smacks of finding anything behind which can be hidden what is surely the real impulse - that of politics. Why is this extension being sought now? The politics of, essentially, right versus left are so transparent as to be laughable. But if this is to be the end, then for God's sake let it be the end. It won't be.
Elsewhere in Muro, down on the playa, two vivid lime-green t-shirts loomed amongst the sunbathers the other day. They were being worn by two chaps who tramped across the sand up to where there are chalets by the beach, one of which has been abandoned for some years (a photo of which is on the HOT! Facebook page). One chap stayed in front of the abandoned building, just looking at it, while the other walked on a bit, looked at the other chalets, walked back, took his mobile from his pocket and gestured to his companion. They walked away. On the back of their t-shirts were the words "Demarcación de costas".
What did it all mean? Maybe nothing, but the Costas have had their eye on Playa de Muro for a while and on buildings that may or may not have the right to be where they are.
Finally. Greatly removed, but the Moat thing has been given only little prominence by the Spanish media. Compare this with the coverage by the UK media. Rather extraordinary, rather like unfolding events during wars, listening - at a distance - to Five Live as the man on the riverside holds his gun and is surrounded by police. How extraordinary the analysis of when nothing much happens, the analysis of the situation and of the man himself. And how extraordinary that Gazza turned up. Which brings us back to the World Cup. Sunday will be mental. Like Gazza.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
The Corruption Fiesta Season: Operación Pasarela
The fiesta season is in full swing. It is reassuring that elements of Mallorca's traditions, like the fiestas, are in such rude health, despite everything. There is another tradition that is doing well and which has not succumbed to the slumber of the summer. Political corruption. Like fiesta merry-go-rounds or carousels, the investigations are jolly rides with a certain mystery - the murky world of political life, Mallorcan style.
A new tradition that we can now appreciate is that the corruption investigations centre on the Balearics' tourism ministry. The latest ones in this tradition are monikered "Operación Pasarela", the gangway operation. The pirates of Puerto Alcúdia's Sant Pere fiesta night party are being turned into the Pirates of "Pena"zance and being made to walk the gangway plank of the anti-corruption navy. (Pena refers to a judicial sentence, by the way.)
Whereas the previous - and ongoing - investigation involving the tourism ministry (the vulture case) has to do with goings-on at the old Inestur, the latest is looking at IBATUR, the tourism promotional agency, and at something known as the Fundación Balears Sostenible. All three of these organisations have now been wrapped up into an overarching tourism agency: not before time, and a re-organisation driven by cost-cutting and not by corruption - or maybe someone knew something. Of the three, Inestur and the Fundación were both created during the administration of Jaume Matas, under investigation - as I'm sure you remember - for all manner of carry-on.
The Fundación was established in 2004, primarily to help promote the "tarjeta verde", the green card of discounts with an environmental angle, and a glorious flop. Why the Fundación, like Inestur, was ever created or was necessary, one has to ask. Both are and were pointless, given IBATUR's existence and that of various other organisations. The awful conclusion that might be derived from the investigations is that there was another purpose to their creation - allegedly.
While the Unió Mallorquina party has been heavily implicated in the vulture investigation of Inestur, this latest one looks straight at the Partido Popular, Matas's party. The two parties do occupy similar political ground and are not unknown to partner up. Like other corruption investigations, this one also implicates marketing companies. There is a common theme to these investigations - these media or marketing outfits - along with accusations of false accounting and lining political parties' pockets: the corruption plod are wondering if money was diverted to political campaigning by Matas, a similar line of enquiry to the vulture case where the UM are concerned.
The currently implicated marketing companies also had much to do with the Mallorca Classic golf tournament, one that was buried into a bunker a couple of years ago, thanks to a withdrawal of government financing, by a government that post-dated the Matas administration. At the time, the government's pull-out attracted criticism and queries. In light of the Pasarela investigation, rather like the highly questionable institute (Inestur) and Fundación, what now does one make of this withdrawal of financing? The impression given, by all this, is that, just perhaps, someone in the political class knew something. Maybe and, as always, allegedly.
We might have thought that the fiesta season and the arrival of real, hot summer would herald the silly season of little happening. We would have been wrong. The less than silly season of corruption is still with us.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
A new tradition that we can now appreciate is that the corruption investigations centre on the Balearics' tourism ministry. The latest ones in this tradition are monikered "Operación Pasarela", the gangway operation. The pirates of Puerto Alcúdia's Sant Pere fiesta night party are being turned into the Pirates of "Pena"zance and being made to walk the gangway plank of the anti-corruption navy. (Pena refers to a judicial sentence, by the way.)
Whereas the previous - and ongoing - investigation involving the tourism ministry (the vulture case) has to do with goings-on at the old Inestur, the latest is looking at IBATUR, the tourism promotional agency, and at something known as the Fundación Balears Sostenible. All three of these organisations have now been wrapped up into an overarching tourism agency: not before time, and a re-organisation driven by cost-cutting and not by corruption - or maybe someone knew something. Of the three, Inestur and the Fundación were both created during the administration of Jaume Matas, under investigation - as I'm sure you remember - for all manner of carry-on.
The Fundación was established in 2004, primarily to help promote the "tarjeta verde", the green card of discounts with an environmental angle, and a glorious flop. Why the Fundación, like Inestur, was ever created or was necessary, one has to ask. Both are and were pointless, given IBATUR's existence and that of various other organisations. The awful conclusion that might be derived from the investigations is that there was another purpose to their creation - allegedly.
While the Unió Mallorquina party has been heavily implicated in the vulture investigation of Inestur, this latest one looks straight at the Partido Popular, Matas's party. The two parties do occupy similar political ground and are not unknown to partner up. Like other corruption investigations, this one also implicates marketing companies. There is a common theme to these investigations - these media or marketing outfits - along with accusations of false accounting and lining political parties' pockets: the corruption plod are wondering if money was diverted to political campaigning by Matas, a similar line of enquiry to the vulture case where the UM are concerned.
The currently implicated marketing companies also had much to do with the Mallorca Classic golf tournament, one that was buried into a bunker a couple of years ago, thanks to a withdrawal of government financing, by a government that post-dated the Matas administration. At the time, the government's pull-out attracted criticism and queries. In light of the Pasarela investigation, rather like the highly questionable institute (Inestur) and Fundación, what now does one make of this withdrawal of financing? The impression given, by all this, is that, just perhaps, someone in the political class knew something. Maybe and, as always, allegedly.
We might have thought that the fiesta season and the arrival of real, hot summer would herald the silly season of little happening. We would have been wrong. The less than silly season of corruption is still with us.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Porn-(ge)-ography: Muro's golf course stopped
Well, what a surprise. The change in regional government that has created the "super" ministry of environment, planning and transport under the control of a single minister, the PSM Mallorcan socialist "Two Jags" Vicens, has indeed had ramifications for the golf course in Muro - as anticipated (20 February: Mallorca's Two Jags - Muro and the golf course). The ministry, and therefore government, has approved the extension of a planning restriction order involving the Albufera nature park and much of its surroundings, such as the rustic beach of Es Comú in Playa de Muro and the area of Son Bosc, the finca designated for the building of the golf course; an order aimed at stopping changes to the Playa de Muro geography. This order, known as a "Plan de Ordenación de los Recursos Naturales" (PORN), has been welcomed by the enviro pressurists, GOB. They really ought to do something about their acronyms.
The ramifications of this extension are that work on the course has to be suspended, for at least two years, while studies are undertaken into the area's natural riches and into its preservation. This comes hard on the heels of the publication by GOB of a letter from the leading British botanist, Richard Bateman, which expressed his "incredulity" as to the "destruction" of the finca and which also drew attention to the existence of a fungus that is vital to the maintenance of the rare orchid, which has been the subject of most of the environmental debate related to the golf development.
Incredulity indeed. Incredulity that further studies are needed. It is debatable whether they are needed, other than as a convenience of politics. The PSM, and Two Jags, don't want the course to go ahead. It's as simple as that.
Initial clearance work had begun on Son Bosc. The developers (and also the town hall) don't necessarily see the ministry's intervention as definitive, and they are probably right. Hanging over this decision is the possibility of an early election for the regional government. It would have to take place next year in any event. Were there to be a change in governmental complexion (with the Partido Popular restored as leaders, which is quite possible), then there is every chance that this latest delay could be reversed. It was the PP which, back in 2003, effectively removed protection for Son Bosc.
So you see, it is all a matter of politics. The new studies are a red herring. The development comes down to the wishes of the PP (and the Unió Mallorquina) against those on the left, the PSM most notably and what has become almost its provisional wing, GOB.
At the same time as the town hall and mayor Fornés were arguing that work on the course should proceed, as reports from the environment ministry had given the development the all-clear, the local authority was also announcing that it has formalised the purchase of the bull-ring in Muro from the entertainment company, Grup Balañà. It will cost 450,000 euros, and the decision to purchase the site has caused consternation among opposition politicians, aghast at such an investment, given the town hall's supposedly parlous financial situation.
Why is the town hall doing this? There is an argument that the bull-ring is part of the local heritage and so deserves to be preserved. Fair enough, it dates back to 1922. But how often is it used, and for what? There is a bull-fight during the Sant Joan fiesta in June each year, but otherwise the stadium is largely redundant. The town hall insists that there will be more events, such as concerts, but then it would say that. The town hall also believes that it is a tourist attraction and one that would be added to a "tourist route" in Muro. Who are they kidding? Muro does have some attractions, but it barely features on the tourist list of places to visit as those attractions - the church, the museum for example - are poorly promoted. Maybe the town hall reckons that the golfers would make a trip into the town (some ten kilometres from Playa de Muro). That would be wishful thinking. And moreover, no-one has ever actually stated what sort of numbers would be generated by this damn course.
The bull-ring, the golf course, they are both symptomatic of a tendency to conjure up fantasy tourism, maybe-tourism. And in the case of the bull-ring, it is also representative of something - the bull-fight - that is being rejected by increasing numbers of Spaniards and that is abhorrent to many overseas tourists. Heritage, yep, fine, but the ring also occupies some not invaluable real estate near to the centre of Muro. Of course, if the town hall were to acquire it now, then maybe it might become more valuable in the future. Now there's a thought. Or, if you were a town hall that needs to raise loans, then it is always useful to have some assets on the balance sheet. And which town hall needs to raise loans - allegedly?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The ramifications of this extension are that work on the course has to be suspended, for at least two years, while studies are undertaken into the area's natural riches and into its preservation. This comes hard on the heels of the publication by GOB of a letter from the leading British botanist, Richard Bateman, which expressed his "incredulity" as to the "destruction" of the finca and which also drew attention to the existence of a fungus that is vital to the maintenance of the rare orchid, which has been the subject of most of the environmental debate related to the golf development.
Incredulity indeed. Incredulity that further studies are needed. It is debatable whether they are needed, other than as a convenience of politics. The PSM, and Two Jags, don't want the course to go ahead. It's as simple as that.
Initial clearance work had begun on Son Bosc. The developers (and also the town hall) don't necessarily see the ministry's intervention as definitive, and they are probably right. Hanging over this decision is the possibility of an early election for the regional government. It would have to take place next year in any event. Were there to be a change in governmental complexion (with the Partido Popular restored as leaders, which is quite possible), then there is every chance that this latest delay could be reversed. It was the PP which, back in 2003, effectively removed protection for Son Bosc.
So you see, it is all a matter of politics. The new studies are a red herring. The development comes down to the wishes of the PP (and the Unió Mallorquina) against those on the left, the PSM most notably and what has become almost its provisional wing, GOB.
At the same time as the town hall and mayor Fornés were arguing that work on the course should proceed, as reports from the environment ministry had given the development the all-clear, the local authority was also announcing that it has formalised the purchase of the bull-ring in Muro from the entertainment company, Grup Balañà. It will cost 450,000 euros, and the decision to purchase the site has caused consternation among opposition politicians, aghast at such an investment, given the town hall's supposedly parlous financial situation.
Why is the town hall doing this? There is an argument that the bull-ring is part of the local heritage and so deserves to be preserved. Fair enough, it dates back to 1922. But how often is it used, and for what? There is a bull-fight during the Sant Joan fiesta in June each year, but otherwise the stadium is largely redundant. The town hall insists that there will be more events, such as concerts, but then it would say that. The town hall also believes that it is a tourist attraction and one that would be added to a "tourist route" in Muro. Who are they kidding? Muro does have some attractions, but it barely features on the tourist list of places to visit as those attractions - the church, the museum for example - are poorly promoted. Maybe the town hall reckons that the golfers would make a trip into the town (some ten kilometres from Playa de Muro). That would be wishful thinking. And moreover, no-one has ever actually stated what sort of numbers would be generated by this damn course.
The bull-ring, the golf course, they are both symptomatic of a tendency to conjure up fantasy tourism, maybe-tourism. And in the case of the bull-ring, it is also representative of something - the bull-fight - that is being rejected by increasing numbers of Spaniards and that is abhorrent to many overseas tourists. Heritage, yep, fine, but the ring also occupies some not invaluable real estate near to the centre of Muro. Of course, if the town hall were to acquire it now, then maybe it might become more valuable in the future. Now there's a thought. Or, if you were a town hall that needs to raise loans, then it is always useful to have some assets on the balance sheet. And which town hall needs to raise loans - allegedly?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Cry Wolf - Muro's golf course
As sure as night follows day, so GOB objects to the Muro golf course. As sure as yesterday I referred to the payment of the tax being the final obstacle overcome in starting work on the course, so it could have been anticipated that the pressure group would exert some pressure to create a new obstacle. GOB is going back to an agreement in 2001 that effectively grouped the site of the course, the Son Bosc finca, with neighbouring Albufera as a protected area of environmental value, an agreement that was broken by the government of Jaume Matas in 2003. In retracing steps, yet again, GOB is levelling responsibility at President Antich (who was president in 2001) for not having "lifted a finger" to stop the work now going ahead.
Where or when does all this stop? The arguments have been going on for that long that GOB can indeed bring up something nine years old. Look back at maps for Playa de Muro of several years vintage or more, and you are likely to see "Golf" represented; it was there because it had been anticipated, years ago. It is fair enough that developments are no longer just bulldozed into being with disregard to opposing views or to environmental issues, but the bulldozers are soon going to be rumbling over Son Bosc, and there is little that GOB can do about it, short of gaining some sort of injunction. Its main political allies appear to be the Mallorcan socialists (PSM) who are trying to make things tough for the environment ministry (which has given the go-ahead) and which is headed by the Unió Mallorquina. Always the UM, seen as the devils of current scandals and the great devils of more and more golf. The PSM wants the ministry to act "urgently" in preventing the work. It won't.
It is in the nature of pressure groups which defend nature to object to just about anything, and GOB is no different. It does much that is good, but it creates its own problems by its constant wolf-crying, as does the enviro lobby as a whole which does itself no favours by coming up with ideas that are just plain bonkers, such as giving the coast road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa back to beach and nature. In truth, the biggest environmental battles have probably been lost, just go and look at Can Picafort's frontline where once there were dunes and forest which served as natural safeguards against sea encroachment. GOB fights the good fight, and its fights can sometimes be justified, but, as ever with single-issue groups with loud voices, how representative is it of the democratic process? It has been said that GOB should front up and join the established political process.
The Muro golf course may be of questionable value in terms of whether it is actually needed, but the environmental issues have been addressed. GOB, and the PSM, should just get over it, and, in GOB's case, move on to the next battle-ground. The course will be built. Long live the golf course of Muro! (I say that with some irony, as some of you may know from previous postings that I don't believe there is a case for it - in terms of demand.)
QUIZ
Today: which group did "Cry Wolf"?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Where or when does all this stop? The arguments have been going on for that long that GOB can indeed bring up something nine years old. Look back at maps for Playa de Muro of several years vintage or more, and you are likely to see "Golf" represented; it was there because it had been anticipated, years ago. It is fair enough that developments are no longer just bulldozed into being with disregard to opposing views or to environmental issues, but the bulldozers are soon going to be rumbling over Son Bosc, and there is little that GOB can do about it, short of gaining some sort of injunction. Its main political allies appear to be the Mallorcan socialists (PSM) who are trying to make things tough for the environment ministry (which has given the go-ahead) and which is headed by the Unió Mallorquina. Always the UM, seen as the devils of current scandals and the great devils of more and more golf. The PSM wants the ministry to act "urgently" in preventing the work. It won't.
It is in the nature of pressure groups which defend nature to object to just about anything, and GOB is no different. It does much that is good, but it creates its own problems by its constant wolf-crying, as does the enviro lobby as a whole which does itself no favours by coming up with ideas that are just plain bonkers, such as giving the coast road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa back to beach and nature. In truth, the biggest environmental battles have probably been lost, just go and look at Can Picafort's frontline where once there were dunes and forest which served as natural safeguards against sea encroachment. GOB fights the good fight, and its fights can sometimes be justified, but, as ever with single-issue groups with loud voices, how representative is it of the democratic process? It has been said that GOB should front up and join the established political process.
The Muro golf course may be of questionable value in terms of whether it is actually needed, but the environmental issues have been addressed. GOB, and the PSM, should just get over it, and, in GOB's case, move on to the next battle-ground. The course will be built. Long live the golf course of Muro! (I say that with some irony, as some of you may know from previous postings that I don't believe there is a case for it - in terms of demand.)
QUIZ
Today: which group did "Cry Wolf"?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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