Reliving Mallorca's Sea Of Experiences

Being an observer of matters Mallorcan can be potentially damaging to one's psychological well-being. One feels that one is constantly reliving a previous life or several lives. Haven't I, we, been here before? Once, twice or several times? What experiences have we had on the way that now come to be experienced once more? Can it be that we are tossed forever on a sea of experiences, washed ashore momentarily, only to be pulled back into the infinity of the sea and recycled by the waves of unrelenting repetition?

Right, well, enough of this flowery stuff. Let's get to the point. Hands up those of you who remember something called the "Sea of Experiences" (or "Mar de Experiencias" to give it its Spanish title)? You don't remember? Then let me remind you. This sea was launched in June last year. Mallorca's hoteliers were pretty pleased with it, as it was their idea. Along came the odd member of the regional government (though I'm unsure if the tourism minister was able to make it) and mayors from towns with a particular interest in tourism plus of course a whole load of hotel sorts. They all gathered at a golf club, were engrossed by the launch of the sea, had something to eat and then ... went home I suppose.

The "Sea of Experiences" is a document in which all aspects of off-season tourism activities are detailed. And it is a very detailed document, covering the usual suspects of golf, cycling, hiking, gastronomy, etc. At the time that the sea was launched, my reaction was ... "And?". I had rather hoped that the sea would contain some insights as to how it was going to break the vicious cycle of seasonality. It didn't. It was a document bursting with activities, names and addresses, routes for this and routes for that, and we are now being reminded of its existence.

The hoteliers had clearly found this document lurking in a drawer somewhere and thought it might be a good idea to bring it out in order to wave it in front of some other hoteliers and the man from Air Berlin who's now in charge of Spain and Portugal, Paul Verhagen. So, life was relived the other day. The sea of experiences was being experienced once again.

To be strictly accurate, the sea wasn't just sprung on the man from Air Berlin. He did have prior warning. So much so that Air Berlin will be participating in promoting the sea ("Ein Meer von Erfahrungen", one guesses), which is very nice of Air Berlin. It has shedloads of passengers who pore over the contents of its in-flight magazine plus further shedloads who subscribe to its e-magazine in addition to those who follow it on social media. Well over three million people, it would seem, and all of them likely targets for this array of out-of-season experiences in Mallorca.

Air Berlin may have been tinkering with its routes but it does account for some 50% of passenger traffic through Son Sant Joan in winter. It has had a special relationship with Mallorca that goes back to when it was founded in 1978 and it is the only airline which appears to be willing to make a great effort to bring people to Mallorca in winter.

Talking with the hoteliers and embarking on a campaign with them (the "Sea of Experiences") is intended, it is hoped, to address the all-too-familiar chicken and egg of airlines don't fly because hotels aren't open or hotels don't open because airlines don't fly. So the campaign would seem to be a positive step in the right direction, if only for German visitors.

The airlines do hold the key. But if they fly (and there is a wish to get other airlines on-board in a similar way to Air Berlin), they have to know that passengers will be flying to somewhere that is fully prepared to accommodate them.

The campaign sounds good, but are there not some fairly obvious points to be made? Air Berlin has been flying in winter to Mallorca for years. Yes, it has cut some of its winter routes but its flights have been and are numerous and regular. Has Air Berlin not been been promoting Mallorca previously? Where have those passengers who have been flying in winter been staying? In other words, for all the good intentions of the campaign, what will it achieve that Air Berlin hasn't already been achieving? Bring more German tourists is doubtless the answer. More but how many more? I wish them well.

MALLORCA TODAY - Hoteliers put Son Bosc golf back on the agenda

A meeting between the Mallorca hoteliers federation, the tourism minister Carlos Delgado and the director for ports and airports heard has raised criticisms of the lack of winter flight connections and of the regional government's tax measures. It has also raised various projects once more, one of them being the stalled golf development on Muro's Son Bosc finca.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

You Just Can't Get Agreement - Antich And Other Politicians

There was an interesting little thing tucked away in "The Diario" yesterday. Interesting, not because of what it said, but because of what could be extrapolated from it. The article referred to a meeting between Francesc Antich, the regional government president, and the hotel federation. The headlining element was that Antich suggested it was easier to reach agreements with business and unions than with political parties. From that, one can infer that it is not always easy to reach compromise with coalition partners. He is not wrong. But this was not the most interesting aspect. Antich is also reported as saying that "the political situation impedes the taking of measures that allow for greater tourism competitiveness". In other words, the very nature of the system is a constraint on Mallorca's most important industry.

Now, just think about this, and take into account also the fact that the hoteliers made a number of demands to Antich, one of which was for the improvement of public transport to Alcúdia, i.e. the train, the train that was effectively vetoed by Alcúdia town hall. Think about it. Who is now the new tourism minister? The mayor of Alcúdia, Miquel Ferrer, the one who stood in the way of the train because the town hall would not go along with the government's preference for the siting of the Sa Pobla rail extension.

The political system - the coalition - acts against the best interests of the tourism industry, including those to do with transport infrastructure. This is what Antich is saying. The coalition comprises three parties, one of which, the Unió Mallorquina, is represented in the tourism ministry, as it has been throughout the Antich administration, albeit by different politicians. Do we infer from this that the UM has been obstructive in tourism development? No, this has not been the case. But now that Ferrer is in charge of tourism, will he see the train in a different light, i.e. one that takes account of a wider interest than merely a parochial Alcúdia one of self-interest, as was manifest in the protests by the finca owners of the Son Fé area of Alcúdia? It is not for Ferrer, as tourism minister, to decide anything where transport is concerned, but he must have an opinion or be asked for one. Will this now change?

When Ferrer gave his first press conference the other day, one of the things he was not asked about was the train. Had he been, he would probably have deflected it by saying that it is not an issue for the tourism ministry. But he should still have been asked. Ferrer has been mute on the subject since the decision was taken to use funds earmarked the Sa Pobla extension for different projects. He has made something of a virtue of not saying things, but now he is tourism minister, he is going to be expected to be less taciturn. Though the train is effectively dead in the water until a new administration is elected, it nevertheless remains an issue, an issue for tourism development - as the hoteliers have made clear and, by implication of what Antich said, for the president himself, whose whole period of office was meant to have been celebrated as "the age of the train".

There is no collision course as such between Antich and Ferrer on the matter, as it has been shelved, but the very fact of the matter having been raised highlights - again - the difficulties created by different levels of government and different parties and also the potential complications for a politician elevated from a local environment to one of state (assuming one can call the regional government a "state"). Moreover, Ferrer will spend much of his time in discussion with the likes of the hoteliers federation. What will he say to them about the train? That Antich has had this meeting with the federation could be interpreted as a shot across Ferrer's bows, while a more active involvement in tourism matters by Antich, something I believe he should have, might be taken as either an admission of possible inexperience on behalf of Ferrer or of undermining him and also the UM.

Alcúdia town hall went against the preference of the government's transport ministry, one headed by a member of the Mallorcan socialists (Bloc), i.e. one to the left of centre, an area also inhabited by Antich. There is no love lost between the UM and the Bloc, and the train debacle was in so small part a reflection of this. Antich is widely admired for his patience and for his attempts at diplomacy, but one could forgive him just a touch of annoyance that one of his "big things", the train, was scuppered by the very person who is now his tourism minister.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Editors, "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zLxTGjpDew. Today's title - "you just can't get agreement" from a song with a choir by a Genesis off-shoot.

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