On Behalf Of The Hoteliers' Party

And now, a party political broadcast on behalf of the Mallorca Hoteliers' Federation. "Good evening. As you know, we have been working tirelessly on behalf of all citizens of Mallorca to improve tourism, to create employment and to raise standards of quality in order to meet the challenges posed in today's competitive environment."

Well, this is not quite how it was, as the hoteliers have only released a leaflet and not taken to the television screens to present their manifesto; sorry, their ... . Their what exactly?

With there being so much talk at present of political pacts and of combinations (or not) of parties' initials, I have a suggestion. Actually, it isn't a suggestion. It has pretty much happened. There's a new pact on the block - the PP-FEHM (Federación Hotelera de Mallorca). The hoteliers' federation has despatched its leaflet, its manifesto in support of the Partido Popular to press outlets, extolling the achievements of the current government. The federation doesn't refer specifically to the PP, but there is little doubt as to where its sympathies lie, and they are not with Podemos.

To the fore in this manifesto are measures adopted, approved and taken by the government: the new tourism law, the decree on mature tourist zones, the decree of urgent measures to combat seasonality, the Playa de Palma redevelopment plan. All of them, by implication, have been required and/or successful. All of them have their virtues, but all of them, by further implication, are of benefit to the hoteliers and principally, the hoteliers.

The broader political message of the hoteliers' document is "the Balearics leads the recovery of growth and employment in Spain". Tourism, it goes on to say, is the "axis for economic recovery". Balearics and Mallorcan tourism has, therefore, been the motor of the nation's stagger towards economic improvement, and it is all, by yet further implication, due to the efforts of the Balearics Partido Popular. And its allies in the FEHM.

The federation in Mallorca has, as I think we all know, a great deal of power, and it is power founded on the strength of the hotel sector. So great is it that hoteliers in the rest of Spain are sometimes rather wary. When the federation turned up in Madrid last May with its fifty-point plan for tourist accommodation, this didn't sit well with organisations such as the national federation. It appeared as if Mallorca was assuming leadership and grabbing the attention of national government.

But Mallorca holds much of the national hotel power. There are of course major chains elsewhere, but no other region comes close to what Mallorca possesses. Its chains dominate the nation's hotel industry. It is little wonder, therefore, that they also dominate Mallorca's politics. When an island is as dependent upon tourism for its economic well-being as Mallorca is, then economics equate to politics, and in Mallorca, it is the hoteliers who truly wield the economic and so political power.

When the hoteliers refer to tourism being the "axis" of recovery, they are not wrong. They are also not wrong in pointing to advantageous measures that the current government has pursued. Some are extremely advantageous in lessening bureaucracy, permitting development and raising standards. But because they are also so advantageous for the hoteliers, the federation is perceived as being indivisible from the government and so the Partido Popular: the PP-FEHM. It is this alliance of commercial and political interests that causes the opposition it does in Mallorca. The hoteliers are perceived as acting only in their interests, with the politicians (those of the PP) in their pocket.

This all said, it has to be accepted that the realities of Mallorca's tourism are based on this hotel power. It also has to be accepted that for Mallorca to remain a genuine competitive force, there has to be a major overhaul of its resorts. Governments will only do so much. The private sector, the hotels and their investors, are key to this revamping of infrastructure.

Dislike in general society of the hoteliers - for their dominance, their perceived arrogance, their grabbing of others' business via all-inclusive, secondary activities and outright hostility to the private accommodation sector - cannot obscure their importance and their role in a remodelling of the island's tourism industry. Undisguised alliance with the PP should also not obscure potential risks that lie ahead with a change in government: the jeopardising of the more positive gains that have been made under the PP and through significant levels of investment made and in the pipeline. The hoteliers' interests are their own but they are not exclusively theirs.

Opposition parties might not disguise their antagonism, a reflection of a societal dislike, but they should be careful what they wish for. The hoteliers, the larger ones at any rate, have plenty of fish to fry, and these are on the shores of more exotic species than those to be found around Mallorca. Work with this power, not against it.

Sundowners: Who runs tourism?

As the sun goes down over the Antich administration, so various interested parties are toasting its lowering into the political horizon with gin and tonics raised at the yard-arm and celebrating the coming reveille of what we must expect will be dubbed a new dawn of Mallorcan politics. It's always a new dawn, as it is also always the end of an era.

Of these interested parties, one, the Mallorcan hoteliers' federation, has been pushing itself to the front of the queue to get a good look at the beauty parade of the contestants for the tourism ministry in Bauzá's Partido Popular government. Various announcements emanating from the federation have had a political edge and haven't always been veiled, as with the thumbs-down it has given to the idea of Carlos Delgado becoming minister.

The federation's most recent declaration is not quite so manipulative, but it is a warning to the new occupant of the ministry to ensure that it gets its priorities right.

When the current government gasps its final breath, a last post will be sounded for the dead body of the tourism ministry. Rather than it being buried with a stone that says "here lies the Balearics tourism ministry 2007-2011, may its sins be forgiven", it will be taken to a quiet spot in the Tramuntana where no tourists can be bothered to go and dumped in an unmarked grave.

The ministry's legacy will largely be one of it having produced the four riders of the tourism apocalypse - Buils, Nadal, Ferrer and Barceló - but it will also be remembered, if not mourned, for its inability to handle money, either legally or sensibly. And it is this that the federation is warning about.

The target for the federation is an online tourism logistics system that was first spoken about over a year ago and which is up for tender. The federation believes that it's a waste of money, especially when money is so tight and certain spends, such as that for promotion to the Spanish domestic market, have been cut. The tender process itself is costing up to a million euros.

The federation is probably right to be questioning spend on IT projects at a time of shortage, but is there something more to all this?

An information system that is supposed to increase efficiency and hopefully also effectiveness within the chain of tourism business should, you would think, be something that the federation would welcome. However, if you go back to when the concept was first announced, there was the cracking noise of various noses being put out of joint, one of them being the federation's. It wasn't consulted.

If it is the case that the federation wasn't involved, and appears to still not be involved, it is, at best, an example of lack of judgement by the ministry. You don't create this sort of system without stakeholders, the users, being intimately party to its development.

You have to ask, therefore, why it wasn't in the loop. Was it a case of the ministry flexing its muscles and showing who's boss when it comes to tourism?

It is the suspicion that this may well be the reason which makes you wonder whether an inability to work with key sectors of and professional bodies within the islands' tourism industry could be added to the list of sins perpetrated by the ministry over the past four years.

But, you can look at this a very different way. Yes, it may have been high-handedness on behalf of the ministry, but perhaps it wanted, needed, the opportunity to exert its authority. The federation, and it is not alone among bodies within the tourism industry in having its own agenda, can appear as being one which wants to call the shots.

The accusation by the federation that the ministry is mis-spending money could well be the PR spin to disguise the real intention, which is to send out a message to the incoming PP and its tourism minister that the federation expects to have its voice heard. It should have; of course it should. But lurking in all this is an issue as to whose voice is loudest and who it is who actually runs tourism.

The federation will probably have its wishes granted where Delgado is concerned, and if it does it will have proved it can exert its own muscle. And how much more might it wish to if the new minister is just another pale horse of tourism pestilence whose reins, like strings, might be easily pulled?


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.