With some fanfare, Alcúdia town hall has launched a separate website, described as one of the most advanced in Spain and designed to bring the town hall administration closer to the people. It is a system to show current and past activities and procedures engaged in by the town hall and to allow for certain bits of bureaucracy to be conducted online, such as registering change of address and requesting reservations of the public way (e.g. for specific events, one presumes).
At a cost of 330,000 euros, the system is bound to raise some questions as to whether it is a wise spend in these economically tough times, but it is confirmation that Alcúdia is wanting to be closer to the people (its words) and to be more open, as evidenced previously by an in-depth study of the town hall's financial situation over the past few years.
For all this, being a system that is one of the most advanced in Spain doesn't say a great deal about how well town halls engage with their citizens. I would like to be able to explain more about what the system is, but unfortunately, and despite the system having been announced to the local media, it isn't working (or wasn't yesterday). The impression, though, is that it is no more than might be considered normal communication practice by a local authority.
Transparency, accountability and openness form the accepted mantra by which local authorities should operate. A common accusation levelled at Mallorca's local authorities is that their affairs aren't transparent, while a further one charges the public service as a whole with having been slow to embrace modern technologies in order that day-to-day matters can be performed via the internet.
The perception, however, is probably some way short of the truth. There have been notable advances by Mallorca's public authorities in making the internet a means of making people's lives easier, but when it comes to openness in revealing financial affairs the accusation is more valid.
An assumption might be made that local authorities here have dragged their heels in being more transparent and being more up-to-date in the way that they communicate information. But in supposedly more open Britain, it isn't necessarily the case that local councils are that brilliant at exposing their financial affairs to public scrutiny, despite demands having been placed on them by the substantial figure of Eric Pickles, the local government secretary.
The financial requirements to provide good "e-government" in the form of online information systems for the citizenship can be a constraint, both in Britain and in Spain, and Alcúdia's system highlights the sort of cost that is required. Culturally, it is probably fair to say that the Spanish mentality veers towards a lack of transparency, while it is also fair to say that local authorities have often had good (and less than legitimate) reasons to keep their affairs under wraps, but such lack of openness is not universal. The organisation Transparency International has conducted a survey of provincial governments across Spain and a few have extremely high levels of openness. The Council of Mallorca isn't one of them but it does manage to score more than a 50% threshold of transparency, considered the minimum to qualify as being transparent, but it only just manages to exceed 50% in being ranked sixteenth out of 45 administrations.
Culture, as much as funding wherewithal, is the key to more open local government in Mallorca together with the political will to be more open. National government hopes to introduce greater transparency at all levels of government through a new law, but it has been criticised for being half-hearted. The political will, therefore, is more one that is shown at specific local levels, and in Alcúdia it does appear to exist.
Mostly all town hall politicians are well aware of the need for greater transparency, and many of them have placed themselves more in the firing-line by being on Facebook and other social networks. A good case in point as to how social media can swiftly change a town hall decision was that of the secretarial appointment of Nora Tugores by Pollensa's mayor Tomeu Cifre; opposition politicians went into immediate overdrive on Facebook in attacking the appointment, and it was revoked within a matter of days.
The social media, therefore, are playing an important role in creating a cultural shift towards an appreciation of openness by town halls in Mallorca. Indeed, it might not be an exaggeration to suggest that social media are and will be instrumental in limiting the potential for less than acceptable behaviour by local politicians.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Showing posts with label Local authorities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local authorities. Show all posts
Friday, October 12, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Big Units: New tourism organisation
Have you ever heard of "countryside units"? I daresay that you haven't, but you are now going to, as Mallorca's tourism is going to be organised according to them, or so says tourism minister Carlos Delgado, in what will be a "radical change to the organisation of holiday areas".
This radical change will allow for better management of tourism services and infrastructure and for better flows of information both between different local authorities and to tourists who know nothing of what may exist in the next town. This seems to be the theory, anyway.
These countryside units are not only in the country. They are also by the coast. There will be nine of them in all; units, it would appear, made up from towns with similar characteristics. They are also being referred to as "mancomunidades", which aren't communities of men, but supra-municipalities. The countryside-unit man-communities conform to an extent to existing mancomunidades which are meant to share certain resources (like waste management) and work together.
The so-called "radical change" is all part of what the government is sloganising as "all the land is tourism", a catchy slogan, and one that those in sleepy parts of the island who ne'er set eyes on a tourist will now have to get used to. Mallorca is going to be one big tourist resort, a Brotherhood of Mancomunidades, karaoke bars popping up in quiet backwater villages and tourists singing "kisses for me".
The regional government, which had seemed to be attempting to cut layers of organisation, appears to want to do precisely the opposite when it comes to tourism. The nine units will be "above" the individual towns, thus adding a further administrative element to an already over-administered tourism organisation in Mallorca. Or will they mean that the individual towns no longer have responsibilities for tourism but share them with others? This is what seems to be the on the cards, but you wouldn't think that all towns will take kindly to having to jointly promote themselves with others.
The units make some sense, as in, for example, there will be one for what is, except for a bit of a forest, all but a conurbation on the bay of Alcúdia, i.e. Alcúdia, Muro and Can Picafort. The hotel associations of Alcúdia and Can Picafort are already joined at the hip, though the association in Muro, despite the town being between the other two, is not. Others make less sense. Why does Calvià need to combine with Andratx when Calvià is already a conglomeration of various resorts? What advantage is there for Palma in linking up with Llucmajor when Palma is vast enough as it is? Palma town hall, having launched its own Palma 365 campaign and separate tourism foundation, now finds itself having to worry about the great German tourism drinking class of Arenal when it has one of its own.
Then there is the unit for the Tramuntana. World heritage and so on, but this is one big unit that stretches from north of Andratx to Pollensa. A community of mountain it may be, but what does Puerto Pollensa have in common with Banyalbufar and Port des Canonge? To be honest, Puerto Pollensa doesn't have much in common with Pollensa town, other than the name.
The units for the Pla de Mallorca and for Raiguer, i.e. inland parts of Mallorca to which no tourist would ever dream of going, also make sense as they correspond to the current quasi-administrative mancomunidades, but what difference will they really make to tourism? Indeed, what difference will any of these units make, other than to potentially stir up local jealousies and a lack of co-operation? The mancomunidades of the Pla and Raiguer have worked well when it has come to specific service provisions, but others have not, most obviously that in the north of Mallorca which has been wound up.
Despite towns sharing some similarities, these similarities were not strong enough for the six-pronged northern mancomunidad to stay together. Ditching Sa Pobla, Artà and Pollensa from the new one for tourism sounds as though there will be far more common ground between Alcúdia, Muro and Santa Margalida (Can Picafort), so it might just work, but is there really a necessity for any of this?
Maybe the minister can clarify his radical change, as it is hard to understand what it is going to achieve, but maybe there is something else behind it all. Is this the start of a rationalisation of local government and of town-hall mergers? Why stop at tourism organisation?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
This radical change will allow for better management of tourism services and infrastructure and for better flows of information both between different local authorities and to tourists who know nothing of what may exist in the next town. This seems to be the theory, anyway.
These countryside units are not only in the country. They are also by the coast. There will be nine of them in all; units, it would appear, made up from towns with similar characteristics. They are also being referred to as "mancomunidades", which aren't communities of men, but supra-municipalities. The countryside-unit man-communities conform to an extent to existing mancomunidades which are meant to share certain resources (like waste management) and work together.
The so-called "radical change" is all part of what the government is sloganising as "all the land is tourism", a catchy slogan, and one that those in sleepy parts of the island who ne'er set eyes on a tourist will now have to get used to. Mallorca is going to be one big tourist resort, a Brotherhood of Mancomunidades, karaoke bars popping up in quiet backwater villages and tourists singing "kisses for me".
The regional government, which had seemed to be attempting to cut layers of organisation, appears to want to do precisely the opposite when it comes to tourism. The nine units will be "above" the individual towns, thus adding a further administrative element to an already over-administered tourism organisation in Mallorca. Or will they mean that the individual towns no longer have responsibilities for tourism but share them with others? This is what seems to be the on the cards, but you wouldn't think that all towns will take kindly to having to jointly promote themselves with others.
The units make some sense, as in, for example, there will be one for what is, except for a bit of a forest, all but a conurbation on the bay of Alcúdia, i.e. Alcúdia, Muro and Can Picafort. The hotel associations of Alcúdia and Can Picafort are already joined at the hip, though the association in Muro, despite the town being between the other two, is not. Others make less sense. Why does Calvià need to combine with Andratx when Calvià is already a conglomeration of various resorts? What advantage is there for Palma in linking up with Llucmajor when Palma is vast enough as it is? Palma town hall, having launched its own Palma 365 campaign and separate tourism foundation, now finds itself having to worry about the great German tourism drinking class of Arenal when it has one of its own.
Then there is the unit for the Tramuntana. World heritage and so on, but this is one big unit that stretches from north of Andratx to Pollensa. A community of mountain it may be, but what does Puerto Pollensa have in common with Banyalbufar and Port des Canonge? To be honest, Puerto Pollensa doesn't have much in common with Pollensa town, other than the name.
The units for the Pla de Mallorca and for Raiguer, i.e. inland parts of Mallorca to which no tourist would ever dream of going, also make sense as they correspond to the current quasi-administrative mancomunidades, but what difference will they really make to tourism? Indeed, what difference will any of these units make, other than to potentially stir up local jealousies and a lack of co-operation? The mancomunidades of the Pla and Raiguer have worked well when it has come to specific service provisions, but others have not, most obviously that in the north of Mallorca which has been wound up.
Despite towns sharing some similarities, these similarities were not strong enough for the six-pronged northern mancomunidad to stay together. Ditching Sa Pobla, Artà and Pollensa from the new one for tourism sounds as though there will be far more common ground between Alcúdia, Muro and Santa Margalida (Can Picafort), so it might just work, but is there really a necessity for any of this?
Maybe the minister can clarify his radical change, as it is hard to understand what it is going to achieve, but maybe there is something else behind it all. Is this the start of a rationalisation of local government and of town-hall mergers? Why stop at tourism organisation?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Part Of The Union: Mallorca's mancomunidades
A "man community". Depending on your perspective, a man community would either sound distinctly ominous or something close to heaven. However, a man community, in a Mallorcan style, isn't anything to do with men. "Mancomunidad" (substitute the d's with t's to arrive at the Catalan alternative) means a union - and no sniggering in the back rows at the prospect of men engaged in union. The verb "mancomunar" means to unite, to be jointly responsible for or to pool, as in resources.
Pooling of resources is theoretically one essential ingredient of Mallorca's mancomunidades. There are six such unions, of which two, those for south Mallorca (Felanitx and Santanyí) and for the Migjorn region (Campos and Ses Salines), form one, which does rather beg a question as to why there need to be two of them. Anyway, the six (or five) of these unions are now indeed five, or four, as one of them, that for the north, has been disbanded.
The Mancomunidad Nord comprised six municipalities - Alcúdia, Pollensa, Muro, Sa Pobla, Santa Margalida and Artà. Or rather, it had, since 2009, comprised five, as Muro had decided a couple of years back to leave the union, which was somewhat unfortunate as the headquarters were in Muro: in the municipal building in Playa de Muro to be precise.
For fifteen years, this northern union had stumbled along, a coming-together of the uncertain, as there was no great certainty as to what its real purpose was. It did one or two things, like arrange for it to have a director and to devise the odd cycle route, but otherwise, it did very little. In theory such unions sound like common sense, but in the case of the one in the north there was a problem posed by an imbalance between the wealthier and less wealthy towns and between their economies.
Take a look at the six and this imbalance should become clear enough. Sa Pobla, for example, isn't a tourist town, while the others all are, but are so to varying degrees. Artà has comparatively little tourism, and while Muro and Santa Margalida have good amounts of it, neither is as wealthy as Alcúdia or Pollensa. The latter two towns really had no need for a union, and if it were a case of helping out others, it was a bit like Germany giving aid to Spain.
Competing agendas, the consequence of competing needs, meant that the union was never likely to work. But this said, each town has its own internal competing needs, and it is the job of town hall administrations to balance these. In the same way, had there been a will to do so, it might have been possible to arrive at a balance between the needs of the six towns.
Had there been a will, what should the union have been doing? Given the experiences of other unions on the island, the main activities might have involved the sharing of responsibilities for social services or for refuse collection. But was an absence of a will down to more than just imbalances between the towns? A logical outcome of towns working together and of pooling resources would be, as many have argued, that there should be a rationalisation of local authorities. A merger, in other words, or anathema in another word.
Of the different unions, two seem to be pretty active. These are the mancomunidades for Raiguer and for Pla, neither of them with tourist resorts and both of them, in the island's interior, with fairly similar needs. They have, for instance, worked together on matters such as water supply.
Though Inca and Marratxí, of the bigger towns in Mallorca, are members of a mancomunidad (both are part of the one for Raiguer), there are notable absentees: Manacor, Calvia and Llucmajor, each self-sufficient you would assume and each with a tourism economy.
What the different unions suggest is that for the most part towns which have significant tourist industries are among the "haves" of Mallorca or don't derive any great benefit from linking up with neighbours. They also suggest that where there are common interests, such as with the interior towns, the unions can probably work. But even here, one wonders if towns such as Inca would tend to dominate. And this, in addition to rivalries that would arise out of identity with individual towns, makes it questionable whether any rationalisation through merger of town halls could ever be made to work.
There is much to be said for more formal arrangements and for local authority amalgamations, but the experiences with the mancomunidades don't inspire confidence as they have been so uneven and so imbalanced. And there are other examples of union of which much the same could be said.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Pooling of resources is theoretically one essential ingredient of Mallorca's mancomunidades. There are six such unions, of which two, those for south Mallorca (Felanitx and Santanyí) and for the Migjorn region (Campos and Ses Salines), form one, which does rather beg a question as to why there need to be two of them. Anyway, the six (or five) of these unions are now indeed five, or four, as one of them, that for the north, has been disbanded.
The Mancomunidad Nord comprised six municipalities - Alcúdia, Pollensa, Muro, Sa Pobla, Santa Margalida and Artà. Or rather, it had, since 2009, comprised five, as Muro had decided a couple of years back to leave the union, which was somewhat unfortunate as the headquarters were in Muro: in the municipal building in Playa de Muro to be precise.
For fifteen years, this northern union had stumbled along, a coming-together of the uncertain, as there was no great certainty as to what its real purpose was. It did one or two things, like arrange for it to have a director and to devise the odd cycle route, but otherwise, it did very little. In theory such unions sound like common sense, but in the case of the one in the north there was a problem posed by an imbalance between the wealthier and less wealthy towns and between their economies.
Take a look at the six and this imbalance should become clear enough. Sa Pobla, for example, isn't a tourist town, while the others all are, but are so to varying degrees. Artà has comparatively little tourism, and while Muro and Santa Margalida have good amounts of it, neither is as wealthy as Alcúdia or Pollensa. The latter two towns really had no need for a union, and if it were a case of helping out others, it was a bit like Germany giving aid to Spain.
Competing agendas, the consequence of competing needs, meant that the union was never likely to work. But this said, each town has its own internal competing needs, and it is the job of town hall administrations to balance these. In the same way, had there been a will to do so, it might have been possible to arrive at a balance between the needs of the six towns.
Had there been a will, what should the union have been doing? Given the experiences of other unions on the island, the main activities might have involved the sharing of responsibilities for social services or for refuse collection. But was an absence of a will down to more than just imbalances between the towns? A logical outcome of towns working together and of pooling resources would be, as many have argued, that there should be a rationalisation of local authorities. A merger, in other words, or anathema in another word.
Of the different unions, two seem to be pretty active. These are the mancomunidades for Raiguer and for Pla, neither of them with tourist resorts and both of them, in the island's interior, with fairly similar needs. They have, for instance, worked together on matters such as water supply.
Though Inca and Marratxí, of the bigger towns in Mallorca, are members of a mancomunidad (both are part of the one for Raiguer), there are notable absentees: Manacor, Calvia and Llucmajor, each self-sufficient you would assume and each with a tourism economy.
What the different unions suggest is that for the most part towns which have significant tourist industries are among the "haves" of Mallorca or don't derive any great benefit from linking up with neighbours. They also suggest that where there are common interests, such as with the interior towns, the unions can probably work. But even here, one wonders if towns such as Inca would tend to dominate. And this, in addition to rivalries that would arise out of identity with individual towns, makes it questionable whether any rationalisation through merger of town halls could ever be made to work.
There is much to be said for more formal arrangements and for local authority amalgamations, but the experiences with the mancomunidades don't inspire confidence as they have been so uneven and so imbalanced. And there are other examples of union of which much the same could be said.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Show Us Your Face
I say burka, you say burqa. Burka, burqa, let's take the whole thing off.
If you happen to be a Muslim woman and happen to habitually wear a burka (or burqa), then you might be well advised to give Sa Pobla a wide berth. Little Sa Pobla, a town fast seeking for itself the title of Mallorca's most publicity-attracting municipality, is to ban the burka. Good for Sa Pobla. Not because it's necessarily a good idea, but because it's a means of deflecting attention from the town's parlous financial state.
Banning the burka, however, could help to swell the town hall's coffers. A 50 euros fine here, 200 euros fine there, three grand for a serial burka offender. "Alhamdulillah"; Sa Pobla is suddenly rich again.
Sa Pobla has a relatively high Muslim population. Most are from Morocco, some 2,000 people out of a total of around 13,000 inhabitants. According to one blog, other Muslims are from countries such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, and the women can typically be seen, clad in the burka or niqab, at the gates of schools waiting for their children. I'll take its word for it.
The town is to become the first in the Balearics to say no to the burka. It follows where towns and cities on the peninsula have led, especially in Catalonia (and the blog I refer to is a Catalan one). The Catalans have bigged up a burka ban. The town of Lleida was the first and then Barcelona said show us your face.
There is no ban as such on the burka in Spain. The national Senate voted in favour of a ban last year, only for the Congress to not vote in favour. The issue is meant to be up for debate, but seems to have been lost along with a general law on rellgious freedoms. Nevertheless, ban or no ban, the Islamic Human Rights Commission has complained that the Spanish Government permits local councils to regulate as they see fit.
When I first heard about Sa Pobla's ban, my reaction was "how can they?". I am not against them banning the burka - it is an absurdity; obscenity even - but on what basis can local authorities take such a measure? An order of good government, citizenship and co-existence would seem to allow them to do so. However, this is an issue on which the state should be arbitrating and legislating, not a small town in Mallorca.
The state should be legislating because ad-hoc bans are questionable in terms of the constitution, which explicitly makes provisions for religious freedoms and for safeguarding (for all people in Spain) their traditions, cultures and human rights.
It is this constitutional aspect that ties up with mooted reforms of laws on religious freedoms. The key word in all of this is "co-existence", one seemingly invoked in the local law in Sa Pobla, and "harmonious co-existence" in particular. This, and its definition in law and under the constitution, is a potential minefield. What exactly would represent the parameters of "harmonious co-existence"?
For the mayor of Sa Pobla, it is pretty clear what it means. The town should not be subject to "elements which ... distort the co-existence". Moreover, there should be integration based on the "values of our society, which is Mallorcan". It is the very mention of "Mallorcan", however, that shows how complicated the debate is and therefore how complicated any legal or constitutional amendment would be.
Are law and the constitution meant to reflect the traditions of every individual part of Spain when it comes to co-existence and religious freedoms? Because this is what the mayor seems to be suggesting. In Andalusia, there are values, as there are in Galicia and in Catalonia.
And to raise the "values" word is a minefield of its own. What are the values of Mallorcan society in any event? Or indeed of Spanish society?
The values, for which read also traditions, will mean that in Sa Pobla a blanket ban on the face being covered will not be totally blanket. A son of Michael Jackson would probably be included, and the wearing of balaclavas will certainly be included, but exceptions will be made for the pointy-head hoodies of Easter processions, for demons and beasties and for the "big heads" of fiesta times.
The difference is that the burka is not something worn for a specific celebration. Its wearing is absurd. Sa Pobla is not wrong to seek its banning, but it is wrong in that it should be the state which is deciding and in that it, as with other local councils, should not be allowed to play fast and loose with the constitution.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
If you happen to be a Muslim woman and happen to habitually wear a burka (or burqa), then you might be well advised to give Sa Pobla a wide berth. Little Sa Pobla, a town fast seeking for itself the title of Mallorca's most publicity-attracting municipality, is to ban the burka. Good for Sa Pobla. Not because it's necessarily a good idea, but because it's a means of deflecting attention from the town's parlous financial state.
Banning the burka, however, could help to swell the town hall's coffers. A 50 euros fine here, 200 euros fine there, three grand for a serial burka offender. "Alhamdulillah"; Sa Pobla is suddenly rich again.
Sa Pobla has a relatively high Muslim population. Most are from Morocco, some 2,000 people out of a total of around 13,000 inhabitants. According to one blog, other Muslims are from countries such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, and the women can typically be seen, clad in the burka or niqab, at the gates of schools waiting for their children. I'll take its word for it.
The town is to become the first in the Balearics to say no to the burka. It follows where towns and cities on the peninsula have led, especially in Catalonia (and the blog I refer to is a Catalan one). The Catalans have bigged up a burka ban. The town of Lleida was the first and then Barcelona said show us your face.
There is no ban as such on the burka in Spain. The national Senate voted in favour of a ban last year, only for the Congress to not vote in favour. The issue is meant to be up for debate, but seems to have been lost along with a general law on rellgious freedoms. Nevertheless, ban or no ban, the Islamic Human Rights Commission has complained that the Spanish Government permits local councils to regulate as they see fit.
When I first heard about Sa Pobla's ban, my reaction was "how can they?". I am not against them banning the burka - it is an absurdity; obscenity even - but on what basis can local authorities take such a measure? An order of good government, citizenship and co-existence would seem to allow them to do so. However, this is an issue on which the state should be arbitrating and legislating, not a small town in Mallorca.
The state should be legislating because ad-hoc bans are questionable in terms of the constitution, which explicitly makes provisions for religious freedoms and for safeguarding (for all people in Spain) their traditions, cultures and human rights.
It is this constitutional aspect that ties up with mooted reforms of laws on religious freedoms. The key word in all of this is "co-existence", one seemingly invoked in the local law in Sa Pobla, and "harmonious co-existence" in particular. This, and its definition in law and under the constitution, is a potential minefield. What exactly would represent the parameters of "harmonious co-existence"?
For the mayor of Sa Pobla, it is pretty clear what it means. The town should not be subject to "elements which ... distort the co-existence". Moreover, there should be integration based on the "values of our society, which is Mallorcan". It is the very mention of "Mallorcan", however, that shows how complicated the debate is and therefore how complicated any legal or constitutional amendment would be.
Are law and the constitution meant to reflect the traditions of every individual part of Spain when it comes to co-existence and religious freedoms? Because this is what the mayor seems to be suggesting. In Andalusia, there are values, as there are in Galicia and in Catalonia.
And to raise the "values" word is a minefield of its own. What are the values of Mallorcan society in any event? Or indeed of Spanish society?
The values, for which read also traditions, will mean that in Sa Pobla a blanket ban on the face being covered will not be totally blanket. A son of Michael Jackson would probably be included, and the wearing of balaclavas will certainly be included, but exceptions will be made for the pointy-head hoodies of Easter processions, for demons and beasties and for the "big heads" of fiesta times.
The difference is that the burka is not something worn for a specific celebration. Its wearing is absurd. Sa Pobla is not wrong to seek its banning, but it is wrong in that it should be the state which is deciding and in that it, as with other local councils, should not be allowed to play fast and loose with the constitution.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, May 16, 2008
What's Going On?
Wotzup? Wotz ' appenin'? Wotz t' do?
Things to do, events, fiestas, special days, fairs. There is a lot going on. The editor of "The Bulletin" on their website today makes this point, and he's right. He is also right to point out that getting access to information as to what is going on is not always that easy. This information falls into different categories - that like live music which takes place in bars or clubs and that like the local events and fiestas mostly all of which come under the auspice of the local authorities.
Are visitors generally interested in these sort of events, these fiestas? Are they not more interested in just staying in the bar and spending evenings getting pleasantly pissed? Well some are. Quite a lot are in fact. But quite a lot are interested in these events. Among things that I have something of a business association with is a mobile phone information service that is largely for Thomson (and First Choice) customers. The company that runs this tells me that one of the most important areas of information that they supply is that about events.
It's an interesting discovery and it confirms the fact that people, when on holiday, do want things to do. They are not all just content to stick around the pool, to stay on the beach or to sit all evening in a bar. The demand for excursions backs this up. But the local events are often poorly publicised. I recall saying that my local authority, Muro, appeared to do nothing for those of its residents who live in the beach area of the municipality (as opposed to the town itself) in terms of information provision regarding the main summer fiesta. Even the tourist office had no information until more or less the fiesta week had started. And Muro is not the only offender. Alcúdia and Pollensa can be just as slow, and when they do get information out it is - sometimes - only in Mallorquín. I have translated such information personally and put it onto the websites. It shouldn't have to fall to the likes of myself to do this.
There are people who come to Alcúdia who have no idea that there is a grand fireworks display in the port at the end of the San Pedro week. There are people in Pollensa who have no idea that there is a fair in Alcúdia in October. You almost wonder if the local authorities would rather people stayed away, especially if they are visitors. I'm sure that is not the case, but the information provision could be better and could be made longer in advance than it currently is. In my experience, though the fiestas and fairs normally occupy the same time slots every year, the actual programmes are released at short notice. Maybe they just cannot finalise them earlier, though I find that hard to believe.
The editor asks the local authorities to post this information on websites, and here he raises another interesting point because some of the town hall websites are next to useless. I am still trying to make sense of www.pollensa.com. They do a big job in publicising it, but frankly they're wasting their money. Muro? Forget it. Catalan only. Playa de Muro also has a fair amount of dosh spent on publicising its own site. Fine if you want to book a hotel but no more. Alcúdia, a more switched-on authority than the other two, but it isn't much better. So I guess it will just have to keep falling to the likes of myself to make the information available. It shouldn't be like this.
QUIZ
Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote "You'll Never Walk Alone" ("Carousel") which of course Gerry and the Pacemakers popularised and then the Kop took it up. And so, apart from the Liverpool connection, what do Gerry and the Pacemakers have in common with Frankie Goes To Hollywood? Yesterday's title - Nike. Today's title? Album by?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Things to do, events, fiestas, special days, fairs. There is a lot going on. The editor of "The Bulletin" on their website today makes this point, and he's right. He is also right to point out that getting access to information as to what is going on is not always that easy. This information falls into different categories - that like live music which takes place in bars or clubs and that like the local events and fiestas mostly all of which come under the auspice of the local authorities.
Are visitors generally interested in these sort of events, these fiestas? Are they not more interested in just staying in the bar and spending evenings getting pleasantly pissed? Well some are. Quite a lot are in fact. But quite a lot are interested in these events. Among things that I have something of a business association with is a mobile phone information service that is largely for Thomson (and First Choice) customers. The company that runs this tells me that one of the most important areas of information that they supply is that about events.
It's an interesting discovery and it confirms the fact that people, when on holiday, do want things to do. They are not all just content to stick around the pool, to stay on the beach or to sit all evening in a bar. The demand for excursions backs this up. But the local events are often poorly publicised. I recall saying that my local authority, Muro, appeared to do nothing for those of its residents who live in the beach area of the municipality (as opposed to the town itself) in terms of information provision regarding the main summer fiesta. Even the tourist office had no information until more or less the fiesta week had started. And Muro is not the only offender. Alcúdia and Pollensa can be just as slow, and when they do get information out it is - sometimes - only in Mallorquín. I have translated such information personally and put it onto the websites. It shouldn't have to fall to the likes of myself to do this.
There are people who come to Alcúdia who have no idea that there is a grand fireworks display in the port at the end of the San Pedro week. There are people in Pollensa who have no idea that there is a fair in Alcúdia in October. You almost wonder if the local authorities would rather people stayed away, especially if they are visitors. I'm sure that is not the case, but the information provision could be better and could be made longer in advance than it currently is. In my experience, though the fiestas and fairs normally occupy the same time slots every year, the actual programmes are released at short notice. Maybe they just cannot finalise them earlier, though I find that hard to believe.
The editor asks the local authorities to post this information on websites, and here he raises another interesting point because some of the town hall websites are next to useless. I am still trying to make sense of www.pollensa.com. They do a big job in publicising it, but frankly they're wasting their money. Muro? Forget it. Catalan only. Playa de Muro also has a fair amount of dosh spent on publicising its own site. Fine if you want to book a hotel but no more. Alcúdia, a more switched-on authority than the other two, but it isn't much better. So I guess it will just have to keep falling to the likes of myself to make the information available. It shouldn't be like this.
QUIZ
Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote "You'll Never Walk Alone" ("Carousel") which of course Gerry and the Pacemakers popularised and then the Kop took it up. And so, apart from the Liverpool connection, what do Gerry and the Pacemakers have in common with Frankie Goes To Hollywood? Yesterday's title - Nike. Today's title? Album by?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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