Agriculture's Contribution To Tourism

There does perhaps need to be a reminder as to the "purposes" of the tourist tax. The text of the legislation published on 30 March for what is officially the "sustainable tourism tax" states what the revenue is intended for. Under Article 19, the first of five broad purposes reads: the protection, conservation, modernisation and recuperation of the natural, rural, agrarian and marine environment. 

While this is a wide catch-all for environmental conservation, the third element (agrarian) is rather more specific than the other three. Or it appears to be. Agrarian conservation means aid to farming. Doesn't it? Well, not necessarily. There would be indirect benefits, but the intention is not for revenue to be spent as some form of aid to farmers but as a means of preserving agricultural land.

One accepts that the breadth of Article 19 is open to interpretation, but fundamentally the specific reference to "agrarian" is a recognition - at least in theory - of the need to maintain and improve the agricultural landscape. In so doing, again according to theory, the overall tourist experience will be enhanced.

Already, however, the interpretations are being opened. The union of farmers in Mallorca has demanded that revenue from the tax is made available to "support the work" of the farming community. It says that there should be an annual plan to assist with providing quality produce by means of compensation for work already done to preserve the landscape.

It has become evident that all manner of organisations, town halls and others are lobbying for tax revenue and are thus submitting their proposals accordingly. The farmers' union can therefore be excused for seeking a share of the pie even if, as was understood in the drafting of the legislation, financial aid for production wasn't intended to be part of the package.

As far as the general aim for agricultural landscape preservation is concerned, this seems reasonable enough. While I personally disagree with the ethos of the tax, now that it exists, then spending some of the cash in this way is laudable enough. The tourist experience is enhanced by landscapes of almond blossom, orange trees, vineyards, olive groves and what have you. These landscapes in themselves attract tourism, so why not spend some revenue on them?

Production is a different matter. The farmers would argue that the tourist experience will be further enhanced by there being "quality produce", but isn't there such quality already? What are all those marks for this that or the other, the designations of origin, the regulatory councils intended for, if not quality? It sounds as if the farmers may just be protesting too much.

It isn't as if this produce doesn't already find its way onto the plates and into the mouths of tourists. Hotels and restaurants have increasingly set about sourcing locally (a key aspect of sustainability that hasn't required the constant mention of the word, as it has been happening for a fair old time). There are regular promotions which involve the hotels. This summer, for instance, there was one for milk.

But note what the union says. Assistance would be to compensate for work done in preservation. This has echoes, for example, of what Arta town hall has argued. It has demanded greater financial contribution in recognition of the municipality having preserved its coastline and foregone the financial benefits of more intensive tourism. The town hall has a point but it is being somewhat disingenuous: the coastline and general infrastructure have been obstacles in any event. Likewise, the farmers are being disingenuous. Yes, they do preserve the landscape, but this comes with the territory, so to speak. It's part of what they do.

In a wider sense, what is or what should be the relationship between agriculture and tourism? The simple one, economically, is the provision of produce, and it is this relationship which underpins work by organisations such as Solimar International or which is contained in recommendations from the International Trade Centre. But this relationship has overwhelmingly been considered from the point of view of underdeveloped or developing economies: not comparatively mature ones such as Mallorca's.

As such, it is difficult to ascertain precisely what the relationship is and so what the benefit is or might be. Studies have looked at the contribution of agrotourism, for example, but this isn't what the government is driving at: it is the contribution of the landscape.

Where the farmers may have a point, however, is in guaranteeing the future of the agriculture sector and so its role in preservation. Over 60% of Mallorca's land is categorised as being for farming purposes. Agriculture may contribute a mere 1.1% to GDP and employ only 2.4% of the workforce (one that is getting older), but these aren't reasons not to maintain it or to preserve the land it uses. The use of the tax might actually constitute a groundbreaking initiative by the government.

The Saviours Of Mallorca

Mallorca needs saving, not from a collective fall from grace but by conservers and preservers of nature and of the manmade, fighting the good fight against claimers and defilers of the environment and of heritage. "Salvem" is the new rallying cry. Save this, save that. If we don't save whatever it is, then Mallorca is lost. Saving is all around us; calls for the conservation and preservation of both the great and the small are as never before.

There are "salvem" campaigns, groups, platforms, blogs, social media sites in abundance. So great is the saving that it might prove counterproductive; the island could sink under its sheer weight. To all the previous savings, two more have just recently sprung up from a land which, while not all of it is fertile, manages to organically grow new sources of saviour sustenance. "Salvem Sa Canova", "Salvem Portocolom" have allied themselves with, inter alia, "Salvem Es Molinar", "Salvem Sant Kanut", "Salvem Ses Fontanelles", "Salvem Andratx", "Salvem Es Trenc", "Salvem els Paisatges de les Illes Balears".

The two most recent campaigns conveniently distinguish between conservation (the environment) and preservation (buildings and traditions). Sa Canova is the former; Portocolom the latter. But there is common ground between both: symbolism, iconic status, heritage. Sa Canova beach is symbolic of unspoiled coast and iconic as a consequence, while the lighthouse in Portocolom is symbolic of a history that stretches back to the middle of the nineteenth century and is iconic because, well, lighthouses are deemed to be iconic.

The descriptions are a touch overworked. So much is symbolic or iconic that the words lose their power through their constant reiteration. But let us not quibble with the sentiments that inspire saving campaigns to invoke them; these campaigns generally have right and sincerity on their side as well as a moral rectitude of conservation and preservation to support them.

Sa Canova beach lies between Son Serra de Marina and Colonia Sant Pere and falls within the municipality of Artà. It is rustic beach, backed by dunes with one-time submarine-target towers that are familiar to the bay of Alcúdia coastline. Part of it is well known for being a nudist beach, but this is not its only attraction. It represents beach life that was once how it was. Son Serra de Marina, from where most of its visitors come, is Mallorca beach of a past time; laidback and undisturbed with a veneer of contemporary coolness and surf.

Somewhere along its length, the town hall in Artà is considering the installation of a chiringuito beach bar. It would, in all likelihood, be in the more popular nudist section, a walk of perhaps five minutes or so from the couple of bars which mark where Son Serra ends. "Salvem Sa Canova" doesn't want this chiringuito. Rustic beach should be rustic beach and that means the exclusion of a building, even if it would only be temporary and would be dismantled at the end of the season.

Justification for the beach bar is slim. It might be argued that it would be advantageous in terms of providing an additional attraction to tourists, but the argument lacks weight. Tourists go there precisely because the beach is unspoiled, while it is not as if there aren't places for refreshment close by or as if it is too far to walk with cool boxes. Artà town hall might eye up some revenue from granting a concession, though even this might have to be shared with the Costas Authority (which appears to have given its blessing). Why bother? It seems unnecessary.

The lighthouse in Portocolom is one of six lighthouses that the Balearics Ports Authority wishes to privatise. It would still operate as a lighthouse but would be converted into a hotel, a form of privatisation which, while not uncommon in other countries, had not been pursued in Spain until the national development ministry gave the go ahead for regional ports authorities to permit it a couple of years ago.

"Salvem Portocolom" is planning a protest against the privatisation plan later this month, arguing that conversion would conflict with the lighthouse's heritage value, history and status within the public domain. However, though the lighthouse is, given its coastal location, within the (state's) public domain, it isn't for public use. At present, it is well maintained but perhaps the fear is that, sometime in the future, it might not be, while clearly the state has a source of revenue to interest it. But if its appearance were not altered, would privatisation and conversion be so harmful? Maybe not, but for the saviours of the lighthouse, what matters are the symbolism and the heritage. The opposition is essentially, therefore, an emotional one, just as it is in Sa Canova, but what's wrong with this? Some things are worth conserving and preserving for their emotional value, and the number of "salvem" campaigns across Mallorca prove the point.

The Price Of Preservation

Inca has a local publication called "Dijous". It is a weekly, though its title carries more significance than just a day of the week. It is a nod firmly in the direction of the annual fair which took place last week. "Dijous" has this year been celebrating forty years of existence, which is an achievement of continuous publishing compared with many local magazines that have come and gone since then. Ten years after its first issue hit the streets, the bars and the banks, its front page for the edition dated 22 November 1984 carried photos of the Dijous Bo fair and an editorial which had nothing to do with the fair. Its headline was "El Puig d'Inca, el Puig de Santa Magdalena".

It was an editorial which referred to "our hill". Whether the Puig d'Inca or the Puig de Santa Magdalena (either will do), the editorial was concerned that it might have been on the point of becoming the Puig de Mallorca. It was clueless as to what was meant by a statement which had been released the day before publication which said that the Council of Mallorca had bought the puig. It didn't understand how the Council had come to buy it or indeed why it had. It recognised that the Council wasn't about to start taking bits of the puig away or to begin developing it, but it bemoaned a sense of loss of "ownership", that among the people of Inca.

What the Council was principally interested in was the hermitage, the Ermita de Santa Magdalena and church. The religious community at the top of the hill had been there since the days of the Catalan conquest in the first half of the thirteenth century. In 1931 hermits of the congregation of Sant Pau and Sant Antoni came to the hermitage. A year after the Council acquired the hermitage, they left, not because they were kicked out but because their number was in decline. There was, by 1984, an issue about the hermitage going forward. Who would look after it and preserve it? The Council resolved the matter by acquiring it.

Once the hermits had left Santa Magdalena, a process of restoration was begun, and work on the interior of the temple was finished in 1994. Despite the misgivings expressed in the "Dijous" editorial, the hill of the people of Inca and its hermitage were being cared for by the Council, and I use the story of the hermitage as an example of the preservation that the Council has undertaken and of the preservation which other bodies have been responsible for.

Other acquisitions made by the Council have included Can Weyler in Palma, the old Gothic house in the Calle Pau, which was bought for over 1.5 million euros in 2010, while other organisations include Sa Nostra bank and the Fundació Illes Balears. This latter foundation, formed by the one-time president of the Balearics, Gabriel Cañellas, at the end of 1988, has acquired seven properties. Among them are: the castle of Sant Elm, which dates from the late thirteenth century and which was bought by the foundation in 1995; S'Illot, a finca in Albufera known also as Ses Puntes; Son Pax on the Sóller road out of Palma; the eighteenth-century fort in Cala Llonga. Among the acquisitions made by Sa Nostra is the regional museum in Artà.

There are, therefore, various organisations which devote resources to preserving the heritage of Mallorca and of the Balearics. These are very laudable efforts, but how effective is some of the preservation and how sensible might some of the acquisitions have been? Take Can Weyler, for instance. Its cost was in fact more than double the 1.5 million, as the total was 3.2 million to include restoration work. Two years ago, former occupants of the building, ARCA, the association for the revitalisation of old (town) centres, criticised the lack of restoration. The Council had forgotten Can Weyler. And then there is Sa Nostra, a bank founded in 1882 as a non-profit organisation whose profits go towards social and cultural work. A month ago "El País" was asking why there was such apparent silence regarding the affairs of Sa Nostra since it had become part of BMN, a bank formed by crisis-struck institutions like Sa Nostra. The report said that it was selling off some of its culturally and historically significant properties. 

While the "Dijous" editorial in 1984 expressed its concerns, those were early days of autonomous government and of the Council's involvement in guaranteeing the future of Mallorca's heritage. It has unquestionably done a great deal of good in this regard, as have others. But one has to ask in certain instances at what cost and with what regard to ongoing restoration? 3.2 million euros at the height of the economic crisis was an awful lot of preservation commitment.

Mysteries Of Alcúdia's Port

Passengers with Saga Cruises have been undertaking a Magical Mystery Tour of the Mediterranean. The cruise involves surprises; the passengers don't know which their ports of call will be. On Wednesday, they discovered that one of them was Puerto Alcúdia. Saga Pearl II docked, and as has now become traditional, lady mayor Coloma Terrasa was there at the commercial port to greet the passengers. One says traditional; it is a tradition now only in its third year.

Alcúdia may not have originally been the chosen Mallorcan destination. It might have been Palma. But Alcúdia stands to receive rather more than the couple of scheduled ships this year. The reason? Palma can get too congested. According to the harbour pilot, Avelino Fernández, speaking at the time of the boat show earlier this month, six or seven craft are likely to be diverted to Alcúdia.

Before anyone gets carried away - and there has perhaps been some misunderstanding as to the type of craft that Alcúdia can accommodate - none of the ships is going to be particularly large. Sr. Fernández reckons that ships of up to 220 metres length could be able to use the port. To put this into context, the Prinsendam, the largest to have so far come into Alcúdia, was 205 metres and had a passenger capacity of 740. There are never going to be giant ships arriving in Alcúdia.

But what of the passengers onboard Saga Pearl II? What would their impressions have been? If they were aware of a touch of local industrial history, they would have known that the most obvious sign of such history was as old as most of them: the former power station was constructed in the 1950s.

While GESA's one-time source of electricity generation in the north will not prevent cruise ships coming to Alcúdia, its presence does not offer the most charming of sights for the arriving passenger. De-commissioned long ago, its future remains as much of a mystery as the Saga Mediterranean mystery tour.

Industrial heritage is a fine thing - and Mallorca could, were anyone of a mind to, provide interesting excursions that highlight this heritage (old mine works, former factories and so on) - but there is a place for such heritage. Next to a commercial port with ambitions of increasing its cruise-ship business is arguably not one of these places.

The power station was of course due to have been converted into a museum of science and technology. This conversion was conceived as having been "the clearing in the forest" by the Barcelona-based architects firm which won the tender. No sooner had they won and had they presented their design at Alcúdia's auditorium, than the project was put on hold. Even at the time that the presentation was being made, there was an admission that funding was not in place. When crisis struck soon after, the project was placed in mothballs. Last heard of, the president of the Council of Mallorca, Maria Salom, had intimated that the project hadn't been particularly sensible. It would have been, one can see with hindsight, a project that was typical of the days of plenty and of profligacy, one without any guarantee of success. A vanity project, in other words. It will never happen.

But there are plenty of people who want something to happen. The architects would have retained the two chimneys. Perhaps this was right, perhaps it was wrong, but it is the chimneys, more than anything, which are the evidence of the abandoned and rotting power station. Passengers coming into port can't avoid them. Anyone on the bay of Alcúdia, admiring the sweep of this massive watery chunk lifted from between Cap Farrutx and Cap Pinar, can't avoid clocking them either.

GESA, it seems, can't get away from architectural-preservation controversy and/or eyesores. The power station has far greater merit in terms of preservation than Palma's non-descript office block of sixties Brutalism, but its location is the issue. It is simply wrong for the present day.

This said, it does hold an important role in Alcúdia's history and development, as indeed does the old port, now modernised and with deeper waters for larger craft. Puerto Alcúdia had enjoyed tourism from the 1930s, but the early sixties tourism movement was only partially responsible for the boom that the port experienced. The power station and its workers were also responsible. 

Will anything happen? It's impossible to say. Demolition is probably not an option. One only has to think of the interminable wrangle and legal opinion in respect of the GESA building to know that demolition would be unlikely. So, passengers coming into Alcúdia will have to get used to the sight. The power station's going nowhere.

A Tale Of Two Houses

The antiquity of houses in the old towns of Mallorca hides any number of stories and reveals any number of secrets. Though some houses fall into a state of virtual ruin, the desire to preserve them is pursued with a passion for patrimony. Heritage and its maintenance has been elevated to a state akin to almost religious obsession. There is nothing at all wrong with such zeal, yet it can border on the homiletic in that a good heritage is preached, while sometimes practice does not match the sermon.

To get an impression of how, for differing reasons, the wish to preserve can fall some way short of what might be hoped, I give you a tale of two houses - Can Domenech in Alcúdia and Can Llobera in Pollensa.

Can Domenech dates back to the late Middle Ages. Much closer to the current day, in the 1950s it was bought by the Bryant Foundation which became the main focus of excavations at the Roman town of Pollentia. Towards the end of the last century the building was closed before being bought for the town in 2003, and most recently, restoration work commenced prior to the house becoming the headquarters of the consortium which now oversees Pollentia.

The restoration work, though, very nearly ground to a halt. In October, it was discovered that there were certain "irregularities" in the agreement drawn up between Alcúdia town hall, the regional government and the Council of Mallorca, each a party to footing the bill for the restoration. Up till the end of October, only one of the parties - the town hall - had actually handed any money over, which amounted to roughly a tenth of the restoration budget.

The problem lay with the fact that neither the former culture minister at the government nor his counterpart at the Council of Mallorca had the authority or competency to have signed off on the agreement. Work has since restarted, the town hall now having to pay more than had been originally planned.

Can Llobera in Pollensa is about as old as Can Domenech. The original building is reckoned to be from the start of the sixteenth century and it was in the possession of the Llobera family, whose most famous member was the poet Miquel Costa i Llobera, author of the "Pi de Formentor". It too was acquired for the town, Pollensa town hall handing over 1.5 million euros for the building in 2005.

And once the town hall bought Can Llobera, nothing happened. So much so that in September it was closed permanently because it was in such a poor state, part of the roof having collapsed.

A budget to allow restoration had been blocked earlier this year by opposition parties at the town hall who said they had insufficient time to study the proposals. Given the urgent need for work, they then abstained, thus allowing the town hall to allocate funds that had been intended for the building of a footbridge in Pollensa.

But funding still remains an issue, and a further issue is that, the building apart, what is actually inside it is in a state as bad as the building. Documents, including books and photos, all part of what the town hall paid for, are so far gone that they are beyond recovery.

The tales of the two houses aren't the same, but they both raise doubts as to abilities to pursue adequately the preservation of historic buildings. Can Domenech has highlighted, and certainly not for the first time, the bureaucratic bungling that can occur as a consequence of the three-headed monster of town hall, Council of Mallorca and government being allowed to get anywhere near a project. It is one that has left Alcúdia having to stretch a budget it doesn't really have.

Can Llobera is a tale of shocking neglect and profligacy. The town hall was prepared to spend 1.5 million euros on something which it appeared to have no interest in, beyond the publicity that it could have basked in at the time, and no plan as to maintenance. Arguably, it couldn't afford the building in 2005. Now, it most certainly wouldn't be able to.

Patrimony comes at a price, as both town halls have discovered. And for every Can Domenech and Can Llobera, how many other buildings are there across the island that need similar attention (or don't receive it) and similar funding? In a previous article (about the Son Real finca near Can Picafort), I concluded by questioning quite how serious different bodies are in preserving heritage. They are serious in putting preservation in motion, but that's the easy part. It's what comes after that they struggle with.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.