The 64 Commandments Of Magalluf

And lo it came to pass that Alfonso took miscreant hoteliers, bar owners and the Children of Albion to the Mount of Magalluf (sometimes referred to as the Hill). There was thunder, for Alfonso was in a thunderous mood. Although the Great God of Magalluf was otherwise detained at his majesty's pleasure, facing Lord knows how many charges, other gods (of greater virtue) gathered on the Mount and spake unto the assembled masses. While the hoteliers and bar owners were vaguely afeared (not much in truth), the Children of Albion were not in the least bit afeared. Nor did they hear the words that the gods spake unto them.

Given this lack of attention, Alfonso went into the midst of the cloud atop the Mount, which wasn't a cloud as such but more a sort of peculiar ozone created from the accumulated fumes of strong alcohol. For forty days and forty nights, he disappeared. Meanwhile the Children of Albion wreaked merry hell. They had no shame, naked in front of the gods. They fought and they fell, either through drink or because of a fist. After the full forty days, Alfonso descended from the Mount with a tablet. He was going to share all his images on the town hall's Instagram channel, but his thunderous mood had grown even more thunderous. It came to pass that he returned to witness scenes of the Children of Albion that he had thought had been expressly forbidden by the gods of municipal ordinance.

Lo, Alfonso's anger waxed hot. He cast the tablet out of his hands and did break it beneath the Mount. But before doing so, he did utter the 64 Commandments. Were the Children of Albion (and miscreant hoteliers and bar owners) paying attention? Were they to be advised that they could not covet a resident's ox and drive it along Punta Ballena?

Thou shalt not argue or fight in public places; Thou shalt not utter abusive language; Thou shalt respect others; Thou shalt not damage street furniture; Thou shalt cooperate with the police or officials; Thou shalt respect tourist facilities; Thou shalt not cause any interference to public events; Thou shalt not give false information about thy identity; Thou shalt not carry any sort of prohibited weapon; Thou shalt not disrespect police officers; Thou shalt not shine laser beams; Thou shalt respect any physical barriers put in place by the police; Thou shalt not damage litter bins, statutes, parks, gardens; Thou shalt not rip branches off trees; Thou shalt not carve names or initials into tree bark; Thou shalt not climb trees.

Thou shalt not litter the street; Thou shalt not damage flowers in parks; Thou shalt not cause discomfort to others with skateboards or balls; Thou shalt not defecate, urinate or spit in public places; Thou shalt not throw down chewing gum, cigarette ends, cans, papers or containers; Thou shalt not interfere with street lighting; Thou shalt not do any type of graffiti; Thou shalt not scratch surfaces.

Thou shalt adhere to safety rules on beaches; Thou shalt not swim when a red flag flies; Thou shalt not bathe anywhere that is prohibited; Thou shalt not wash any type of garment under beach showers; Thou shalt not place buckets under them; Thou shalt not drink from showers; Thou shalt not use soap or gel under public showers.

Thou shalt not have sexual relations in a public place or anywhere visible from public places; Thou shalt not beg; Thou shalt not drink alcoholic beverages in public places; Thou shalt respect the right of people to rest, especially between 8pm and 8am; Thou shalt not take drugs in public places; Thou shalt not go naked or semi-naked in the street; Thou shalt not commit balconing.

The remaining Commandments were ones directed at the miscreant hoteliers and bar owners. Meantime, the Children of Albion scratched their heads. Had there been any mention of an ox? Not as such. So the Children did covet oxen, not all of which were oxen, as they couldn't tell the difference to bulls. And these oxen and bulls were driven along Punta Ballena and the streets of Magalluf until the combined bovine squadron did spy females with red tops or red leggings. And they did charge at these women, scattering them and making the Jezebels flee, never to return.

Whereupon Alfonso did look favourably on this and heard the cheers of the people, who had been released from the scourge of the Jezebels. He called to the Children of Albion, who had coveted the oxen (and bulls), prophesying that they would inherit the Earth, or that bit of it that was Punta Ballena. Which is what they did.

Happy hour again, and again and again ... .

* My thanks to The Independent, which listed all the various regulations ("commandments") for behaviour in Magalluf and Calvia.

Bringing Harmony To Holiday Rentals' Regulations

The new secretary-of-state for tourism, Matilde Asián, has hit the ground running. In so doing, she has left her predecessors, notably the immediate one, trailing well in her wake. Of course it may only be an impression - and one that will come to nothing, as these things have a habit of doing - but at least she appears to be proactive. Or proactive in a reactive sense, seeking to undo a mess of inactivity and governmental buck-passing and head-in-sand-burying that she has inherited.

As noted a few days ago, Asián wants to get together with the regional governments and try and find a way of harmonising holiday rental legislation. This would be, again as noted, a volte-face by Madrid. It had directed the regions to take responsibility for the matter, arguing - with some justification - that each region's needs are different.

The needs do differ, but the principles do not, and when Madrid abrogated its legislative responsibility, it hadn't considered the impact of the so-called collaborative economy. One might argue that it lacked foresight in not having taken Airbnb and others into account, but for the past four years it has shown no sign of adopting a proactive stance in reacting to changed - and greatly changed - market circumstances. Until now.

There is to be a tourism sector conference at which the regions will be represented. Asián is hoping that harmonised regulation can be arrived at and be based on "equity (i.e. fairness), taxation and security". In respect of the latter, she has referred to the security which Spain offers tourists (a key factor of course in having contributed to so-called saturation, a further product of which is the holiday let). There has been some alarm expressed about the lack of control and information when it comes to people renting accommodation; hotels, on the other hand, know who they have staying with them.

Asián announced her initiative during the tourism forum in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria). One of those attending, Antonio Mayor, the president of the hoteliers in Benidorm and the Costa Blanca, said that "all administrations" had until now demonstrated passivity and/or permissiveness. There has to be proactivity, he stressed, in combating the black economy and the momentum towards a style of accommodation which threatens to "blow apart" the tourism economic model.

He would of course say this, as have others from the hotelier sector (and also their political supporters, principally the Partido Popular). But while the hoteliers may be devils in the eyes of some on the left-wing, the attitudes of the left, such as with the Balearic government, are being shaped by their anxieties regarding excessive tourist numbers and tax evasion. The passivity in the Balearics, amply demonstrated by the PP government under José Ramón Bauzá, is being discarded, even if Biel Barceló is scrambling around trying to cobble together coherent legislation.

The greatest single barrier to this legislation, as I also mentioned previously, is the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (LAU), national law that doubles - where some are concerned - as a fraudster's charter. Barceló has admitted that this is an obstacle, which is why he wants Madrid to change the law and to exclude short-term rentals under the LAU. He also said that the government intends treating such rentals as being touristic, even if they are not advertised as such. Quite how it will proceed with this is difficult to understand, unless Madrid amends the law. The government can always send in the inspectors, but there are only so few of these.

Barceló and also Asián face other obstacles. One is that the LAU is not a matter for Asián's energy, tourism and digital agenda ministry; housing matters come under the development ministry. The Spanish competition commission may well be another - its attitudes are generally permissive - while EU criteria would also need to be taken into account. Then there is the principle of "family and friends". While this is itself open to abuse, there are owners who genuinely do let family members use apartments without any payment. How might this square with Barceló's desire to eliminate LAU short-term rentals?

Having a national law on holiday rentals would make obvious sense, but although Barceló (and other regional tourism ministers) might welcome some intervention by Madrid, they would jealously guard their powers for tourism affairs, even if they don't really know what to do on the vexed issue of holiday rentals. With Barceló, he does seem to have some idea, but then what does one make of this business of him saying that holidaymakers would have to abide by communities' rules? Who would enforce such rules and how? Communities already tend to have such rules anyway. And fat lot of use it does them, if people choose not to observe them. Just like others choose to bend rules or abuse loopholes, such as with laws on rentals.

What's The Left's Problem With Fiestas?

Mancor de la Vall, as noted here on 2 July, is not the only village or town where issues have arisen with the organisation of fairs and fiestas because of the actions of left-wing town halls. Mancor's had to do with the lack of a licence for music concerts at the rooms used by the cultural association Arrels. Before a last-minute agreement was reached, it had looked as though last November's Esclata-sang mushroom fair would not go ahead, the Més-led administration having refused to give permission for the concerts.

There are now two further cases. In Calvia village they celebrate Sant Jaume each year (25 July). The residents' association has long organised the fiestas, the agreement dating back to the days of PSOE mayor Margarita Nájera (in office from 1991 to 2003). This agreement was subsequently ratified by the two PP mayors who succeeded her: Carlos Delgado and Manu Onieva.

Responsibility for fiestas at Calvia currently lies with one of the deputy mayors, Israel Molina. He is from Si Se Puede Calvia, a version of Podemos in the municipality, which is part of the administration headed by PSOE mayor Alfonso Rodríguez. Molina has decided to break the agreement, one by which the residents' association had been receiving 28,000 euros each year to organise the Sant Jaume fiestas and others, such as the Christmas market.

Molina's argument is that there needs to be an open tender to decide who organises the fiestas. The residents' association says it won't enter the tender contest because it fears there won't be the same level of budget as previously. It notes that other associations in Calvia have said that they won't enter the contest either because they accept that the residents' association is the organiser. The consequence - unless some other solution is reached - is that the town hall will have to assume responsibility for organisation; otherwise there won't be any Sant Jaume fiestas.

In Port Soller, the cultural association has expressed its annoyance with the town hall over arrangements for Sant Pere (now finished). It says that it won't be organising the fiestas in future, citing lack of support from the town hall: the association has identified an absence of financial assistance and failure to grant permissions. The councillor in charge of fiestas, Laura Celià of Més, says that fiesta organisation has to meet with demands under law. One of these demands may well explain the fact that the fireworks were missing this year.

This is not the first time that Celià has been at the centre of a rumpus over fiesta arrangements. It was she who insisted to changes for the May Moors and Christians (Es Firó). These entailed the closing of bars in the main square during the climax to the battle - the bars had to open stalls in another square - and limits to numbers in the square (identified by wristbands).

Do these examples all point to anti-fiesta policies by some left-wing administrations? The first thing to say is that PSOE doesn't appear to have any issues. It is the further left that does. A second point to make is that, as the Arrels association in Mancor had believed, it might be thought that a grouping like Més with its Mallorcan nationalist identity would be all in favour of fiestas and their traditions.

The fact is that they may indeed be all in favour, but the four cases - Mancor, Calvia and the two in Soller - indicate a rigorous application of rules. For Més and Podemos offshoots there can't be any even hint of flouting rules, of favouritism, of not going by the book: that's the sort of thing that the PP (and PSOE) have been doing for years. These rules relate to the fastidious insistence on tenders and to health and safety, the latter being something that has rarely been diligently observed in the past.

The Calvia case has echoes of a different reason for a tender: licences to operate a business activity. It therefore is not dissimilar to the Gelats Valls ice-cream kiosk issue in Puerto Pollensa. A left-wing administration has gone by the book in saying that permission cannot just be simply rubber-stamped and extended year by year, as has been happening. The left wants to be seen to be working to the letter of the law, even if it angers the locals.

Might there be other examples of fiestas being affected? Quite probably. There are numerous local associations who essentially run fiestas, or parts of them, for town halls. There are also the health and safety and indeed animal welfare issues. If the regional government ever gets round to definitively approving its reform of the 1992 animal protection legislation, might fiestas such as Pollensa's Sant Antoni be jeopardised? The use of the cockerel at the top of the pine is currently permitted because it is a tradition that is over one hundred years old (the definition for use of live animals during fiestas under regional law). But if it is deemed to suffer under the reform, then what?

The Wrong Type Of Tourism Regulation

There was a time, and it wasn't so long ago, that the local Spanish media made very little noise about the issue of private holiday accommodation. The tendency was to go along with how the regional government and the hoteliers portrayed the issue, namely that there was an underground economy that was operating a form of unfair competition (to the hoteliers). The narrative ignored the fact that this underground economy was the product of legislative proscription. Prohibition has often led to ways which circumvent it.

The attitude of the local media changed when the national government declined to take responsibility for private holiday accommodation and shoved it down the line to the regions. In practice, where the Balearics were concerned, the tenancy act reform meant very little. The status quo was maintained. Yet, the media had finally been alerted to an issue that had been rumbling for years. It started to adopt a more critical posture and it was joined by politicians from PSOE, a party which had hitherto managed to steadfastly ignore the issue.

Last Wednesday, the Diario de Mallorca devoted its front-page headline and its first two inside pages to a story which started thus: "Mallorca is playing with fire". The fire is that of prohibition, one that is said to be driving tourists away from Mallorca and to other destinations and one that will continue to do so. The sources of information for this claim, primarily representatives of accommodation web portals, do of course have their own business agendas and interests to safeguard, but nonetheless here was an overt statement that was highly critical of the government's posture. "Persecution" was one word used to describe it. The difference in attitude to that in Catalonia and elsewhere in Spain, where there have been or are moves to create a properly regulated system of private accommodation, was revealed starkly.

Mallorca has had a history of not appreciating tourism trends. Low-cost airline carriers were once considered a threat, so attempts were made to kill them off. The misunderstanding as to what low cost actually represented was still being perpetrated only three or so years ago by someone who should have known better: the then president of the Fomento (the Mallorca Tourist Board). Low cost equalled low quality. It was wrongheaded but was in keeping with a malaise that continues to dog Mallorca. The island cannot or is unwilling to adapt to tourism changes, and these changes are ever more rapid than they once were.

The P2P sharing culture is the latest of these changes and one of the most potent. It attacks the complacent notion of hotel domination and a misguided belief that Mallorca should exist for the benefit of its hoteliers and no one else. At a time when the regional government can bask in the warmth from the glow of new or redeveloped hotel complexes, straining extra stars inside their walls and grounds, it does not accept that there is a different glow, that of the fire it is playing with (according to the report this week).

Fundamentally, the government demonstrates an unwillingness or incapacity of intellect to appreciate just how much travel and tourism are changing. Driven by technological applications, there is a societal shift towards the tourist as user, and it is he or she who dominates and not, therefore, the hotelier tourism god. Holidaymakers will not turn their backs on hotels totally or anything like totally. There will always be very high demand, especially as quality increases. But this isn't the point. The tourist-user is not beholden to a conventional model of tourism, as it has been applied in Mallorca. There is a vast market which is proving that this is the case, and it is one to which Mallorca has to adapt and so introduce comprehensible, fair and flexible regulations in order to feature in this new tourism world. Is Mallorca up to the challenge? Until it finds those with the intellect, the understanding of technological advances and constantly shifting consumer values and the capacity to not say boo to the hoteliers but to embrace them in establishing a co-ordinated model that benefits different parties, then no. But change might be on the way. Let's see what happens in May.

Uber And Out: Ridesharing in Spain

You would never get an Uber driver talking over a crackly line to a controller, getting information as to the next pick-up and finishing the communication with an "over and out". Uber drivers don't do this type of communication. They don't have controllers. They go as they please within the cities they serve, anticipating pocketing 80% of fares, needing only an Uber phone, an iPhone supplied by the company (for a deposit) that is loaded with a driver Uber app. Their only spoken communication will be with users, those in the car or those who may phone with a specific request. What could be easier?

If you live on Mars you might not know about Uber. In which case ... a short lesson. Uber is an American company that was founded under six years ago. It operates using a mobile app via which users can find the nearest driver who is signed up with the company. No money changes hands, as the user supplies credit-card information. The fare is calculated through a mix of time and distance. Drivers are vetted, so they have to provide proof of a valid driving licence and vehicle insurance and photographic proof of their cars; no rust buckets with many a dent for an Uber driver.

Uber rolled out its first overseas service in Paris at the end of 2011. It came to Spain  early last year but not to Mallorca. The service operates only in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Or did. Before a judge instructed Uber to cease operations last month. The taxi-drivers in Madrid denounced Uber, claiming unfair competition from drivers who have neither a licence to operate as a taxi-driver or the specific insurance for providing a public transport service. Spain is not the only country to have introduced a ban. France, for example, has as well.

The ban is not, however, looked upon as the end for Uber in Spain. The company is looking at ways of working around current laws and also, naturally enough, at what other courts might have to say, which might well mean at European level. It might also be encouraged by the fact that Spain's National Competition Commission (CNC) declined in June last year to ban Uber. Indeed, the commission has since opened up a process of public debate and consultation into what is generally now being referred to as the "collaborative economy", one through which individuals offer their services (of different types) via other mobile apps or social media. The Madrid taxi-drivers have got their way with the court but not with the commission.

Uber and the ridesharing (or carsharing, if you prefer) service that it makes available is one part of the so-called P2P phenomenon - peer to peer, in this instance user to driver. Uber is the facilitator and not the controller, even if it does have or is supposed to have certain controls over its drivers and can instantaneously change the basis for fare calculation according to demand, as typified by its "surge pricing"; it was this which pushed fares up during the hostage crisis in Sydney and drew such an outcry, for which the company has since apologised.

Essentially though, Uber is peer to peer, with one of the peers, the driver, providing his service, his time, his skills (?) and his car. It is, therefore, a similar principle by which accommodation websites like Airbnb operate. A peer has a room, a flat, a house to rent. The other peer, the customer, books it; Airbnb makes its money by taking a cut from the rent paid, just as Uber takes its 20% from a car fare.

The competition commission has not confined itself to Uber. It has also opened up a consultation regarding the renting of private accommodation, something which brings us yet again to the thorny issue of the holiday let. What is interesting with the Uber case, however, is that the Madrid court has applied a nationwide ban. Where accommodation is concerned, of course, it is up to the regions to decide. But the ban makes it ever more imperative that Spain and its regions adopt altogether more coherent approaches to the "collaborative economy". P2P has muddied the already muddy waters of holiday let regulations, but it is not going away, either where accommodation is concerned or ridesharing or any other service. There is now a lobby group, Sharing España, which includes providers similar to Uber; they are simply not as well-known and don't attract the same controversy or attention.

Uber is not out. It will surely return, but it will require a shift in understanding by regulators of a dynamic - the "collaborative economy" - which as yet is not well enough understood in Spain and is certainly not well enough understood in terms of the way in which, in the grander scheme of things, it may well bring about a change to traditional notions of employment and of work.