A conference in Brussels has been discussing Spain's labour market and its employment situation. Under the title of "strengthening the coordination of social services and employment in Spain - experiences and new opportunities", various experts have been considering how Spain can address "significant inefficiencies" in employment policies. Fundamental issues include the way in which the labour market is split so markedly between long and short-term employment, the need to protect the unemployed who are denied benefits, and the need for social services and employment policies to align in order to promote employment and training.
On the face of it, things are very much better on the employment front, but the drop below the 20% mark at national level for the first time in six years disguises the massive reliance on seasonal employment: 27% of the labour market is temporary, and this temporary status clearly does nothing for its sense of job security.
One of the areas that the Brussels conference has been looking at is the coordination at regional level between employment and social services. The capacity for these services needs to be increased. This assessment will ring bells in the Balearics, where the government has been pursuing policies to try and get the longer-term unemployed back into the labour market. The conference, while noting that there needs to be protection for those who lose their benefits, has nevertheless criticised a general policy of managing benefits at the expense of active policies to get people working.
The regional government has also been seeking to improve benefits, as with its social income scheme, one that has been widely publicised and yet which has benefited comparatively few people; far fewer than the government had suggested that it would. Although the Balearics have means of direct fundraising, the overall ability of the regional government to fund anything is inextricably linked to the system of tax revenue distribution, something that the Balearic government considers unjust.
What the conference is getting at, however, is how public spending should be prioritised. Should it go towards improving benefits or should it be for employment schemes? It should be for both, but the conclusion is that there has been far more of the former rather than the latter. Ultimately, however the pie is divided up, if there are to be greater regional efforts, then regional financing has to be reviewed in light of what these efforts might be. For the new administration of Mariano Rajoy, three of its greatest challenges are thus highlighted: policies to further reduce unemployment; policies to reduce the dependence on short-term working; and regional funding.
Boastful headlines referring to Balearic employment leadership and so therefore the lowest rate of unemployment are misleading. They obscure the fact of so much short-term working and job insecurity. The boasts may well continue into the Christmas period; not because of tourism but because of the need for shop and warehouse personnel, drivers, and call-centre staff. Set against this requirement, however, is the fact that construction demands are not expected to be as great as they have been over the past couple of winters. Seasonality is everything in the Balearics, be it because of tourism, retailing, building (much of it in tourist areas prohibited during the summer) and agriculture.
The employment figures will always tend to be presentable, therefore, and it does need pointing out that the underlying rate of unemployment in the Balearics is well below rates in other sun-and-beach regions, such as Andalusia and the Canaries. But however hard the regional (or national) government can work, whatever policies for coordination are arrived at, however much regional funding there might be, can the cycles of seasonal employment ever be disrupted to significant extents in order to give the workforce quality and secure long-term jobs?
There is another Gadeso survey. Its findings are not surprising but they are still disturbing. As Mallorca and the Balearics wave goodbye to a record season, the survey reveals that more than half Mallorca's hoteliers believe that profit has either stayed the same or gone down. For the complementary offer (restaurants, etc.), the news is even worse. Only 12% have had a more profitable season: all-inclusives, lower spending power, a short season are all blamed. And despite the boastful employment headlines, half the hoteliers say they haven't created new jobs, while 79% in the complementary sector have not. What jobs there are, it is admitted, are primarily short-term.
This isn't anything new. The imbalance in the labour market has existed for decades. Whether it can truly ever be overcome has to be debatable. For as long as labour market requirements are driven by seasonal demand, there won't be any genuine change. The Brussels conference can talk all it likes about improved coordination and greater regional employment and social services capacity, but if employment remains wedded to this seasonal demand, there aren't the jobs available.
Showing posts with label Seasonality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seasonality. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 02, 2016
Saturday, January 02, 2016
Seasonality And Jobs: The real problems for Mallorca's tourism
Things will be much as they were in 2016. The themes that dominated 2015 will be those most in focus this year. At island level, these will be all-inclusives, flights, holiday rentals, overcrowding, labour laws and employment, seasonality, the tourist tax, urban and rural planning and regulation. More widely, there will be the uncertainties of instability in other destinations and of terrorism. Mallorca will continue to benefit, but the uncertainties are such that atrocities closer to home can never be ruled out.
The year should see a raft of legislative measures with implications for each of the island-level issues. Despite its own uncertainty, the tax is the one for which there is some clarity. But the chaotic process that has so far surrounded it is not a good omen for when it finally comes into effect. The government, so determined to have it in place for the start of the season and to justify its annual budget, is ignoring the administrative difficulties it will create for different sectors of the tourism industry. It should have looked at the lesson of Catalonia and scheduled introduction for November, as was the case in Catalonia in 2012.
While issues such as the tax are of general and wide interest - and the same can be said of all-inclusives, flights and rentals - 2016 may well become a year in which the less headline-grabbing issues surrounding employment take centre stage. The regional government has already signalled its intentions to get tough on employment and tax fraud, with thinly veiled hints that big players are going to be put under scrutiny.
The German television report at the end of August which exposed alleged labour abuses by hotels and other businesses in the hospitality sector caused minimal ripples among the British on the island. But it most certainly was taken note of elsewhere. Biel Barceló, the tourism minister, said that such negative publicity can be damaging for tourism but he acknowledged that it cannot be ignored. As a member of a government that is committed to rooting out poor or illegal labour practices, he is party to an effort in which his ministry will be collaborating with the employment ministry, the tax agency and social security. Ideologically for this current government, the exposure of a big fish would represent a triumph. There are plenty of businesses which should feel that they are on notice and should be careful this year.
Labour abuses apart, there is the whole issue of the structure of employment. We have heard a great deal about the lack of job security in the Mallorca tourism industry but comparatively little about a key aspect of employment which provides this security - the system of "fijo discontinuo".
Some twenty-five years in existence, this was introduced largely in response to union demands to tackle exactly the same issue of job insecurity. However, over the years it has come to be seen - and is - of benefit to different parties: employees with such contracts and hoteliers. As such, it has been identified by many as a key reason, if not the key reason, for hotels closing in the off-season. So long as hoteliers have secured ample returns in the summer season, they have no incentive to open, while those on "fijo discontinuo" can collect benefit in the knowledge of their job awaiting them the following season.
Politically, it is not a subject that gets a great deal of airing, but this isn't to say that political parties don't take a view on it. Podemos, for example, is opposed to it because it benefits the great ogre - in its eyes - the hoteliers. Meanwhile, under national government budget proposals, there is supposedly to be an extension of incentives to hotels to keep staff on "fijo discontinuo" contracts working for at least ten months of the year, as opposed to the seven which is typical. The incentive would be on social security contributions: in effect, a 50% discount, and what has been calculated as an average saving of 675 euros per employee. In the Balearics, as an example, there are some 14,000 workers in the industry who have such contracts.
But seasonality, which is at the heart of so many of the structural and market malaises that affect Mallorca, its general economy and its tourism industry, has been an issue which has exercised minds ever since there was a mass tourism industry. Despite allusions to some one-time golden age, which never existed (look back at the tourist numbers if you don't believe me) and that has certainly not existed this century, seasonality will never be adequately tackled. The weather is of course a factor, but as important is the complete failure of various parties to address the issue seriously or with any sense of harmony. We'll hear talk of winter tourism taking off this year, but it will remain illusory. If only Mallorca were Tenerife.
The year should see a raft of legislative measures with implications for each of the island-level issues. Despite its own uncertainty, the tax is the one for which there is some clarity. But the chaotic process that has so far surrounded it is not a good omen for when it finally comes into effect. The government, so determined to have it in place for the start of the season and to justify its annual budget, is ignoring the administrative difficulties it will create for different sectors of the tourism industry. It should have looked at the lesson of Catalonia and scheduled introduction for November, as was the case in Catalonia in 2012.
While issues such as the tax are of general and wide interest - and the same can be said of all-inclusives, flights and rentals - 2016 may well become a year in which the less headline-grabbing issues surrounding employment take centre stage. The regional government has already signalled its intentions to get tough on employment and tax fraud, with thinly veiled hints that big players are going to be put under scrutiny.
The German television report at the end of August which exposed alleged labour abuses by hotels and other businesses in the hospitality sector caused minimal ripples among the British on the island. But it most certainly was taken note of elsewhere. Biel Barceló, the tourism minister, said that such negative publicity can be damaging for tourism but he acknowledged that it cannot be ignored. As a member of a government that is committed to rooting out poor or illegal labour practices, he is party to an effort in which his ministry will be collaborating with the employment ministry, the tax agency and social security. Ideologically for this current government, the exposure of a big fish would represent a triumph. There are plenty of businesses which should feel that they are on notice and should be careful this year.
Labour abuses apart, there is the whole issue of the structure of employment. We have heard a great deal about the lack of job security in the Mallorca tourism industry but comparatively little about a key aspect of employment which provides this security - the system of "fijo discontinuo".
Some twenty-five years in existence, this was introduced largely in response to union demands to tackle exactly the same issue of job insecurity. However, over the years it has come to be seen - and is - of benefit to different parties: employees with such contracts and hoteliers. As such, it has been identified by many as a key reason, if not the key reason, for hotels closing in the off-season. So long as hoteliers have secured ample returns in the summer season, they have no incentive to open, while those on "fijo discontinuo" can collect benefit in the knowledge of their job awaiting them the following season.
Politically, it is not a subject that gets a great deal of airing, but this isn't to say that political parties don't take a view on it. Podemos, for example, is opposed to it because it benefits the great ogre - in its eyes - the hoteliers. Meanwhile, under national government budget proposals, there is supposedly to be an extension of incentives to hotels to keep staff on "fijo discontinuo" contracts working for at least ten months of the year, as opposed to the seven which is typical. The incentive would be on social security contributions: in effect, a 50% discount, and what has been calculated as an average saving of 675 euros per employee. In the Balearics, as an example, there are some 14,000 workers in the industry who have such contracts.
But seasonality, which is at the heart of so many of the structural and market malaises that affect Mallorca, its general economy and its tourism industry, has been an issue which has exercised minds ever since there was a mass tourism industry. Despite allusions to some one-time golden age, which never existed (look back at the tourist numbers if you don't believe me) and that has certainly not existed this century, seasonality will never be adequately tackled. The weather is of course a factor, but as important is the complete failure of various parties to address the issue seriously or with any sense of harmony. We'll hear talk of winter tourism taking off this year, but it will remain illusory. If only Mallorca were Tenerife.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
The Illusion Of Purchasing Power
It was one of those statistical tidbits, of which we are fed a vast diet but which, I suspect, we take comparatively little notice, except when there is a nibble to make one wish to digest it. It had to do with purchasing power, defined in this instance as the relationship between consumer prices and average salaries. When I read it or, more accurately, wrote it, because it was a news item from the statistics bombarders of the news syndicates, it did for once make me stop and think. Not, as is sometimes the case, to try and fathom out what contradictory or erroneous message was being conveyed - trust me, this stuff is full of mistakes - but because of its implication.
What it said was that purchasing power in the Balearics has fallen this year by 0.9%: not a huge fall by any means but a fall nonetheless. The explanation for this diminution of power was that prices had risen whilst average salaries had gone down. On the price side, one might think that this was a result of inflation. There is inflation in the Balearics, the highest rate among the regions, but it is currently only 0.6%. There are deflationary pressures in parts of Spain, but not in the Balearics. Only just though. Inflation isn't much of a factor.
But even if it were, there was the fact that average salaries have fallen. How on earth can this be? Are we not supposed to be going through times of economic improvement, of recovery, of growth, of greater business confidence? One could always question the finding, but if it is true and if purchasing power is declining as a consequence, then this all hints at something that the announcements of better times don't: the recovery is not as strong as we're being led to believe.
Easy it would be to say that the positivity - that of politicians, in particular those from the Partido Popular - is all a pre-general election smokescreen: that the recovery is all baloney not matched in reality. Yet, we learn how in the Balearics there is greater buoyancy on the high street (not that there is one in the British sense), there is more spend in restaurants and what have you, there is more being spent at petrol stations. Which may all be true, but how much of it actually comes from the purse of the ordinary Josés of Mallorca (aka Joseps)? The restaurant sector, for example, has been saying that the buoyancy has been mostly confined to the tourism centres, thus implying that it is tourists who are the ones contributing to better times, and of these, it may well be the Brits who are doing much of the contributing, what with the pounds in their pockets stretching to ever greater euro purchasing power.
The retail sector may be a better guide, especially for certain parts of it which are showing good growth: household goods, for instance. As a general rule, tourists don't splash out on things like washing machines as souvenirs, so it's fair to say the growth is local. But this isn't necessarily the case across the whole of the retail sector. The petrol stations are enjoying the spend of the car-rental market, the supermarkets are benefiting from the rise in residential tourism.
Is growth, therefore, purely temporary? Instinctively, you would have to think that it is, given the nature of so much economic and employment activity in Mallorca. And if, underlying this, there is a trend towards reduced purchasing power, then the imbalance of the economy will be more sharply revealed come the winter months.
But this still doesn't explain why it might be that average salaries appear to be falling. Unless, that is, one factors in the growth of seasonal employment. When there are that many more people on low pay, taken on because of increased tourism demand, then the average distribution will tend to show a reduction: a greater proportion of the lower paid will drag down the average of the higher paid.
Does this really matter? In a way it doesn't. It has been ever thus with the seasonal nature of employment, after all. The likelihood might be that purchasing power, following the definition applied here, would rise in winter but only because of all the low-paid who go on the dole. But it does matter from the point of view of all that is being said of the "precarious" nature of this employment, the inherent insecurity and the potential for abuse and exploitation, plus the sheer seasonality of it.
This has been one of the themes of this summer, principally because the new government has made it one. But will this cycle ever be broken? The hoteliers are raising prices massively for next year. Will these result in better pay? Don't bet on it.
What it said was that purchasing power in the Balearics has fallen this year by 0.9%: not a huge fall by any means but a fall nonetheless. The explanation for this diminution of power was that prices had risen whilst average salaries had gone down. On the price side, one might think that this was a result of inflation. There is inflation in the Balearics, the highest rate among the regions, but it is currently only 0.6%. There are deflationary pressures in parts of Spain, but not in the Balearics. Only just though. Inflation isn't much of a factor.
But even if it were, there was the fact that average salaries have fallen. How on earth can this be? Are we not supposed to be going through times of economic improvement, of recovery, of growth, of greater business confidence? One could always question the finding, but if it is true and if purchasing power is declining as a consequence, then this all hints at something that the announcements of better times don't: the recovery is not as strong as we're being led to believe.
Easy it would be to say that the positivity - that of politicians, in particular those from the Partido Popular - is all a pre-general election smokescreen: that the recovery is all baloney not matched in reality. Yet, we learn how in the Balearics there is greater buoyancy on the high street (not that there is one in the British sense), there is more spend in restaurants and what have you, there is more being spent at petrol stations. Which may all be true, but how much of it actually comes from the purse of the ordinary Josés of Mallorca (aka Joseps)? The restaurant sector, for example, has been saying that the buoyancy has been mostly confined to the tourism centres, thus implying that it is tourists who are the ones contributing to better times, and of these, it may well be the Brits who are doing much of the contributing, what with the pounds in their pockets stretching to ever greater euro purchasing power.
The retail sector may be a better guide, especially for certain parts of it which are showing good growth: household goods, for instance. As a general rule, tourists don't splash out on things like washing machines as souvenirs, so it's fair to say the growth is local. But this isn't necessarily the case across the whole of the retail sector. The petrol stations are enjoying the spend of the car-rental market, the supermarkets are benefiting from the rise in residential tourism.
Is growth, therefore, purely temporary? Instinctively, you would have to think that it is, given the nature of so much economic and employment activity in Mallorca. And if, underlying this, there is a trend towards reduced purchasing power, then the imbalance of the economy will be more sharply revealed come the winter months.
But this still doesn't explain why it might be that average salaries appear to be falling. Unless, that is, one factors in the growth of seasonal employment. When there are that many more people on low pay, taken on because of increased tourism demand, then the average distribution will tend to show a reduction: a greater proportion of the lower paid will drag down the average of the higher paid.
Does this really matter? In a way it doesn't. It has been ever thus with the seasonal nature of employment, after all. The likelihood might be that purchasing power, following the definition applied here, would rise in winter but only because of all the low-paid who go on the dole. But it does matter from the point of view of all that is being said of the "precarious" nature of this employment, the inherent insecurity and the potential for abuse and exploitation, plus the sheer seasonality of it.
This has been one of the themes of this summer, principally because the new government has made it one. But will this cycle ever be broken? The hoteliers are raising prices massively for next year. Will these result in better pay? Don't bet on it.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Tackling Seasonality
Unsurprisingly, there has been a fair amount of politics dominating the tourism scene over the past few days, but it hasn't all been local politics. Consultants Grant Thornton have issued a report which has found that businesses in Spain are, after those in Ireland, the most concerned about the possibility that the UK might exit the European Union. The concern stems largely from the fact that of the 65 million tourists who come to Spain, 15 million of them are from the UK. It's not clear why the UK being in or out of the EU should make any real difference to tourism, but the uncertainty that an exit might provoke is probably at the heart of these concerns and, as ever, business does not like uncertainty.
Back here in Mallorca, the politics of a possible eco-tax was high on the agenda of a meeting of representatives of the hotel industry in Palma. It would be "detrimental" and especially to ambitions to tackle Mallorca's seasonality. This observation came from Bernat Vicens of Fergus Hotels who also had things to say about hoteliers' abilities to adapt what they have to offer to an out-of-season tourist client: he appeared to be unconvinced that they possessed such abilities or the self-analysis that might bring about some adaptation. Fergus is following in the footsteps of Cursach in seeking to introduce a different and better class of younger tourism to Magalluf, and Vicens, while admitting that Magalluf has its hooligan element, argued that the resort was not dangerous and that it had a bright future, thanks to investments like those by Fergus and Meliá. Meanwhile, there were reports from Magalluf about how bars are trying to attract more business by making happy hour offers of drink as much as you like for only five euros. The bars might be criticised for doing so, but then they are, after all, in competition with all-inclusives.
Others at the Palma meeting stressed the need for there to be greater imagination in hotel marketing in order to attract a winter tourist to Mallorca, while the leadership of Palma as an all-year destination was seen as a model through which it could spread winter tourism elsewhere, though the elsewhere was only as far as Playa de Palma and Calvia: at least it might be a spread though. The Palacio de Congresos was cited as an example of how off-season tourism could be increased, but the Palacio, yet again, was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Because of the need to revalue the hotel, the adjudication of the complex's management in favour of Barceló will now have to be revisited once a new administration is in situ at Palma City Council, but the whole future for the Palacio was once more brought into question by the Més spokesperson at the council who suggested that there should be a feasibility study, one which might lead to the Palacio's demolition. It seems extraordinary that there would even be mention of feasibility at this stage of the Palacio's development, but then such has been the less than ordinary history of the complex.
While there was uncertainty surrounding the Palacio, the International Congress and Convention Association was issuing its annual report into conference destinations. Spain remains third in terms of the total number of meetings behind the US and Germany, with Madrid and Barcelona in, respectively, third and fifth positions when it comes to cities. What is noticeable about this listing is that all the top-twenty cities are those which are served by significant levels of direct air traffic: Palma is in no position to compete in this regard.
Back here in Mallorca, the politics of a possible eco-tax was high on the agenda of a meeting of representatives of the hotel industry in Palma. It would be "detrimental" and especially to ambitions to tackle Mallorca's seasonality. This observation came from Bernat Vicens of Fergus Hotels who also had things to say about hoteliers' abilities to adapt what they have to offer to an out-of-season tourist client: he appeared to be unconvinced that they possessed such abilities or the self-analysis that might bring about some adaptation. Fergus is following in the footsteps of Cursach in seeking to introduce a different and better class of younger tourism to Magalluf, and Vicens, while admitting that Magalluf has its hooligan element, argued that the resort was not dangerous and that it had a bright future, thanks to investments like those by Fergus and Meliá. Meanwhile, there were reports from Magalluf about how bars are trying to attract more business by making happy hour offers of drink as much as you like for only five euros. The bars might be criticised for doing so, but then they are, after all, in competition with all-inclusives.
Others at the Palma meeting stressed the need for there to be greater imagination in hotel marketing in order to attract a winter tourist to Mallorca, while the leadership of Palma as an all-year destination was seen as a model through which it could spread winter tourism elsewhere, though the elsewhere was only as far as Playa de Palma and Calvia: at least it might be a spread though. The Palacio de Congresos was cited as an example of how off-season tourism could be increased, but the Palacio, yet again, was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Because of the need to revalue the hotel, the adjudication of the complex's management in favour of Barceló will now have to be revisited once a new administration is in situ at Palma City Council, but the whole future for the Palacio was once more brought into question by the Més spokesperson at the council who suggested that there should be a feasibility study, one which might lead to the Palacio's demolition. It seems extraordinary that there would even be mention of feasibility at this stage of the Palacio's development, but then such has been the less than ordinary history of the complex.
While there was uncertainty surrounding the Palacio, the International Congress and Convention Association was issuing its annual report into conference destinations. Spain remains third in terms of the total number of meetings behind the US and Germany, with Madrid and Barcelona in, respectively, third and fifth positions when it comes to cities. What is noticeable about this listing is that all the top-twenty cities are those which are served by significant levels of direct air traffic: Palma is in no position to compete in this regard.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Tourism Promotion And Decree
In the past week we have witnessed a flurry of activity at the Balearics tourism ministry. First there was the announcement of the "158 actions" for tourism promotion in 2015 and then there was the tourism decree, both linked by the pressing concern to limit seasonality and both rather underwhelming. The promotional actions will continue the low-cost theme started two years ago of focusing on travel fairs and journalist/blogger famtrips (familiarisation trips), which are reasonable enough endeavours but ones which fail to impress an industry (and a wider public) that craves greater dynamism. The promotional spend, up by 10% to three million euros, is aimed at the niche products which form the core of off-season tourism, such as cycling, and this emphasis merely serves to reinforce an absence of promotion for the main season. The impression one has is that the good numbers of tourists in recent years has made the regional government believe that the summer sells itself, and up to a point the government would be right. However, this past season was notable for its unevenness; a record-breaking autumn but a slow spring. Sun and beach, much though tourism officials think otherwise - or wish otherwise - is key to the spring, far more so than the alternative, niche products. The experience of 2014 should tell these officials that a greater effort might be required in order to produce less unevenness.
The tourism decree, a headlining aspect of which was the offer of incentives for businesses that are open for a minimum of eight months, was essentially a reinforcement of what was already in the 2012 tourism law. As yet, there is little evidence to suggest that such an offer is having a great deal of impact. News from Santa Ponsa over the past few days which refers to a lengthening of the season would appear not to have been influenced by incentives but rather by hotelier initiative, and the news was really only to do with Pirates Village, which intends to open by mid-March, a season of seven and a half months until the end of October. Incentives may be welcome, but more is needed in order that greater numbers of hotels will open earlier than mid-March and indeed remain open into November. But then, I think we all know this to be the case and what prescriptions there might be.
To place the Balearics promotional spend in context, the Andalusian regional government is to spend 18 million euros as part of its "emergency plan" against seasonality. While the Balearics tourism ministry was issuing its "urgent measures" in the form of its decree, the Andalusians were clearly considering that there was far greater urgency required, and this for a region which already well outperforms the Balearics when it comes to off-season tourism. Andalusia is admittedly a much bigger region geographically than the Balearics, but a notable aspect of its plan (a "strategic objective", according to its tourism ministry) is the creation of a "network of municipalities against seasonality". Andalusia wants to involve as many stakeholders as it can, and these include the towns and cities. Compare this with the Balearics where all bets are on Palma and Palma alone and where, moreover, the bets are mostly made by the private sector without public funding. The Andalusian government is far more involved than the government in the Balearics, and the latest plan follows on from previous efforts to stimulate the off-season; Andalusia has been adopting incentives for businesses for longer than the Balearics.
One final note regarding the activity at the tourism ministry. Jaime Martínez may be able to boast that the number of promotional actions is to increase, but on one promotional front - that of the use of social media and web technology - he was silent. When, oh when are the Balearics going to catch up in this regard? We've been promised action, so where is it?
The tourism decree, a headlining aspect of which was the offer of incentives for businesses that are open for a minimum of eight months, was essentially a reinforcement of what was already in the 2012 tourism law. As yet, there is little evidence to suggest that such an offer is having a great deal of impact. News from Santa Ponsa over the past few days which refers to a lengthening of the season would appear not to have been influenced by incentives but rather by hotelier initiative, and the news was really only to do with Pirates Village, which intends to open by mid-March, a season of seven and a half months until the end of October. Incentives may be welcome, but more is needed in order that greater numbers of hotels will open earlier than mid-March and indeed remain open into November. But then, I think we all know this to be the case and what prescriptions there might be.
To place the Balearics promotional spend in context, the Andalusian regional government is to spend 18 million euros as part of its "emergency plan" against seasonality. While the Balearics tourism ministry was issuing its "urgent measures" in the form of its decree, the Andalusians were clearly considering that there was far greater urgency required, and this for a region which already well outperforms the Balearics when it comes to off-season tourism. Andalusia is admittedly a much bigger region geographically than the Balearics, but a notable aspect of its plan (a "strategic objective", according to its tourism ministry) is the creation of a "network of municipalities against seasonality". Andalusia wants to involve as many stakeholders as it can, and these include the towns and cities. Compare this with the Balearics where all bets are on Palma and Palma alone and where, moreover, the bets are mostly made by the private sector without public funding. The Andalusian government is far more involved than the government in the Balearics, and the latest plan follows on from previous efforts to stimulate the off-season; Andalusia has been adopting incentives for businesses for longer than the Balearics.
One final note regarding the activity at the tourism ministry. Jaime Martínez may be able to boast that the number of promotional actions is to increase, but on one promotional front - that of the use of social media and web technology - he was silent. When, oh when are the Balearics going to catch up in this regard? We've been promised action, so where is it?
Monday, December 08, 2014
Urgent Vagueness: The tourism decree
The regional government has decreed. Urgent measures have been required. A decree has, therefore, been necessary. It is tourism which demands the urgency. There is no time for the normal parliamentary process that accompanies the passing of a law. The decree will be rubber-stamped by parliament without amendment.
Thirty months after the 2012 tourism law was approved, the government has issued its decree. So urgent have been the measures that it has taken them over two and a half years to get round to them, and now that it has, what are we all supposed to make of these measures because, not untypically for tourism minister Jaime Martínez, they come with any amount of lack of clarity?
The urgency, one fancies, has to do with the proximity of the next elections. This is not a decree to grab votes. It is one of goalpost-shifting in order to, for example, allow the government to wallow in the glow of the publicity surrounding the Rafa Nadal tennis centre. Regulations regarding the concession of licences have had to be amended, and so that is what the government - urgently - has done, and in the process has taken away Manacor town hall's rights in the matter.
De-regulation might be thought to be a good thing, and in the case of the Nadal centre it may well be, but it has plainly suited the government to act in this specific instance while it has not in other instances. This tourism de-regulation has also been applied, bizarrely, to the land on which Son Espases hospital has been built. The decree has declared that this land is in "the general interest" (the Supreme Court had itself decreed eighteen months ago that it had to be), but what this has to do with tourism is frankly anyone's guess.
Here are measures introduced to attempt to ensure that if (when) the Partido Popular loses the next election, they cannot be revoked. It is this, I would suggest, which is the true urgency of the decree. But there are other aspects of tourism which demand equal urgency, and which are covered by the decree, that do not get such regulatory clarity. Take holiday lets, for instance. On the one hand we are led to believe that a specific decree related to them has been postponed. On the other we are told that there will be no regulation. To add to the opaqueness, island councils are to "analyse" incidences of holiday lets. What is the point of analysing something if there is to be no regulation?
Because Martínez deals in obfuscation, it is just possible to believe that these analyses may eventually lead to some modification of current legislation to do with private holiday accommodation, but one can only say "may". If a specific decree has indeed been postponed, this may mean postponement until the elections. Is the government, therefore, not wanting to adopt "urgent measures" in respect of holiday lets that might contradict its own stance on the subject and the wishes of the hoteliers? It's impossible to say for sure.
Further analyses - and the decree actually refers to "each tourist area", which implies each resort rather than whole islands - are to be conducted into the "incidence" of all-inclusive. The decree is vague to the point of total silence as to what these are intended to do. But again, as with holiday lets, it is just conceivable that these analyses could lead to further measures to limit the incidence. In the absence of any clarity, however, one cannot be certain.
A headlining aspect of the decree - in "The Bulletin" at any rate - was the provision of incentives for businesses to stay open all year. It might be advantageous for the government to imply that businesses will be open all year, but this is not what is in the decree. The government does consider "seasonality" to be an urgent matter, but it has been urgent pretty much since the dawn of Mallorca's mass tourism. For the government to now try and trumpet some decisiveness it is taking on this urgent matter is eyewash, especially as incentives for businesses which open for a minimum of eight months (not all year, note) were in the original 2012 law. The wording in the decree is unaltered.
What has been added is provision for incentives to tourist businesses in tourist zones declared as being "mature" (as in having stock and infrastructure which is outdated or obsolete). So far only Playa de Palma has been defined as a mature zone (Magalluf, Santa Ponsa and Peguera are due to be). The decree has widened the scope for incentives to include pretty much any business working in the tourism sector, but as for seasonality, it has reduced the minimum opening period - it is "from six months". That is most certainly not all year.
Thirty months after the 2012 tourism law was approved, the government has issued its decree. So urgent have been the measures that it has taken them over two and a half years to get round to them, and now that it has, what are we all supposed to make of these measures because, not untypically for tourism minister Jaime Martínez, they come with any amount of lack of clarity?
The urgency, one fancies, has to do with the proximity of the next elections. This is not a decree to grab votes. It is one of goalpost-shifting in order to, for example, allow the government to wallow in the glow of the publicity surrounding the Rafa Nadal tennis centre. Regulations regarding the concession of licences have had to be amended, and so that is what the government - urgently - has done, and in the process has taken away Manacor town hall's rights in the matter.
De-regulation might be thought to be a good thing, and in the case of the Nadal centre it may well be, but it has plainly suited the government to act in this specific instance while it has not in other instances. This tourism de-regulation has also been applied, bizarrely, to the land on which Son Espases hospital has been built. The decree has declared that this land is in "the general interest" (the Supreme Court had itself decreed eighteen months ago that it had to be), but what this has to do with tourism is frankly anyone's guess.
Here are measures introduced to attempt to ensure that if (when) the Partido Popular loses the next election, they cannot be revoked. It is this, I would suggest, which is the true urgency of the decree. But there are other aspects of tourism which demand equal urgency, and which are covered by the decree, that do not get such regulatory clarity. Take holiday lets, for instance. On the one hand we are led to believe that a specific decree related to them has been postponed. On the other we are told that there will be no regulation. To add to the opaqueness, island councils are to "analyse" incidences of holiday lets. What is the point of analysing something if there is to be no regulation?
Because Martínez deals in obfuscation, it is just possible to believe that these analyses may eventually lead to some modification of current legislation to do with private holiday accommodation, but one can only say "may". If a specific decree has indeed been postponed, this may mean postponement until the elections. Is the government, therefore, not wanting to adopt "urgent measures" in respect of holiday lets that might contradict its own stance on the subject and the wishes of the hoteliers? It's impossible to say for sure.
Further analyses - and the decree actually refers to "each tourist area", which implies each resort rather than whole islands - are to be conducted into the "incidence" of all-inclusive. The decree is vague to the point of total silence as to what these are intended to do. But again, as with holiday lets, it is just conceivable that these analyses could lead to further measures to limit the incidence. In the absence of any clarity, however, one cannot be certain.
A headlining aspect of the decree - in "The Bulletin" at any rate - was the provision of incentives for businesses to stay open all year. It might be advantageous for the government to imply that businesses will be open all year, but this is not what is in the decree. The government does consider "seasonality" to be an urgent matter, but it has been urgent pretty much since the dawn of Mallorca's mass tourism. For the government to now try and trumpet some decisiveness it is taking on this urgent matter is eyewash, especially as incentives for businesses which open for a minimum of eight months (not all year, note) were in the original 2012 law. The wording in the decree is unaltered.
What has been added is provision for incentives to tourist businesses in tourist zones declared as being "mature" (as in having stock and infrastructure which is outdated or obsolete). So far only Playa de Palma has been defined as a mature zone (Magalluf, Santa Ponsa and Peguera are due to be). The decree has widened the scope for incentives to include pretty much any business working in the tourism sector, but as for seasonality, it has reduced the minimum opening period - it is "from six months". That is most certainly not all year.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Neither One Thing Nor The Other: Winter tourism
Did you know that Mallorca is a "ni-ni" destination? Not a "no-no" but a "ni-ni", pronounced knee-knee. "Ni" is Spanish for neither and for nor, as in neither one thing nor the other. Mallorca is "ni-ni" because from autumn to spring it has neither flights nor hotels open.
This is a slight exaggeration, one of licence being taken with the "ni" word. You do have to be careful in Mallorca when it comes to exaggerated negatives, even if they are intended to be in jest, as Sid Lowe can testify to, having once suggested that Real Mallorca had no fans. So there will be those who doubtless take umbrage at the "ni-ni" negativity and point to all the "sí-sí" that flows through Mallorca's wintry tourism veins. Let's just settle, shall we, for the fact that there are neither sufficient numbers of flights nor sufficient numbers of hotels open in the off-season. And also settle, therefore, for the fact that neither (or "ni") are there sufficient numbers of tourists.
The degrees of seasonality and of tourist concentration into the three months of July to September have been reported on by the national Institute for Touristic Studies (IET). It has revealed that, in 2012, the Balearic Islands received over half of all their annual number of tourists during these key summer months: 52.5%, if you want precision. This percentage shows that seasonality is far more acute in the Balearics than any other essentially tourist region of Spain. You may be unsurprised to learn this, but you will probably be shocked by just how acute the seasonality is. By contrast, for example, the Canaries receive only 23.6% of those islands' annual tourists between July and September. Nationally, Spain plays host to 39.5% of its yearly tourist visitors in the summer, a figure that Andalusia's summer tourism corresponds with. In the Balearics, the figure is, therefore, 13% above the national average.
Seasonality in the Balearics does obscure the complete picture of the islands' tourism. The archipelago ranks second behind Catalonia in terms of total annual tourism, slightly above the Canaries, where the annual figure just edges over the 10 million mark; the Balearics received 10.4 million tourists in 2012. But when more than five million of these tourists are coming over a three-month period, you get what we all know exists, a highly unbalanced tourism economy.
The Balearics are certainly not alone in facing a problem with seasonality and with facing issues pertaining to flights. In the Canaries, and this might sound strange, the lack of flights is in fact more of an issue in summer. Each of the main tourism regions of Spain has its own specific requirements and in the Balearics, each of the islands has its own specific problems. In Ibiza, for instance, one of its issues is that its summer tourism is so heavily skewed towards a youthful market; the island craves more of the family market that Mallorca can draw on.
Inevitably, whenever the S-word rears its ugly head, there is a casting around for villains to blame and for suggested solutions which, equally inevitably, are never acted upon. "Hosteltur" Magazine recently listed its own seven strategies for tackling seasonality. This magnificent seven included ones specific to the Balearics, one of them - conversion and modernisation of hotels, such as is occurring in Magalluf - which will come to nothing unless there are more winter flights. Calvià's mayor admits as much. So does the president of the Balearics hotel chains association. Others include a concentration on the German market, because the Germans are apparently the only ones who will travel at times other than the summer, a conclusion that may have something to do with the fact that the German market is far better served by flights in winter than other markets, begging the question as to whether this willingness to travel in the off-season is a chicken or an egg.
A further strategy, one advocated most strongly in Menorca, is to make it possible for social-security payments on behalf of employees taken on out of season to be reclaimed. It is a variant on a theme of tax breaks that has been advanced for as long as the seasonality problem has been recognised. It seems so obvious that it is staggering that it has never been tried. As the Menorcan hoteliers point out, the loss of governmental revenue would be offset by reductions to unemployment benefit payments and by increased revenue from IVA.
The seemingly simple solution of incentives, be they through social security or through AENA suspending landing charges for the winter season, is surely one worth giving a go. If not, Mallorca will continue to be "ni-ni" and no-no-no. No flights. No hotels open. No tourists.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
This is a slight exaggeration, one of licence being taken with the "ni" word. You do have to be careful in Mallorca when it comes to exaggerated negatives, even if they are intended to be in jest, as Sid Lowe can testify to, having once suggested that Real Mallorca had no fans. So there will be those who doubtless take umbrage at the "ni-ni" negativity and point to all the "sí-sí" that flows through Mallorca's wintry tourism veins. Let's just settle, shall we, for the fact that there are neither sufficient numbers of flights nor sufficient numbers of hotels open in the off-season. And also settle, therefore, for the fact that neither (or "ni") are there sufficient numbers of tourists.
The degrees of seasonality and of tourist concentration into the three months of July to September have been reported on by the national Institute for Touristic Studies (IET). It has revealed that, in 2012, the Balearic Islands received over half of all their annual number of tourists during these key summer months: 52.5%, if you want precision. This percentage shows that seasonality is far more acute in the Balearics than any other essentially tourist region of Spain. You may be unsurprised to learn this, but you will probably be shocked by just how acute the seasonality is. By contrast, for example, the Canaries receive only 23.6% of those islands' annual tourists between July and September. Nationally, Spain plays host to 39.5% of its yearly tourist visitors in the summer, a figure that Andalusia's summer tourism corresponds with. In the Balearics, the figure is, therefore, 13% above the national average.
Seasonality in the Balearics does obscure the complete picture of the islands' tourism. The archipelago ranks second behind Catalonia in terms of total annual tourism, slightly above the Canaries, where the annual figure just edges over the 10 million mark; the Balearics received 10.4 million tourists in 2012. But when more than five million of these tourists are coming over a three-month period, you get what we all know exists, a highly unbalanced tourism economy.
The Balearics are certainly not alone in facing a problem with seasonality and with facing issues pertaining to flights. In the Canaries, and this might sound strange, the lack of flights is in fact more of an issue in summer. Each of the main tourism regions of Spain has its own specific requirements and in the Balearics, each of the islands has its own specific problems. In Ibiza, for instance, one of its issues is that its summer tourism is so heavily skewed towards a youthful market; the island craves more of the family market that Mallorca can draw on.
Inevitably, whenever the S-word rears its ugly head, there is a casting around for villains to blame and for suggested solutions which, equally inevitably, are never acted upon. "Hosteltur" Magazine recently listed its own seven strategies for tackling seasonality. This magnificent seven included ones specific to the Balearics, one of them - conversion and modernisation of hotels, such as is occurring in Magalluf - which will come to nothing unless there are more winter flights. Calvià's mayor admits as much. So does the president of the Balearics hotel chains association. Others include a concentration on the German market, because the Germans are apparently the only ones who will travel at times other than the summer, a conclusion that may have something to do with the fact that the German market is far better served by flights in winter than other markets, begging the question as to whether this willingness to travel in the off-season is a chicken or an egg.
A further strategy, one advocated most strongly in Menorca, is to make it possible for social-security payments on behalf of employees taken on out of season to be reclaimed. It is a variant on a theme of tax breaks that has been advanced for as long as the seasonality problem has been recognised. It seems so obvious that it is staggering that it has never been tried. As the Menorcan hoteliers point out, the loss of governmental revenue would be offset by reductions to unemployment benefit payments and by increased revenue from IVA.
The seemingly simple solution of incentives, be they through social security or through AENA suspending landing charges for the winter season, is surely one worth giving a go. If not, Mallorca will continue to be "ni-ni" and no-no-no. No flights. No hotels open. No tourists.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, April 08, 2013
A Plan For Seasonality, At Last
You will know those ten-best lists that are the stock-in-trade of every newspaper. They are easy enough to put together and so to fill some space; just do a bit of Googling and in no time you have your ten for this and your ten for that.
The miserable weather in Britain provoked "The Guardian" (as much of an offender as any other newspaper when it comes to the ten-bests) into offering its "top ten sun spots to escape Britain's endless winter". It's travel journalism for old rope, to be honest. Google a map of the Med, a map of the Middle East and the Atlantic, get some tour operator or other business to maybe offer a few quid to get a link or a namecheck and off you go. And where are the top ten sun spots? Morocco, Cyprus, Malta, Tenerife ... yea, yea, yea. Where isn't a top ten sun spot? Where do you think?
The "Hosteltur" magazine has recently published a report entitled "Seasonality, Spanish tourism's cancer". Reflecting the absences in the top ten from "The Guardian", the report pointed out that, with the exception of the Canaries, all of Spain's main summer tourism centres are suffering as a consequence of the seasonality. Actually, "The Guardian", ignoring Mallorca but advocating Tenerife and Gran Canaria, did also recommend Alicante, not for Benidorm, you wouldn't expect "The Guardian" to do that, but for the Marjal Costa Blanca Resort, an eco-camping resort; Mallorca doesn't have such a thing, which is probably why it fails to register with "The Guardian".
The report makes it clear that the problem of seasonality has been exacerbated in recent years. It goes on to pay a good deal of attention to Mallorca, starting out by looking at all the developments in Magalluf and at the hope that these developments will lengthen the season to nine months of the year rather than seven. There are those who would challenge Calvià mayor's assertion that there are seven months of the season (it is he that the report quotes), but even if there were, how does he envisage extending the season to nine months? Well, he doesn't, other than to say that it's all the fault of the airlines that all this brand spanking new real estate that has required colossal amounts of investment will sit empty during the winter.
The president of the Balearics Hotel Chains Group, Margalida Ramis of Grupotel, is then quoted as saying that there have been greater losses over the 2012/2013 winter because of cuts to air connections. So, there we have it. It's no one else's fault; just the airlines. They say, however, that there isn't a "tourist offer" to make routes worth their while. And we all say, in response to what Calviá's mayor reckons, to what Margalida Ramis states and to the airlines' justification, that we have heard it all over and over and over. For years and years and years.
Though winter business was of a level sufficient enough in the 1990s to justify tour operators retaining tour reps through the winter (for parts of Mallorca), it was this decade that witnessed a tailing-off of what had never, despite what some might say, been huge winter tourism business. The problem of seasonality is almost as old as Mallorca's tourism industry since the boom of the 1960s. It has, as a consultant in the "Hosteltur" report points out, been a problem that has been spoken about for at least 40 years. He, Eulogio Bordas, president of THR (Turismo, Hotelería y Recreación), says that all the talk over all these years has amounted to nothing because of the absence of coherent plans and quantifiable objectives.
Bordas has a plan, and so he must be all but unique in this regard. The plan would apply to Spain, as opposed to just Mallorca, though it could, were there anyone with the vision to take it on, be applied specifically to Mallorca. What he envisages is the setting of specific goals in terms of increasing the number of winter tourists. Two million is the amount he would start out with. Crucial to doing this, he says, is not all the publicity that gets chucked around (hallelujah) but sales promotion. And this sales promotion would be designed to getting tourists to break with well-established habits. i.e. they would holiday in winter and not in the summer. In order to get them to change their routine, there would have to be all sorts of incentives, including, for example, free entrances (to some attractions).
To implement such a plan, an organisation would need to be established that comprises all the various relevant parties - from hotels, to theme parks, to restaurants, to town halls, to you name it - and absolutely critical would be the obtaining of concessions from the airports authority, AENA. Tax-free landing, for example.
One drawback with this scheme might be that if routines were changed and tourists started coming in winter, wouldn't this leave a hole in summer tourism? Not necessarily. The new markets like Russia that are coming on-stream have to be accommodated in summer. Moving some of the summer market to winter would actually be a benefit.
It is an ambitious plan (and I have only sketched part of it). It might appear impractical, though I don't think so, and at least it is a plan, something that, like Mallorca's absence from the top ten sun spots, has been conspicuous by its absence for at least 40 years.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The miserable weather in Britain provoked "The Guardian" (as much of an offender as any other newspaper when it comes to the ten-bests) into offering its "top ten sun spots to escape Britain's endless winter". It's travel journalism for old rope, to be honest. Google a map of the Med, a map of the Middle East and the Atlantic, get some tour operator or other business to maybe offer a few quid to get a link or a namecheck and off you go. And where are the top ten sun spots? Morocco, Cyprus, Malta, Tenerife ... yea, yea, yea. Where isn't a top ten sun spot? Where do you think?
The "Hosteltur" magazine has recently published a report entitled "Seasonality, Spanish tourism's cancer". Reflecting the absences in the top ten from "The Guardian", the report pointed out that, with the exception of the Canaries, all of Spain's main summer tourism centres are suffering as a consequence of the seasonality. Actually, "The Guardian", ignoring Mallorca but advocating Tenerife and Gran Canaria, did also recommend Alicante, not for Benidorm, you wouldn't expect "The Guardian" to do that, but for the Marjal Costa Blanca Resort, an eco-camping resort; Mallorca doesn't have such a thing, which is probably why it fails to register with "The Guardian".
The report makes it clear that the problem of seasonality has been exacerbated in recent years. It goes on to pay a good deal of attention to Mallorca, starting out by looking at all the developments in Magalluf and at the hope that these developments will lengthen the season to nine months of the year rather than seven. There are those who would challenge Calvià mayor's assertion that there are seven months of the season (it is he that the report quotes), but even if there were, how does he envisage extending the season to nine months? Well, he doesn't, other than to say that it's all the fault of the airlines that all this brand spanking new real estate that has required colossal amounts of investment will sit empty during the winter.
The president of the Balearics Hotel Chains Group, Margalida Ramis of Grupotel, is then quoted as saying that there have been greater losses over the 2012/2013 winter because of cuts to air connections. So, there we have it. It's no one else's fault; just the airlines. They say, however, that there isn't a "tourist offer" to make routes worth their while. And we all say, in response to what Calviá's mayor reckons, to what Margalida Ramis states and to the airlines' justification, that we have heard it all over and over and over. For years and years and years.
Though winter business was of a level sufficient enough in the 1990s to justify tour operators retaining tour reps through the winter (for parts of Mallorca), it was this decade that witnessed a tailing-off of what had never, despite what some might say, been huge winter tourism business. The problem of seasonality is almost as old as Mallorca's tourism industry since the boom of the 1960s. It has, as a consultant in the "Hosteltur" report points out, been a problem that has been spoken about for at least 40 years. He, Eulogio Bordas, president of THR (Turismo, Hotelería y Recreación), says that all the talk over all these years has amounted to nothing because of the absence of coherent plans and quantifiable objectives.
Bordas has a plan, and so he must be all but unique in this regard. The plan would apply to Spain, as opposed to just Mallorca, though it could, were there anyone with the vision to take it on, be applied specifically to Mallorca. What he envisages is the setting of specific goals in terms of increasing the number of winter tourists. Two million is the amount he would start out with. Crucial to doing this, he says, is not all the publicity that gets chucked around (hallelujah) but sales promotion. And this sales promotion would be designed to getting tourists to break with well-established habits. i.e. they would holiday in winter and not in the summer. In order to get them to change their routine, there would have to be all sorts of incentives, including, for example, free entrances (to some attractions).
To implement such a plan, an organisation would need to be established that comprises all the various relevant parties - from hotels, to theme parks, to restaurants, to town halls, to you name it - and absolutely critical would be the obtaining of concessions from the airports authority, AENA. Tax-free landing, for example.
One drawback with this scheme might be that if routines were changed and tourists started coming in winter, wouldn't this leave a hole in summer tourism? Not necessarily. The new markets like Russia that are coming on-stream have to be accommodated in summer. Moving some of the summer market to winter would actually be a benefit.
It is an ambitious plan (and I have only sketched part of it). It might appear impractical, though I don't think so, and at least it is a plan, something that, like Mallorca's absence from the top ten sun spots, has been conspicuous by its absence for at least 40 years.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
The Seasonality Code: Muro's cycling
Anyone trying to move around Playa de Muro by motor vehicle yesterday would have been inconvenienced. There was yet another cycling event. The Mallorca Masters. It was the final day of the event. As Playa de Muro is at the epicentre of cycling tourism in the north of Mallorca, it falls to the resort to host the climax of the week.
The groups of cyclists, the Trafico outriders, the cars with bikes on their roofs, the queues of traffic were all the obvious signs of what went into the Masters, but hidden away in a Playa de Muro hotel was a different event. It was in the form of a kind of speed-dating networking exercise for companies engaged in activities with winter tourism in mind; cycling obviously, but not exclusively.
This networking exercise, aka workshop, was indicative of what we are told is the "secret" of cracking the seasonality code in the north of Mallorca; indeed, the impression is given that the code has been cracked. A report of the workshop may well have been written by PR people. Given my intimate knowledge of Playa de Muro, it didn't paint a picture with which I am terribly familiar.
There has undoubtedly been some progress in cutting into the barren winter months, primarily because of cycling, but the report would have us believe that progress has been far greater than it has in fact been. "Some hotels" are now open for ten months of the year. Some? Or should that be one? Ten months? Only if you're stretching things a tad.
The secret of the seasonality code has been no more cracked in Playa de Muro than in other parts of the island where there are concentrations of cycling tourists. In fact, it has probably been cracked to less an extent in Playa de Muro. If it really had been cracked, then there would be more than the handful (and it pretty much is a handful) of businesses outside of the hotels (hotel) that are open in February; and this handful is greater than the number open in, say, December.
The head of the hoteliers association in the resort says that hotel profitability cannot be sustained by summer business alone. Well, no you wouldn't have thought that it could be, but there are plenty of hotels in Playa de Muro (32 of them in all) that have maintained the appearance of having been able to sustain profitability through summer business alone for years. In all these years, not one has actually stayed open right through the winter, and even now there is only the one that comes close to that ten months mark.
But things have caught up with some of the hotels. Those operated by the wealthy chains (and Iberostar is the chain which has the hotel open for the ten months) have the wealthy chains to support them. Not all are operated by wealthy chains, though. Hence the sale of two Eden hotels, one in Playa de Muro and one just by the boundary, to Alltours.
The resort is pinning its hopes on cycling and other winter activities, such as hiking. It's the same old offer. It's nothing new. The workshop apparently attracted 20 businesses from eight countries that were seeking to sell themselves (cycling, hiking tours, it would seem) as well as 20 local businesses, mainly hotels, seeking to sell themselves. Such representation was something but it hardly equates to a great leap forward in cracking the seasonality code.
Even if there were some movement forward, it would surely never be more than a small step as opposed to a leap. 32 hotels, many of them substantial both in terms of the amount of land they occupy and the number of places they offer; but how many would it ever be viable to open out of season? The long hoped-for golf course, about which nothing is being said at present, wouldn't make a huge difference, and it would make even less of a difference it were to now go ahead with a dedicated hotel of its own (as has been hinted that it might).
Cycling does offer some business in winter and Playa de Muro's share of the cycling market has grown. But business for whom exactly? Playa de Muro was built as a summer resort. The beach is its main purpose. The name itself is a giveaway. There will never be more than a handful of businesses, other than the odd hotel, that can justify opening in the winter.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The groups of cyclists, the Trafico outriders, the cars with bikes on their roofs, the queues of traffic were all the obvious signs of what went into the Masters, but hidden away in a Playa de Muro hotel was a different event. It was in the form of a kind of speed-dating networking exercise for companies engaged in activities with winter tourism in mind; cycling obviously, but not exclusively.
This networking exercise, aka workshop, was indicative of what we are told is the "secret" of cracking the seasonality code in the north of Mallorca; indeed, the impression is given that the code has been cracked. A report of the workshop may well have been written by PR people. Given my intimate knowledge of Playa de Muro, it didn't paint a picture with which I am terribly familiar.
There has undoubtedly been some progress in cutting into the barren winter months, primarily because of cycling, but the report would have us believe that progress has been far greater than it has in fact been. "Some hotels" are now open for ten months of the year. Some? Or should that be one? Ten months? Only if you're stretching things a tad.
The secret of the seasonality code has been no more cracked in Playa de Muro than in other parts of the island where there are concentrations of cycling tourists. In fact, it has probably been cracked to less an extent in Playa de Muro. If it really had been cracked, then there would be more than the handful (and it pretty much is a handful) of businesses outside of the hotels (hotel) that are open in February; and this handful is greater than the number open in, say, December.
The head of the hoteliers association in the resort says that hotel profitability cannot be sustained by summer business alone. Well, no you wouldn't have thought that it could be, but there are plenty of hotels in Playa de Muro (32 of them in all) that have maintained the appearance of having been able to sustain profitability through summer business alone for years. In all these years, not one has actually stayed open right through the winter, and even now there is only the one that comes close to that ten months mark.
But things have caught up with some of the hotels. Those operated by the wealthy chains (and Iberostar is the chain which has the hotel open for the ten months) have the wealthy chains to support them. Not all are operated by wealthy chains, though. Hence the sale of two Eden hotels, one in Playa de Muro and one just by the boundary, to Alltours.
The resort is pinning its hopes on cycling and other winter activities, such as hiking. It's the same old offer. It's nothing new. The workshop apparently attracted 20 businesses from eight countries that were seeking to sell themselves (cycling, hiking tours, it would seem) as well as 20 local businesses, mainly hotels, seeking to sell themselves. Such representation was something but it hardly equates to a great leap forward in cracking the seasonality code.
Even if there were some movement forward, it would surely never be more than a small step as opposed to a leap. 32 hotels, many of them substantial both in terms of the amount of land they occupy and the number of places they offer; but how many would it ever be viable to open out of season? The long hoped-for golf course, about which nothing is being said at present, wouldn't make a huge difference, and it would make even less of a difference it were to now go ahead with a dedicated hotel of its own (as has been hinted that it might).
Cycling does offer some business in winter and Playa de Muro's share of the cycling market has grown. But business for whom exactly? Playa de Muro was built as a summer resort. The beach is its main purpose. The name itself is a giveaway. There will never be more than a handful of businesses, other than the odd hotel, that can justify opening in the winter.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
Fatal Attractions: IVA, weather and seasonality
You will know that the British can blame the wrong sort of snow for interruptions to public transport services. Did you also know that the Mallorcans can blame the wrong sort of heat for not getting punters through the turnstiles at attractions? If it's too hot and too sunny, then waterparks win out over other attractions that are indoors or mainly under cover. Well, blow me, I would never have thought this. And nor would I ever have thought that during a Mallorcan summer the weather might be hot and sunny.
The Asociación Mallorquina de Actividades Turísticas (AMAT) was formed in 2001 and it comprises nineteen businesses engaged in different types of attraction, outdoors and indoors, daytime and evening. It is an association whose voice was rarely raised loudly until recently. This raising in volume coincided with the appointment of Palma Aquarium's Antonio González as its president. In April this year, as an example, the association launched an attack on the harm that all-inclusives were having on the island's attractions. It has now met with President Bauzá and has been telling the media about the problems that attractions face, one of which is the weather.
Hot and sunny weather is a lame reason to give for the fact that waterparks might perform better than other attractions. It would be a good reason if hot and sunny weather was not common, but it is. Surely, the association has noticed this, but then among its members there is one business that appears to be absent which might be able to make the point: Aspro Ocio, which, with the exception of Hidropark, runs the island's waterparks as well as Marineland.
There are other reasons why AMAT has wanted to have a word with the president: the small number of hotels open in winter and the reduced number of flights; the rise in IVA (VAT) from September; and promotion towards a youth market, as opposed to a family market, which has lower spending power and is interested only in night-time entertainment.
This last aspect is curious. Firstly, because Mallorca is still considered to be and is promoted as a family destination far more so than as a youth one. Secondly, because one of AMAT's members is Cursach. And what are their attractions? Well, Magalluf's BCM for a kick off.
AMAT's meeting with President Bauzá and the resultant attention in the media comes close on the heels of the announcement by the travel agencies' association, AVIBA, that sales of excursions are down. The two are not coincidental, as both associations represent parts of the tourism industry which are none too impressed by the government's new tourism law or by the IVA increase.
But as I pointed out in a recent article about AVIBA, its travel agencies are only part of the attractions' sales distribution channel, while the main reasons why the sale of excursions is down are very simple - lower tourist spend and economic crisis. The complaints that AMAT has, except the strange one about the weather and the curious one to do with youth promotion, are not unreasonable, but they ignore the underlying reasons why some attractions, in particular the evening ones, are finding that the going has got tough.
One should, though, have sympathy for the attractions. Most of them are open all year and so provide a basis for off-season tourism. An attraction such as the Aquarium can't just shut down in winter. Its sharks, fish, turtles are on fixed, annual contracts; they are not temporary workers that can be laid off when winter comes. Rancho Grande has its resident horses and other animals, the Sóller train chugs away, Costa Nord and La Granja don't shift themselves to different locations in winter. They all require investment and cost, some of it enormous. They cannot get away with being closed in winter, unlike many of the hotel chains. And if the regional government doesn't appreciate this, then it should do. Who owns Costa Nord?
And where IVA is concerned, though the reduced rate that applies to the tourist sector will go up by two points to 10%, categories of business that have benefited from the lower rate have been changed. Consequently, clubs, such as BCM, as well as theatre and other "spectaculars" will be liable to the new higher rate of 21%. If the evening excursion hadn't already been affected (which it has been), it now definitely will be.
AMAT making its voice heard is a good thing, but it has been stung into making its voice heard because so many factors are conspiring against some of its members. It should have shouted a lot more loudly a lot earlier.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The Asociación Mallorquina de Actividades Turísticas (AMAT) was formed in 2001 and it comprises nineteen businesses engaged in different types of attraction, outdoors and indoors, daytime and evening. It is an association whose voice was rarely raised loudly until recently. This raising in volume coincided with the appointment of Palma Aquarium's Antonio González as its president. In April this year, as an example, the association launched an attack on the harm that all-inclusives were having on the island's attractions. It has now met with President Bauzá and has been telling the media about the problems that attractions face, one of which is the weather.
Hot and sunny weather is a lame reason to give for the fact that waterparks might perform better than other attractions. It would be a good reason if hot and sunny weather was not common, but it is. Surely, the association has noticed this, but then among its members there is one business that appears to be absent which might be able to make the point: Aspro Ocio, which, with the exception of Hidropark, runs the island's waterparks as well as Marineland.
There are other reasons why AMAT has wanted to have a word with the president: the small number of hotels open in winter and the reduced number of flights; the rise in IVA (VAT) from September; and promotion towards a youth market, as opposed to a family market, which has lower spending power and is interested only in night-time entertainment.
This last aspect is curious. Firstly, because Mallorca is still considered to be and is promoted as a family destination far more so than as a youth one. Secondly, because one of AMAT's members is Cursach. And what are their attractions? Well, Magalluf's BCM for a kick off.
AMAT's meeting with President Bauzá and the resultant attention in the media comes close on the heels of the announcement by the travel agencies' association, AVIBA, that sales of excursions are down. The two are not coincidental, as both associations represent parts of the tourism industry which are none too impressed by the government's new tourism law or by the IVA increase.
But as I pointed out in a recent article about AVIBA, its travel agencies are only part of the attractions' sales distribution channel, while the main reasons why the sale of excursions is down are very simple - lower tourist spend and economic crisis. The complaints that AMAT has, except the strange one about the weather and the curious one to do with youth promotion, are not unreasonable, but they ignore the underlying reasons why some attractions, in particular the evening ones, are finding that the going has got tough.
One should, though, have sympathy for the attractions. Most of them are open all year and so provide a basis for off-season tourism. An attraction such as the Aquarium can't just shut down in winter. Its sharks, fish, turtles are on fixed, annual contracts; they are not temporary workers that can be laid off when winter comes. Rancho Grande has its resident horses and other animals, the Sóller train chugs away, Costa Nord and La Granja don't shift themselves to different locations in winter. They all require investment and cost, some of it enormous. They cannot get away with being closed in winter, unlike many of the hotel chains. And if the regional government doesn't appreciate this, then it should do. Who owns Costa Nord?
And where IVA is concerned, though the reduced rate that applies to the tourist sector will go up by two points to 10%, categories of business that have benefited from the lower rate have been changed. Consequently, clubs, such as BCM, as well as theatre and other "spectaculars" will be liable to the new higher rate of 21%. If the evening excursion hadn't already been affected (which it has been), it now definitely will be.
AMAT making its voice heard is a good thing, but it has been stung into making its voice heard because so many factors are conspiring against some of its members. It should have shouted a lot more loudly a lot earlier.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Don't Mention Holidays: The tourism law
Have you ever tried reading through 115 articles that comprise a new law in the Balearics? In Catalan? Chances are that you have never attempted to or would attempt to were the 115 in Catalan, Castellano, English or Klingon, though the latter might make the most sense.
An oddity, given the regional government's apparent indifference to Catalan, is that it can publish laws in Catalan. So, forget everything I said yesterday. This is a government that defends Catalan to the hilt, all 115 articles of it.
This is the new tourism law, a law for tourists, though few will be taking a copy off to the beach to use as light reading whilst stretched out on a lilo. As far as I can see, there is no article or appendix which covers lilos; they are about the only thing which isn't covered.
Of course, no one really needs to read any of it as it had been thoroughly flagged up before heading off for parliamentary rubber-stamping. Some attempts at amendment were always forlorn, while moans coming from the PSM Mallorcan socialists that, rather than the rise in tourist-rate IVA, there should have been provision in the bill for a tourist tax do somewhat confuse national and regional legislation; the Balearic Government cannot not impose IVA, or maybe the PSM doesn't realise this.
Much has been said about this new law and many column inches have been devoted to it, but is it any good? Well, I'm prepared to stick my neck out and say that it is pretty good. There will be those who hate it, but the underlying principle of modernisation, that of accommodation and resorts, is correct.
A further principle is one of seeking to bring some order to the general tourism offer. The bill has been criticised for turning the clock back to the disorderliness and wild-west style of the 1960s, so perhaps for this reason, the preamble to the bill refers to the lack of order in the '60s and also to legislative attempts of the 1990s to create some order but which didn't fully address competitive needs for the 21st century. The consequence of all this has been variable standards and lack of profitability.
There are no surprises in the law. We already knew, for example, about conversion of hotel use to condos; about the tax to be paid on the value of conversions which will find its way to town halls that have to use it for improvements in tourism areas; about the general upgrading of hotel stock that will result in an elimination of one and two-star accommodation.
For the most part though, most of you will find much of the law of only passing interest, if that. Aspects that will be of most interest relate to tackling seasonality, the role of all-inclusives and holiday lets.
Though there are several references to lessening the impact of seasonality, there is little that is of substance. Rural tourism will benefit from a relaxation of planning requirements, but a stipulation that had initially been made for hotels that convert to condos to be open for eight months has been watered down to six.
On all-inclusives, we had already heard about the prevention of food and drink being taken out of hotels by guests (not that frankly this makes a difference) and also about the requirement for hotels which offer all-inclusive to institute a plan for quality. However, on the key issue of service in an AI, as in the provision of food and drink and the time it takes to be served, the law is vague to the point of being opaque. One thing that may affect some all-inclusive establishments at the lower end of the market has to do with the provision of HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning).
Then there are the holiday lets. I should probably stop referring to them as holiday lets because the law says that it will be illegal to even apply words such as holiday, vacation or tourist to property that is not legally registered for tourism purposes. There has been no shifting where private holiday apartments are concerned. They are illegal and it is illegal to even advertise them. The fines now range from 4,000 to 40,000 euros.
The treatment of holiday lets is the one really bad part of the law. It is a mistake in what is otherwise a decent enough piece of legislation. But we knew it was coming, as the law is a law primarily for hotels. And unlike in Catalonia, where they are more sensible, the voices of the hotels are the only ones which matter.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
An oddity, given the regional government's apparent indifference to Catalan, is that it can publish laws in Catalan. So, forget everything I said yesterday. This is a government that defends Catalan to the hilt, all 115 articles of it.
This is the new tourism law, a law for tourists, though few will be taking a copy off to the beach to use as light reading whilst stretched out on a lilo. As far as I can see, there is no article or appendix which covers lilos; they are about the only thing which isn't covered.
Of course, no one really needs to read any of it as it had been thoroughly flagged up before heading off for parliamentary rubber-stamping. Some attempts at amendment were always forlorn, while moans coming from the PSM Mallorcan socialists that, rather than the rise in tourist-rate IVA, there should have been provision in the bill for a tourist tax do somewhat confuse national and regional legislation; the Balearic Government cannot not impose IVA, or maybe the PSM doesn't realise this.
Much has been said about this new law and many column inches have been devoted to it, but is it any good? Well, I'm prepared to stick my neck out and say that it is pretty good. There will be those who hate it, but the underlying principle of modernisation, that of accommodation and resorts, is correct.
A further principle is one of seeking to bring some order to the general tourism offer. The bill has been criticised for turning the clock back to the disorderliness and wild-west style of the 1960s, so perhaps for this reason, the preamble to the bill refers to the lack of order in the '60s and also to legislative attempts of the 1990s to create some order but which didn't fully address competitive needs for the 21st century. The consequence of all this has been variable standards and lack of profitability.
There are no surprises in the law. We already knew, for example, about conversion of hotel use to condos; about the tax to be paid on the value of conversions which will find its way to town halls that have to use it for improvements in tourism areas; about the general upgrading of hotel stock that will result in an elimination of one and two-star accommodation.
For the most part though, most of you will find much of the law of only passing interest, if that. Aspects that will be of most interest relate to tackling seasonality, the role of all-inclusives and holiday lets.
Though there are several references to lessening the impact of seasonality, there is little that is of substance. Rural tourism will benefit from a relaxation of planning requirements, but a stipulation that had initially been made for hotels that convert to condos to be open for eight months has been watered down to six.
On all-inclusives, we had already heard about the prevention of food and drink being taken out of hotels by guests (not that frankly this makes a difference) and also about the requirement for hotels which offer all-inclusive to institute a plan for quality. However, on the key issue of service in an AI, as in the provision of food and drink and the time it takes to be served, the law is vague to the point of being opaque. One thing that may affect some all-inclusive establishments at the lower end of the market has to do with the provision of HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning).
Then there are the holiday lets. I should probably stop referring to them as holiday lets because the law says that it will be illegal to even apply words such as holiday, vacation or tourist to property that is not legally registered for tourism purposes. There has been no shifting where private holiday apartments are concerned. They are illegal and it is illegal to even advertise them. The fines now range from 4,000 to 40,000 euros.
The treatment of holiday lets is the one really bad part of the law. It is a mistake in what is otherwise a decent enough piece of legislation. But we knew it was coming, as the law is a law primarily for hotels. And unlike in Catalonia, where they are more sensible, the voices of the hotels are the only ones which matter.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
A Sea Of Clichés: Tourism seasonality
"What's this?" I thought. Go to a particular website and there would be a PDF to download - "A Sea Of Experiences", it promised. Nice title, shame about the content, as I duly went to the website in question, did indeed download and got a lengthy document which listed all manner of Mallorcan cycling routes, hiking routes, Nordic walking routes, associations for kayaking, stuff about bodegas, gastronomy, shopping routes (there are such things apparently), to name but several among others.
What I thought I was going to be downloading was a document that would contain the insights of Mallorca's hoteliers, some members of government and some representatives from municipalities with strong tourism profiles into the burning topic of tackling the island's problem of seasonality. "A Sea Of Experiences", so it was said, was a project to mark the before and after of Mallorca's struggle with seasonality.
This was a pretty bold claim, one that I'm not entirely sure I understand. What I think it means is that the "sea of experiences" will wash away the struggle and leave a pristine beach of future and abundant off-season tourism. Something like this anyway.
The project and the experiences' sea were launched at a workshop the other day at which the Mallorcan hotel federation was joined by its governmental colleagues. I imagine they all had a nice lunch at the restaurant at the Son Muntaner Golf Club where, if you didn't know, "golf doesn't get any better than this" (better than Son Muntaner, modestly described as the "leading golf resort in the Mediterranean").
Golf is of course one aspect of the sea of experiences, so it was probably appropriate they all pitched up at a golf club to get on with their intensive workshopping and having lunch. And who was there? I don't know, other than I spied the government's finance, business and employment minister, Josep Aguiló, otherwise known as the debt-crisis, gone-out-of-business and unemployment minister. I imagine Delgado was there as well, though they probably kept him hidden, as would have been Alcúdia's Coloma, wittering on about cruise ships and gastronomy, and the Two Many Encrypts, Miguel and Tomeu, mayors of Santa Margalida and Pollensa, able to tell the workshop all about visitors' centres that are sometimes open but usually are closed at wildlife and nature parks. (And wildlife and nature parks are also part of the sea of experiences.)
So, what was the outcome of this gathering of the great minds of Mallorcan tourism and its collective workshop? One outcome was the PDF, a damn great list of routes, addresses, dates and other factual info that everyone already knew about. It would seem, though, that if you put a long list of such information together and slap a title on it like "A Sea Of Experiences", then you will have convinced Mallorca's mere mortals that you have actually been doing something constructive and not just having lunch. Moreover, you will be able to point to the list as being the "after" in the great struggle. List off-season tourism possibilities, and bingo, the problems of seasonality are over.
Except of course they aren't and nor are they likely to be thanks to the sea of experiences.
You know when you read something and you get to the end of it and think to yourself, "did I actually read this correctly?", meaning that you read it again and realise that you had read it correctly first time round. This is what happened when I read about the sea of experiences, and having read it a second time, my head dropped and smacked against the desk. One does on occasion feel like giving up.
It's all what has been banged on about for years. The only vaguely original aspect of the workshop seemed to involve the use of technology. Someone has clearly cottoned on to the existence of QR codes, and so now tourists will be able to access information via such codes. Fantastic. However, tourists do have to be in Mallorca first for them to benefit from waving a smartphone in the general direction of some black squiggles.
This is the nub of the issue. The sea of experiences is a sea of clichés, a sea of aspects of tourism that already exist and which have largely failed to address seasonality. And a reason why is because there aren't any tourists. The hotel federation, rather than worrying overly much about QR codes, should have been having a go at Aguiló. "Oi, Aguiló, what about some tax breaks in winter?"
Airport taxes going down 10% in winter might mean more flights, but then again maybe they won't. The hoteliers, the government, the mayors, the whoever can have all the workshops they like, but unless there are the right incentives in winter, they will come to nothing, QR codes or no QR codes.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
What I thought I was going to be downloading was a document that would contain the insights of Mallorca's hoteliers, some members of government and some representatives from municipalities with strong tourism profiles into the burning topic of tackling the island's problem of seasonality. "A Sea Of Experiences", so it was said, was a project to mark the before and after of Mallorca's struggle with seasonality.
This was a pretty bold claim, one that I'm not entirely sure I understand. What I think it means is that the "sea of experiences" will wash away the struggle and leave a pristine beach of future and abundant off-season tourism. Something like this anyway.
The project and the experiences' sea were launched at a workshop the other day at which the Mallorcan hotel federation was joined by its governmental colleagues. I imagine they all had a nice lunch at the restaurant at the Son Muntaner Golf Club where, if you didn't know, "golf doesn't get any better than this" (better than Son Muntaner, modestly described as the "leading golf resort in the Mediterranean").
Golf is of course one aspect of the sea of experiences, so it was probably appropriate they all pitched up at a golf club to get on with their intensive workshopping and having lunch. And who was there? I don't know, other than I spied the government's finance, business and employment minister, Josep Aguiló, otherwise known as the debt-crisis, gone-out-of-business and unemployment minister. I imagine Delgado was there as well, though they probably kept him hidden, as would have been Alcúdia's Coloma, wittering on about cruise ships and gastronomy, and the Two Many Encrypts, Miguel and Tomeu, mayors of Santa Margalida and Pollensa, able to tell the workshop all about visitors' centres that are sometimes open but usually are closed at wildlife and nature parks. (And wildlife and nature parks are also part of the sea of experiences.)
So, what was the outcome of this gathering of the great minds of Mallorcan tourism and its collective workshop? One outcome was the PDF, a damn great list of routes, addresses, dates and other factual info that everyone already knew about. It would seem, though, that if you put a long list of such information together and slap a title on it like "A Sea Of Experiences", then you will have convinced Mallorca's mere mortals that you have actually been doing something constructive and not just having lunch. Moreover, you will be able to point to the list as being the "after" in the great struggle. List off-season tourism possibilities, and bingo, the problems of seasonality are over.
Except of course they aren't and nor are they likely to be thanks to the sea of experiences.
You know when you read something and you get to the end of it and think to yourself, "did I actually read this correctly?", meaning that you read it again and realise that you had read it correctly first time round. This is what happened when I read about the sea of experiences, and having read it a second time, my head dropped and smacked against the desk. One does on occasion feel like giving up.
It's all what has been banged on about for years. The only vaguely original aspect of the workshop seemed to involve the use of technology. Someone has clearly cottoned on to the existence of QR codes, and so now tourists will be able to access information via such codes. Fantastic. However, tourists do have to be in Mallorca first for them to benefit from waving a smartphone in the general direction of some black squiggles.
This is the nub of the issue. The sea of experiences is a sea of clichés, a sea of aspects of tourism that already exist and which have largely failed to address seasonality. And a reason why is because there aren't any tourists. The hotel federation, rather than worrying overly much about QR codes, should have been having a go at Aguiló. "Oi, Aguiló, what about some tax breaks in winter?"
Airport taxes going down 10% in winter might mean more flights, but then again maybe they won't. The hoteliers, the government, the mayors, the whoever can have all the workshops they like, but unless there are the right incentives in winter, they will come to nothing, QR codes or no QR codes.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Attractions Want Lower Attraction?
Did you know there was such a thing as an association for Mallorcan tourist attractions? As there is an association for pretty much everything else, it should come as no surprise that attractions should have one. But unlike the attractions themselves, which attract no end of attention, the association barely seems to register in the tourist scheme of things. Yet it should have an altogether stronger presence, because its membership comprises the best-known names in Mallorca. Best-known names, bar none, including hotels.
What reminded me of an association I and probably everyone else had completely forgotten about was a report of a speech by the association's new president. The director-general of the Palma Aquarium, Antonio González, was talking about the "error" that is the all-inclusive.
Here we go again, you might think. And here we do indeed go again. Sr. González argues that the all-inclusive offer represents an attempt to compete on price with other destinations (which is hard to do and even harder to sustain) and also a long-term danger that threatens the "quality of supply" in Mallorca.
Well, it's difficult to disagree, especially if you've been saying much the same thing for God knows how many years. And this is precisely the problem with all the discourse surrounding all-inclusives; it has been said time and time again, and the debate never moves on and no one seems to listen. No one who matters, that is.
Actually, this isn't totally accurate. There are those who listen, as they are made to. Meliá, for example, had to listen to questions regarding its re-development in Magalluf the other day. Was it going to entail more all-inclusive, the company was asked. Oh no, came the answer. Meliá has in mind a new profile of tourist with high purchasing power, one on 250 euros a night. Really?
Let's hope there isn't any backtracking. All-inclusive isn't solely about competing on price. There can be costly all-inclusive, just as there can be the economy class. You could get some pretty exclusive all-inclusive for 250 euros a night, especially if the regional government has allowed you - you being a hotel, that is - to fill the hotel grounds with much of what is currently only available outside these hotel grounds, including that offered by the odd member of the attractions' association.
What eventually transpires in Magalluf could, one stresses could, just serve as a model for the rest of the island's resorts. If so, the attractions' association would be extremely happy, as would be many others. Or would they? What sort of volume of tourist numbers will be passing through Palma airport in future if they are all expected to part with 250 euros a night? The question is an important one, because much of the island's tourism industry relies on high volume, as does that industry which is offshore, namely the tour operators and most airlines. And this volume demands all-inclusive, and inexpensive all-inclusive, to boot.
The seemingly intractable problem of quantity versus quality (and in overall tourism terms, you can't have both) and its associated problem of the all-inclusive is not likely to be resolved swiftly by what Meliá is planning. Nor is the other intractable problem of seasonality, a theme to which Sr. González also turned his attention. Six to seven months tourism and it's hard for any business, let alone an attraction, to be able to invest for a future or justify investing in a future that might or might not eventually bring in the 250-euro-a-night tourist.
This said, the Aquarium is an example of significant investment. It is also an example of all-year business, as indeed are some other attractions that are members of the association. As with all-inclusives, Sr. González has not offered a solution to the lack of off-season tourism, but it is good that the attractions' association seems to want to make its voice heard. These attractions attract between them 5.5 million visitors a year. They are hugely important players which should be taking a more assertive and central role in influencing general tourism strategy than, as a lack of media coverage would suggest, they have.
Though the attractions, like other businesses, depend on volume, the future may require a lower volume of tourism. No, not may, does require. Sr. González has added that the number of tourists is less important than tourist spend potential. And if a lower number means fewer economy-class all-inclusives, then so be it. Whether such a solution would, however, be palatable to everyone, such as the tour operators, is another matter. But then the attractions know all about the tour operators.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
What reminded me of an association I and probably everyone else had completely forgotten about was a report of a speech by the association's new president. The director-general of the Palma Aquarium, Antonio González, was talking about the "error" that is the all-inclusive.
Here we go again, you might think. And here we do indeed go again. Sr. González argues that the all-inclusive offer represents an attempt to compete on price with other destinations (which is hard to do and even harder to sustain) and also a long-term danger that threatens the "quality of supply" in Mallorca.
Well, it's difficult to disagree, especially if you've been saying much the same thing for God knows how many years. And this is precisely the problem with all the discourse surrounding all-inclusives; it has been said time and time again, and the debate never moves on and no one seems to listen. No one who matters, that is.
Actually, this isn't totally accurate. There are those who listen, as they are made to. Meliá, for example, had to listen to questions regarding its re-development in Magalluf the other day. Was it going to entail more all-inclusive, the company was asked. Oh no, came the answer. Meliá has in mind a new profile of tourist with high purchasing power, one on 250 euros a night. Really?
Let's hope there isn't any backtracking. All-inclusive isn't solely about competing on price. There can be costly all-inclusive, just as there can be the economy class. You could get some pretty exclusive all-inclusive for 250 euros a night, especially if the regional government has allowed you - you being a hotel, that is - to fill the hotel grounds with much of what is currently only available outside these hotel grounds, including that offered by the odd member of the attractions' association.
What eventually transpires in Magalluf could, one stresses could, just serve as a model for the rest of the island's resorts. If so, the attractions' association would be extremely happy, as would be many others. Or would they? What sort of volume of tourist numbers will be passing through Palma airport in future if they are all expected to part with 250 euros a night? The question is an important one, because much of the island's tourism industry relies on high volume, as does that industry which is offshore, namely the tour operators and most airlines. And this volume demands all-inclusive, and inexpensive all-inclusive, to boot.
The seemingly intractable problem of quantity versus quality (and in overall tourism terms, you can't have both) and its associated problem of the all-inclusive is not likely to be resolved swiftly by what Meliá is planning. Nor is the other intractable problem of seasonality, a theme to which Sr. González also turned his attention. Six to seven months tourism and it's hard for any business, let alone an attraction, to be able to invest for a future or justify investing in a future that might or might not eventually bring in the 250-euro-a-night tourist.
This said, the Aquarium is an example of significant investment. It is also an example of all-year business, as indeed are some other attractions that are members of the association. As with all-inclusives, Sr. González has not offered a solution to the lack of off-season tourism, but it is good that the attractions' association seems to want to make its voice heard. These attractions attract between them 5.5 million visitors a year. They are hugely important players which should be taking a more assertive and central role in influencing general tourism strategy than, as a lack of media coverage would suggest, they have.
Though the attractions, like other businesses, depend on volume, the future may require a lower volume of tourism. No, not may, does require. Sr. González has added that the number of tourists is less important than tourist spend potential. And if a lower number means fewer economy-class all-inclusives, then so be it. Whether such a solution would, however, be palatable to everyone, such as the tour operators, is another matter. But then the attractions know all about the tour operators.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
More Stars In Their Eyes: Hotels' strategy
Mallorca's hotel federation has pronounced once more. Ahead of the local elections, it has sent out a clear message to the to-be-newly elected that "bold and strategic" measures need to be adopted to tackle the island's tourism.
Bold and strategic. Fine words. The question is whether there is anyone capable of being bold or acting strategically. Don't bank on the political classes offering such a paragon of tourism virtue. They don't have a great track record in doing so.
The federation has identified a fundamental problem with Mallorca's tourism. Or perhaps they have borrowed it. The federation says that over the period 2000 to 2008 the number of tourists increased by nearly 22% yet the level of revenue generated went up by a mere 2.3%. Where have we heard something similar? Ah yes, the other day. Dr. Ivan Murray and his findings on the diminishing returns of tourism since 2003.
The solution, says the federation, is for there to be ever more tourists, the trouble with this being that at the current rates of growth it makes little sense. If revenue goes up only slightly, but the number of tourists increases dramatically, then how can there be a benefit? In order for there to be so, the federation believes in the replacement of obsolete accommodation by superior-grade hotels which would result in greater revenues. As an indication of what it is referring to, you need look no further than the situation in Calvia. Seven out of ten hotels in the municipality are 35 years or older, and three-quarters of the places in the hotels are between one and three-star.
Grand plans for the regeneration of Mallorca's hotels and tourism are nothing new. If you go back to the 80s and then into the 90s, plans were popping up from drawing-boards on an almost annual basis. One of the first was the "decreto Cladera" of 1984 that determined the square meterage per one tourism bed. Later there was the "plan for tourism resort embellishment" (making resorts looks prettier in other words). Then there was Ecomost, which sought to establish the limit as to the number of tourists; the "D" Plan of 1997 to address seasonality; the hotel accommodation modernisation plan of the 90s under which hotels could have been closed down if they did not comply with upgrades (and many managed to somehow slip through the net); the modernisation of complementary supply (bars and restaurants) of 1996.
What all these had in common was that they were drawn up in a period before the onset of the new competition from the eastern Mediterranean. Then the new century began and brought in what we now discover, that, for all those plans, the number of tourists has increased but the money they bring in has barely increased at all.
And of these plans, notably the hotel modernisation plan and that for tackling seasonality, were particularly unsuccesful. Furthermore, they both prove that there is nothing new under the sun, as they are but two issues that plague Mallorca's ability to operate in the far more competitive tourism market of today.
Nevertheless, the hotels seem determined to modernise, which is fine, but then what? If this results in higher-grade all-inclusives, then not a great deal. It may lead to an increase in revenue, but revenue for whom? As we know from the idiotic tourism spend statistics, the gearing is towards revenue generated by aspects of the tourism offer which filter only indirectly into the wider economy; it is that on accommodation, the holiday package itself and transport.
More fundamentally though, the desire, the need to increase the number of tourists raises enormous questions as to the capacity-carrying ability of the island (whether it has the resources to support increases), as to possible further building developments (for the most part restricted by planning laws) and as to where the tourists will come from. The new markets, Russia and so on, are going to have to be pursued with considerable vigour.
Getting more tourists cannot be just about adding more during the summer. There has to be a limit to the number of tourists which can be catered for during the summer months. Moreover, creating plusher hotels adds to the current absurdity of so many of them being unproductive for such lengthy periods. Which brings in the question of seasonality. And it is here, more than anything, that an ability to deliver on a strategy, let alone develop one, is exposed.
You can go back further than that "D" Plan of 1997. In the 1980s they were planning the development of "winter products". Guess what they were. You're right: cycling, golf, culture.
The point is that when it comes to being bold and strategic, we've been here before. Several times. And it amounted to very little, even in the days before Turkey, Croatia and Egypt became the threats they now are. You wouldn't count on it being any better this time round.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Bold and strategic. Fine words. The question is whether there is anyone capable of being bold or acting strategically. Don't bank on the political classes offering such a paragon of tourism virtue. They don't have a great track record in doing so.
The federation has identified a fundamental problem with Mallorca's tourism. Or perhaps they have borrowed it. The federation says that over the period 2000 to 2008 the number of tourists increased by nearly 22% yet the level of revenue generated went up by a mere 2.3%. Where have we heard something similar? Ah yes, the other day. Dr. Ivan Murray and his findings on the diminishing returns of tourism since 2003.
The solution, says the federation, is for there to be ever more tourists, the trouble with this being that at the current rates of growth it makes little sense. If revenue goes up only slightly, but the number of tourists increases dramatically, then how can there be a benefit? In order for there to be so, the federation believes in the replacement of obsolete accommodation by superior-grade hotels which would result in greater revenues. As an indication of what it is referring to, you need look no further than the situation in Calvia. Seven out of ten hotels in the municipality are 35 years or older, and three-quarters of the places in the hotels are between one and three-star.
Grand plans for the regeneration of Mallorca's hotels and tourism are nothing new. If you go back to the 80s and then into the 90s, plans were popping up from drawing-boards on an almost annual basis. One of the first was the "decreto Cladera" of 1984 that determined the square meterage per one tourism bed. Later there was the "plan for tourism resort embellishment" (making resorts looks prettier in other words). Then there was Ecomost, which sought to establish the limit as to the number of tourists; the "D" Plan of 1997 to address seasonality; the hotel accommodation modernisation plan of the 90s under which hotels could have been closed down if they did not comply with upgrades (and many managed to somehow slip through the net); the modernisation of complementary supply (bars and restaurants) of 1996.
What all these had in common was that they were drawn up in a period before the onset of the new competition from the eastern Mediterranean. Then the new century began and brought in what we now discover, that, for all those plans, the number of tourists has increased but the money they bring in has barely increased at all.
And of these plans, notably the hotel modernisation plan and that for tackling seasonality, were particularly unsuccesful. Furthermore, they both prove that there is nothing new under the sun, as they are but two issues that plague Mallorca's ability to operate in the far more competitive tourism market of today.
Nevertheless, the hotels seem determined to modernise, which is fine, but then what? If this results in higher-grade all-inclusives, then not a great deal. It may lead to an increase in revenue, but revenue for whom? As we know from the idiotic tourism spend statistics, the gearing is towards revenue generated by aspects of the tourism offer which filter only indirectly into the wider economy; it is that on accommodation, the holiday package itself and transport.
More fundamentally though, the desire, the need to increase the number of tourists raises enormous questions as to the capacity-carrying ability of the island (whether it has the resources to support increases), as to possible further building developments (for the most part restricted by planning laws) and as to where the tourists will come from. The new markets, Russia and so on, are going to have to be pursued with considerable vigour.
Getting more tourists cannot be just about adding more during the summer. There has to be a limit to the number of tourists which can be catered for during the summer months. Moreover, creating plusher hotels adds to the current absurdity of so many of them being unproductive for such lengthy periods. Which brings in the question of seasonality. And it is here, more than anything, that an ability to deliver on a strategy, let alone develop one, is exposed.
You can go back further than that "D" Plan of 1997. In the 1980s they were planning the development of "winter products". Guess what they were. You're right: cycling, golf, culture.
The point is that when it comes to being bold and strategic, we've been here before. Several times. And it amounted to very little, even in the days before Turkey, Croatia and Egypt became the threats they now are. You wouldn't count on it being any better this time round.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Adopting Positions: Chopin should have played golf
Chopin is to be made an adoptive son of Mallorca. No doubt he'll be rubato-ing with contentment in his Parisian grave, well away from where his interred non-missus, Amandine Dupin (aka George Sand), will be cursing the fact of his joining her in adoption but rejoicing in her having secured the gig before him; she was made an adoptive daughter of Mallorca some years ago. Beat yer to it, Freddie, you sexual inadequate.
Chopin and Sand were simultaneously enchanted and appalled by Mallorca, and specifically Valldemossa. It's the enchantment that gets hyper-brochured, alongside mentions of Chopin's output while in his mountain retreat and of Sand's legacy to the island, commemorated in the annual Winter in Mallorca cultural programme, named after her book. The selective writing of the history of the Chopin-Sand stay in Mallorca disguises the brevity of that stay and the deterioration in Chopin's health during it, a consequence of a miserable and cold winter. How he actually managed to play the piano, rubato or otherwise, is a mystery. Or perhaps he was blessed with warm extremities. Well, a couple if not one other, if George is to be taken at her word.
Chopin was from Poland. It's a happy coincidence. Name some of the "new" markets from which Mallorca hopes to attract more tourists, and Poland will appear high on the list. Having an adoptive son to boast about doesn't presumably harm that objective: the tourism juan-ies should be frantically casting around for a few Russians or Chinese who might have some adoption credentials, other than members of the Russki Mafia or owners of shops in a Mallorcan McDonald's style - the Chinese bazar; one on every street.
While Chopin and the not-missus Chopin are invoked as part of the island's cultural and winter tourism, they might have greater contemporary impact had they played golf. Perhaps someone could conveniently unearth a 170-year-old pitch 'n' putt in Valldemossa; it would do wonders for the golf tourism project. Possibly. Golf, though, holds the key to greater off-season riches than piano playing. Or that's what they would have you believe.
It's doubtful that Chopin ever made it as far as Muro or the north of the island. But it is here that the battle for golf tourism is being waged - as if you weren't aware of this already. Muro's golf course development is going through yet another eighteen holes of it's on, then it's off; the promoters threatening to sue is the latest. Not, I imagine, that you care. No one much does any longer, except the main protagonists, one of which is the enviro doom merchants GOB.
The pressure group has been playing its own statistics game. What it has found, it reckons, are figures which "prove" that golf doesn't do anything to bolster tourism off-seasonality. I had hoped that the figures would be proof, as at least it would have been evidence of someone making a hard case one way or the other as to whether the Muro course, or indeed others, are of any significant tourism value.
The statistics show that in the lower months of the "summer" season, i.e. April and October, occupation in hotels in Muro and Santa Margalida (for which, read Playa de Muro and Can Picafort) is higher than those in Alcúdia and Pollensa. From this, GOB argues that golf does not benefit either of the latter two resorts, ones where there are golf courses extant, while it also argues that Muro and Can Picafort are already doing nicely thank you by comparison, and therefore, by dubious extrapolation, don't need a golf course (or courses). It then goes on to extol what are the highly limited business virtues of small niche tourism in the resorts, e.g. bird-watching.
What this argument overlooks is the fact that the early-season occupancy of hotels in Playa de Muro and Can Picafort can be explained by these resorts being centres of cycling tourism, more so than the other two resorts. By concentrating on hotel occupancy figures, it also neglects the fact that Pollensa has a far lower number of hotel places by comparison with the other resorts. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the fact that golfers might stay in other types of accommodation (and GOB doesn't take this into account), the findings do underline a point that I have made in the past, which is precisely the one that GOB is implying. Were there real tourist demand for golf in Alcúdia and Pollensa, then more hotels would open. Wouldn't they?
GOB's argument is persuasive up to a point, but there is one big hole in it - there are no figures for the months of November to March. The seasonality issue is a twelve-month affair. Winter tourism, or the lack of it, cannot be defined in terms of April and October. Which brings us back to Chopin and Sand. Has anyone ever attempted to prove a link between Winter in Mallorca and winter tourism? Maybe they have, and they're keeping schtum. GOB's claims are based on some science, but they seem post-hoc. However, they are not without a dash of merit. There ought to be more science, but one suspects that certain vested interests would rather there weren't.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Chopin and Sand were simultaneously enchanted and appalled by Mallorca, and specifically Valldemossa. It's the enchantment that gets hyper-brochured, alongside mentions of Chopin's output while in his mountain retreat and of Sand's legacy to the island, commemorated in the annual Winter in Mallorca cultural programme, named after her book. The selective writing of the history of the Chopin-Sand stay in Mallorca disguises the brevity of that stay and the deterioration in Chopin's health during it, a consequence of a miserable and cold winter. How he actually managed to play the piano, rubato or otherwise, is a mystery. Or perhaps he was blessed with warm extremities. Well, a couple if not one other, if George is to be taken at her word.
Chopin was from Poland. It's a happy coincidence. Name some of the "new" markets from which Mallorca hopes to attract more tourists, and Poland will appear high on the list. Having an adoptive son to boast about doesn't presumably harm that objective: the tourism juan-ies should be frantically casting around for a few Russians or Chinese who might have some adoption credentials, other than members of the Russki Mafia or owners of shops in a Mallorcan McDonald's style - the Chinese bazar; one on every street.
While Chopin and the not-missus Chopin are invoked as part of the island's cultural and winter tourism, they might have greater contemporary impact had they played golf. Perhaps someone could conveniently unearth a 170-year-old pitch 'n' putt in Valldemossa; it would do wonders for the golf tourism project. Possibly. Golf, though, holds the key to greater off-season riches than piano playing. Or that's what they would have you believe.
It's doubtful that Chopin ever made it as far as Muro or the north of the island. But it is here that the battle for golf tourism is being waged - as if you weren't aware of this already. Muro's golf course development is going through yet another eighteen holes of it's on, then it's off; the promoters threatening to sue is the latest. Not, I imagine, that you care. No one much does any longer, except the main protagonists, one of which is the enviro doom merchants GOB.
The pressure group has been playing its own statistics game. What it has found, it reckons, are figures which "prove" that golf doesn't do anything to bolster tourism off-seasonality. I had hoped that the figures would be proof, as at least it would have been evidence of someone making a hard case one way or the other as to whether the Muro course, or indeed others, are of any significant tourism value.
The statistics show that in the lower months of the "summer" season, i.e. April and October, occupation in hotels in Muro and Santa Margalida (for which, read Playa de Muro and Can Picafort) is higher than those in Alcúdia and Pollensa. From this, GOB argues that golf does not benefit either of the latter two resorts, ones where there are golf courses extant, while it also argues that Muro and Can Picafort are already doing nicely thank you by comparison, and therefore, by dubious extrapolation, don't need a golf course (or courses). It then goes on to extol what are the highly limited business virtues of small niche tourism in the resorts, e.g. bird-watching.
What this argument overlooks is the fact that the early-season occupancy of hotels in Playa de Muro and Can Picafort can be explained by these resorts being centres of cycling tourism, more so than the other two resorts. By concentrating on hotel occupancy figures, it also neglects the fact that Pollensa has a far lower number of hotel places by comparison with the other resorts. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the fact that golfers might stay in other types of accommodation (and GOB doesn't take this into account), the findings do underline a point that I have made in the past, which is precisely the one that GOB is implying. Were there real tourist demand for golf in Alcúdia and Pollensa, then more hotels would open. Wouldn't they?
GOB's argument is persuasive up to a point, but there is one big hole in it - there are no figures for the months of November to March. The seasonality issue is a twelve-month affair. Winter tourism, or the lack of it, cannot be defined in terms of April and October. Which brings us back to Chopin and Sand. Has anyone ever attempted to prove a link between Winter in Mallorca and winter tourism? Maybe they have, and they're keeping schtum. GOB's claims are based on some science, but they seem post-hoc. However, they are not without a dash of merit. There ought to be more science, but one suspects that certain vested interests would rather there weren't.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Will The Circle Be Unbroken? - Unemployment in the Balearics
The psychological barrier has been breached, but the regional government would like to suggest that it has not been. The national statistics office would beg to differ. According to it, unemployment in the Balearics has not only crossed the 100,000 Rubicon, it has embarked on the invasion and is scaling the ramparts. Ok, this is an over-statement; it's not as if a point of no return has been arrived at, but it sure as hell must feel like it to those in the dole queues. The statistics office maintains that the number out of work stands at 112,000, one in ten - approximately - of the islands' population. Or to put it another way, at just under 20%, one in five of the registered working population, and that figure doesn't take account of the self-employed who are also feeling the pinch.
The government reckons that unemployment has peaked. It may have, for the time being, though an improvement in figures is unlikely to show up for some while, until seasonal employment kicks in. Even that, however, disguises the true picture, and that is the lack of employment opportunities which summer work only helps to obscure. Recession has exacerbated the situation, clearly it has, but it has also exposed the fault lines of the local economy - ones that should have been obvious to anyone, even politicians, seduced by the boom times but apparently incapable of counteracting seasonality.
The national government, meanwhile, is flailing around, desperate to find any measure that might reduce its massive budget deficit and to assure the markets that the Spanish economy is not the same basket case as Greece's; oh how the temporarily mighty have fallen. One ploy is to raise the pension age to 67. Fine, assuming there's any work for the 65 year-olds to continue with. Another is to increase indirect taxation. For an island - Mallorca - and a nation for which tax avoidance is a past-time, this is insane. It might, questionably, mollify the markets, but it will do nothing for employment creation.
Mr. Bean is cutting an ever more awkward figure. When elected for his second term in 2008, Sr. Zapatero had promised full employment. There wasn't a hope in hell's chance of that, especially not as the crisis began to consume everything in its path. And even were there "full employment", what would it look like? A few months work as a waiter and then back to the off-season dole queues, paid for by the burdensome levels of social security that are a brake on much employment creation. Were there to be an election now, chances are that the PSOE would be obliterated, bringing into office - by default - the singularly uninspiring figure of the PP's climate-change-denying Mariano Rajoy. You might remember him; he's the one with a relative who holds a position in a university who doesn't reckon much to the climate-change argument, and so Mariano used that as the basis for his own argument. That's about as good as it gets.
But also meanwhile, Sr. Zapatero can at least walk the European stage during Spain's EU presidency term. The central government's science and innovation minister has announced, as part of the programme for the presidency, that research and development and innovation should be at the heart of European recovery. Good for her. Ah yes, innovation, technology, research and development. Now, wasn't there something about all that two or three years back? Not from Madrid, but from the regional government. Whatever happened, do you suppose? Could it be that funding just had to be diverted to bolstering the rust-bowl industries - construction and hotels during time of crisis? Industries that are at the heart of Mallorca's seasonality. And so it goes around, and around, and around, the circle remaining unbroken.
QUIZ
Yesterday: A-ha, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAhY2tV5wlc. Today's title: take your pick as to the circle.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for January 2010
Airport management by local government - 25 January 2010
Association of British Companies Menorca - 28 January 2010
Capdepera alternative tourism - 6 January 2010
Ciudadanos Europeos - 17 January 2010
Constructors unpaid by town halls - 26 January 2010
England versus Mallorca in winter - 4 January 2010
English standards in Mallorca - 23 January 2010
Environmental care, lack of - 15 January 2010
Fiestas - 14 January 2010, 15 January 2010, 16 January 2010, 19 January 2010, 22 January 2010
Francesc Antich - 13 January 2010, 25 January 2010
GOB - 30 January 2010
Hiper car rental in administration - 29 January 2010
IVA increase and tourism - 21 January 2010
Jardín restaurant, Alcúdia - 5 January 2010
Miquel Capllonch - 10 January 2010
Miquel Ferrer's tourism boldness - 22 January 2010
Miquel Llompart, new mayor of Alcúdia - 9 January 2010, 18 January 2010
Muro golf course - 29 January 2010, 30 January 2010
Pi de Ternelles accident - 19 January 2010
Pollensa street cleaning - 29 January 2010
Real Mallorca - 5 January 2010, 15 January 2010
Sant Antoni - 14 January 2010, 15 January 2010, 16 January 2010, 19 January 2010
Sant Sebastià in Pollensa - 22 January 2010
Santa Margalida town hall - 8 January 2010
Smoking law, new - 5 January 2010, 20 January 2010, 21 January 2010, 22 January 2010
Thomas Cook advertising - 12 January 2010
Three Kings - 7 January 2010
Tourism a priority - 25 January 2010
Town hall information provision - 16 January 2010, 18 January 2010
Town hall spends - 11 January 2010, 26 January 2010
Unemployment in the Balearics - 31 January 2010
Unió Mallorquina new leader - 5 January 2010, 27 January 2010
Webcams and surveillance - 24 January 2010
World Cup song - 19 January 2010
Zapatero and the price of coffee - 21 January 2010
The government reckons that unemployment has peaked. It may have, for the time being, though an improvement in figures is unlikely to show up for some while, until seasonal employment kicks in. Even that, however, disguises the true picture, and that is the lack of employment opportunities which summer work only helps to obscure. Recession has exacerbated the situation, clearly it has, but it has also exposed the fault lines of the local economy - ones that should have been obvious to anyone, even politicians, seduced by the boom times but apparently incapable of counteracting seasonality.
The national government, meanwhile, is flailing around, desperate to find any measure that might reduce its massive budget deficit and to assure the markets that the Spanish economy is not the same basket case as Greece's; oh how the temporarily mighty have fallen. One ploy is to raise the pension age to 67. Fine, assuming there's any work for the 65 year-olds to continue with. Another is to increase indirect taxation. For an island - Mallorca - and a nation for which tax avoidance is a past-time, this is insane. It might, questionably, mollify the markets, but it will do nothing for employment creation.
Mr. Bean is cutting an ever more awkward figure. When elected for his second term in 2008, Sr. Zapatero had promised full employment. There wasn't a hope in hell's chance of that, especially not as the crisis began to consume everything in its path. And even were there "full employment", what would it look like? A few months work as a waiter and then back to the off-season dole queues, paid for by the burdensome levels of social security that are a brake on much employment creation. Were there to be an election now, chances are that the PSOE would be obliterated, bringing into office - by default - the singularly uninspiring figure of the PP's climate-change-denying Mariano Rajoy. You might remember him; he's the one with a relative who holds a position in a university who doesn't reckon much to the climate-change argument, and so Mariano used that as the basis for his own argument. That's about as good as it gets.
But also meanwhile, Sr. Zapatero can at least walk the European stage during Spain's EU presidency term. The central government's science and innovation minister has announced, as part of the programme for the presidency, that research and development and innovation should be at the heart of European recovery. Good for her. Ah yes, innovation, technology, research and development. Now, wasn't there something about all that two or three years back? Not from Madrid, but from the regional government. Whatever happened, do you suppose? Could it be that funding just had to be diverted to bolstering the rust-bowl industries - construction and hotels during time of crisis? Industries that are at the heart of Mallorca's seasonality. And so it goes around, and around, and around, the circle remaining unbroken.
QUIZ
Yesterday: A-ha, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAhY2tV5wlc. Today's title: take your pick as to the circle.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for January 2010
Airport management by local government - 25 January 2010
Association of British Companies Menorca - 28 January 2010
Capdepera alternative tourism - 6 January 2010
Ciudadanos Europeos - 17 January 2010
Constructors unpaid by town halls - 26 January 2010
England versus Mallorca in winter - 4 January 2010
English standards in Mallorca - 23 January 2010
Environmental care, lack of - 15 January 2010
Fiestas - 14 January 2010, 15 January 2010, 16 January 2010, 19 January 2010, 22 January 2010
Francesc Antich - 13 January 2010, 25 January 2010
GOB - 30 January 2010
Hiper car rental in administration - 29 January 2010
IVA increase and tourism - 21 January 2010
Jardín restaurant, Alcúdia - 5 January 2010
Miquel Capllonch - 10 January 2010
Miquel Ferrer's tourism boldness - 22 January 2010
Miquel Llompart, new mayor of Alcúdia - 9 January 2010, 18 January 2010
Muro golf course - 29 January 2010, 30 January 2010
Pi de Ternelles accident - 19 January 2010
Pollensa street cleaning - 29 January 2010
Real Mallorca - 5 January 2010, 15 January 2010
Sant Antoni - 14 January 2010, 15 January 2010, 16 January 2010, 19 January 2010
Sant Sebastià in Pollensa - 22 January 2010
Santa Margalida town hall - 8 January 2010
Smoking law, new - 5 January 2010, 20 January 2010, 21 January 2010, 22 January 2010
Thomas Cook advertising - 12 January 2010
Three Kings - 7 January 2010
Tourism a priority - 25 January 2010
Town hall information provision - 16 January 2010, 18 January 2010
Town hall spends - 11 January 2010, 26 January 2010
Unemployment in the Balearics - 31 January 2010
Unió Mallorquina new leader - 5 January 2010, 27 January 2010
Webcams and surveillance - 24 January 2010
World Cup song - 19 January 2010
Zapatero and the price of coffee - 21 January 2010
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