Tourism is an odd thing politically. Important as it is, it isn't generally granted high political status. In the European Union, there appear to be only three countries which have a minister devoted to tourism alone: Bulgaria, Croatia and Malta. The latter of these is never mentioned in discussions of Mallorca and Spain's competitor destinations, but the first two most certainly are. The advances of their sun-and-beach tourism have been plotted strategically around the cabinet table.
There are other countries which relegate tourism to a lowly political level. The UK is one of them. It has a parliamentary under secretary of state for sport, tourism and heritage: Tracey Crouch, whose CV suggests that her knowledge of tourism is significantly less than her knowledge of football.
For the most part, EU nations place tourism within ministries which have cabinet status. In Germany, as an example, tourism comes under the ministry of economic affairs and energy. The French find a place for tourism in the foreign ministry. The nation which receives more tourists than anywhere else - France - doesn't have a dedicated minister.
Spain doesn't have a specific minister either. There was hope, prior to the announcement of the new cabinet, that it would. In the end Mariano Rajoy lumped tourism together with energy (as had previously been the case) and with the "digital agenda". In so doing, Rajoy failed to remove the potential conflict of responsibilities which dogged José Manuel Soria and that caused the disputes with the Balearics over oil. The apparent need for tourism to co-exist with energy is a source of bafflement. There again, what's good for the Germans ... even if tourism in that country is delegated downwards from the cabinet table. It could be more baffling: in Luxembourg, hive of tourist activity as it is, they have a minister for tourism, housing and, bizarrely enough, the middle classes.
At least tourism is directly represented at the Spanish cabinet table, when it is not in the UK, France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Slovakia and Slovenia.
EU countries clearly have varying degrees of economic dependence on tourism. In Spain, it contributes 11.5% of GDP, a percentage that rises dramatically according to region, such as the Balearics. This is greater than in France, where it is just under 10%, but well below Croatia with 20%. In a Daily Telegraph list of the twenty countries on the planet most reliant on tourism, Croatia sits at number eighteen. Malta is five places above it. No wonder they have dedicated tourism ministers.
Of the major economic powers in the EU, Spain's dependence on tourism is the greatest; Italy lags behind by around one per cent. Although high, this dependence is not as fundamental as in, say, Croatia. But GDP figures can explain only so much. There is the indirect contribution as well and perhaps just as importantly there is the social and psychological contribution. While miscreants are going around daubing anti-tourist slogans - and not just in Palma - no one can (or should) forget that it was tourism above all that turned Spain into a major economic power. It is in the national psyche, therefore, which maybe helps to explain the degree to which a ministerial appointment has been discussed. The column inches have been numerous, the analysis of the new minister has been intense. The debate as to the need to a dedicated tourism minister continues, though some are counting blessings that Rajoy didn't go back to how things were for a time under Zapatero when there was no cabinet representation.
Yet it remains something of a mystery as to why tourism doesn't enjoy greater status in political affairs. Alvaro Nadal, the new minister, has said that "tourism is our jewel in the crown that has a snowball effect on the whole of the economy". Quite so; 11.5% of GDP does indeed explain only so much. Moreover, as Rajoy sought to bring Spain out of economic crisis, he repeatedly referred - quite correctly - to tourism being the motor of the economy. Its reward is to be allied to the nation's digitalisation and energy needs. It doesn't appear to make sense.
Nadal has also said that there is a need for tourism to be given "a strong impulse to reinvent itself". What does he mean by this? Is the sector not already heading in new directions of diversification and greater quality? In the Balearics, we'd like to believe so. But then, the Balearics are not Extremadura or Castile and Leon.
Spain's tourism diversity is vast. And herein perhaps lies the rub. While Balearic tourism interests must at all costs be defended, these interests are not as reliant on a national minister as is the case with other regions. The islands arguably have far more need of a national energy minister, so long as he doesn't want to start drilling for oil.
Showing posts with label Tourism ministers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tourism ministers. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 08, 2016
Sunday, December 29, 2013
The Ten Tourism Ministers Of Mallorca
The coronation of the new Balearics tourism minister failed to acknowledge a landmark in the islands' tourism ministerial history. Jaime Martinez is the tenth tourism minister since tourism ministers started to be appointed in 1983.
To give the full list of ministers, they have been Jaume Cladera, Joan Flaquer (twice), José María González Ortea, Celesti Alomar, Francesc Buils, Miquel Nadal, Miquel Ferrer, Joana Barceló and of course Carlos Delgado. Of thirty years of the ministry, seventeen of these years saw only two ministers - Cladera for ten and Flaquer for seven. With Martinez now getting his feet under the ministerial desk, his appointment means that eight ministers have averaged just a fraction longer than a year and a half in office.
One does have to bear in mind of course that during the last administration there were no fewer than four ministers. Buils and Nadal both had to go and both have since been convicted. Ferrer lasted only a few weeks before his party, the old Unió Mallorquina, was booted out of the coalition. Barceló got the job solely because the president, Francesc Antich, was desperate to find someone, anyone, from his own PSOE party to take over. Four ministers over the course of a four-year administration between 2007 and 2011 help to explain the low average tenure of Balearics tourism ministers.
Delgado's resignation is indicative of instability in two respects. One is the cabinet of President Bauzá because of its resignations and reshuffle dismissals. The other is the job of tourism minister. A new minister can be expected after elections, but the ministry has now had six ministers in six years. Continuity, it might be said, has been in somewhat short supply. So also has been contentment among those in the tourism industry. The Balearics, for a region that pioneered mass tourism, has a pretty lamentable recent record when it comes to governing this tourism.
But what of these various ministers? The one who stands out is the first minister, Jaume Cladera. He had the job for the longest period and of all of them he has been the only one of whom it can be said that he was genuinely qualified. His background was tourism before he became vice-president of the Mallorca Tourist Board in 1979 and was a logical choice to be minister in the first regional government in 1983. Of others, Alomar had been the director of the old IBATUR promotion agency prior to becoming minister in 1999, but none could boast Cladera's industry background.
Starting pretty much from scratch, Cladera was bound to make some impact. And, by introducing the plan for tourism and for introducing all manner of legislation to do with tourism, he did make an impact. He commanded a deal of respect as well as being a symbol of stability for the industry.
It isn't a pre-requisite of ministerial office that a minister has to have a background specific to his portfolio, but it certainly helps if he or she does. President Bauzá appeared to acknowledge as much when he appointed Gabriel Company, at the time an independent and not a member of the Partido Popular, to head the agriculture-environment-land mega-ministry. Company was a businessman with years of experience in agriculture, but in terms of economic importance agriculture is a long way behind tourism. Why, therefore, is there not a minister with specific industry knowledge? Someone like, say, a Jaume Cladera?
The new man Martinez has been knocking around the tourism ministry as well as Calvia town hall over the years. He knows about tourism, but this isn't the same as understanding tourism or, perhaps more importantly, understanding tourists. Part of the Calvia clique which Delgado, rather like a new football manager, took with him to the ministry, it can be said that Martinez has experience of administration in one of Spain's most important tourist towns. But does he have experience of tourists? What does he really know of the differing types of tourist, the differing nature of tourism in Calvia and therefore in Mallorca and the Balearics? Administration yes, but not necessarily experience of the right variety. An architect by profession, what have been his priorities? As with the Mallorcan property lawyer Isabel Borrego who is the national secretary of state for tourism, there is the fear that he views tourism as an exercise in real estate and bricks and mortar (and a certain type of bricks and mortar) rather than in hearts and minds.
Do we, though, expect too much from tourism ministers? There are certain issues which they can do precious little to influence - all-inclusives being one, save perhaps from legally established standards of service. There are others which they can influence; holiday rentals is one, were they of a mind to. But the expectation lies more with a sense of vision, and this is most unlikely to ever come from someone whose knowledge of tourism is administrative as opposed to strategic and hands-on. Martinez is really no different to most tourism ministers that the Balearics have had in this regard. The tenth minister, and the ninth not to have come from the industry.
To give the full list of ministers, they have been Jaume Cladera, Joan Flaquer (twice), José María González Ortea, Celesti Alomar, Francesc Buils, Miquel Nadal, Miquel Ferrer, Joana Barceló and of course Carlos Delgado. Of thirty years of the ministry, seventeen of these years saw only two ministers - Cladera for ten and Flaquer for seven. With Martinez now getting his feet under the ministerial desk, his appointment means that eight ministers have averaged just a fraction longer than a year and a half in office.
One does have to bear in mind of course that during the last administration there were no fewer than four ministers. Buils and Nadal both had to go and both have since been convicted. Ferrer lasted only a few weeks before his party, the old Unió Mallorquina, was booted out of the coalition. Barceló got the job solely because the president, Francesc Antich, was desperate to find someone, anyone, from his own PSOE party to take over. Four ministers over the course of a four-year administration between 2007 and 2011 help to explain the low average tenure of Balearics tourism ministers.
Delgado's resignation is indicative of instability in two respects. One is the cabinet of President Bauzá because of its resignations and reshuffle dismissals. The other is the job of tourism minister. A new minister can be expected after elections, but the ministry has now had six ministers in six years. Continuity, it might be said, has been in somewhat short supply. So also has been contentment among those in the tourism industry. The Balearics, for a region that pioneered mass tourism, has a pretty lamentable recent record when it comes to governing this tourism.
But what of these various ministers? The one who stands out is the first minister, Jaume Cladera. He had the job for the longest period and of all of them he has been the only one of whom it can be said that he was genuinely qualified. His background was tourism before he became vice-president of the Mallorca Tourist Board in 1979 and was a logical choice to be minister in the first regional government in 1983. Of others, Alomar had been the director of the old IBATUR promotion agency prior to becoming minister in 1999, but none could boast Cladera's industry background.
Starting pretty much from scratch, Cladera was bound to make some impact. And, by introducing the plan for tourism and for introducing all manner of legislation to do with tourism, he did make an impact. He commanded a deal of respect as well as being a symbol of stability for the industry.
It isn't a pre-requisite of ministerial office that a minister has to have a background specific to his portfolio, but it certainly helps if he or she does. President Bauzá appeared to acknowledge as much when he appointed Gabriel Company, at the time an independent and not a member of the Partido Popular, to head the agriculture-environment-land mega-ministry. Company was a businessman with years of experience in agriculture, but in terms of economic importance agriculture is a long way behind tourism. Why, therefore, is there not a minister with specific industry knowledge? Someone like, say, a Jaume Cladera?
The new man Martinez has been knocking around the tourism ministry as well as Calvia town hall over the years. He knows about tourism, but this isn't the same as understanding tourism or, perhaps more importantly, understanding tourists. Part of the Calvia clique which Delgado, rather like a new football manager, took with him to the ministry, it can be said that Martinez has experience of administration in one of Spain's most important tourist towns. But does he have experience of tourists? What does he really know of the differing types of tourist, the differing nature of tourism in Calvia and therefore in Mallorca and the Balearics? Administration yes, but not necessarily experience of the right variety. An architect by profession, what have been his priorities? As with the Mallorcan property lawyer Isabel Borrego who is the national secretary of state for tourism, there is the fear that he views tourism as an exercise in real estate and bricks and mortar (and a certain type of bricks and mortar) rather than in hearts and minds.
Do we, though, expect too much from tourism ministers? There are certain issues which they can do precious little to influence - all-inclusives being one, save perhaps from legally established standards of service. There are others which they can influence; holiday rentals is one, were they of a mind to. But the expectation lies more with a sense of vision, and this is most unlikely to ever come from someone whose knowledge of tourism is administrative as opposed to strategic and hands-on. Martinez is really no different to most tourism ministers that the Balearics have had in this regard. The tenth minister, and the ninth not to have come from the industry.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Wanted: Tourism Minister, Forklift Experience Not Necessary
The Balearics have been on their annual jaunt to Berlin. The biggest of the round of travel fairs, the ITB, has been the backdrop to the celebratory noises coming from Germany, those speaking of staggering increases in tourism volume this summer, anything up to 50% greater sales, and of hotel chains suspending sales because of fears that high demand will lead to overbooking.
An "historic" year for tourism in Mallorca and the islands does genuinely now appear to be in the offing, despite the best attempts of the airport workers to put the kibosh on this. For once, the joyous expressions of photo-opportunistic Balearics representatives at the travel fair are unforced. Gone are the smiles through gritted teeth of an imminent, crisis-imploding season. Holiday. Celebrate.
Amongst the ecstatic faces in Berlin have been President Antich and his tourism minister, Joana Barceló. They have probably been making the most of their time in the German capital; this year's fair may well turn out to be the last that either attends. Through happenstance more than design, they can go out on a tourism high.
While you would expect both to pitch up at such an event, it is the presence of Antich which is the more significant. Progressively, over the course of his current administration, he has become a far more visible player in matters tourism. His involvement with developments of new tourism markets, China and especially Russia, has coincided with the expansion of these markets. The Russian tour operator, Natalie Tours, anticipates bringing 40% more Russian tourists to the islands this summer; an increase in the number of flight connections with Palma and other Balearic airports (34 in all) is largely due to new routes to and from Russia.
To what extent Antich can take personal credit for these developments is open to question, but he does deserve some credit for seeming to have adopted a more proactive stance when it comes to tourism. It might be said that he, and previous presidents, should have been doing this anyway, but it hasn't always been so.
If one accepts the generally held view that tourism equates to roughly 80% of Mallorca's GDP, then a hands-on presidential role in the management of what is the island's only strategic industry should be a given. It is only belatedly, however, that a local president has seen this light. For Antich, it may have been that he was left with little choice, as he was the one element of continuity while successive tourism ministers were being shown the door.
Placing tourism in a more central and lofty position in the governmental hierarchy chimes with how it is perceived in some competitor destinations. In both Turkey and the Mubarak-governed Egypt, tourism is and was afforded a special, strategic role, one reflected by the power invested in officials to ensure the success of tourism.
In the past, I have argued for a similar arrangement in the Balearics, with tourism, in effect, being treated as a special case as an office of the president. Without going so far as this, Antich more recently said that not only should tourism be the priority but pretty much everything else in Mallorca should play a supporting role to tourism. If one follows this line of argument and one of the president assuming greater executive responsibility, where does that leave the minister for tourism?
The Fomento del Turísmo (the Mallorcan Tourist Board) called the other day for a future tourism minister to be someone from the industry. Quite how this might be effected if this were not an elected official, I am unsure, but it was a not unreasonable point.
While any minister should be capable of understanding and following a brief, tourism is too important to be left to a politician whose qualifications for the post are often questionable. Take, as an example, the unfortunate Miguel Ferrer. Transported from the mayoral seat in Alcúdia, he rematerialised for a couple of months behind the tourism ministry's desk. The rationalisation for his appointment was that he was mayor of a town with a significant tourism industry. He was also, before becoming mayor, a forklift truck driver. The logic of the argument was singularly lacking, and were there any logic to it, then why not put the mayor of Sa Pobla in charge of agriculture because the town is the centre of the island's potato production?
Antich, by default, has become the de facto tourism minister, more so than Barceló who, as with her predecessors, appears to operate via a manual by which Balearics tourism ministers are obliged to utter banalities in respect of so-called alternative tourism, amongst other things. Antich does at least seem to get it, something which his likely successor, José Bauzá, gives little confidence in suggesting that he does. It may well be that the Fomento think the same, and so have called for a professional appointment.
Whether tourism is placed in the presidential palace or not, the need for someone with the correct qualifications is enormous. It is not just that 80% of GDP that needs taking care of. Tourism at government level demands dealing with the most powerful of Mallorca's businesses, the hotel and travel groups, as well as the most influential of external businesses, the airlines and tour operators. It is a job that is presidential in its scope, importance and need to be seen to be credible. If not the job of the president himself, then it has to be that of someone with real clout, knowledge and contacts. It is not a job for a forklift truck driver.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
An "historic" year for tourism in Mallorca and the islands does genuinely now appear to be in the offing, despite the best attempts of the airport workers to put the kibosh on this. For once, the joyous expressions of photo-opportunistic Balearics representatives at the travel fair are unforced. Gone are the smiles through gritted teeth of an imminent, crisis-imploding season. Holiday. Celebrate.
Amongst the ecstatic faces in Berlin have been President Antich and his tourism minister, Joana Barceló. They have probably been making the most of their time in the German capital; this year's fair may well turn out to be the last that either attends. Through happenstance more than design, they can go out on a tourism high.
While you would expect both to pitch up at such an event, it is the presence of Antich which is the more significant. Progressively, over the course of his current administration, he has become a far more visible player in matters tourism. His involvement with developments of new tourism markets, China and especially Russia, has coincided with the expansion of these markets. The Russian tour operator, Natalie Tours, anticipates bringing 40% more Russian tourists to the islands this summer; an increase in the number of flight connections with Palma and other Balearic airports (34 in all) is largely due to new routes to and from Russia.
To what extent Antich can take personal credit for these developments is open to question, but he does deserve some credit for seeming to have adopted a more proactive stance when it comes to tourism. It might be said that he, and previous presidents, should have been doing this anyway, but it hasn't always been so.
If one accepts the generally held view that tourism equates to roughly 80% of Mallorca's GDP, then a hands-on presidential role in the management of what is the island's only strategic industry should be a given. It is only belatedly, however, that a local president has seen this light. For Antich, it may have been that he was left with little choice, as he was the one element of continuity while successive tourism ministers were being shown the door.
Placing tourism in a more central and lofty position in the governmental hierarchy chimes with how it is perceived in some competitor destinations. In both Turkey and the Mubarak-governed Egypt, tourism is and was afforded a special, strategic role, one reflected by the power invested in officials to ensure the success of tourism.
In the past, I have argued for a similar arrangement in the Balearics, with tourism, in effect, being treated as a special case as an office of the president. Without going so far as this, Antich more recently said that not only should tourism be the priority but pretty much everything else in Mallorca should play a supporting role to tourism. If one follows this line of argument and one of the president assuming greater executive responsibility, where does that leave the minister for tourism?
The Fomento del Turísmo (the Mallorcan Tourist Board) called the other day for a future tourism minister to be someone from the industry. Quite how this might be effected if this were not an elected official, I am unsure, but it was a not unreasonable point.
While any minister should be capable of understanding and following a brief, tourism is too important to be left to a politician whose qualifications for the post are often questionable. Take, as an example, the unfortunate Miguel Ferrer. Transported from the mayoral seat in Alcúdia, he rematerialised for a couple of months behind the tourism ministry's desk. The rationalisation for his appointment was that he was mayor of a town with a significant tourism industry. He was also, before becoming mayor, a forklift truck driver. The logic of the argument was singularly lacking, and were there any logic to it, then why not put the mayor of Sa Pobla in charge of agriculture because the town is the centre of the island's potato production?
Antich, by default, has become the de facto tourism minister, more so than Barceló who, as with her predecessors, appears to operate via a manual by which Balearics tourism ministers are obliged to utter banalities in respect of so-called alternative tourism, amongst other things. Antich does at least seem to get it, something which his likely successor, José Bauzá, gives little confidence in suggesting that he does. It may well be that the Fomento think the same, and so have called for a professional appointment.
Whether tourism is placed in the presidential palace or not, the need for someone with the correct qualifications is enormous. It is not just that 80% of GDP that needs taking care of. Tourism at government level demands dealing with the most powerful of Mallorca's businesses, the hotel and travel groups, as well as the most influential of external businesses, the airlines and tour operators. It is a job that is presidential in its scope, importance and need to be seen to be credible. If not the job of the president himself, then it has to be that of someone with real clout, knowledge and contacts. It is not a job for a forklift truck driver.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
