"Now then, Bel, just listen to what I have to tell the hoteliers, and then later, when the press want to hear from us, give them the normal lines about seeking consensus, lengthening the tourism season, diverting tourists away from the summer to the low season thanks to the success of the 'Better in Winter' campaign, redistributing wealth, creating jobs and so on. Have you got that?"
"Yes, I think so, Francina. But are you saying that I shouldn't say anything to the hoteliers?"
"That is exactly what I'm saying, Bel. Look, you may be the tourism minister, but you've barely been in the job a month, which is not enough time for you to have the faintest idea what you're talking about other than spouting the normal nonsense to the press like myself and every other minister."
"Oh, very well, but I thought this trip was going to be my chance to demonstrate what a firm grip I have on tourism in pursuit of sustainability and securing the future of the environment and the wealth of the citizens."
"You may have thought that, Bel, but the hoteliers aren't going to fall for you being even remotely in charge or having a firm grip on anything. If you must, when it comes to the press, you can trot out some percentage of what the tourist tax will cost the typical family of four relative to the total cost of the holiday. Biel used to do that, which would stun them all into silence for a moment or two."
"But I don't know what the cost of a holiday is for a typical family of four."
"Quite. That's why you're the tourism minister. Now, are we ready for the hoteliers?"
"Yes, Francina."
And so, alas poor Bel, who sat round the table, maintaining a respectful silence as the hoteliers trained their eyes only on Francina. But it wasn't all a waste of time. There were the various photo opportunities. Look, there's the delegation from (insert the town hall as applicable), time for a photo with them. Not that Bel was left on her own. Oh no, all the others were in the photos as well. Francina, Cosmic Bonet of the Council, Mercedes of the Council, Mick of the Council, and anyone else they could drag in.
For the town halls, what a splendid event the Fitur fair was. My, how the media drool over all this stuff. "Mr (Ms) Mayor, what is your assessment of your participation at this year's fair?" "It has been extremely positive. A great success." Meanwhile, and out of view, the massive piles of newly printed brochures for cultural tourism in whatever municipality were remaining stubbornly massive.
Although Mick, Mercedes and Cosmic had taken themselves off to Madrid to, for instance, demonstrate how Mallorca inspires culture (about which we heard not a botifarró), they had more urgent, headline-grabbing matters to attend to back in Palma. Yes, the Great Map Of Mallorca's Zones was unveiled, a cartographer's delight of colour coding, each colour designed to strike sorrow or joy into the hearts of prospective owners of holiday rental accommodation.
"Now then, the red zones are ... ?" "They're saturated." "Ok, and the purple ones?" "They're high tourism pressure." "Isn't that the same thing?" "No, red is saturated and purple is high tourism pressure." "But they amount to the same thing." "Well, yes, sort of." "The grey areas - and I'm not referring to the whole thinking behind zoning - what are they for?" "They're industrial estates." "Industrial estates?" "Industrial estates." "Since when have car showrooms been likely holiday rental accommodation?" "Have you looked on Airbnb lately?"
What a fabulous week it was for tourism, but less than fabulous for Bel, whose thunder was stolen in Madrid and then later in Palma when the Great Map was put on display.
Still, we can now expect her to refer to the Great Map when explaining how sustainability is to be assured, how wealth is to be redistributed to the citizens, how the land (our land) will be saved, how jobs will be created ... . What she probably won't be saying is anything about the tourist tax percentage of the total cost of the holiday for a family of four. Where's Biel when we need him?
Showing posts with label Tourism promotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tourism promotion. Show all posts
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Transferring Responsibilities For Tourism
Menorca will have 6.3 million euros to spend on tourism promotion next year. Lucky old Menorca, a beneficiary of the magnanimous gesture by the regional government to facilitate islands' own promotion, which is something the islands should have been doing for years.
One says this, but the islands have in fact been engaged in their own promotion in the past and now in the present. They are fully entitled to under the statutes of autonomy which grant rights for tourism organisation to the island councils. At present, though, there is a grand and ongoing ceremony for the transfer of responsibilities, as if these haven't existed. The real meaning behind this ceremonious "traspaso" is money, which is where Menorca's 6.3 million enters the equation. How much does the Balearic Tourism Agency spend on promotion? Not as much as Menorca will be next year. It currently spends around half the amount, and if Podemos had its way, it would be no more one tenth the amount.
There is an additional meaning, the true sense (perhaps) of responsibility. The islands, keepers of their own promotional fortunes, will be able to determine what they promote and how they promote. In marketing terms, they will be able to differentiate and devise products in support of this differentiation. They will become their own brands.
Ibiza, it should be noted, already possesses these official responsibilities. The road to the transfer to all the islands has been a long and tortuous one, with political obstacles and opportunism making it alternatively a rocky or smooth way. Because José Ramón Bauzá had his "issues" with Ibiza (or rather Ibiza had its issues with him), that island acquired its responsibilities when he was president. As attempts go in trying to keep electorates and party members sweet, it wasn't a notable success.
Bauzá, if only in a half-hearted fashion, had intended handing responsibilities to all the islands. He was unable to primarily because of money. Formentera, in particular, was outraged at how little was on offer. Mallorca, under the austere management of Maria Salom, didn't want the responsibilities because of the cost and potential for duplication.
Tourism minister Biel Barceló, when he was a member of the opposition, attacked the Bauzá government over its failure to comply with the legality of transfer. This came back to haunt him when the PP taunted him earlier this year for precisely the same reason. It had been understood that responsibilities were to have been transferred at the start of this year: they obviously weren't.
The financial allocations to the other islands are still a bit of a mystery. Menorca has gone public and its 6.3 million is a substantial amount. The president of the Council of Mallorca, Miquel Ensenyat, said in January that his council might expect some nine million euros. This, however, would be an "outrage", not because it would be too little but because it would be too much. It would be outrageous to spend so much on tourism promotion.
Ensenyat, who has made no bones about his desire to turn the Council into a de facto government for Mallorca, is nevertheless astute enough to recognise the dangers not just of budgets but also of duplication. Under Maria Munar and Francina Armengol, the Council created duplication aplenty: tourism was just one area. When dismissing the nine million euros as outrageous, he also said that the Council was working on trying to establish the framework for the tourism responsibilities. It was a revealing statement. No one was too sure what was to be transferred.
When he made these observations, Ensenyat was in Madrid for the Fitur tourism fair. And why was he there? If, in theory, the Council of Mallorca doesn't yet have responsibilities for promotion, then what is it doing attending a major event like Fitur? But it does have responsibilities and it does its own promotion, such as the cartoon map it produced (which was rather clever) and that was on show at Fitur. Moreover, these responsibilities appear to be divided between the departments for economic affairs and for culture. The Walking on Words initiative, as an example, is a culture department product. It can be dressed up as culture, but it is a tourism promotion device.
Things are a muddle. That much is clear. Or not. Fundamentally, the islands should have responsibilities. They differ from each other. They should be branded according to the attributes that each possesses. The global Balearic brand has never made much sense. But at the very moment when they are to acquire the cash (meaningful cash in the case of Menorca) to do so, there is the political requirement to rein back on promotion because of the horrors of saturation.
The transfers are to be in place for the start of 2018, but one forms the impression - because of this political requirement - that the government would prefer that they weren't.
One says this, but the islands have in fact been engaged in their own promotion in the past and now in the present. They are fully entitled to under the statutes of autonomy which grant rights for tourism organisation to the island councils. At present, though, there is a grand and ongoing ceremony for the transfer of responsibilities, as if these haven't existed. The real meaning behind this ceremonious "traspaso" is money, which is where Menorca's 6.3 million enters the equation. How much does the Balearic Tourism Agency spend on promotion? Not as much as Menorca will be next year. It currently spends around half the amount, and if Podemos had its way, it would be no more one tenth the amount.
There is an additional meaning, the true sense (perhaps) of responsibility. The islands, keepers of their own promotional fortunes, will be able to determine what they promote and how they promote. In marketing terms, they will be able to differentiate and devise products in support of this differentiation. They will become their own brands.
Ibiza, it should be noted, already possesses these official responsibilities. The road to the transfer to all the islands has been a long and tortuous one, with political obstacles and opportunism making it alternatively a rocky or smooth way. Because José Ramón Bauzá had his "issues" with Ibiza (or rather Ibiza had its issues with him), that island acquired its responsibilities when he was president. As attempts go in trying to keep electorates and party members sweet, it wasn't a notable success.
Bauzá, if only in a half-hearted fashion, had intended handing responsibilities to all the islands. He was unable to primarily because of money. Formentera, in particular, was outraged at how little was on offer. Mallorca, under the austere management of Maria Salom, didn't want the responsibilities because of the cost and potential for duplication.
Tourism minister Biel Barceló, when he was a member of the opposition, attacked the Bauzá government over its failure to comply with the legality of transfer. This came back to haunt him when the PP taunted him earlier this year for precisely the same reason. It had been understood that responsibilities were to have been transferred at the start of this year: they obviously weren't.
The financial allocations to the other islands are still a bit of a mystery. Menorca has gone public and its 6.3 million is a substantial amount. The president of the Council of Mallorca, Miquel Ensenyat, said in January that his council might expect some nine million euros. This, however, would be an "outrage", not because it would be too little but because it would be too much. It would be outrageous to spend so much on tourism promotion.
Ensenyat, who has made no bones about his desire to turn the Council into a de facto government for Mallorca, is nevertheless astute enough to recognise the dangers not just of budgets but also of duplication. Under Maria Munar and Francina Armengol, the Council created duplication aplenty: tourism was just one area. When dismissing the nine million euros as outrageous, he also said that the Council was working on trying to establish the framework for the tourism responsibilities. It was a revealing statement. No one was too sure what was to be transferred.
When he made these observations, Ensenyat was in Madrid for the Fitur tourism fair. And why was he there? If, in theory, the Council of Mallorca doesn't yet have responsibilities for promotion, then what is it doing attending a major event like Fitur? But it does have responsibilities and it does its own promotion, such as the cartoon map it produced (which was rather clever) and that was on show at Fitur. Moreover, these responsibilities appear to be divided between the departments for economic affairs and for culture. The Walking on Words initiative, as an example, is a culture department product. It can be dressed up as culture, but it is a tourism promotion device.
Things are a muddle. That much is clear. Or not. Fundamentally, the islands should have responsibilities. They differ from each other. They should be branded according to the attributes that each possesses. The global Balearic brand has never made much sense. But at the very moment when they are to acquire the cash (meaningful cash in the case of Menorca) to do so, there is the political requirement to rein back on promotion because of the horrors of saturation.
The transfers are to be in place for the start of 2018, but one forms the impression - because of this political requirement - that the government would prefer that they weren't.
Friday, January 13, 2017
Mallorca Goes To Madrid
Much to the disgust of Podemos, who have wanted the tourism promotional budget to be slashed to one-sixth of its already meagre funding, the Balearics will unveil a new stand and a new message: "Better in Winter". As the representatives set off for Madrid, let's hope there is no need for snow to be swept off the runway in Palma (the forecast suggests that there may well be snow at sea level next week). Better in winter; it can rather depend.
We all know, of course, why this slogan has been adopted. We will find out whether the current desire to press for increased winter tourism works or if it is just another vain attempt largely designed to try and prove to a sceptical public that the tourism ministry knows what it is doing and is indeed genuinely committed to winter expansion. There are those who would prefer that the ministry failed. What was it that Laura Camargo of Podemos said about workers not having to work all year round? Seasonality, if it means that workers can relax for several months and that there aren't ever more tourists, is a good thing where certain politicians and political ideologies are concerned.
While the ministry, or to be specific the Balearic Tourism Agency (ATB), is telling the Spanish traveller that things are better in winter, the Council of Mallorca, which has still yet to be formally handed tourism promotion responsibilities, is making a pre-emptive promotional strike. Long-time observers of the island's promotion will feel that this has long been something of a comedy. The Council seems inclined to agree. It's using the comic device to promote Mallorca.
Actually, that's unkind. The initiative is different. It's rather charming. It makes one wonder why such a touch of innovation has proved to be beyond the ATB. But while the Council, similar to the government in this regard, wishes to promote cultural, sport and nature tourism, the images don't all seem to tally with this. There is still a hint of that old stand-by, sun and beach. Better in summer. There again, an image of three people in a small boat steering themselves across a turquoise sea to an unspoiled beach with velvety white sand backed by dunes is indicative of ... . Indicative of what precisely? Nature? Presumably. It looks more like an idyllic summertime promotion for the seeker after beach and sun. Moreover, it is an unspoiled beach of the type that the "saturationist" lobby maintains is being overrun and environmentally damaged. Still, at least the boat is environmentally correct: it doesn't have an engine.
Meanwhile, the comic map of Mallorca does highlight the culture, sport and tourism. There are religious buildings, a windmill, lighthouses, castles, Moors v. Christians (the Santa Ponsa version). There are people kayaking, cycling and hang-gliding. There are flowers and palm trees (unaffected by the red beetle), while Mallorca is uniformly green except for splashes of lighter green. One wishes the Council well. It's not a bad idea at all - winter or summer.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Arguing Over Little: Tourism Promotion
The regional government, in other words PSOE and Més, has fought off the budgetary challenge of Podemos and will stick to its spending for tourism promotion in 2017 - all of 3.6 million euros. Podemos had wanted the bulk of this budget (three million) to be devoted to the innovation and research part of Biel Barceló's ministry. The government parties were having none of this. Toni Reus of Més, a former mayor of Santa Margalida, said that the spending was targeted at precisely the objectives that Podemos had accepted in drawing up the agreement for government with PSOE and Més - such as cultural and gastronomy tourism and tackling tourism seasonality. Damià Borràs of PSOE told Podemos that the promotion will assist in extending the tourism season and therefore workers' contracts.
While Més, some elements within it at any rate, may be characterised as being sympathetic to the tourist limits or tourist reduction camp, this was not what came across during the debate on the promotion budget. Laura Camargo of Podemos insisted that her party was the only one that was wishing to "put a brake" on the number of tourists. As for tackling seasonality, this will be like "pouring petrol on the fire", she argued. "We do not want more tourists in summer or in winter." She then went on to say that after eight months of work during the season, workers were exhausted. They shouldn't now have to be called on to work in the winter as well.
Of Camargo's remarks, one might observe that workers who have put in eight-month stints are the lucky ones, and while it is undeniable that many workers in the tourism industry work long hours, why should it be deemed acceptable that they should not work more than eight months? This is the conclusion one draws from what Camargo was saying, and it is a conclusion which reinforces the skewed basis of the Balearic economy: work for x number of months and put your feet up for y months of the year, hopefully with sufficient benefit to see you through. Does she not also appreciate that there are workers who disappear in winter and look for and find work where there is a winter season, e.g. the Canaries? Not all of them are exhausted.
Podemos wanted the money to go towards innovation and research because the party believes that this will assist in creating the much-spoken-about changed economic model, one that is more diversified, less reliant on tourism and spreads wealth more evenly. But PSOE and Més want the same thing. Any political party with a modicum of common sense would want this. The difference with Podemos, or so it seems, is that this change can be brought about by diminishing the main sector of the islands' economic activity, which is plainly wrongheaded. The more that tourism is buoyant, the more it generates wealth and revenue for the government. Not all of this wealth is ploughed back or shared through decent salaries with the general workforce - that is a rightful beef - but much of it is and so can, with the right political and financial management, be targeted at diversification.
The announcement of a new Balearic stand for travel fairs will doubtless therefore have caused convulsions within Podemos. The promotional spend, such as it is, goes in great part towards travel fairs, and the new stand (its design at any rate) was revealed earlier this week. Its maiden appearance will be at Madrid's Fitur fair in January.
The Balearic Tourism Agency describes this as conveying a "fresher and more Mediterranean" image, and the message it will be helping to get across will be one aimed at tackling both seasonality and summer season "saturation". The slogan will be "best in winter", with emphasis being placed - you won't be surprised to learn - on gastronomy, culture and heritage.
While Més, some elements within it at any rate, may be characterised as being sympathetic to the tourist limits or tourist reduction camp, this was not what came across during the debate on the promotion budget. Laura Camargo of Podemos insisted that her party was the only one that was wishing to "put a brake" on the number of tourists. As for tackling seasonality, this will be like "pouring petrol on the fire", she argued. "We do not want more tourists in summer or in winter." She then went on to say that after eight months of work during the season, workers were exhausted. They shouldn't now have to be called on to work in the winter as well.
Of Camargo's remarks, one might observe that workers who have put in eight-month stints are the lucky ones, and while it is undeniable that many workers in the tourism industry work long hours, why should it be deemed acceptable that they should not work more than eight months? This is the conclusion one draws from what Camargo was saying, and it is a conclusion which reinforces the skewed basis of the Balearic economy: work for x number of months and put your feet up for y months of the year, hopefully with sufficient benefit to see you through. Does she not also appreciate that there are workers who disappear in winter and look for and find work where there is a winter season, e.g. the Canaries? Not all of them are exhausted.
Podemos wanted the money to go towards innovation and research because the party believes that this will assist in creating the much-spoken-about changed economic model, one that is more diversified, less reliant on tourism and spreads wealth more evenly. But PSOE and Més want the same thing. Any political party with a modicum of common sense would want this. The difference with Podemos, or so it seems, is that this change can be brought about by diminishing the main sector of the islands' economic activity, which is plainly wrongheaded. The more that tourism is buoyant, the more it generates wealth and revenue for the government. Not all of this wealth is ploughed back or shared through decent salaries with the general workforce - that is a rightful beef - but much of it is and so can, with the right political and financial management, be targeted at diversification.
The announcement of a new Balearic stand for travel fairs will doubtless therefore have caused convulsions within Podemos. The promotional spend, such as it is, goes in great part towards travel fairs, and the new stand (its design at any rate) was revealed earlier this week. Its maiden appearance will be at Madrid's Fitur fair in January.
The Balearic Tourism Agency describes this as conveying a "fresher and more Mediterranean" image, and the message it will be helping to get across will be one aimed at tackling both seasonality and summer season "saturation". The slogan will be "best in winter", with emphasis being placed - you won't be surprised to learn - on gastronomy, culture and heritage.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
The Great Adventure Together: Tourism Websites
I don't normally click on website adverts, unless by mistake, which is what happened on Sunday. I was on a Spanish news site and clicked something that said "guardian de los volcanoes". It led to a great adventure. One together. There are fourteen languages for this adventure website; a fifteenth when you click on a short video.
The great adventure takes you into the world of the guardian of the volcanoes, the genie of the magic mountain, the wizard of the ocean waters, the fairy of the clear sky, the goblin of the enchanted forest, the empress of the trade winds, the queen of all living beings. The guardian needs help in finding giant sandcastles. The genie knows all the mysteries of the mountain. The wizard's powers lie under the water. The fairy can read the stars and fly above the clouds. The goblin moves swiftly through forests. The empress seeks help in getting rid of the clouds. The queen has all the animals in her kingdom. There is a place where stars shine brighter. Another with a cave that has paintings which are thousands of years old. One more which used only to be inhabited by wolves.
All these adventures are a prelude - a game before the main adventures of whales, spectacular routes, the ocean floor, nature, the waves. The fifteenth language is mysterious. A small boy in Paris is at a bakery. Eventually the baker understands. The boy wants a croissant. The video concludes with two messages. Travel to the best climate in the world. Your children know where adventure begins.
The fifteenth language is recognised as being a language, even though it isn't spoken. In 2009, Unesco declared it a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. It is a language that may be some three thousand years old. It's not possible to say. But it is very old. It is "silbo", the Gomeran whistling language from the island of La Gomera in the Canaries. The great adventure takes place on those islands.
Hellocanaryislands* is the official website for Canary Islands tourism. It has plenty of information the deeper you go into it, but the initial pages are principally devoted to imagery and to the adventure games. How does a destination capture family tourism? Appealing to the kids is one very good way. Children are as important to the holiday purchasing decision as the strength of the parental budget. Hook them with games, and ... .
This is a superb website. It doesn't preach. There's no sense of desperate overloading of explanation and justification. It just is. And it does it superbly. Aimed mainly at a family market, it doesn't disguise the sun-and-beach dimension. It isn't ashamed by the existence of year-round sun and the varying shades of sand. But it grafts on all the other elements - like nature, like routes. And the Canaries have nature in abundance, such as in the ravines of La Gomera. These alternative elements are presented in a family way.
Looking at this website makes one thoroughly depressed. Innovative, bold but at the same time simple, it is everything that Balearics promotion isn't. There is no such website.
The Canaries do obviously have an advantage over the Balearics - "travel to the best climate in the world" - but that is only part of the story. Rather like the Balearics, the Canaries are very well-known, the sun-and-beach aspect in particular. Why should they need to present such a lavish website if so much of the tourism sells itself, which is how the Balearics look upon the sales effort? Perhaps it is because the Canarian government doesn't adopt an arrogant attitude. Perhaps it is because it believes, despite soaring sales, that front of mind where the holidaymaker is concerned remains essential. Perhaps it is because it doesn't seem to be tearing itself apart in figuring out what its tourism represents. There's no sense of the idiotic notion of sun-and-beach being "obsolete", as has been said by certain Balearic politicians, who have no idea what tourism means.
These certain politicians would now doubtless stamp on any attempt to follow a Canarian lead. The budget would be just one reason. Yet the Canaries website has the sort of stuff that the Balearics so wish to promote - the Unesco sites and declaration, the nature routes, environmental consciousness.
The Balearics were years ago left behind in the promotional stakes, especially where the internet is concerned. Has it never crossed anyone's mind that, while the Balearics are easy to sell (in summer), holidaymakers should be shown greater respect? Front of mind is one justification. A sense of belonging and emotional attachment are others. And perhaps more than anything, there is the need to revive the idea of adventure. Just as holidays once were. In the Canaries, they have a great adventure. Together.
* http://www.hellocanaryislands.com/great-adventure-together
The great adventure takes you into the world of the guardian of the volcanoes, the genie of the magic mountain, the wizard of the ocean waters, the fairy of the clear sky, the goblin of the enchanted forest, the empress of the trade winds, the queen of all living beings. The guardian needs help in finding giant sandcastles. The genie knows all the mysteries of the mountain. The wizard's powers lie under the water. The fairy can read the stars and fly above the clouds. The goblin moves swiftly through forests. The empress seeks help in getting rid of the clouds. The queen has all the animals in her kingdom. There is a place where stars shine brighter. Another with a cave that has paintings which are thousands of years old. One more which used only to be inhabited by wolves.
All these adventures are a prelude - a game before the main adventures of whales, spectacular routes, the ocean floor, nature, the waves. The fifteenth language is mysterious. A small boy in Paris is at a bakery. Eventually the baker understands. The boy wants a croissant. The video concludes with two messages. Travel to the best climate in the world. Your children know where adventure begins.
The fifteenth language is recognised as being a language, even though it isn't spoken. In 2009, Unesco declared it a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. It is a language that may be some three thousand years old. It's not possible to say. But it is very old. It is "silbo", the Gomeran whistling language from the island of La Gomera in the Canaries. The great adventure takes place on those islands.
Hellocanaryislands* is the official website for Canary Islands tourism. It has plenty of information the deeper you go into it, but the initial pages are principally devoted to imagery and to the adventure games. How does a destination capture family tourism? Appealing to the kids is one very good way. Children are as important to the holiday purchasing decision as the strength of the parental budget. Hook them with games, and ... .
This is a superb website. It doesn't preach. There's no sense of desperate overloading of explanation and justification. It just is. And it does it superbly. Aimed mainly at a family market, it doesn't disguise the sun-and-beach dimension. It isn't ashamed by the existence of year-round sun and the varying shades of sand. But it grafts on all the other elements - like nature, like routes. And the Canaries have nature in abundance, such as in the ravines of La Gomera. These alternative elements are presented in a family way.
Looking at this website makes one thoroughly depressed. Innovative, bold but at the same time simple, it is everything that Balearics promotion isn't. There is no such website.
The Canaries do obviously have an advantage over the Balearics - "travel to the best climate in the world" - but that is only part of the story. Rather like the Balearics, the Canaries are very well-known, the sun-and-beach aspect in particular. Why should they need to present such a lavish website if so much of the tourism sells itself, which is how the Balearics look upon the sales effort? Perhaps it is because the Canarian government doesn't adopt an arrogant attitude. Perhaps it is because it believes, despite soaring sales, that front of mind where the holidaymaker is concerned remains essential. Perhaps it is because it doesn't seem to be tearing itself apart in figuring out what its tourism represents. There's no sense of the idiotic notion of sun-and-beach being "obsolete", as has been said by certain Balearic politicians, who have no idea what tourism means.
These certain politicians would now doubtless stamp on any attempt to follow a Canarian lead. The budget would be just one reason. Yet the Canaries website has the sort of stuff that the Balearics so wish to promote - the Unesco sites and declaration, the nature routes, environmental consciousness.
The Balearics were years ago left behind in the promotional stakes, especially where the internet is concerned. Has it never crossed anyone's mind that, while the Balearics are easy to sell (in summer), holidaymakers should be shown greater respect? Front of mind is one justification. A sense of belonging and emotional attachment are others. And perhaps more than anything, there is the need to revive the idea of adventure. Just as holidays once were. In the Canaries, they have a great adventure. Together.
* http://www.hellocanaryislands.com/great-adventure-together
Saturday, November 12, 2016
The Antiquity Of Goodness: Dijous Bo
The Balearic tourism ministry was proudly announcing at the World Travel Market that "traditional" fairs are to form part of its promotional efforts for the low season. An immediate question that this raises is why they haven't apparently been considered important in the past. While it is true to say that what generally lamentable low-season attempts have been made until now have included the fairs and also fiestas, an impression given is that this has been done simply because they exist rather than because they demand being pushed in a coherent marketing fashion.
A further impression, for far too long, has been that low-season occasions, such as fairs, are solely Mallorcan affairs; what visitors there might be have been treated as a bonus or nuisance, depending on point of view. Yet fairs are also part of the wider culture and heritage of Mallorca, something which has been promoted in times past, but which was far more of a focus in promotional terms in the first half of the last century (at least until the war anyway) than was subsequently the case. The ministry now plans to give culture and heritage more of a centre stage.
It's not as if parts of the island haven't recognised that there is genuine value to be extracted from occasions like fairs. But this value has still been determined by the limits of tourism seasons. In Alcudia, for example, an old fair that used to be held was revived in 1989. Initially it was in November. It was moved forward by a month because no tourists were going.
November qualifies as low season, aka and misleadingly the winter season (Mallorca's tourism defies seasonal convention by only having two seasons). In the middle of it is the biggest fair of all. Subject to arguments with Sineu (and Sineu can offer strong proof), it is the oldest fair - Dijous Bo.
This does, however, require some qualifying of a geographical nature. Palma had fairs before either Inca or Sineu emerged. Dijous Bo is, therefore, a champion of the "part forana", i.e. all of the island except Palma. Both towns were accorded royal privilege in the early fourteenth century to hold fairs, a duopoly that wasn't to be broken until Llucmajor's challenge to it in the mid-sixteenth century.
In the case of Inca certainly, its fairs and markets became a focus for tensions that existed with Palma. For current-day promoters of the island's culture and its traditional fairs, it should be instructive to explain how Mallorca became in essence two separate entities - Palma and the rest, a division which still very much exists. The late fourteenth century artisans of the part forana treated Inca as the principal expression of their separateness from Palma. Such was the antagonism with the capital that in 1463 there was a plot to assassinate members of the government who were going to the fair. This owed no small amount to a several decade dispute over taxes derived from the town's market.
None of this explains, however, when Dijous Bo started. The fourteenth-century angle is somewhat misleading. The traditional Thursday market can with some certainty be traced back to 1258. It is logical to assume, therefore, that a grander market, as in a fair, piggybacked onto the Thursday market. But Dijous Bo, as in the name, was a much later invention, while its definitive place in the November calendar has to do with the Llucmajor intervention. The compromise that was reached once Inca (and Sineu) had failed to overturn in the courts the granting of a fair to Llucmajor in 1545 led to the scheduling of the four Inca fairs as they now are. The Thursday in November when it is held is erroneously attributed to it always being the third Thursday in the month. It isn't; it is the fourth Thursday after the feast of Saint Luke (18 October).
The first time that there is any written evidence of the name Dijous Bo comes from an 1807 work by historian Josep Barberi. This says that the Thursday fair of the sequence was locally referred to as "bo" because of the amount of business that was done. Although the word "bo" can mean good, it was taken more to mean convenient, as in suitable for purpose. A later interpretation was that it meant much or most, because of its sheer scale and therefore because it had become the most important market in Mallorca.
Despite uncertainties over its origin, there is no doubting the fact that Dijous Bo is the island's most important fair. It is also, regardless of the modernity it now has, the most traditional. How well will it be promoted?
* Dijous Bo is this coming Thursday, 17 November.
A further impression, for far too long, has been that low-season occasions, such as fairs, are solely Mallorcan affairs; what visitors there might be have been treated as a bonus or nuisance, depending on point of view. Yet fairs are also part of the wider culture and heritage of Mallorca, something which has been promoted in times past, but which was far more of a focus in promotional terms in the first half of the last century (at least until the war anyway) than was subsequently the case. The ministry now plans to give culture and heritage more of a centre stage.
It's not as if parts of the island haven't recognised that there is genuine value to be extracted from occasions like fairs. But this value has still been determined by the limits of tourism seasons. In Alcudia, for example, an old fair that used to be held was revived in 1989. Initially it was in November. It was moved forward by a month because no tourists were going.
November qualifies as low season, aka and misleadingly the winter season (Mallorca's tourism defies seasonal convention by only having two seasons). In the middle of it is the biggest fair of all. Subject to arguments with Sineu (and Sineu can offer strong proof), it is the oldest fair - Dijous Bo.
This does, however, require some qualifying of a geographical nature. Palma had fairs before either Inca or Sineu emerged. Dijous Bo is, therefore, a champion of the "part forana", i.e. all of the island except Palma. Both towns were accorded royal privilege in the early fourteenth century to hold fairs, a duopoly that wasn't to be broken until Llucmajor's challenge to it in the mid-sixteenth century.
In the case of Inca certainly, its fairs and markets became a focus for tensions that existed with Palma. For current-day promoters of the island's culture and its traditional fairs, it should be instructive to explain how Mallorca became in essence two separate entities - Palma and the rest, a division which still very much exists. The late fourteenth century artisans of the part forana treated Inca as the principal expression of their separateness from Palma. Such was the antagonism with the capital that in 1463 there was a plot to assassinate members of the government who were going to the fair. This owed no small amount to a several decade dispute over taxes derived from the town's market.
None of this explains, however, when Dijous Bo started. The fourteenth-century angle is somewhat misleading. The traditional Thursday market can with some certainty be traced back to 1258. It is logical to assume, therefore, that a grander market, as in a fair, piggybacked onto the Thursday market. But Dijous Bo, as in the name, was a much later invention, while its definitive place in the November calendar has to do with the Llucmajor intervention. The compromise that was reached once Inca (and Sineu) had failed to overturn in the courts the granting of a fair to Llucmajor in 1545 led to the scheduling of the four Inca fairs as they now are. The Thursday in November when it is held is erroneously attributed to it always being the third Thursday in the month. It isn't; it is the fourth Thursday after the feast of Saint Luke (18 October).
The first time that there is any written evidence of the name Dijous Bo comes from an 1807 work by historian Josep Barberi. This says that the Thursday fair of the sequence was locally referred to as "bo" because of the amount of business that was done. Although the word "bo" can mean good, it was taken more to mean convenient, as in suitable for purpose. A later interpretation was that it meant much or most, because of its sheer scale and therefore because it had become the most important market in Mallorca.
Despite uncertainties over its origin, there is no doubting the fact that Dijous Bo is the island's most important fair. It is also, regardless of the modernity it now has, the most traditional. How well will it be promoted?
* Dijous Bo is this coming Thursday, 17 November.
Thursday, November 03, 2016
Tourism Promotion: Saturation Spending
I find myself increasingly knarked by the way in which elements of the local media insist on relating absolutely everything to do with the island's tourism - as currently is - to security issues in other parts of the Mediterranean and consequently to the harmful impact of so-called saturation. Frankly, I think we are now all saturated by saturation talk, while we all realised months ago that lunatics in Turkey and elsewhere had meant tourists arriving en masse in Mallorca. Why keep going on about it?
It's a matter of fascination to note the way in which this media falls into line with narratives that are dominant at the time until an alternative comes along. Take holiday rentals, as an example. Some while back - up to roughly three years ago - the narrative was accepted unquestioningly. Dreadful people going around not paying tax, the "illegal" offer needed stamping out, which was of course the view of the Partido Popular and the hoteliers. The media nodded its head and parroted the line.
Then, somewhat out of the blue, came a counter-argument. It was partly driven by PSOE who had latched onto the idea that some good might come from allowing owners to legally market their apartments as holiday rentals. Blimey, seemed to think these elements in the media, maybe they've got a point. For a time, therefore, the argument shifted in the opposite direction, until, that is, we arrived at saturation and therefore the devil's work which is the holiday rental.
Which is not to deny that there aren't issues. There most certainly are issues, but these have moved somewhat from the ones of the time when the PP and the hoteliers first formed their government in 2011. Not paying tax seems to have been largely forgotten amidst, for example, the inability of local people being able to find anywhere to rent because Airbnb has hoovered up every available living space on the island.
Yes, there are very serious issues, and ones that badly need addressing by effective legislation, which one fears may well be beyond the wit of Balearic legislators. Meanwhile, the saturation narrative has consumed everything. It has gobbled up all that is in its path, including the judgement and perspective of elements of the media drawn, as previously and without question, to the prevailing arguments.
We thus have, for example, the announcement of the Balearic budget for 2017. The fact that the Balearic Tourism Agency (ATB) has had its budget cut - the only government agency to have suffered in this regard - is evidence of the power of the saturation narrative. Yes of course Podemos have argued that there should be absolutely no more of the citizens' taxes spent on promoting tourism (in light of saturation), but then there are some in Podemos who are at least one sun lounger short of a whole beach when it comes to tourism matters.
Notwithstanding Podemos's views, the ATB budget cut is manifestly linked to saturation. There can be no other explanation. Well, perhaps there can be another explanation, as in spending vast fortunes on promotion isn't needed - certainly not at present. Saturation should thus be seen as a virtue: a couple of million lopped off the agency's budget can be diverted to projects to promote Catalan. Everyone's a winner.
As important is the fact that a damn great knife was taken to tourism promotion spend by the PP. Carlos Delgado, for it was he when tourism minister, pared spend back to the barest of marketing bones. There would, for instance, be no more Rafa Nadal hurtling around the islands on board some minor superyacht and being paid at least the equivalent of a Grand Slam win for doing so. Delgado decreed that simply going to travel fairs was terminally dull in marketing terms but just as effective. If one's being totally honest, he wasn't far wrong.
The miserly nature of the promotional spend was therefore a PP creation. During the previous PSOE-led administration (admittedly with the Unió Mallorquina in charge of tourism for most of the administration), money was splashed out. Rather too much of it, or so it would seem. The current PSOE-led government is therefore pursuing a PP policy. How very odd.
This all said, there will come a day when desaturation occurs naturally because tourists have been convinced that the lunatics have all been bombed or locked up. What then? Blanket prime-time telly ads for every tourist market? Meanwhile the ATB will just have to get on with what it has and with what it has to do, which includes assisting at the likes of the London World Travel Market and fielding angry questions, such as why everyone keeps banging on about saturation. "Don't you want our tourists?" "Of course we do, and just to prove it we've cut our promotional budget for next year."
Forget it. They should be spending more, not less.
It's a matter of fascination to note the way in which this media falls into line with narratives that are dominant at the time until an alternative comes along. Take holiday rentals, as an example. Some while back - up to roughly three years ago - the narrative was accepted unquestioningly. Dreadful people going around not paying tax, the "illegal" offer needed stamping out, which was of course the view of the Partido Popular and the hoteliers. The media nodded its head and parroted the line.
Then, somewhat out of the blue, came a counter-argument. It was partly driven by PSOE who had latched onto the idea that some good might come from allowing owners to legally market their apartments as holiday rentals. Blimey, seemed to think these elements in the media, maybe they've got a point. For a time, therefore, the argument shifted in the opposite direction, until, that is, we arrived at saturation and therefore the devil's work which is the holiday rental.
Which is not to deny that there aren't issues. There most certainly are issues, but these have moved somewhat from the ones of the time when the PP and the hoteliers first formed their government in 2011. Not paying tax seems to have been largely forgotten amidst, for example, the inability of local people being able to find anywhere to rent because Airbnb has hoovered up every available living space on the island.
Yes, there are very serious issues, and ones that badly need addressing by effective legislation, which one fears may well be beyond the wit of Balearic legislators. Meanwhile, the saturation narrative has consumed everything. It has gobbled up all that is in its path, including the judgement and perspective of elements of the media drawn, as previously and without question, to the prevailing arguments.
We thus have, for example, the announcement of the Balearic budget for 2017. The fact that the Balearic Tourism Agency (ATB) has had its budget cut - the only government agency to have suffered in this regard - is evidence of the power of the saturation narrative. Yes of course Podemos have argued that there should be absolutely no more of the citizens' taxes spent on promoting tourism (in light of saturation), but then there are some in Podemos who are at least one sun lounger short of a whole beach when it comes to tourism matters.
Notwithstanding Podemos's views, the ATB budget cut is manifestly linked to saturation. There can be no other explanation. Well, perhaps there can be another explanation, as in spending vast fortunes on promotion isn't needed - certainly not at present. Saturation should thus be seen as a virtue: a couple of million lopped off the agency's budget can be diverted to projects to promote Catalan. Everyone's a winner.
As important is the fact that a damn great knife was taken to tourism promotion spend by the PP. Carlos Delgado, for it was he when tourism minister, pared spend back to the barest of marketing bones. There would, for instance, be no more Rafa Nadal hurtling around the islands on board some minor superyacht and being paid at least the equivalent of a Grand Slam win for doing so. Delgado decreed that simply going to travel fairs was terminally dull in marketing terms but just as effective. If one's being totally honest, he wasn't far wrong.
The miserly nature of the promotional spend was therefore a PP creation. During the previous PSOE-led administration (admittedly with the Unió Mallorquina in charge of tourism for most of the administration), money was splashed out. Rather too much of it, or so it would seem. The current PSOE-led government is therefore pursuing a PP policy. How very odd.
This all said, there will come a day when desaturation occurs naturally because tourists have been convinced that the lunatics have all been bombed or locked up. What then? Blanket prime-time telly ads for every tourist market? Meanwhile the ATB will just have to get on with what it has and with what it has to do, which includes assisting at the likes of the London World Travel Market and fielding angry questions, such as why everyone keeps banging on about saturation. "Don't you want our tourists?" "Of course we do, and just to prove it we've cut our promotional budget for next year."
Forget it. They should be spending more, not less.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Staying On The Plain: Tourism promotion
The mayors of various towns in Mallorca's "Pla" (plain) got together the other day to find out about the tourist, cultural, educative and social potential of the small town of Montuïri. That's a lot of potential they were being asked to consider. How potent any of it is, only they can say.
It seems odd that mayors from neighbouring or nearby towns and villages should be engaged in such a fact-finding mission. The neighbours were Algaida, Porreres, Lloret. Those from nearby were Costitx, Petra, Sineu, Llubi and Maria de la Salut, each of them - by virtue of the small distances that need to be travelled - virtual neighbours. Are they really unaware of the potential that exists close by?
The towns on the plain do have a history of coming together. The mancomunidad (commonwealth) of town halls of the Pla has been one of the more successful of these ventures of combination and sharing, insofar as it hasn't collapsed through a lack of interest and apparent disinclination to work together, as has been the case elsewhere on the island. What it achieves though, apart from acting as a talking shop for mutual interest, is anyone's guess.
Inter-town rivalry has been a cause of these commonwealths not functioning as they might. A further reason is the dominance of one or more towns within their make-up. Inca, for example, towers over towns of the Raiguer mancomunidad. Or would do, were it not for Marratxi. At the top of the geographical layout of the Raiguer is Inca with its northern Mallorca attachment and association, the legal and administrative centre for this part of the island. At the base is Marratxi, seemingly more linked with Palma to an extent that it can be looked upon as a suburb. The common ground of the Raiguer is less clear than that of the Pla.
In theory, these commonwealths, established for many years and with their own statutes, act as counterpoints to the overwhelming island superiority of Palma. They are blocs within the "part forana" (the island which isn't Palma), yet their voices are mostly mute. Their purpose has thus been rendered questionable because none have ever acted as they might have done in genuinely establishing common cause and representing common interest.
The Pla has, however, worked well in one regard, and that is its efforts when it comes to tourism. Or at least, it has created a useful website - www.visitplademallorca.net - a reasonable resource that covers the fourteen towns and villages which are embraced by the commonwealth. This website notwithstanding, a reason why the mayors got together in Montuïri was to consider how best to further pool thoughts, resources and efforts in promoting this region of the island.
The mayors were at pains to stress that they weren't considering any "grand projects". Rather, they were looking at taking "small steps to making the potential of the Pla better known". The lack of ambition implied by these words can be considered either disappointing or realistic. What grand projects could be realised anyway?
Or were they a reflection of an historical reluctance to accept or to envisage a role within the wider tourism offer of Mallorca? When Carlos Delgado, largely (and not always correctly) derided as tourism minister, insisted that each town came up with a strategic plan for tourism, he set in motion, or should have done, a process for doing what the mayors have just been speaking about: developing potential. Of the towns in the Pla, Algaida deserves credit for having created a decent website. The others? How will Petra exploit (if this is the right word) its new found status as home town of a Mallorcan saint? Will it exploit it? Does it really want to?
Delgado's initiative was a perfectly sensible one. He saw a need for a whole Mallorca approach and wanted to know what each town would be doing to release the potential of the whole island. The initiative now seems lost. What has happened to these individual town plans? The mayors of the Pla shouldn't need to go on fact-finding exercises because the information is theoretically available. And, moreover, they have an institutional framework - the mancomunidad - to work on the "potential".
Biel Barceló, Delgado's successor once removed, talks the good talk about different models, yet the ministry's obsessions are as they largely have only ever been: the resorts, two of them anyway (Magalluf and Playa de Palma) and legalistic mechanisms (the tourist tax in this instance). Has Delgado's initiative been quietly filed because it was Delgado? Quite possibly.
The least that the ministry could do would be to create - once and for all - a brilliant web presence that includes regions such as the Pla. It shouldn't simply be down to the mancomunidad to work on seemingly limited ambitions for tourism. But then, promotion of tourism seems to be the last thing the ministry is concerning itself with.
It seems odd that mayors from neighbouring or nearby towns and villages should be engaged in such a fact-finding mission. The neighbours were Algaida, Porreres, Lloret. Those from nearby were Costitx, Petra, Sineu, Llubi and Maria de la Salut, each of them - by virtue of the small distances that need to be travelled - virtual neighbours. Are they really unaware of the potential that exists close by?
The towns on the plain do have a history of coming together. The mancomunidad (commonwealth) of town halls of the Pla has been one of the more successful of these ventures of combination and sharing, insofar as it hasn't collapsed through a lack of interest and apparent disinclination to work together, as has been the case elsewhere on the island. What it achieves though, apart from acting as a talking shop for mutual interest, is anyone's guess.
Inter-town rivalry has been a cause of these commonwealths not functioning as they might. A further reason is the dominance of one or more towns within their make-up. Inca, for example, towers over towns of the Raiguer mancomunidad. Or would do, were it not for Marratxi. At the top of the geographical layout of the Raiguer is Inca with its northern Mallorca attachment and association, the legal and administrative centre for this part of the island. At the base is Marratxi, seemingly more linked with Palma to an extent that it can be looked upon as a suburb. The common ground of the Raiguer is less clear than that of the Pla.
In theory, these commonwealths, established for many years and with their own statutes, act as counterpoints to the overwhelming island superiority of Palma. They are blocs within the "part forana" (the island which isn't Palma), yet their voices are mostly mute. Their purpose has thus been rendered questionable because none have ever acted as they might have done in genuinely establishing common cause and representing common interest.
The Pla has, however, worked well in one regard, and that is its efforts when it comes to tourism. Or at least, it has created a useful website - www.visitplademallorca.net - a reasonable resource that covers the fourteen towns and villages which are embraced by the commonwealth. This website notwithstanding, a reason why the mayors got together in Montuïri was to consider how best to further pool thoughts, resources and efforts in promoting this region of the island.
The mayors were at pains to stress that they weren't considering any "grand projects". Rather, they were looking at taking "small steps to making the potential of the Pla better known". The lack of ambition implied by these words can be considered either disappointing or realistic. What grand projects could be realised anyway?
Or were they a reflection of an historical reluctance to accept or to envisage a role within the wider tourism offer of Mallorca? When Carlos Delgado, largely (and not always correctly) derided as tourism minister, insisted that each town came up with a strategic plan for tourism, he set in motion, or should have done, a process for doing what the mayors have just been speaking about: developing potential. Of the towns in the Pla, Algaida deserves credit for having created a decent website. The others? How will Petra exploit (if this is the right word) its new found status as home town of a Mallorcan saint? Will it exploit it? Does it really want to?
Delgado's initiative was a perfectly sensible one. He saw a need for a whole Mallorca approach and wanted to know what each town would be doing to release the potential of the whole island. The initiative now seems lost. What has happened to these individual town plans? The mayors of the Pla shouldn't need to go on fact-finding exercises because the information is theoretically available. And, moreover, they have an institutional framework - the mancomunidad - to work on the "potential".
Biel Barceló, Delgado's successor once removed, talks the good talk about different models, yet the ministry's obsessions are as they largely have only ever been: the resorts, two of them anyway (Magalluf and Playa de Palma) and legalistic mechanisms (the tourist tax in this instance). Has Delgado's initiative been quietly filed because it was Delgado? Quite possibly.
The least that the ministry could do would be to create - once and for all - a brilliant web presence that includes regions such as the Pla. It shouldn't simply be down to the mancomunidad to work on seemingly limited ambitions for tourism. But then, promotion of tourism seems to be the last thing the ministry is concerning itself with.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Hey! Remember Us?: Other resorts
Manacor town hall was proud to have announced that it had presented "relevant information" to the World Travel Market last week. Prior to the fair, it was able to say that the "capital of the Llevant" had "very important" projects in hand, such as for cycling and sports tourism, one of the big Balearic themes at the fair. No one from Manacor actually attended, partly one suspects because the town hall was in the process of change: the vote of no confidence had ushered in a totally different ruling administration. But the town hall had probably, in any event, not planned on sending anyone. Unless I'm mistaken, there were only four town halls with official representation at the fair, two of which needed no introduction: Calvia and Palma. The other two were Alcudia and Pollensa.
In Manacor there is a resort that has been badly neglected for years. Calas de Mallorca has, however, been attempting to up its image, and an innovative website has been part of the process. It isn't the only resort to have been active web-wise, so have Cala Millor and Pollensa, for example.
Pollensa is very British, but it's not as though Cala Millor and Calas de Mallorca don't get British tourists. So should these resorts, and others, have been in attendance? Ultimately, it's a financial consideration. If the regional government is tight when it comes to spending money on tourism promotion, then the town halls are decidedly Scrooge-like. It's hoped that others assist them with promotion at events like London's travel fair - the Balearic Tourism Agency and the hoteliers - but what hope did most of Mallorca's resorts have last week? Alcudia and Pollensa were doing their best, but the only games in old London town were Calvia's and Palma's.
In Palma's case, this was principally to promote the city as a weekend-break destination. Where Calvia was concerned, it was clear why the town hall was keen to be in London. This was a fair which, from a Mallorcan perspective, had one message and one message alone: Magalluf.
This was clearly a message that needed getting across, but one does have to wonder what the rest of Mallorca makes of the apparent monopoly (or duopoly, if Palma is included) of the island's marketing. Fair play to Calvia (and Meliá) for the public relations exercise, but where do other resorts fit in? And among them are others only a short distance from Magalluf. Like Santa Ponsa. It's not just resorts to the north, west or east which are overlooked, it's others in Calvia as well.
The hoo-ha over the missing 63 million euros investment for Playa de Palma was a useful ploy by the regional government. They did, after all, know about this the week before the fair but only revealed the news once they were there. Diversionary tactic for dealing with the tourist tax? Possibly it was, but the argument over this investment merely went to reinforce what has been recognised for too long: the obsession of governmental bodies and of the media with two resorts and only two resorts. Everywhere else appears inconsequential.
And a consequence of this is that you never hear about investments in other resorts, if indeed there are any. Nigh on 200 million of Meliá investors' cash in Magalluf, plus that of others. 63 million that the government is desperate to retrieve from Madrid for Playa de Palma. Vast sums of money that are constantly mentioned, held up as achievements or as examples of central government "aggression" towards Mallorca and the Balearics. Yes, there is investment elsewhere, but it is not of a fundamental character as it is in Magalluf and Playa de Palma: a re-invention of old and tired resorts.
Perhaps the government hopes that it can convince tourists and tour operators that the tourist tax is the means for making Mallorca less of a two-resort island, that the revenue will go to other parts destined to also become like Miami Beach. It's unlikely to convince anyone, and the case for the tax was arguably made less convincing by all the Calvia-Palma puffery in London. If there is investment of the levels spoken about for Magalluf and Playa de Palma - investment without the aid of a tourist tax - why should a tax be necessary?
The point is though that very little of the Magalluf investment has thus far been public money. Meliá, because of its strong interests in the resort and its access to investment, was able to circumvent the type of delays that have dogged the more publicly funded Playa de Palma. Other resorts don't have a sugar daddy hotel chain. They thus rely far more on public funds to bring about change. In a couple of years time, will the World Travel Market be learning about the changing faces of Cala Millor, Alcudia and Calas de Mallorca?
In Manacor there is a resort that has been badly neglected for years. Calas de Mallorca has, however, been attempting to up its image, and an innovative website has been part of the process. It isn't the only resort to have been active web-wise, so have Cala Millor and Pollensa, for example.
Pollensa is very British, but it's not as though Cala Millor and Calas de Mallorca don't get British tourists. So should these resorts, and others, have been in attendance? Ultimately, it's a financial consideration. If the regional government is tight when it comes to spending money on tourism promotion, then the town halls are decidedly Scrooge-like. It's hoped that others assist them with promotion at events like London's travel fair - the Balearic Tourism Agency and the hoteliers - but what hope did most of Mallorca's resorts have last week? Alcudia and Pollensa were doing their best, but the only games in old London town were Calvia's and Palma's.
In Palma's case, this was principally to promote the city as a weekend-break destination. Where Calvia was concerned, it was clear why the town hall was keen to be in London. This was a fair which, from a Mallorcan perspective, had one message and one message alone: Magalluf.
This was clearly a message that needed getting across, but one does have to wonder what the rest of Mallorca makes of the apparent monopoly (or duopoly, if Palma is included) of the island's marketing. Fair play to Calvia (and Meliá) for the public relations exercise, but where do other resorts fit in? And among them are others only a short distance from Magalluf. Like Santa Ponsa. It's not just resorts to the north, west or east which are overlooked, it's others in Calvia as well.
The hoo-ha over the missing 63 million euros investment for Playa de Palma was a useful ploy by the regional government. They did, after all, know about this the week before the fair but only revealed the news once they were there. Diversionary tactic for dealing with the tourist tax? Possibly it was, but the argument over this investment merely went to reinforce what has been recognised for too long: the obsession of governmental bodies and of the media with two resorts and only two resorts. Everywhere else appears inconsequential.
And a consequence of this is that you never hear about investments in other resorts, if indeed there are any. Nigh on 200 million of Meliá investors' cash in Magalluf, plus that of others. 63 million that the government is desperate to retrieve from Madrid for Playa de Palma. Vast sums of money that are constantly mentioned, held up as achievements or as examples of central government "aggression" towards Mallorca and the Balearics. Yes, there is investment elsewhere, but it is not of a fundamental character as it is in Magalluf and Playa de Palma: a re-invention of old and tired resorts.
Perhaps the government hopes that it can convince tourists and tour operators that the tourist tax is the means for making Mallorca less of a two-resort island, that the revenue will go to other parts destined to also become like Miami Beach. It's unlikely to convince anyone, and the case for the tax was arguably made less convincing by all the Calvia-Palma puffery in London. If there is investment of the levels spoken about for Magalluf and Playa de Palma - investment without the aid of a tourist tax - why should a tax be necessary?
The point is though that very little of the Magalluf investment has thus far been public money. Meliá, because of its strong interests in the resort and its access to investment, was able to circumvent the type of delays that have dogged the more publicly funded Playa de Palma. Other resorts don't have a sugar daddy hotel chain. They thus rely far more on public funds to bring about change. In a couple of years time, will the World Travel Market be learning about the changing faces of Cala Millor, Alcudia and Calas de Mallorca?
Friday, November 06, 2015
Failing Ramon Llull: Cultural tourism
Cultural tourism. Discuss. It's a term we hear a great deal of. It forms part of the grand alternative to Mallorcan sun and beach. But what is it? Of the various elements that comprise this alternative, cultural tourism is the most elusive. Gastronomy is obvious, so is cycling or golf or hiking. Culture, though? So much said but so little definition. Has anyone ever sat down and drawn up a document to explain exactly what it consists of and how precisely it is to be promoted? Or is it simply that they (the anonymous "they" of institutional tourism promotion) talk it up and expect the world to latch onto such an intangible concept?
What is Mallorcan culture in any event? There are differing interpretations thanks to the endless arguments as to Mallorca's history. What, if anything, is unique to this culture? And if there is, how strong is its claim on the perceptions of foreigners and so therefore tourists?
On 24 November there is to be a congress in Palma. It will be an act to celebrate the year of Ramon Llull, who died 700 years ago. This is a year that will straddle two years. The church suggested that it did, doubtless taking into account the fact that there are various interpretations as to when he actually died. So many differing interpretations of culture, and no one can definitively say when Llull went to meet his maker.
If there is one figure from Mallorca's culture who stands out, then it is Llull. He was more important than King Jaume I in that he was Mallorcan and contributed massively to the popularisation of Catalan, apart from everything else that he turned his hand to. Crucially, he was central - and remains so - to the narrative of Mallorca's spirituality, the religious version of this: an intellectual whose thinking went beyond the shores of the island and which came to define aspects of Catholic dogma. He was a towering figure of the mediaeval era who left, among other things, a physical legacy, that of the Miramar in Valldemossa.
The politics of cultural interpretation, however, make Llull as elusive as the notion of cultural tourism itself. Arguments have it that Catalan was not spoken at the time of Llull, that it was a hybrid of the different strands of language from the regions of north-east Spain and south-east France. There is even an argument which insists that Mallorquín existed before the Catalan invasion. This is, if you like, the right-wing perspective which seeks to distance Mallorca from a pure Catalan culture. Differing interpretations, therefore of Mallorca's culture.
Setting the linguistics aside, Llull is elusive in another regard. For most of the world, he is an obscure character. Even within the world of scholarship and academia, he is a lesser figure than a contemporary - Thomas Aquinas. He appears to lack, therefore, some sort of unique selling point that would establish him as a global relic of history and culture. As a consequence, selling Llull as central to Mallorca's culture and its cultural tourism becomes nigh on impossible.
The fact is, though, that there is uniqueness, were it only to be explained. Attempts should therefore be made. But what of these attempts to commemorate the 700th anniversary? Who's running the show, for example? Seemingly, it is the Ramon Llull Institute, headquartered not in Mallorca but in Barcelona, with a separate foundation in Andorra. The institute, it is said, hasn't got or settled on a budget to promote the anniversary, though it remains confident that everything will be right on the night and on the other nights that constitute the year of Ramon Llull. At least the Bishop of Mallorca has come up with a reasonable scheme, and that has been to get Air Europa to name an aircraft Ramon Llull and to show videos about Llull on its flights. Praise the Lord! The bishop has an understanding of marketing: "Ramon Llull is going to fly to many places thanks to Air Europa". But what of others?
Was, as part of the grand alternative, Llull highlighted at the World Travel Market? No. Had he been mentioned in passing, his name would have induced blank looks. The global tourism market can't be expected to grab hold of such a figure from Mallorcan culture without some dynamic effort to make him accessible and understandable, to create real meaning as to what this culture is and as to why the world should be interested.
But there should have been years of advance education about him, not leave it to the year itself and an inaugural concert by the Menorcan baritone, Joan Pons. No one will be interested, because interest hasn't been generated. The year will come, the year will go, and a major opportunity to establish some true meaning to Mallorca's culture will have been lost.
What is Mallorcan culture in any event? There are differing interpretations thanks to the endless arguments as to Mallorca's history. What, if anything, is unique to this culture? And if there is, how strong is its claim on the perceptions of foreigners and so therefore tourists?
On 24 November there is to be a congress in Palma. It will be an act to celebrate the year of Ramon Llull, who died 700 years ago. This is a year that will straddle two years. The church suggested that it did, doubtless taking into account the fact that there are various interpretations as to when he actually died. So many differing interpretations of culture, and no one can definitively say when Llull went to meet his maker.
If there is one figure from Mallorca's culture who stands out, then it is Llull. He was more important than King Jaume I in that he was Mallorcan and contributed massively to the popularisation of Catalan, apart from everything else that he turned his hand to. Crucially, he was central - and remains so - to the narrative of Mallorca's spirituality, the religious version of this: an intellectual whose thinking went beyond the shores of the island and which came to define aspects of Catholic dogma. He was a towering figure of the mediaeval era who left, among other things, a physical legacy, that of the Miramar in Valldemossa.
The politics of cultural interpretation, however, make Llull as elusive as the notion of cultural tourism itself. Arguments have it that Catalan was not spoken at the time of Llull, that it was a hybrid of the different strands of language from the regions of north-east Spain and south-east France. There is even an argument which insists that Mallorquín existed before the Catalan invasion. This is, if you like, the right-wing perspective which seeks to distance Mallorca from a pure Catalan culture. Differing interpretations, therefore of Mallorca's culture.
Setting the linguistics aside, Llull is elusive in another regard. For most of the world, he is an obscure character. Even within the world of scholarship and academia, he is a lesser figure than a contemporary - Thomas Aquinas. He appears to lack, therefore, some sort of unique selling point that would establish him as a global relic of history and culture. As a consequence, selling Llull as central to Mallorca's culture and its cultural tourism becomes nigh on impossible.
The fact is, though, that there is uniqueness, were it only to be explained. Attempts should therefore be made. But what of these attempts to commemorate the 700th anniversary? Who's running the show, for example? Seemingly, it is the Ramon Llull Institute, headquartered not in Mallorca but in Barcelona, with a separate foundation in Andorra. The institute, it is said, hasn't got or settled on a budget to promote the anniversary, though it remains confident that everything will be right on the night and on the other nights that constitute the year of Ramon Llull. At least the Bishop of Mallorca has come up with a reasonable scheme, and that has been to get Air Europa to name an aircraft Ramon Llull and to show videos about Llull on its flights. Praise the Lord! The bishop has an understanding of marketing: "Ramon Llull is going to fly to many places thanks to Air Europa". But what of others?
Was, as part of the grand alternative, Llull highlighted at the World Travel Market? No. Had he been mentioned in passing, his name would have induced blank looks. The global tourism market can't be expected to grab hold of such a figure from Mallorcan culture without some dynamic effort to make him accessible and understandable, to create real meaning as to what this culture is and as to why the world should be interested.
But there should have been years of advance education about him, not leave it to the year itself and an inaugural concert by the Menorcan baritone, Joan Pons. No one will be interested, because interest hasn't been generated. The year will come, the year will go, and a major opportunity to establish some true meaning to Mallorca's culture will have been lost.
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, October 20, 2014
The Four Islands Of Tourism Promotion
Before being elected president of the Council of Mallorca in 2011, Maria Salom described the Council as an expensive and inefficient behemoth. At the height of the economic crisis, someone had seen the light. The Council had accumulated responsibilities which had meant that it had taken on a life of its own, duplicating efforts elsewhere and being a drain on the public purse. One such responsibility was for tourism promotion. In early 2012 this responsibility was formally withdrawn. The Balearics Tourism Agency (ATB) didn't assume this responsibility as such, because it already had it, but duplication had been eliminated. Eighteen months later, the Bauzá government decided to hand the responsibility back and to give the other three island councils the same responsibility. Salom was unimpressed. She said that she did not want the Council to have to take on the responsibility again.
Just over a year since the regional government decided that it would transfer responsibility, it has now formally approved the measure. Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera can happily set about their promotional plans and expect to receive funding from Palma in order to do so. Mallorca can do the same, but Salom refuses to accept the responsibility. She doesn't wish to revive the behemoth.
In announcing this measure, tourism minister Jaime Martínez appeared to suggest that Salom's rejection was a "different scenario" to one of previous agreement on behalf of the four councils. He is I'm afraid not portraying the "scenario" accurately. Salom has been consistent in her views. As if Bauzá couldn't get more opposition to his decaying administration, he now has it, and it comes from one of the most senior figures in the Partido Popular who, back in the days post-election when all was rosy for Bauzá, was totally onside with a governmental policy of cost-cutting and duplication eradication. Salom has stuck to her guns. Bauzá hasn't.
No doubt stung by the criticism of the paltry sums that Carlos Delgado had budgeted for, Martínez says that there will be a total of 5.3 million euros for tourism promotion in 2015. This is still not a king's ransom but it is twice this year's budget. So, the budget will rise as will other costs. They are bound to so that the island councils can have the funcionarios who'll spend their share of the tourism promotion dividend, while duplication will return. Why? Well, the ATB, though it will be pared back, will have to assume responsibility for Mallorca's promotion and it will still conduct promotion for the Balearics as a whole, while providing a supervisory function in order to ensure that the islands' efforts don't conflict with overall Balearics policy, which could well amount to requiring signing-off these efforts.
The islands have always undertaken some of their own promotional work, and they have been entitled to under the list of competences granted to them by the statutes of Balearics autonomy. Bauzá invoked these statutes in explaining why the responsibilities were being transferred in a formal fashion and with budgetary allowance from Palma. He was being disingenuous. These competences have always existed. The principal motivation was not doing things by the statutes' book but was a way of trying to keep Menorca and Ibiza sweet; they have both long lobbied for greater responsibility.
The devil as always will be in the detail, but as Martínez possesses an unerring capacity to make obscure what one would hope would be transparent (as with holiday lets for instance), there may well be scope for different interpretations of other aspects of this responsibility transfer: islands' own policies, their own development plans, their own organisation of planning of their respective tourism sectors. What actually might these mean? The government insists that it is not handing over the overall co-ordination and classification of tourism products and other elements of the Balearics integrated tourism plan, but there has been a suggestion that the councils could act independently on something such as holiday lets. Menorca wants to, though the government says that it can't. We'll see.
As a general principle the islands having responsibility isn't such a bad idea. Balearics branding and promotion make far less sense than branding of island names that carry greater weight in the minds of the tourism public. However, there should be a cautionary note, and it comes from Menorca. Promotion that has been undertaken by its council to promote the island's Biosphere Reserve status was slammed a year ago. Twenty years of this status and Menorca had made precious little of it, the consequence of a lack of skills as well as money and of bureaucracy that has constantly hampered efforts of businesspeople. Menorca will be getting more money (though not nearly enough) but it won't be getting more skills or less bureaucracy. In Mallorca, meanwhile, none of this will matter because Salom, wisely perhaps, doesn't want the headache or the duplication.
Just over a year since the regional government decided that it would transfer responsibility, it has now formally approved the measure. Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera can happily set about their promotional plans and expect to receive funding from Palma in order to do so. Mallorca can do the same, but Salom refuses to accept the responsibility. She doesn't wish to revive the behemoth.
In announcing this measure, tourism minister Jaime Martínez appeared to suggest that Salom's rejection was a "different scenario" to one of previous agreement on behalf of the four councils. He is I'm afraid not portraying the "scenario" accurately. Salom has been consistent in her views. As if Bauzá couldn't get more opposition to his decaying administration, he now has it, and it comes from one of the most senior figures in the Partido Popular who, back in the days post-election when all was rosy for Bauzá, was totally onside with a governmental policy of cost-cutting and duplication eradication. Salom has stuck to her guns. Bauzá hasn't.
No doubt stung by the criticism of the paltry sums that Carlos Delgado had budgeted for, Martínez says that there will be a total of 5.3 million euros for tourism promotion in 2015. This is still not a king's ransom but it is twice this year's budget. So, the budget will rise as will other costs. They are bound to so that the island councils can have the funcionarios who'll spend their share of the tourism promotion dividend, while duplication will return. Why? Well, the ATB, though it will be pared back, will have to assume responsibility for Mallorca's promotion and it will still conduct promotion for the Balearics as a whole, while providing a supervisory function in order to ensure that the islands' efforts don't conflict with overall Balearics policy, which could well amount to requiring signing-off these efforts.
The islands have always undertaken some of their own promotional work, and they have been entitled to under the list of competences granted to them by the statutes of Balearics autonomy. Bauzá invoked these statutes in explaining why the responsibilities were being transferred in a formal fashion and with budgetary allowance from Palma. He was being disingenuous. These competences have always existed. The principal motivation was not doing things by the statutes' book but was a way of trying to keep Menorca and Ibiza sweet; they have both long lobbied for greater responsibility.
The devil as always will be in the detail, but as Martínez possesses an unerring capacity to make obscure what one would hope would be transparent (as with holiday lets for instance), there may well be scope for different interpretations of other aspects of this responsibility transfer: islands' own policies, their own development plans, their own organisation of planning of their respective tourism sectors. What actually might these mean? The government insists that it is not handing over the overall co-ordination and classification of tourism products and other elements of the Balearics integrated tourism plan, but there has been a suggestion that the councils could act independently on something such as holiday lets. Menorca wants to, though the government says that it can't. We'll see.
As a general principle the islands having responsibility isn't such a bad idea. Balearics branding and promotion make far less sense than branding of island names that carry greater weight in the minds of the tourism public. However, there should be a cautionary note, and it comes from Menorca. Promotion that has been undertaken by its council to promote the island's Biosphere Reserve status was slammed a year ago. Twenty years of this status and Menorca had made precious little of it, the consequence of a lack of skills as well as money and of bureaucracy that has constantly hampered efforts of businesspeople. Menorca will be getting more money (though not nearly enough) but it won't be getting more skills or less bureaucracy. In Mallorca, meanwhile, none of this will matter because Salom, wisely perhaps, doesn't want the headache or the duplication.
Thursday, October 09, 2014
The Seven-Year Window That Closed
There is a misconception that Mallorca's tourism boom of the early 1960s was all the product of central commands from the Franco regime. This view overlooks the roles played by the island's entrepreneurs and foreign tour operators and investors and the way in which they either ignored or worked around official policies of the Franco administration or of other governments, the UK's for instance. Nevertheless, it is true that there was a great deal of central control and so there was, as a consequence, a vacuum that was created when the regime ended and while Spain and Mallorca initially struggled to make sense of what would be its new democratic era.
This tourism vacuum was abhorred immediately, though. It was easily enough filled because Mallorca had a ready-made tourism government-in-waiting, the Fomento del Turismo, aka the Mallorca Tourist Board, which in truth had acted in this quasi-governmental fashion for some years. What changed, though, was the nature of official governmental command, and so the board assumed a role which belied its essentially private make-up. This was a board with an eclectic mix: businesspeople, tourist entrepreneurs, engineers, artists, journalists, they all featured.
In the mid-1970s the island's tourism had to contend with the repercussions of the end of the regime and the effects of the oil crisis. This gave rise to a reassessment, included in which was the consideration of an over-dependence on foreign tour operators and of, for the first time, the effects of tourism on the environment. What emerged was a Mallorcan tourism industry which sought to take charge of its own destiny and not have it determined by others.
This might have provoked a parochial attitude but it didn't, and a reason why it didn't was the fact that local business was so intimately involved with the island's tourism organisation and that this business was complemented by those from that eclectic mix at the board whose world view was, generally speaking, just that - world, rather than insular. In addition, other organisations came into being, such as the Mallorcan hoteliers federation and what was known as the Balearics Co-operative Federation. Both these bodies were founded in 1977 and they both went a long way to eradicating what had been a fragmented tourism industry which had lacked a sense of unity.
In January 1979 a week-long event took place which defined this era. It was the first Congress of Mallorca's Tourism. It was an event conducted in an open and democratic manner and one which brought together pretty much any organisation, association or individual who mattered to the island's tourism industry. It set out areas for co-ordinated effort going forward, one of which was tourism promotion.
The congress was the clearest example of what occurred during the roughly seven-year period between the end of the Franco regime and the establishment of regional government in the Balearics. It was a period during which the tourism industry, no longer shackled by an overbearing regime, was able to think for itself and to move the island's tourism forward. It did of course need government, but it was government to deal with technicalities of land approvals, of infrastructure, of employment law. It was a period during which, by and large, tourism was driven by the tourism industry as a whole and not by government.
With regional government came the regional tourism ministry. Initially, the ministry was able to draw on what had been achieved during that seven-year period. Its minister was a man with a tourism background, Jaume Cladera, but he couldn't prevent what happened. The ministry grew like topsy, grabbing responsibilities for all aspects of tourism, littering itself with civil servants and ultimately turning in on itself, adhering to parochial visions of tourism through the eyes of the Mallorcan and not through the eyes of the wider world.
Two things have made me make the observations above. One was the article about how Croatia has managed within the space of only a few months to have a 365-day-a-year campaign up and running. The other was a recent appreciation of how tourism promotion tends to work, the tortuous path it must follow within the regional government and the "touristically-correct" way in which it is supposed to be presented.
The window of the seven-year period during which the industry took charge was slammed shut. The centralised constraints until 1975 were to be replaced by decentralised constraints of bloated and self-serving administrations with blinkers on. The window of co-operation was lost for all time. It could not now be revived because of domineering industry interests. We are left with the ministry, therefore. But it could do worse than to look back to that seven-year window and ask itself whether tourism shouldn't be run in a more businesslike fashion.
This tourism vacuum was abhorred immediately, though. It was easily enough filled because Mallorca had a ready-made tourism government-in-waiting, the Fomento del Turismo, aka the Mallorca Tourist Board, which in truth had acted in this quasi-governmental fashion for some years. What changed, though, was the nature of official governmental command, and so the board assumed a role which belied its essentially private make-up. This was a board with an eclectic mix: businesspeople, tourist entrepreneurs, engineers, artists, journalists, they all featured.
In the mid-1970s the island's tourism had to contend with the repercussions of the end of the regime and the effects of the oil crisis. This gave rise to a reassessment, included in which was the consideration of an over-dependence on foreign tour operators and of, for the first time, the effects of tourism on the environment. What emerged was a Mallorcan tourism industry which sought to take charge of its own destiny and not have it determined by others.
This might have provoked a parochial attitude but it didn't, and a reason why it didn't was the fact that local business was so intimately involved with the island's tourism organisation and that this business was complemented by those from that eclectic mix at the board whose world view was, generally speaking, just that - world, rather than insular. In addition, other organisations came into being, such as the Mallorcan hoteliers federation and what was known as the Balearics Co-operative Federation. Both these bodies were founded in 1977 and they both went a long way to eradicating what had been a fragmented tourism industry which had lacked a sense of unity.
In January 1979 a week-long event took place which defined this era. It was the first Congress of Mallorca's Tourism. It was an event conducted in an open and democratic manner and one which brought together pretty much any organisation, association or individual who mattered to the island's tourism industry. It set out areas for co-ordinated effort going forward, one of which was tourism promotion.
The congress was the clearest example of what occurred during the roughly seven-year period between the end of the Franco regime and the establishment of regional government in the Balearics. It was a period during which the tourism industry, no longer shackled by an overbearing regime, was able to think for itself and to move the island's tourism forward. It did of course need government, but it was government to deal with technicalities of land approvals, of infrastructure, of employment law. It was a period during which, by and large, tourism was driven by the tourism industry as a whole and not by government.
With regional government came the regional tourism ministry. Initially, the ministry was able to draw on what had been achieved during that seven-year period. Its minister was a man with a tourism background, Jaume Cladera, but he couldn't prevent what happened. The ministry grew like topsy, grabbing responsibilities for all aspects of tourism, littering itself with civil servants and ultimately turning in on itself, adhering to parochial visions of tourism through the eyes of the Mallorcan and not through the eyes of the wider world.
Two things have made me make the observations above. One was the article about how Croatia has managed within the space of only a few months to have a 365-day-a-year campaign up and running. The other was a recent appreciation of how tourism promotion tends to work, the tortuous path it must follow within the regional government and the "touristically-correct" way in which it is supposed to be presented.
The window of the seven-year period during which the industry took charge was slammed shut. The centralised constraints until 1975 were to be replaced by decentralised constraints of bloated and self-serving administrations with blinkers on. The window of co-operation was lost for all time. It could not now be revived because of domineering industry interests. We are left with the ministry, therefore. But it could do worse than to look back to that seven-year window and ask itself whether tourism shouldn't be run in a more businesslike fashion.
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
365 In A Croatian Style
You are about to read a promotional feature for Croatia. I have, therefore, to apologise in advance for any offence that this might cause, but as, for the purposes of research and appreciation of what the competition does, I am one of 1,323,186 people who - as of 6 October - like the "Love Croatia" Facebook page, I feel it is only right to share with you the promotion for what is a key competitor to Mallorca.
Since the start of October, this Facebook page has added a video for the island of Hvar and eight other posts replete with spectacular photography that has been supplied officially and by visitors both direct to the page and through a linked Instagram page. What does one get from these nine posts alone? Well, for example, if you are looking for what to do in October, you can link to the official website which will tell you about Croatia 365, all-year round Croatia. This tells you that the country is "rich in natural beauty and well-preserved cultural heritage, specifically by its diversity". It goes on to inform you that you can "take a ride by bike where, long ago, Roman legions walked". You can check out destinations for culture, biking, outdoor, health and wellness, meetings and incentives and wine and gastronomy.
With a different post, you could have supplied your own words to complete the following: "Visiting Croatia was ...". I gave up checking the hundreds of comments after the first loads of "magical", "dream", "heaven on earth" and what have you, some of them with further photos.
The first post for October was another one to remind you about the possibilities which exist all year, a link to "Croatia 365, Experience Croatia all year round". This project, "Croatia 365", was launched in the summer by the country's tourism ministry. The purpose of the project is, naturally enough, to bring tourists in "once the summer sun has gone". The focus of the project is the six elements I list above - culture, biking, etc. - and in addition to improving facilities and activities in order to meet the project's objectives, there will be (and now is) an intensive marketing campaign, as might be noted through the "Love Croatia" Facebook page. As part of this project, twenty-two destinations within the country have guaranteed that at least 50% of all tourism and restaurant facilities will stay open.
One can't directly compare Croatia with Mallorca for one obvious reason - Croatia is a country - yet in terms of tourism, it wasn't at one time so dissimilar in that it was a part of a larger country. Yugoslavia, though it never created or really craved mass tourism, was in the 1950s far more open than Spain was to foreign tourists. So there was a long history of tourism development for Croatia to draw on once it became independent and once the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia ceased.
At one stage in the late 1980s, total tourist arrivals to Croatia were over ten million per annum. At their lowest, in 1992, they were a little over two million. There was a hell of a lot of recovery and catch-up to be done, and it took until 2006 for the ten million barrier to be broken again. Between 2011 and 2013, the growth was significant; three million more tourists within the space of three years. The annual total is now over 14 million (roughly what the Balearics as a whole receive).
Croatia is a vastly bigger place than Mallorca, so again a direct comparison between the two is questionable. However, the Mallorcan tourism industry recognises Croatia for what it is: a direct competitor. And if you look at what the Croatia 365 project wants to achieve, you will find that it is remarkably similar to what Mallorca covets by way of all-year tourism; culture, cycling, meetings, they're the same.
There is a very meaningful comparison between the two when it comes to promotion. Mallorca's direct competitor on the Adriatic has its official Facebook page, churning out daily posts with recommendations, photos, videos and visitor comments and feedback. This is linked to the official website where there is of course a great deal more information. And Croatia now has a 365 campaign. Launched only three months ago, it is taking off thanks to social media in a way that a 365 campaign in Mallorca is not and has not. Palma's.
The foundation that oversees Palma 365 is to pay 48,000 euros apiece to a UK and a German PR company. The main purpose is for these PR companies to get press coverage. Which is all well and good, but has it gone unnoticed that there are different media out there? 1,323,186 people. Croatia, where 365 means 365 or where at least there is "an intensive marketing campaign". Who's playing catch-up now?
Since the start of October, this Facebook page has added a video for the island of Hvar and eight other posts replete with spectacular photography that has been supplied officially and by visitors both direct to the page and through a linked Instagram page. What does one get from these nine posts alone? Well, for example, if you are looking for what to do in October, you can link to the official website which will tell you about Croatia 365, all-year round Croatia. This tells you that the country is "rich in natural beauty and well-preserved cultural heritage, specifically by its diversity". It goes on to inform you that you can "take a ride by bike where, long ago, Roman legions walked". You can check out destinations for culture, biking, outdoor, health and wellness, meetings and incentives and wine and gastronomy.
With a different post, you could have supplied your own words to complete the following: "Visiting Croatia was ...". I gave up checking the hundreds of comments after the first loads of "magical", "dream", "heaven on earth" and what have you, some of them with further photos.
The first post for October was another one to remind you about the possibilities which exist all year, a link to "Croatia 365, Experience Croatia all year round". This project, "Croatia 365", was launched in the summer by the country's tourism ministry. The purpose of the project is, naturally enough, to bring tourists in "once the summer sun has gone". The focus of the project is the six elements I list above - culture, biking, etc. - and in addition to improving facilities and activities in order to meet the project's objectives, there will be (and now is) an intensive marketing campaign, as might be noted through the "Love Croatia" Facebook page. As part of this project, twenty-two destinations within the country have guaranteed that at least 50% of all tourism and restaurant facilities will stay open.
One can't directly compare Croatia with Mallorca for one obvious reason - Croatia is a country - yet in terms of tourism, it wasn't at one time so dissimilar in that it was a part of a larger country. Yugoslavia, though it never created or really craved mass tourism, was in the 1950s far more open than Spain was to foreign tourists. So there was a long history of tourism development for Croatia to draw on once it became independent and once the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia ceased.
At one stage in the late 1980s, total tourist arrivals to Croatia were over ten million per annum. At their lowest, in 1992, they were a little over two million. There was a hell of a lot of recovery and catch-up to be done, and it took until 2006 for the ten million barrier to be broken again. Between 2011 and 2013, the growth was significant; three million more tourists within the space of three years. The annual total is now over 14 million (roughly what the Balearics as a whole receive).
Croatia is a vastly bigger place than Mallorca, so again a direct comparison between the two is questionable. However, the Mallorcan tourism industry recognises Croatia for what it is: a direct competitor. And if you look at what the Croatia 365 project wants to achieve, you will find that it is remarkably similar to what Mallorca covets by way of all-year tourism; culture, cycling, meetings, they're the same.
There is a very meaningful comparison between the two when it comes to promotion. Mallorca's direct competitor on the Adriatic has its official Facebook page, churning out daily posts with recommendations, photos, videos and visitor comments and feedback. This is linked to the official website where there is of course a great deal more information. And Croatia now has a 365 campaign. Launched only three months ago, it is taking off thanks to social media in a way that a 365 campaign in Mallorca is not and has not. Palma's.
The foundation that oversees Palma 365 is to pay 48,000 euros apiece to a UK and a German PR company. The main purpose is for these PR companies to get press coverage. Which is all well and good, but has it gone unnoticed that there are different media out there? 1,323,186 people. Croatia, where 365 means 365 or where at least there is "an intensive marketing campaign". Who's playing catch-up now?
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Still Needing Spain?: Catalonia's tourism
What one notices about the "España" is, for example, that the final "a" looks almost like a chair with its left leg slightly raised and the right leg given a base topped with green that protrudes at a 90 degree angle. The yellow and red colours contained in "España" mirror those of the Miró sun; otherwise, and apart from the black lettering, this green at the foot of the "a" is the only other colour. The style is unmistakable and so also are the colours; they are very typically Miró.
Joan Miró was born in Barcelona. The logo was one of his final creations before he died at the end of 1983. But, thirty years on, the logo has been given some new life, and this new life has emanated from Barcelona. There is another logo. Or what might be taken to be a logo. It is for "Catalunya". Its style is, to say the least, highly reminiscent of the "España" typography. The final "a" doesn't have a base that protrudes as far and it also isn't topped with green, but in other respects, including the red inside the "a", it is the same.
At the recent Fitur travel fair in Madrid, a magazine was presented which promotes Catalonia's tourism. On its cover was this very Miró-looking "Catalunya". The website "El Confidencial" has drawn attention to this magazine, though not, it must be said, to the similarities with the "España" (I'm the one doing this). In three languages - Catalan, Castellano and English - it is what the magazine says which has been highlighted. "Welcome. Catalonia, a European country that is open to the world, dynamic and enterprising, rich in history and culture, with a vast diversity of landscapes." You will note that there is something assertive about this welcome. Catalonia is a country. Not part of another country, but a country in its own right.
Just what Turespaña make of the typography, heaven only knows. If it is only an imitation for the cover of a magazine, then they'll probably let it go, but if it were more than this, then it is almost certainly a case of passing-off. It is too similar not to be. But in imitating the "España", the "Catalunya" is like a red rag to the Spanish bull, enraged even more by the fact that it is against text which claims that Catalonia is a European country. At present, Catalonia is not a European country, and indeed it may still not be come this time next year.
What will doubtless enrage further is what is in this magazine. Aimed at both tourists and investors, there is a brief history of Catalonia and reminder of the "loss of liberties" in 1714 (the Nueva Planta, proscription of Catalan and Catalonian institutions, King Philip V, end of the War of the Spanish Succession and establishment of the Bourbon dynasty and all that). As an exercise in pre-emptory propaganda ahead of the independence referendum (assuming it goes ahead), the department of the presidency in Catalonia, which was responsible for the publication, has made a bid to already establish Catalonia as a separate entity and as a separate tourism destination.
Whatever happens with the referendum, Catalonia is forging ahead in developing its tourism promotional activities. Helped with the additional revenue from its tourist tax, it has more money to spend directly on promotion, but it is also beefing up its global presence. A new tourism promotion office has been opened in Sao Paulo in Brazil to add to other ones which have been opened in China, south-east Asia, North America and elsewhere in Latin America. Catalonia's minister for business and employment, Felip Puig, said at the Fitur fair that while Catalonia will continue to work with the "Marca España", which in tourism terms is the "I Need Spain" campaign, there will also be a specific and separate promotional strategy. The groundwork, where tourism for an independent Catalonia is concerned, has already been prepared.
But while Catalonia may be acting as though it were already independent and be preparing for a tourism strategy that is divorced from Turespaña, it may also find, as with other aspects of independence, that things get complicated. An example of this is the Barcelona (BCN) World development of casinos and what have you by PortAventura. It is a project that Catalonia will want to ensure goes ahead, but if there is the prospect of Catalonia being outside the European Union and if the Catalonian government doesn't drastically reduce its gaming tax, then it won't go ahead.
Borrowing typography via Miró from Turespaña may be a propaganda ploy, but Catalonia may yet discover that it still needs Spain. For tourism and for everything else.
Sunday, December 08, 2013
The Unnecessary Tourism Plan
Algaida is a town of some 5,000 people. Like other parts of Mallorca, it has its prehistory (talayotic period) and its Conquest history; two farms were recorded under the Arabic name "al-gaida", meaning the wood, three years after Jaume I invaded. It has a few sites, such as the Cura sanctuary on the Puig de Randa, but it is not a town known for its tourism. On Algaida town hall's website, though there is supposedly an English section, when it comes to information such as that for fairs and fiestas and cycling routes, the menu lists these in English but the explanatory text is in Catalan. There is no tourism section as such. Of areas of responsibility of the town hall's seven councillors who form the administration, not one of them has any responsibility for tourism. It is a town where tourism, in terms of officialdom, does not exist.
Oddly though, Algaida council has just approved its plan for tourism development. The mayor says that it is a "realistic project" for a municipality in the plain of Mallorca which will preserve the character of the village and its environmental, social and cultural characteristics.
All of which sounds reasonable enough, even if it doesn't actually say what will be developed, if anything. But then, maybe there isn't really anything much to develop when it comes to a tourism plan. If so, then why has the town hall gone to the trouble of approving one.
The reason why is because it was told to. As with every other municipality in the Balearics, Algaida has had to come up with a tourism plan. The Balearics tourism minister, Carlos Delgado, pointed out this summer that under the 2012 Tourism Law, all municipalities had to have one. And he was right to have pointed this out, as many municipalities may not have realised that they had to have a plan. Under Chapter One, Article Eight of the law (to do with competences of various bodies), there was item F, the approval of municipal tourism development plans. And item C of Article Eight refers to the "promotion of tourist activities within the municipality", which in turn will be integrated into "tourism promotion ... in the context of the promotion of each of the Balearic Islands" (item B).
On the principle that tourism is Mallorca's most important industry and so on a further principle that any municipality, even one without a notable tourism industry of its own, should form part of this island-wide industry, it seems fair to expect individual towns to have plans. Fair, but what does having a plan achieve? In Algaida's case, its sites, its Bull, its cuisine (it is reckoned to be the centre of the Mallorcan style of cuisine) are all matters of record with or without a plan. What should Algaida now do? Throw money at promoting them? Money it almost certainly doesn't have.
The national government's attempt at reforming local authorities - one which would see responsibilities being assumed by higher authorities, i.e. the Council of Mallorca, in the case of smaller towns, those with fewer than 20,000 people - is currently stumbling along and not really getting anywhere. This reform points out that the scope of powers for "issues of purely local interest" is limited, and tourism is one such issue for which the scope of powers is limited. This, though, is both vague and too wide. There are towns in Mallorca which have very much stronger local interests in tourism than others, and some of these, like Algaida, are quite small. Muro has only a couple of thousand more inhabitants, but it is firmly a tourist town and one that definitely requires a tourism plan.
While the power remains, even if it is limited, then the Balearic Government can insist that each municipality draws up its own tourism plan, but where Algaida is concerned, how different is it to neighbouring or nearby towns? It isn't particularly.
Now that the Council of Mallorca has finally relented and accepted that it will take on responsibility for tourism promotion (it had said it wouldn't because it didn't have the money), it will presumably be made aware of whatever Algaida has in its plan. And once aware of this, then what?
It's all well and good there being different plans for different towns, some of which don't have much by way of tourism, and there being a moving of the tourism promotion responsibility furniture, but would it not be better if there were an overarching and integrated plan? Maybe there will be, but at present the requirements placed on towns like Algaida, where the absence of a councillor with responsibility for tourism emphasises tourism's relative lack of importance, seem unnecessary. It is a town like many others.
* Photo of Gràcia Sanctuary on the Puig de Randa, Algaida from Wikipedia.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Passive Passion For Palma
One of the oddities of the foundation is that, as it consists of representatives of both the public and the private sectors, it brings together precisely the interested parties that should, working together, make for a more integrated and hopefully more professional approach to marketing. It may well be that the foundation will reveal itself as a sort of benchmark for public and private sector tourism promotion co-operation, but it has thus far hidden whatever promotional light it has under a bush of indeterminate action.
There is to be one notable change of tack, though. Palma is to drop its concentration on travel fairs and focus instead on direct promotion with four countries, or with the capital cities of four countries at any rate. Tourism emissaries are to be sent to London and Berlin in 2014 and also to Stockholm and Moscow in 2015 in order to meet with and speak directly with tour operators, airlines and the media. Palma town hall, which doubles as the co-ordinator of the Palma 365 campaign, will open to tender contracts to the value of 40,000 euros for agencies in the different cities to set about communication plans to promote Palma.
Well, I don't quite know what you get for forty grand but I can just about understand the change of tack. The foundation will be talking to the same sort of people it would talk to at a travel fair, but perhaps a travel fair isn't the right environment as there are too many others wanting to do some talking. A more focused approach makes some sense, especially when it comes to promoting out-of-season tourism. The town hall's tourism councillor, our old friend Álvaro (Sporting) Gijón, says that fairs are basically about sun-and-beach tourism, therefore summer rather than winter.
He does also admit that what will be done will be fairly basic stuff, and while there is nothing wrong with getting some basics right, it doesn't really inspire a great deal of confidence, and so one comes back to the criticisms. Palma has its campaign, it has its foundation, it has its slogan and logo. Now what?
There is also apparently going to be a new portal. Costing sixty grand, this website will bring together all the relevant information about the city and a bookings system for hotels, hire car and what have you. It remains to be seen what it will actually entail but I fear that it might end up as just another example of essentially passive marketing.
The contracts for the agencies in the four countries will, one imagines, be aimed at getting increased media coverage for Palma. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, but it, like many a website as well as other forms of promotion, such as TV advertising, is too passive for a contemporary market. Yesterday I looked at the ambitious project for Calas de Mallorca. This is essentially an approach which is far more in keeping with how tourist and user behaviour has changed. It is an active one. Through social marketing it engages with the tourist, learns about him or her, can adapt to what is said, know more about motivations and interests. Palma's approach, on the other hand, appears stuck in passive mode.
Palma 365 gives all the impression of a campaign that has been undertaken completely the wrong way round. Its starting-point has been the PR kudos of sloganising and logo-making, public relations which appear to have been performed more in order to demonstrate that something is being done rather than something being thought through. The starting-point is now much easier than it ever used to be: genuine engagement with the market and the tourist. Does Palma 365 really understand that this is how it can now be? It seems to have allowed passive passion to have got in the way of active attachment.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Islands Of Tourism Promotion
Article 30, item 11 of the Balearics statute of autonomy grants the islands' autonomous community exclusive competence in respect of tourism, namely organisation and planning of the tourism sector, tourism promotion, tourist information, tourist offices overseas, the regulation and classification of tourist establishment businesses and the regulation of public means of support for tourism promotion.
Chapter Five of the same statute deals with the councils in the Balearic Islands, and Article 70 addresses their own competences (or responsibilities). Item three of this article refers to "tourist information" and "tourist organisation and promotion". This is all it says. It doesn't explain this information, organisation or promotion, but it is this item which led President Bauzá to agree at a meeting of island presidents at the end of April to the transfer of tourism promotion responsibilities to the island councils.
Bauzá said that he was complying with the provisions of Article 70 and with a desire to eliminate duplication of responsibilities. This justification seemed somewhat strange, in Mallorca at any rate. Tourism promotion, indeed anything to do with tourism, had been taken from the Council of Mallorca as a means of cutting cost and eliminating duplication, but here, only eighteen months after this had been done, it was being handed back again.
The Council of Mallorca's president, Maria Salom, has said that she doesn't want to have the responsibility back. Her justification is the cost, but the first stage of the official process to transfer responsibilities has been started.
The Esquerra Unida (United Left) has taken issue with Salom's stance. It accuses her of using funding problems to cover up her opposition to the decentralisation of responsibilities. This is a familiar theme. The Partido Popular is branded as being centralist, while the broad left in Mallorca (except PSOE) has, in the past, agitated for all responsibilities for tourism to be handed over to the council.
While it is sensible that individual islands should have a say in tourism promotion, why does this necessitate the islands' councils having this responsibility? The Balearics Tourism Agency (ATB) is the organisation which currently looks after all promotion. It doesn't have, as is well known, a vast budget for tourism promotion at present. Transferring responsibilities away from the agency will require looking at how this small budget is to be allocated. As the agency will continue to take care of promotional activities for the Balearics as a whole, the transfer of responsibilities sounds like a recipe for a return to duplication of effort and one also for a watering-down of all promotional efforts because resources will be spread too thinly.
Ibiza has been the island that has been the keenest to have this responsibility, and Ibiza has been an island where Bauzá has encountered a few problems with his own party. There may well, therefore, be a touch of self-preservation about the transfer of responsibilities, but what really seemed to push Bauzá into what he said was a promise to effect this transfer was what happened at various travel fairs over last winter. Ibiza was joined by Menorca in demonstrating opposition to the way that promotion was being handled. Ibiza arranged for its own stand and, at the fair in Madrid, the Menorcans threatened tourism minister Carlos Delgado with doing the same. One thing that had really got the goat of the Ibizans and the Menorcans was that Palma was being treated as a "fifth island".
At the time of the April announcement, it was intimated that the four presidents of the islands' councils, including therefore Maria Salom, "celebrated" the decision because it was a "political compromise". Salom's "celebration" may also have been a bit of politicking, one for show and for unity. She soon changed her tune, though in fact she probably hadn't changed it all; she was, after all, the one who, in August 2011, had got shot of tourism promotion responsibility and handed it over to the regional government.
Salom is joined in her opposition to this latest transfer of responsibilities by the hoteliers. They argue that co-ordinated promotion is essential because the islands' markets are the same. This is true, but each island does have its own identity and so therefore its own marketing message, and this could be developed within the framework of the ATB. The Council of Mallorca has, for example, been discussing the creation of a specific Mallorcan "brand" with the agency.
The statute of autonomy has led to duplication and conflicts. There is no reason to believe that by transferring power these will be eliminated. The agency should be left to get on with promoting the individual islands with what little budget there is.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Chapter Five of the same statute deals with the councils in the Balearic Islands, and Article 70 addresses their own competences (or responsibilities). Item three of this article refers to "tourist information" and "tourist organisation and promotion". This is all it says. It doesn't explain this information, organisation or promotion, but it is this item which led President Bauzá to agree at a meeting of island presidents at the end of April to the transfer of tourism promotion responsibilities to the island councils.
Bauzá said that he was complying with the provisions of Article 70 and with a desire to eliminate duplication of responsibilities. This justification seemed somewhat strange, in Mallorca at any rate. Tourism promotion, indeed anything to do with tourism, had been taken from the Council of Mallorca as a means of cutting cost and eliminating duplication, but here, only eighteen months after this had been done, it was being handed back again.
The Council of Mallorca's president, Maria Salom, has said that she doesn't want to have the responsibility back. Her justification is the cost, but the first stage of the official process to transfer responsibilities has been started.
The Esquerra Unida (United Left) has taken issue with Salom's stance. It accuses her of using funding problems to cover up her opposition to the decentralisation of responsibilities. This is a familiar theme. The Partido Popular is branded as being centralist, while the broad left in Mallorca (except PSOE) has, in the past, agitated for all responsibilities for tourism to be handed over to the council.
While it is sensible that individual islands should have a say in tourism promotion, why does this necessitate the islands' councils having this responsibility? The Balearics Tourism Agency (ATB) is the organisation which currently looks after all promotion. It doesn't have, as is well known, a vast budget for tourism promotion at present. Transferring responsibilities away from the agency will require looking at how this small budget is to be allocated. As the agency will continue to take care of promotional activities for the Balearics as a whole, the transfer of responsibilities sounds like a recipe for a return to duplication of effort and one also for a watering-down of all promotional efforts because resources will be spread too thinly.
Ibiza has been the island that has been the keenest to have this responsibility, and Ibiza has been an island where Bauzá has encountered a few problems with his own party. There may well, therefore, be a touch of self-preservation about the transfer of responsibilities, but what really seemed to push Bauzá into what he said was a promise to effect this transfer was what happened at various travel fairs over last winter. Ibiza was joined by Menorca in demonstrating opposition to the way that promotion was being handled. Ibiza arranged for its own stand and, at the fair in Madrid, the Menorcans threatened tourism minister Carlos Delgado with doing the same. One thing that had really got the goat of the Ibizans and the Menorcans was that Palma was being treated as a "fifth island".
At the time of the April announcement, it was intimated that the four presidents of the islands' councils, including therefore Maria Salom, "celebrated" the decision because it was a "political compromise". Salom's "celebration" may also have been a bit of politicking, one for show and for unity. She soon changed her tune, though in fact she probably hadn't changed it all; she was, after all, the one who, in August 2011, had got shot of tourism promotion responsibility and handed it over to the regional government.
Salom is joined in her opposition to this latest transfer of responsibilities by the hoteliers. They argue that co-ordinated promotion is essential because the islands' markets are the same. This is true, but each island does have its own identity and so therefore its own marketing message, and this could be developed within the framework of the ATB. The Council of Mallorca has, for example, been discussing the creation of a specific Mallorcan "brand" with the agency.
The statute of autonomy has led to duplication and conflicts. There is no reason to believe that by transferring power these will be eliminated. The agency should be left to get on with promoting the individual islands with what little budget there is.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Tourism Promotion In Reverse
In August 2011, the Partido Popular, making efforts to eliminate duplication in public administration on the islands, ensured that the governmental bodies it dominates in Mallorca - the regional government itself and the island's council - agreed on the removal of one example of this duplication: tourism promotion and affairs. The Fundación Mallorca Turismo, part of the council, was wound up, its responsibilities passing to the government's tourism ministry. At that time, the president of the Council of Mallorca was admitting that it was 330 millions in the red. Getting rid of certain duplicative responsibilities, such as those for tourism, was not only a sensible and pragmatic move it was also one that was long overdue. Opponents of the PP insisted that it was a change that was evidence of some unstated agenda on behalf of the PP to centralise different responsibilities, which was nonsense. It was evidence of a desire for greater efficiency, but as one opposition party, the Mallorcan socialists, had previously advocated more not less duplication through responsibilities passing to the Council of Mallorca, such organisational common sense was always unlikely to be understood.
That was August 2011. In May 2013, the government is putting things into reverse. The islands' councils are to be given responsibilities for tourism promotion. The Balearics Tourism Agency, part of the tourism ministry, will retain responsibilities for market research, quality and co-ordination with the central government's tourism promotion agency Turespaña. Otherwise, it's going to be as you were.
Why is this happening? It isn't happening because the government particularly wants it to happen but because the councils in Ibiza and Menorca have kicked up such an almighty great fuss. (Note, by the way, that the Council of Mallorca hadn't been making a fuss.) Their wish to take charge of their own tourism promotion was made clear at the recent travel fair in Madrid where representatives of the two islands (three, as Formentera is linked to Ibiza) were angered by the small amount of representation they had at the Balearics stand. Similar disquiet had been expressed at previous travel fairs. And there was particular anger because Palma, now with its own tourism promotion campaign and organisation, had separate representation at the stand. Things got so bad in Madrid that tourism minister, Carlos Delgado, was told to get lost and stay away from their minimalist booths by the Menorcan and Ibizan representatives.
I can understand that there was and is resentment at the special treatment reserved for Palma, but there again, and in pure population terms, Palma is considerably bigger than Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera put together. It might stick in the craw with some, but they should just lump it; Palma is far too important for it to not have some special treatment. Complaints about the city being portrayed as the "fifth island" are probably convenient ones in any event. Behind Menorca and Ibiza's dissatisfaction is a political stand-off between members of the PP in both islands and with President Bauzá. This is especially so in Ibiza where some PP people consider the president to be persona non grata; all due, it would seem, to disagreements over Bauzá's attitude towards regionalism.
The government's decision to backtrack on the organisation of tourism promotion smacks of politicking. The previous rationalisation was correct, but the government appears to be bowing to the political necessity to maintain or regain support in the other islands. So much for tough decisions. By performing a U-turn, the government will undermine Delgado's role and also that of the Balearics Tourism Agency, and it is not as if Delgado wasn't perfectly aware of the need to promote the various islands separately. He had been that rare beast in Balearics tourism politics who recognised that the branding of the islands as a job-lot made little sense; he said this even before becoming tourism minister.
The Mallorcan hoteliers federation is just one organisation that is unimpressed by the reversal in policy, arguing that, because the islands have the same markets to promote to, this promotion should come under one authority. So long as the individual islands are branded as distinct entities with distinct attributes, then the federation is right to argue this. But then it has its own agenda, one that has differed to that in Menorca, the island which attempted to obtain a far more relaxed approach to holiday lets and apartments in the new tourism law. Shifting responsibilities for promotion won't change the law in this regard, but this difference in attitude just went to emphasise the lack of harmony when it comes to tourism matters. Giving the councils more of a say is not going to resolve this.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
That was August 2011. In May 2013, the government is putting things into reverse. The islands' councils are to be given responsibilities for tourism promotion. The Balearics Tourism Agency, part of the tourism ministry, will retain responsibilities for market research, quality and co-ordination with the central government's tourism promotion agency Turespaña. Otherwise, it's going to be as you were.
Why is this happening? It isn't happening because the government particularly wants it to happen but because the councils in Ibiza and Menorca have kicked up such an almighty great fuss. (Note, by the way, that the Council of Mallorca hadn't been making a fuss.) Their wish to take charge of their own tourism promotion was made clear at the recent travel fair in Madrid where representatives of the two islands (three, as Formentera is linked to Ibiza) were angered by the small amount of representation they had at the Balearics stand. Similar disquiet had been expressed at previous travel fairs. And there was particular anger because Palma, now with its own tourism promotion campaign and organisation, had separate representation at the stand. Things got so bad in Madrid that tourism minister, Carlos Delgado, was told to get lost and stay away from their minimalist booths by the Menorcan and Ibizan representatives.
I can understand that there was and is resentment at the special treatment reserved for Palma, but there again, and in pure population terms, Palma is considerably bigger than Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera put together. It might stick in the craw with some, but they should just lump it; Palma is far too important for it to not have some special treatment. Complaints about the city being portrayed as the "fifth island" are probably convenient ones in any event. Behind Menorca and Ibiza's dissatisfaction is a political stand-off between members of the PP in both islands and with President Bauzá. This is especially so in Ibiza where some PP people consider the president to be persona non grata; all due, it would seem, to disagreements over Bauzá's attitude towards regionalism.
The government's decision to backtrack on the organisation of tourism promotion smacks of politicking. The previous rationalisation was correct, but the government appears to be bowing to the political necessity to maintain or regain support in the other islands. So much for tough decisions. By performing a U-turn, the government will undermine Delgado's role and also that of the Balearics Tourism Agency, and it is not as if Delgado wasn't perfectly aware of the need to promote the various islands separately. He had been that rare beast in Balearics tourism politics who recognised that the branding of the islands as a job-lot made little sense; he said this even before becoming tourism minister.
The Mallorcan hoteliers federation is just one organisation that is unimpressed by the reversal in policy, arguing that, because the islands have the same markets to promote to, this promotion should come under one authority. So long as the individual islands are branded as distinct entities with distinct attributes, then the federation is right to argue this. But then it has its own agenda, one that has differed to that in Menorca, the island which attempted to obtain a far more relaxed approach to holiday lets and apartments in the new tourism law. Shifting responsibilities for promotion won't change the law in this regard, but this difference in attitude just went to emphasise the lack of harmony when it comes to tourism matters. Giving the councils more of a say is not going to resolve this.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
All The Fun Of The Travel Fair
When Carlos Delgado became tourism minister he took a good-sized hunting knife to the budget for travel trade fairs. So much did he hack off that in Berlin last time round the Balearics stand comprised no more than a flip-chart, a fold-down camping table as a reception desk and a sign saying Balearic Islands that had been scrawled with a marker pen on a sheet someone had nicked from the two-star hostel where the fair's contingent had been forced to slum it. Embarrassing, some said. And worse still was that Carlos had forbidden that there be any "fun" in the form of jolly displays of ball de bot and the handing around of free glasses of hierbas and plates of frito. Travel fairs are for working, not for having fun, he commanded.
In 2013 there is to be more working at travel fairs. More than ever, or so it would seem. The great annual tourism promotion plan has been unveiled and the Balearics will be attending 17 general travel fairs and 28 specialised fairs. 45 fairs in all. I trust that you are impressed. You certainly should be impressed by the fact that the overall number of promotional "actions" - 107, 45 of which are fairs - will cost on average 80% less than in 2009 but will represent an increase of 78% on that year. 80%, 78%, whatever, my how they love trotting out these percentages. They are designed to impress, and yes, we are impressed.
More with less, this is the great tourism promotional mantra at present. So 80% less but 78% more sounds very much like more with less. The only worry is that a different mantra could be used. New for old. New travel fairs, same old message.
Carlos has been at pains to point out that all this gadding around travel fairs will help to reinvigorate winter tourism (isn't the "re" part rather redundant?). He has also been pointing out that the lack of winter tourism isn't the current government's fault, which is fair enough I suppose but shouldn't be taken as singling out the last PSOE administration alone for winter promotional inertia. In fact, I don't know how much any government over the past 25 years can truly be blamed. Successive administrations have come out with their own winter tourism solution, and it has been the same as was first conceived under the Cladera tourism plan in the 1980s and bears an uncanny resemblance to what the current government is proposing. New for old.
Just look at what these additional travel fairs will be promoting. Golf, cycling, nature ... . Do any of you notice anything familiar with any of these? What's new is that there are more places to go and stage fairs, so having failed to attract Brits and Germans for the past however many years with the delights of trekking across the Tramuntana in a howling winter gale, Carlos will be despatching the tourism ministry's one-man-band promotional task force with his all-in-one promotional kit to Moscow in order to entice Russians away from the competing attraction of basking in 25 degrees or more of sun by the Red Sea in winter.
Always assuming that this more with less, new for old message has some effect, it won't be an effect that will be witnessed in the next one or two years. "I would be lying if I were to say this," Carlos has said. Not lying, so therefore being honest. Well, there's a thing. The government will be improving things progressively every winter, which means little tiny bits of improvement until the next governmental upheaval in three years, when everything will change again.
To be fair, the government is trying, or at least seems to be. But when Delgado says, as he has, that the current reduction in flights and hotels being open in winter is all the consequence of a lack of demand, will the creation of what he claims to be the first "planned" winter tourism product really solve anything? He needs to flesh out precisely what this planned product is, other than attending more travel fairs and shoving information up on the internet.
It isn't really true to say that there haven't been previous "plans". They may not have been good plans and they may not have worked, but the winter tourism message has remained unaltered for years, save for the occasional strange innovation, like Nordic walking. So what's to say this new one will make any real difference? I hope it does, but far better would be just to hand over the cash to Melià or other hotel groups and have them construct a few whacking great, all-weather, all-year theme, entertainment, sports, fun complexes. Go on, Carlos, you know it makes sense.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
In 2013 there is to be more working at travel fairs. More than ever, or so it would seem. The great annual tourism promotion plan has been unveiled and the Balearics will be attending 17 general travel fairs and 28 specialised fairs. 45 fairs in all. I trust that you are impressed. You certainly should be impressed by the fact that the overall number of promotional "actions" - 107, 45 of which are fairs - will cost on average 80% less than in 2009 but will represent an increase of 78% on that year. 80%, 78%, whatever, my how they love trotting out these percentages. They are designed to impress, and yes, we are impressed.
More with less, this is the great tourism promotional mantra at present. So 80% less but 78% more sounds very much like more with less. The only worry is that a different mantra could be used. New for old. New travel fairs, same old message.
Carlos has been at pains to point out that all this gadding around travel fairs will help to reinvigorate winter tourism (isn't the "re" part rather redundant?). He has also been pointing out that the lack of winter tourism isn't the current government's fault, which is fair enough I suppose but shouldn't be taken as singling out the last PSOE administration alone for winter promotional inertia. In fact, I don't know how much any government over the past 25 years can truly be blamed. Successive administrations have come out with their own winter tourism solution, and it has been the same as was first conceived under the Cladera tourism plan in the 1980s and bears an uncanny resemblance to what the current government is proposing. New for old.
Just look at what these additional travel fairs will be promoting. Golf, cycling, nature ... . Do any of you notice anything familiar with any of these? What's new is that there are more places to go and stage fairs, so having failed to attract Brits and Germans for the past however many years with the delights of trekking across the Tramuntana in a howling winter gale, Carlos will be despatching the tourism ministry's one-man-band promotional task force with his all-in-one promotional kit to Moscow in order to entice Russians away from the competing attraction of basking in 25 degrees or more of sun by the Red Sea in winter.
Always assuming that this more with less, new for old message has some effect, it won't be an effect that will be witnessed in the next one or two years. "I would be lying if I were to say this," Carlos has said. Not lying, so therefore being honest. Well, there's a thing. The government will be improving things progressively every winter, which means little tiny bits of improvement until the next governmental upheaval in three years, when everything will change again.
To be fair, the government is trying, or at least seems to be. But when Delgado says, as he has, that the current reduction in flights and hotels being open in winter is all the consequence of a lack of demand, will the creation of what he claims to be the first "planned" winter tourism product really solve anything? He needs to flesh out precisely what this planned product is, other than attending more travel fairs and shoving information up on the internet.
It isn't really true to say that there haven't been previous "plans". They may not have been good plans and they may not have worked, but the winter tourism message has remained unaltered for years, save for the occasional strange innovation, like Nordic walking. So what's to say this new one will make any real difference? I hope it does, but far better would be just to hand over the cash to Melià or other hotel groups and have them construct a few whacking great, all-weather, all-year theme, entertainment, sports, fun complexes. Go on, Carlos, you know it makes sense.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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