The Being Seen Imperative

There was a great opinion piece* in the magazine Preferente the other day. It was written by Ignacio Vasallo, who I suspect will need some introduction, even though he is one of the most prominent names in Spain's tourism industry. He was the first director-general of the national tourism promotion agency, Turespaña. He directed the first real marketing plans for Spain's tourism and was largely responsible for the logo that Joan Miró created for Turespaña ("El Sol de Miró"). His CV is extensive, so let's just confine the rest to the fact that in 2008 he was awarded the Gran Cruz de Isabel la Católica for his contribution to improving Spain's global image.

He is therefore someone with an immense amount of credibility, especially when it comes to observations about travel fairs. Turespaña is of course to be found at these fairs, flying the Miró flag for Spain and for regions of Spain, including the one that was Miró's adopted region - the Balearics.

The article to which I refer was entitled The Crisis Is Over. It had to do with how travel fairs, and especially London's World Travel Market, act as barometers of prevailing economic circumstances. In times of economic difficulty, the number of politicians and public officials who head off to London is small. When the economic climate is better, off they all go. Ignacio noted that most of these politicians and officials can't speak English and that they generally attend the fairs not so that they can have meetings with people whose language they can't speak but in order to be photographed and have these photos published back home.

He had more to say on this subject but it would be wrong of me to detail it all as I would basically be reproducing his article. But it is worth highlighting what he had to say about one particular delegation. It was from Arousa Norte, and there was apparently a subsequent photo in the local Arousa paper which featured (get this) 25 people. Yes, a whole 25 had gone to London.

I have to say that I needed to consult Mr. Google. I'd never heard of Arousa Norte either. It is, in case you're interested, on the Galician coast. Galicia, it is perhaps reasonable to say, doesn't loom large on the list of UK (or other countries) tour operator priority destinations. Santiago de Compostela maybe, but Galicia's coast? As a rule, no. Nevertheless, the Arousa delegation had apparently aroused that much interest in London that a whole page was devoted to it - all 25 of them. Well, you would need a whole page in order to fit them all in.

Apart from the cost of transporting these folk, there is the question as to why they're even there. Is it some sort of perk? With regimes like those in the Balearics, any hint of superfluous and unjustified public expense is normally subject to intense scrutiny, not least by political parties in the current anti-corruption meets sort of austerity climate. It isn't corrupt to send people off on these trips, but the attendance by many of them is highly questionable, especially if they do nothing more than hang around for a photo opportunity.

The contrast with the private sector is great. For starters, the private sector pays for itself to attend. The private sector, the tourism industry in Mallorca and the Balearics, speaks languages. Ignacio Vasallo knows about languages. He was also the director of Spain's overseas tourism bureaux in New York, London, Stockholm, Paris and Milan. Languages are pre-requisites for getting ahead in the tourism industry and for conducting meetings. The politicians and public officials by and large do not conduct meetings, except between themselves, and they could have these without ever needing to go near an airport let alone fly to London.

So, what is the point of any of them being at these fairs? Very little, except for the imperative of being seen and, even more important, being seen in photos by the folks back home. Here, look at the president, the vice-president, the other presidents, the mayors, the councillors, the ministers. How impressed we are all supposed to be. Or more likely unimpressed.

There is, it seems to me, a broader issue here: one to do with the vanity of the need to be seen in photos. There are times when it can appear that the sole purpose of Mallorcan society, and not just its political society, is to be photographed. And the more the people in the photos the better. Specifically where local politicians are concerned, I well recall the Alternativa per Pollença troublemakers being askance at the number of town hall politicians and officials in a photo for some reason that I now forget. The Alternativa was right, though. Why were they all there? And who were most of them? Does anyone really care? I, for one, do not.

* http://www.preferente.com/opinion/ignacio-vasallo/271720-271720.html

Retro Promotion: Travel Fairs Of The Past

London's World Travel Market starts today. It is one of the world's leading fairs for the travel and tourism industry. Balearic representation includes, among others, the islands' tourism agency and the Council of Mallorca. It will be making a special effort to promote cultural tourism to the UK market, and top of the agenda is WoW Mallorca - Walking on Words.

Just over a year ago, I wrote about this initiative. It had been launched at Puerto Pollensa's Illa d'Or hotel. At the time, I said that it was intriguing, combining as it does the island's literary past with routes in different parts of the island which, for the most part, correspond with where the literary greats were active - Robert Graves in Deya, for instance.

The Council's London promotion of WoW is more than just an attempt to develop greater cultural tourism by remembering the past, it is also - albeit they wouldn't say so - a strong echo of how tourism promotion once was. In the early days, attendance at fairs was very much part of the plan, and the plan was heavily biased towards culture.

The fairs were initially in Mallorca. There was one in particular, which was held on three occasions between 1908 and 1911. Unsurprisingly it was in Palma, and it was called Semana Deportiva - sports week. The activities included sailing and cycling races, and while these were aimed at attracting what was then a very novel breed of tourist, their principal objective was to showcase Palma and Mallorca. Invites went out to potential interested parties on the mainland and in European countries, the UK having been one of them.

Sport was the hook. It was more understandable to those unfamiliar with the island. But behind the sport lay various other activities - cultural ones. Hence for instance, two theatres - the Balear and the Lírico (Lyric Theatre) - staged drama and a performance by Fatima Miris, an Italian actress and singer who was to travel the globe, such was her popularity. There were also what are now very familiar at a Mallorcan fair or fiesta. The idea had originally been to hire giants and "caparrots" (bigheads) from a manufacturer. When they looked at the numbers, it was realised that Palma may as well restore a pair of giants that it already had and to create some bigheads. The grand sum of 125 pesetas was spent on this.

Quite what overseas visitors made of all this is not known, but here was very clear evidence that in the first decade of the twentieth century, Mallorca was seeking to combine culture and sport as the island's main reasons for tourism existence. Sun-and-beach was as then unheard of. Sunbathing wasn't to start coming into real vogue until the 1920s. Mallorca therefore promoted its cultural heritage, such as with giants, and its sporting possibilities, like cycling. How things haven't changed.

Having had some success with bringing people to its fairs, Mallorca branched out. Initially, this was to the Iberian peninsula. Between 1910 and 1912, the island promoted itself at tourism congresses in Tolosa (the Basque Country), Lisbon and of course Madrid. The capital had started staging such congresses as a result of the founding of the first tentative tourism ministry, which was part of the much broader development ministry.

But it wasn't to be until 1923 that Mallorca went truly international. In April of that year, there was participation at New York's second tourism congress. A number of brochures were published in different languages, and pride of place was given to a collection of photos. While much is known about the way in which paintings were used for promotional purposes in those days, surprisingly little is ever said about the photography. Yet within the Mallorca Tourist Board there was a whole group dedicated to this, and one of the most revered of the photographers was Gaspar Rullan, who was a pioneer of colour photography in Spain and was also for a time the official photographer of the provincial delegation, which was the island's administrative body.

The single most ambitious project was the one of 1929. This was for the exposition of Montjuic, better known as the Barcelona International Exposition. That city's Pueblo Español was built for this expo, and one of the exhibitors was Mallorca. The island transported people and items indicative of its culture. There were, for example, xeremier pipers. But the biggest attraction of the lot was a re-creation of the Charterhouse in Valldemossa, replete with the cell that Chopin and Sand had stayed in.

There won't be anything so spectacular in London this week, but there will be much that is, if you like, retro tourism promotion. It's highly reminiscent of those early days, and as part of Walking on Words, Valldemossa will be remembered for George Sand and Frederic Chopin.

* Poster from Wikimedia Commons.

Then They Took Berlin

And then, as Leonard Cohen very nearly sang, they took Berlin; they being the global tourism industry, one part of which is Mallorca. They have all descended on the German capital for the ITB fair, the third and final of the big-three tourism trade fairs where Mallorca is concerned. Naturally enough, because it wouldn't be a fair without them, forecasts for the coming season were being made and, depending on who you bothered to listen to (if anyone), the German market for Mallorca was at present either slow or buoyant.

Jaime Martínez, the regional government's minister for tourism statistical data (sometimes also referred to as the minister for tourism and sport), arrived early, tucking in to the 255,000 euros budget for the fair, which makes it the second most expensive promotional "action" that the ministry will indulge in this year. Strangely perhaps, the Madrid Fitur fair, the number one "action", cost considerably more - 124,000 euros more. But be this as it may, the German market is only the largest tourism market that Mallorca can call upon: a third of all tourists in 2014.

Jaime, data readily to hand, announced that following last year's "historic" tourist performance the German market in 2015 will be one of improvement and consolidation (is this not a contradiction?). Bookings figures are already up on this time last year, he said, and moreover there won't be any World Cup for the Germans to celebrate and so get in the way of what will doubtless be a new historic year. However, not everyone is quite so optimistic. There again, not everyone is a Partido Popular politician desperately hoping against hope that his party will be re-elected in May. There will be some growth but it will probably only be small, and the data, were Jaime to acknowledge them, showed a tendency in 2014 for the German tourist to spend less and to stay for fewer nights.


It was reassuring to note that individuals towns weren't relying on Jaime and the tourism agency to go into promotional bat for them. Hence, the likes of Palma, Calvia, Felanitx, Pollensa, Manacor and Cala Millor (not a town as such, I realise) were all in attendance. Interesting that Calvia had pitched up. Are they trying to entice the Germans to Calvia Beach Resort and so de-Anglicise Magalluf and make it a resort of peace and harmony? Not that the Germans should be needed in order to do this, Calvia having declared the streets of old Magalluf (and Santa Ponsa) alcohol-free zones from ten in the evening. Nary a word about prostitutes who happily divest passing tourists of their smartphones and give them a sound slapping in the process, but as Calvia has, at a stroke, eliminated drunken tourism, the lads on tour will now be more aware of a mugger lurking in the shadows. Somehow, one doesn't imagine that this will be how it is.

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.

The Power Of The Presstrip

" 'Velvety white sands, the sweet smell of oleander drifting on a light summer's breeze, the wide-grinned greetings of the local people.' This is what I had thought I would be writing about, but instead I discovered beaches as welcoming as the banks of the Humber, the lingering stench of cat urine and miserable, aggressive locals only too ready to fleece you of your last coin in return for some odious apology of so-called gastronomy."

I have made the above up. I am not referring to anywhere. I'm pretending. Pretending to be a travel writer who, rather than reporting what a PR company or tourism agency would wish me to report, offers an honest resort assassination that will ensure that I never get invited back to write about this fictitious resort or indeed get invited to write about any resort ever again, as my name would swiftly find its way onto PR blacklists the world over.

Jaime Martínez, the Balearics director-general of tourism, has announced that the budget for travel fairs and other "actions" will amount to a mere two million euros for the upcoming season of promotion, the first major event of which is London's World Travel Market in early November. (This figure does not, by the way, include finance for advertising; not of course that there may be any.)

Stung by the utter embarrassment that the Balearics had to endure at the last major fair in Berlin, the Balearics stand in London will be significantly larger than in Berlin - ten times larger. Nevertheless, austerity still rules the day when it comes to tourism promotion; hence, the spend on fairs and these other "actions" is down to a third or a quarter of what it had been only a couple of years ago and the Balearics stand will in fact be part of the Turespaña pavilion rather than a stand-alone affair.

Martínez reckons, however, that the two million euros will be money more effectively spent. Whereas in 2009 7.2 million euros went on only 33 different types of event, the two million will stretch to over 100. And of these 100 or more, some will be famtrips, presstrips or blogtrips.

The fam in famtrip stands for familiarisation. Famtrip can be applied to trips made by travel agents and tour operators as well as to the press, the ones who make the presstrips, and to bloggers who may be the same as the mainstream press but not always. What press and blogtrips are intended to achieve is wide and positive coverage, be it in the print or online media. Such trips are always paid for by the destination with the possible exception of air travel, though this can also be financed if the trip happens to be to a destination where a tour operator with its own airline has an interest in promoting.

Presstrips are accepted practice and an accepted part of the promotional mix. They come in two different forms: one, the group trip which can include tens of journos; the other, the so-called individual hosting trip. The travel writer would always prefer the latter. He or she wouldn't have to put up with other hacks getting drunk, while there is usually less work involved; the group trip is a packed itinerary whereas the individual hosting trip would tend to be more specific and often arranged not by or on behalf of tourism authorities but by specific companies or specific businesses (hotels for example).

The crucial issue with write-ups following presstrips is just how objective they are. A full-on slagging-off simply wouldn't happen, even if it were merited. It's why you would never get the fictitious review above if the trip has been paid for.

Articles by travel writers about Mallorca are invariably highly positive. There is an awful lot to be positive about, but one does just have to pause on occasion and work out what is going on. As an example, there was an article in "The Sun" a couple of months ago. It was about Puerto Pollensa, but it was essentially promotion for a hotel (and the tour operator that has exclusivity). It was a good enough article, despite some errors (it is never Porto Pollensa), but if you understand some of the background, you then understand its advertising function; not only for the resort, the hotel and the tour operator but also an attraction that was mentioned with which the tour operator has a strong association.

I would stress that there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. Quite the contrary. It is very good marketing, but this example, and there are many, highlighted the way that presstrips are meant to work. For this reason, therefore, Martínez is right to look to them as means of promotion. They can be extremely effective, so long as they are not transparently obvious advertising and become more like advertorials.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Keeping Up Appearances: Travel fairs

The tourism ministry has decided to cut by half the budget for the three main travel fairs that take place over the winter. Good. It might have done even better had it decided to go the whole hog and withdraw from the fairs completely. But that would never do. How could it do when these fairs exist for existence's sake?

Within the ministry's explanation for the cut is a most germane point. The involvement of the tourism minister and the director-general for tourism at the fairs is to now be strictly limited to meetings with contacts in the industry - those with hoteliers, tour operators, travel agencies and airlines.

The point is germane because this should be one of the main points, if not the main point, of the fairs taking place. There has been plenty that has been extraneous and costly, and this will be done away with.

Important though the industry contacts are, does it really require a travel fair for them to be made? Of the three fairs, two are overseas, those in London and Berlin. The industry contacts being made at these fairs are not with hoteliers from the UK or Germany, but with Mallorcan hoteliers. They are also with the likes of TUI, Thomas Cook and Air Berlin. In the case of the latter, it is based in Mallorca, while TUI practically owns the island. So what's the big deal with the industry contacts?

The travel fairs are more for appearance's sake. Non-participation would equate to being conspicuous by absence and a snub to what has become a self-perpetuating merry-go-round, driven by fair organisers who know full well that tourism authorities, not just from the Balearics, feel obliged to attend.

The merry-go-round has had the trappings of all the fun of the fair. What appearances they have been; those made for appearance's sake. The Balearics have dragged along a succession of celebrities whose involvement has amounted to little more than a drain on finances and a boost to the egos of former tourism ministers and presidents; Jaume Matas was the most culpable in seeking the reflected glory of co-opting a Schiffer or a Kournikova.

The merry-go-round has had all its extraneous stalls and attractions - the candy floss of some gastronomy, the dodgems of sports tourism, the Music Express of folk song and dance. This is what will be done away with, along with the "Balearics day" at the three fairs. The islands' hoteliers, now fully engaged in their love-in with their new-found best friend, the tourism minister Carlos Delgado, approve heartily of what is to be concentration on business and on business alone.

A leaner and meaner, half-the-budget, smaller exhibition stand does not mean that those in the business will be unimpressed. Quite the contrary, one would hope. Tour operators, for example, will admire a more austere approach and the message they would trust that would be sent out to Mallorca's hotels that they should be equally cost aware when negotiating their prices.

There is another constituency which will admire and approve. The public in Mallorca. Its approval is now the reverse of what was previously sought, that of grand exhibitions and celebrities which, because of the exhaustive press coverage given to the fairs, were designed to impress as to how much effort was being made, despite it having been unnecessary. The public now demands greater humility, even from the island's main industry. To have not made significant cuts to the fairs' budget would have been a political misjudgment.

Playing to the domestic market cannot be underestimated in the whole marketing mix that is and has been the selling of tourism in Mallorca and the Balearics. The fairs have been one way of demonstrating that politicians and the tourism industry are being active. So also have the adverts. Rafael Nadal on his boat was as much for home market consumption as it was for foreign markets.

Selling directly to the travelling public is only and has only ever been a secondary and relatively minor purpose to the travel fairs. Selling thanks to adverts is similarly only a small part of Mallorca's tourism marketing. Far, far more important are the contacts. Though the fairs are largely irrelevant because these contacts are readily accessible all year round, for appearance's sake it is necessary that there is a presence at the fairs.

The fairs are a necessary evil, but at least Sr. Delgado has had the common sense to realise that he doesn't need to surround himself with a gaggle of celebs and a folk-dance troupe.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Along For The Ride: Travel fairs and public finance

During the winter the Balearics go on tour. London before Christmas, Madrid and then the biggy, Berlin in March. These are the venues for the three main travel fairs, chances for the great and good and less great and good of Balearic politics and tourism to press some flesh and have their photos taken.

The islands have been to Madrid for FITUR, the Feria Internacional de Turismo en España. In addition to directors and sinecure holders of whatever the tourism agencies are these days, there are hoteliers, airline top brass and of course the politicos. The latter have been in Madrid en masse. President Antich and tourism minister Barceló have been making the most of what may be their last opportunities to partake of the free vino before being taken down in May's elections like stands at the end of an exhibition.

They have been joined by jolly Joe Ray Bowser, the mental-lapsing leader of the Partido Popular, who's presumably been there to try and learn something about tourism. This is the politician who believes that the Baltic States are competitors to Mallorca. He's a shining example of tourism knowledge and, as such, deserves to become president.

Also along for the craic has been Joe Melià. Not the Joe Melià, a minor British television actor, but the Joe Melià, a minor Mallorcan politician, as in the latest in the list of leaders of the Unió Mallorquina. Amazing that he has dared show his face, given his party's involvement with the corruption cases at the tourism ministry and the little local difficulty it is presently experiencing with the waste scandal. "Oi, Melià, what you doing here? Collecting the rubbish?"

This year they have also dragged along kids from the choir at Escolanía de Lluc, which is attached to the monastery. Known as the "Blauets", one of the choir sang the Sibil·la for the assembled dignitaries. All part of promoting Mallorca's newly bestowed "intangible cultural heritage of humanity", that is the Sibil·la, and all very sweet but also all rather clutching at straws if the tourism worthies seriously believe this is going to be something that will have tourists flocking to the island.

A great deal of attention is paid to FITUR and the other fairs, a reflection of the importance of tourism and of all the press opportunities the fairs afford the politicians and the tourism industry. President Antich has seized the moment to state that investment on tourism has never been as high as it has been during his current period of office.

Not that he has said much about spending on tourism promotion this year. In fact he hasn't said anything, because he can't. The tourism ministry is still in negotiations with the treasury which is desperately hunting down the back of its sofa and inside its jacket pockets for any loose change it can come across to pay for some promotion.

Antich was responding to complaints from the hoteliers as to the apparent tardiness with which money is being made available for promotion. But they, the hoteliers, will be aware of just how dicey the Balearics' financial state has become. It is not as parlous as that of Catalonia which started selling debt to its own people in October because it is more or less shut out of international capital markets, but it isn't in a healthy position. At the same time as the politicians have been enjoying themselves in Madrid, the regional government has decided to follow Catalonia (and also Valencia and the Basque Country) in selling public debt to the initial tune of 200 million euros. Catalonia, despite the sale, is said to have only a couple of months' worth of reserves.

The FITUR fair has been a case of putting on a brave face. By the time the Balearics take Berlin in March, hopefully the debt sale will have been that successful that there will be cash floating around that has been earmarked for tourism promotion. But the Balearics, as with the other autonomous regions of Spain, are firmly under the central-government microscope, Zapatero having warned that the government will intervene if necessary to control the regions' debts. The governor of the Bank of Spain has said that the regions may pose the "greatest risk" to Spain's finances (as reported by "Bloomberg Businessweek" back in October).

All this suggests, therefore, that money is going to be even tighter than might have been imagined, which means that it will be even tighter for tourism promotion. It's not a particularly optimistic picture, and the whole issue of regional funding is likely to get worse. Which makes you wonder what participation at future fairs is going to be like and, more importantly, how capable Mallorca and the Balearics are going be in promoting themselves.

The days of the junkets at the fairs might be over, and if you want just one example of what is spent on them, other than the costs of shipping the politicos and the rest, then look no further than the new stand at FITUR - just over two million euros. Is this a lot? Perhaps not, but it becomes so when you realise what the government is trying to raise through its bonds.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.