There was a good deal of talk about defection in Pollensa last week. There were two defectors. One was Martí Roca, the former councillor from El Pi who was ejected by the party but remains a councillor ("non-accredited"). A motion was raised, egged on by the El Pi apparatus which doesn't otherwise have a councillor and enthusiastically proposed by the ruling coalition of the Junts (Altogether Now, Altogether Now). Defection was to be officially abhorred. The motion failed. Of those against were the Tots, the creation of ex-mayor Tomeu Cifre. He defected from the PP when he fell out with Bauzá.
Yes, Cifre was a defector, but there again he was a fairly honourable one. He'd had enough of Bauzá (many others had but didn't take such action) and did what he did - form another party, indistinguishable from the PP, just with a different name. Roca, though, wasn't a defector as such. How could he have been? He was chucked out of the party. That isn't the same as defection.
The Alternativa, abstaining on the motion, took the view that El Pi were the last ones to be giving lectures on defection. They had, after all, been formed with the help of one-time Manacor mayor Antoni Pastor, a defector from the PP. Which was also wrong. Pastor was a much earlier objector to Bauzá than Cifre. He was thrown out of the PP. How could he have been a defector therefore?
If you want an example of defection, then you can go back to the 2011 election in Alcudia. A PSM (Mallorcan socialist) councillor, Carme Garcia, was elected. She then threw her lot in with the PP and allowed it to run the town administration. Had she not, the PP would not have had a majority. Removed from the party, hers was a case of defection. You don't just let the enemy in as easily as that and secure yourself a post as one of the deputy mayors.
Back in Pollensa, the further defection involved the mayor. Miquel Àngel March was once the spokesperson for GOB. He's as enviro-conscious as it gets. Yet, there he was, seemingly backing a proposal which, although it didn't spell it out, was calling on the tourism ministry to exempt holiday rental villas that aren't strictly speaking legal. This is because, under the forthcoming legislation, such villas cannot be official if they a) have any pending infraction for planning violation hanging over them or b) do not have a certificate of habitability. This latter aspect means, for instance, being unable to show how - to put it bluntly - shit is dealt with.
As a committed GOB-ite, it might have been thought that March would be firmly opposed to any exemptions. However, there is of course the awkward situation in Pollensa that without holiday rentals the tourist economy would collapse. Even a GOB-ite can understand that.
The Alternativa were not satisfied. They accused the mayor of ideological defection, an allusion to the Roca motion, and one which apparently left councillors examining their shoes while the tourism councillor made a brave attempt at explaining things and March maintained an undignified silence.
The tourism ministry, responding to this, said that if properties don't comply, then they're going to have to, if they want to remain legally registered holiday rentals. The ministry's position is, one would suggest, perfectly reasonable.
Defection or not, March knows he faces a very awkward situation. Ideologically he would be opposed to liberal application of rentals' legislation, but as a defender of Pollensa interests he would be mad to be. The crunch is going to come with all the zoning that it is to be done. Tourism minister Barceló has intimated that currently registered rentals' properties could be de-registered. Villas which are fully legal might conceivably fall outside the zones. Then there are apartments, ones which may or may not become eligible for legal registration. If they do become eligible, then they will be part of the wider narrative of the devil's work of tourist saturation, a narrative to which GOB is an adherent.
What more defection might there yet be?
Showing posts with label Villas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Villas. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Reducing Tourist Numbers
And so it goes on and will continue to go on until the government can arrive at what it consistently makes a virtue of attempting - consensus. Tourism minister Barceló appears more convinced than ever that the tourist tax will be directed principally at the environment, which represents a change of tune, albeit it is difficult to know what tune he or others are playing: they all seem out of key. The tax debate becomes more extraordinary by the day, confirming the suspicion that the government has turned principles of sound management on their head. You start with what your strategy should be. If this is the environment, if this is resort infrastructure improvement, if this heritage preservation, then fine, but at least establish the strategy first and then work on how it will be implemented, which includes its financing. Instead, the government is working bottom-up. Impose a tax and then figure out what the strategy is. If any.
The tourism forum that was held earlier this week exposed, as if this was necessary, all the glaring differences of opinion. These are now so well rehearsed that there is little point in repeating them. But one contribution stood out. It was that of the geography professor Ivan Murray from the University of the Balearic Islands. In the past he has spoken about the over-development of Mallorca and of the harm caused by human pressure. He said that the objective of the tax was to move towards a situation by which there would be fewer tourists. A reduction in the number of visitors has indeed been spoken of as a reason for introducing the tax, and here was someone - highly regarded - actually stating it.
One wonders which "gurus" members of the government and political parties talk to. Murray is most likely one of them, and his views would sit with the eco-ist left, and it is this - typified by the environmentalists GOB, Podemos and elements of Més (some more strongly than others) - who would seem to have influenced Barceló's latest explanation of the purpose of the tax. GOB have been insisting that the tax goes solely to the environment, Podemos basically want the same, while within Més there are the Greens who want likewise and who are more dogmatic than Barceló has been, or appeared to have been. Barceló has to take account of all these, especially Podemos. I still wonder if they might actually sink the tax if they don't get their way on how it is to be spent.
Though not at the forum but entering the debate anyway, we now have the association for villa businesses, who point to the potential unfairness of the tax if only the regulated holiday accommodation pays it. In addition, it has referred to the logistical difficulties involved with its collection, while villa agencies haven't an inkling as to what the charge might be. The association suggested that 1.5 euros per day per client would be too much. Who's to say that it won't be the 2 euro maximum? As yet, no one knows.
The maximum rate will apply to cruise-ship passengers, though for them (and the cruise operators) there is the unknown of what might constitute a minimum stay and so an exemption. Furthermore, many bookings for next year have already been made. How do the operators recuperate the tax? Do they?
There is still so much uncertainty that it would make far greater sense to delay the tax's introduction until 2017. The government might then be able to have covered all (or most) eventualities, another one of which is what on earth happens with yachts that stay at Balearic ports. No one appears to have even mentioned these. But of course the government can't delay, as it is desperate for the revenue in 2016. There's the strategy for you.
The tourism forum that was held earlier this week exposed, as if this was necessary, all the glaring differences of opinion. These are now so well rehearsed that there is little point in repeating them. But one contribution stood out. It was that of the geography professor Ivan Murray from the University of the Balearic Islands. In the past he has spoken about the over-development of Mallorca and of the harm caused by human pressure. He said that the objective of the tax was to move towards a situation by which there would be fewer tourists. A reduction in the number of visitors has indeed been spoken of as a reason for introducing the tax, and here was someone - highly regarded - actually stating it.
One wonders which "gurus" members of the government and political parties talk to. Murray is most likely one of them, and his views would sit with the eco-ist left, and it is this - typified by the environmentalists GOB, Podemos and elements of Més (some more strongly than others) - who would seem to have influenced Barceló's latest explanation of the purpose of the tax. GOB have been insisting that the tax goes solely to the environment, Podemos basically want the same, while within Més there are the Greens who want likewise and who are more dogmatic than Barceló has been, or appeared to have been. Barceló has to take account of all these, especially Podemos. I still wonder if they might actually sink the tax if they don't get their way on how it is to be spent.
Though not at the forum but entering the debate anyway, we now have the association for villa businesses, who point to the potential unfairness of the tax if only the regulated holiday accommodation pays it. In addition, it has referred to the logistical difficulties involved with its collection, while villa agencies haven't an inkling as to what the charge might be. The association suggested that 1.5 euros per day per client would be too much. Who's to say that it won't be the 2 euro maximum? As yet, no one knows.
The maximum rate will apply to cruise-ship passengers, though for them (and the cruise operators) there is the unknown of what might constitute a minimum stay and so an exemption. Furthermore, many bookings for next year have already been made. How do the operators recuperate the tax? Do they?
There is still so much uncertainty that it would make far greater sense to delay the tax's introduction until 2017. The government might then be able to have covered all (or most) eventualities, another one of which is what on earth happens with yachts that stay at Balearic ports. No one appears to have even mentioned these. But of course the government can't delay, as it is desperate for the revenue in 2016. There's the strategy for you.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The HOTguide for Alcúdia and Pollensa 2014
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
I'd Call That A Bargain
So, still on "The Sunday Times", as I was yesterday, one of the more objectionable things about that newspaper is the regular column of the 50-most-pretentious-and-50-most-expensive-holiday-destinations-for-people-called-Jacinta-and-Gideon variety, i.e. not for those from Basildon called Chardonnay and Dazza. It came as something of a surprise this week, therefore, to find 50 villas that don't cost 10,000 euros a day; indeed, they were 50 "bargain villas". Well, there's a first time for everything, even a bargain from Rupert Murdoch. And amongst these 50 bargain villas - defined as less than 200 pounds per person for a week at the most expensive time of the season - was one in Pollensa. Even the journo seemed surprised - "our budget won't stretch far on Mallorca" was his admission. It wouldn't stretch anywhere in Pollensa; well not normally.
Now, no doubt this villa (or townhouse to be more accurate) has the appropriate licence, but there are those properties that do not. The accommodation police take a keen interest in places without licences. One local agency heard the sound of heavy boots, had its collar felt and copped a five-figure fine for promoting holiday lets that didn't have the requisite licences. Last year, they (the authorities, that is) started to delve more into what was being offered via the internet, and one can imagine that they will be just as assiduous, if not more so, this year. Whatever the legality or possible illegality of some holiday lets, there is the mighty force of the hotels pressurising the tourism polizei into getting rid of as many lets as they can. And yet in somewhere like Pollensa, take away the private accommodation - the flats, the villas, the townhouses - and you would cut out a good half of the total industry. Compared with other parts of the island in close proximity to it (such as Alcúdia), Pollensa's hotel stock is not that large.
And it is the villa-dwellers who are just the sort of holidaymaker that, as part of that market so horribly described as "quality tourism", would head off to the nearest golf course. Sorry to keep banging on about golf. For someone who doesn't play the sport and indeed finds it a largely pointless and tedious past-time, I do - I confess - give it a fair amount of houseroom. And here is some more; and some pretty surprising more, too. A German golf magazine, according to the German weekly paper "Mallorca Zeitung", says that Mallorca is the top destination for golf. More than that, it says that the best golf course in Europe is ... Alcanada. Can this be so? Is Mallorca actually better than, say, Portugal? And is Alcanada better than, for example, any of those courses used for the British Open? Not having read the original, I cannot vouch for the objectivity, or otherwise, of these conclusions, though in both instances I am inclined to sense the influence of a touch of subjectivity. Alcanada? Best golf course in Europe!?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Patti Smith, "Because The Night" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xACZHv-sLCg). Today - not unknown to this blog, their name is a question.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Now, no doubt this villa (or townhouse to be more accurate) has the appropriate licence, but there are those properties that do not. The accommodation police take a keen interest in places without licences. One local agency heard the sound of heavy boots, had its collar felt and copped a five-figure fine for promoting holiday lets that didn't have the requisite licences. Last year, they (the authorities, that is) started to delve more into what was being offered via the internet, and one can imagine that they will be just as assiduous, if not more so, this year. Whatever the legality or possible illegality of some holiday lets, there is the mighty force of the hotels pressurising the tourism polizei into getting rid of as many lets as they can. And yet in somewhere like Pollensa, take away the private accommodation - the flats, the villas, the townhouses - and you would cut out a good half of the total industry. Compared with other parts of the island in close proximity to it (such as Alcúdia), Pollensa's hotel stock is not that large.
And it is the villa-dwellers who are just the sort of holidaymaker that, as part of that market so horribly described as "quality tourism", would head off to the nearest golf course. Sorry to keep banging on about golf. For someone who doesn't play the sport and indeed finds it a largely pointless and tedious past-time, I do - I confess - give it a fair amount of houseroom. And here is some more; and some pretty surprising more, too. A German golf magazine, according to the German weekly paper "Mallorca Zeitung", says that Mallorca is the top destination for golf. More than that, it says that the best golf course in Europe is ... Alcanada. Can this be so? Is Mallorca actually better than, say, Portugal? And is Alcanada better than, for example, any of those courses used for the British Open? Not having read the original, I cannot vouch for the objectivity, or otherwise, of these conclusions, though in both instances I am inclined to sense the influence of a touch of subjectivity. Alcanada? Best golf course in Europe!?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Patti Smith, "Because The Night" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xACZHv-sLCg). Today - not unknown to this blog, their name is a question.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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