Álvaro Nadal, the national minister for tourism, energy and the digital agenda, needed to have a good World Travel Market. Here was an opportunity for him to shine in the eyes of any Spaniards who were taking any notice of what was going on in London, which admittedly probably wasn't that many. But the opportunity was presented nonetheless, and Señor Nadal, Mister Christmas, was insisting, among other things, that elections in Catalonia four days before Christmas will help in restoring Catalonia to normality. Most importantly, given that he was at a travel fair, this normality will mean that the streets and hotels of Barcelona are full to overflowing.
Well, he might hope that this is the case, but omens at present don't offer quite the same level of hope. It may well be lonely this Christmas in Catalonia, lonelier still for those who remain incarcerated, and lonely for Mister Christmas if there isn't the hoped-for rebound. You see, Señor Nadal has a slight perception difficulty. One among the citizens. The latest "barometer" of public political opinion placed him rank bottom of all Spain's minister. He had even managed to fall below the chap in charge of the money (and the taxes), Cristóbal Montoro, the Count of the Mount of Gold, for whom last place is normally and deservedly reserved.
What Mister Christmas really needed of course was a pick-me-up in the form of a celebrity rock singer. And where there's a cause, there's normally the frontman for U2. Bono, in all likelihood, will have allied himself with the Pamela Anderson camp in defence of Catalan democracy (what with Ireland and all that), but a bit of a stardust, even of the opposition variety, can work wonders for a minister's ailing approval rating.
So, for a fleeting moment it appeared that Bono, minus The Edge, had cut along to Docklands with the intention of providing the world with his thoughts on the Catalan situation. Unfortunately, the moment was indeed only fleeting. Bono wasn't Bono. He was Octavi Bono, the director-general of tourism in Catalonia and one of the few people in the Catalan administration to not find him or herself in chokey. Things, Bono told Mister Christmas, could have been done better. Which even a member of the Spanish government would surely admit. He, Bono, then went on to hint that information regarding a dramatic fall in visitor numbers was some form of Rajoy government fake news.
Mister Christmas was thus denied the boost to his approval rating, and he wandered off as the muzak at the World Travel Market didn't mangle Elvis but instead trampled all over U2 - "I can't live, with or without you".
Oh Catalonia.
Showing posts with label World Travel Market. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Travel Market. Show all posts
Monday, November 13, 2017
Monday, November 06, 2017
The Curious Case Of Catalonia In London
One imagines that Carles Puigdemont has other things to consider rather than the state of Catalonia's tourism. He won't, over the past few weeks, have been thinking what will happen when, for instance, Catalonia pitches up at London's World Travel Market (WTM). Others have been thinking about this. Who will be there?
Under the acting government of Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, tourism has been shifted from the Catalonia ministry for business and knowledge to the Spanish national ministry of energy, tourism and the digital agenda. The minister for Catalonia's tourism is therefore Álvaro Nadal. Will he be in London representing Catalonia's tourism and Spain's tourism, moving between the different stands and changing his hat as he does so? Catalonia has its own stand. For some years now, it has represented itself at shindigs like WTM. Have the officials from the Catalonia Tourism Agency been stood down and replaced by ones from Madrid? The situation is, to say the least, somewhat bizarre.
Catalonia attracts more tourists than any other region of Spain. Its tourism is therefore important to it as well as to Spain. Right at the moment it is doing a good impression of crashing and burning. Travel agencies in Spain were reporting earlier this week that sales for Catalonia have fallen by 15% over the past month. This decline isn't being attributed to the terrorist attack. That, remarkably, has had little lasting impact. The political situation is the cause.
With Spanish consumers one can understand this. There will be at least an element of deliberately shunning Catalonia: a travel boycott, if you like. For overseas visitors it is maybe less understandable. There's political instability, there have been the huge rallies, but it's not as though anyone's died. There were, however, those images of the police on 1 October.
The impact is far greater than with the terrorist incident. According to one source, since the referendum on 1 October, bookings for international flights to Catalonia have fallen by 22%. An estimate of up to 30% lost tourist spending for the final three months of the year has been given. The Exceltur alliance for tourism excellence suggests that Catalonia could lose 1,800 million euros over the next few months. Confecat, the hotels and restaurants confederation in Catalonia, is calling on the authorities to take immediate remedial measures. The question is - which authorities?
Then there is next year, which will be what WTM will be particularly concerned about. The way things are going, the Balearic Islands could suddenly find themselves competing closely for the number one slot in terms of tourist numbers. The Balearics won't be "borrowing" as many tourists from Turkey and wherever because of geopolitics in Muslim countries. The islands will be borrowing them instead from Catalonia. That's a prospect that should go down well with certain members of Més who are supportive both of limits to reduce tourist saturation and Catalan independence.
It will be intriguing to see how Catalonia plays at WTM. Nadal should do everything he can to try and mitigate the damage for the sake of the economy of both Catalonia and Spain. But with the situation as confused as it is at present, he may find himself confronted with an even more bizarre set of circumstances than will arise in London. The next big travel fair is Fitur in Madrid in January.
If the Balearics do indeed "borrow" tourists from Catalonia, it seems at present that they won't be UK tourists. Worryingly for both the Balearics and Catalonia is information from the GfK market research consultancy. According to its latest report on bookings for 2018, there has been up to a 10% drop in the sale of package holidays to the Balearics and also to parts of Catalonia. This is based on data which is now around a month old, but it may reflect a general trend for next year. Ibiza's sales are down ten per cent, Mallorca's by nine, with Menorca holding up better with a five per cent decline.
This decrease is being largely attributed to the tourist tax, though in the case of Catalonia, one suspects its tax is less of an issue than the political situation. On top of the tourist tax, there are higher prices and the outbreaks of so-called tourismphobia; all issues that Biel Barceló is to be faced with in London.
The GfK report indicates increases of up to 50% in bookings for destinations without tourist taxes. One of these is Greece, but if holidaymakers have indeed been choosing destinations for this reason, then they will be in for a shock in Greece, where a tourist tax of a similar scale to that of the Balearics is being introduced next year.
One concern for UK travellers coming to Mallorca - passport control queues - is at least being addressed. Among its investments in Palma airport, Aena is to install eighty passport scanners - forty in arrivals and forty in departures.
Under the acting government of Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, tourism has been shifted from the Catalonia ministry for business and knowledge to the Spanish national ministry of energy, tourism and the digital agenda. The minister for Catalonia's tourism is therefore Álvaro Nadal. Will he be in London representing Catalonia's tourism and Spain's tourism, moving between the different stands and changing his hat as he does so? Catalonia has its own stand. For some years now, it has represented itself at shindigs like WTM. Have the officials from the Catalonia Tourism Agency been stood down and replaced by ones from Madrid? The situation is, to say the least, somewhat bizarre.
Catalonia attracts more tourists than any other region of Spain. Its tourism is therefore important to it as well as to Spain. Right at the moment it is doing a good impression of crashing and burning. Travel agencies in Spain were reporting earlier this week that sales for Catalonia have fallen by 15% over the past month. This decline isn't being attributed to the terrorist attack. That, remarkably, has had little lasting impact. The political situation is the cause.
With Spanish consumers one can understand this. There will be at least an element of deliberately shunning Catalonia: a travel boycott, if you like. For overseas visitors it is maybe less understandable. There's political instability, there have been the huge rallies, but it's not as though anyone's died. There were, however, those images of the police on 1 October.
The impact is far greater than with the terrorist incident. According to one source, since the referendum on 1 October, bookings for international flights to Catalonia have fallen by 22%. An estimate of up to 30% lost tourist spending for the final three months of the year has been given. The Exceltur alliance for tourism excellence suggests that Catalonia could lose 1,800 million euros over the next few months. Confecat, the hotels and restaurants confederation in Catalonia, is calling on the authorities to take immediate remedial measures. The question is - which authorities?
Then there is next year, which will be what WTM will be particularly concerned about. The way things are going, the Balearic Islands could suddenly find themselves competing closely for the number one slot in terms of tourist numbers. The Balearics won't be "borrowing" as many tourists from Turkey and wherever because of geopolitics in Muslim countries. The islands will be borrowing them instead from Catalonia. That's a prospect that should go down well with certain members of Més who are supportive both of limits to reduce tourist saturation and Catalan independence.
It will be intriguing to see how Catalonia plays at WTM. Nadal should do everything he can to try and mitigate the damage for the sake of the economy of both Catalonia and Spain. But with the situation as confused as it is at present, he may find himself confronted with an even more bizarre set of circumstances than will arise in London. The next big travel fair is Fitur in Madrid in January.
If the Balearics do indeed "borrow" tourists from Catalonia, it seems at present that they won't be UK tourists. Worryingly for both the Balearics and Catalonia is information from the GfK market research consultancy. According to its latest report on bookings for 2018, there has been up to a 10% drop in the sale of package holidays to the Balearics and also to parts of Catalonia. This is based on data which is now around a month old, but it may reflect a general trend for next year. Ibiza's sales are down ten per cent, Mallorca's by nine, with Menorca holding up better with a five per cent decline.
This decrease is being largely attributed to the tourist tax, though in the case of Catalonia, one suspects its tax is less of an issue than the political situation. On top of the tourist tax, there are higher prices and the outbreaks of so-called tourismphobia; all issues that Biel Barceló is to be faced with in London.
The GfK report indicates increases of up to 50% in bookings for destinations without tourist taxes. One of these is Greece, but if holidaymakers have indeed been choosing destinations for this reason, then they will be in for a shock in Greece, where a tourist tax of a similar scale to that of the Balearics is being introduced next year.
One concern for UK travellers coming to Mallorca - passport control queues - is at least being addressed. Among its investments in Palma airport, Aena is to install eighty passport scanners - forty in arrivals and forty in departures.
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Upping Prices And Getting Away With Them
Despite talk that there was no furore about the tourist tax at the major European travel fairs last time round, it would be very wrong to believe that in private Balearic government representatives were not getting an earbashing. They got it. The Mallorca Hoteliers Federation largely kept a lid on things by not making public statements either. Too many were fooled into believing there was "normality", when there wasn't. The federation, for example, knew that drawing attention to the tax in overly vociferous terms could have been counterproductive. It has of course now taken the tax to court.
The round of fairs begins shortly. London's World Travel Market is the first (7-9 November) ¡, and one suspects that there are going to be some more choice words, with the hoteliers more in the firing-line. If the attitude of Sebastian Darder of the Palmanova-Magalluf hoteliers association is anything to go by, then UK tour operators (and tourists) can get stuffed. The tour operators may be trying things on somewhat by seeking lower prices, but the reaction verged on the despicable. It's understandable that hoteliers seek to maximise returns, but the attitude towards UK tourism was poor. Magalluf grew on UK tourism; Darder and others should remember that.
There was almost a sense of celebration that Magalluf can already boast a lower dependence on the UK market - down some 15%. There's going to be a great deal of spinning coming out of the London fair.
The fact is, though, that hoteliers appear to be able to increase prices without any fears that they'll see a drop in business. There are other markets who will fill any possible void left by UK tourism, and this was emphasised when I spoke earlier this week with a hotel director whose establishment is part of one of Mallorca's leading chains. Yes, his hotel is five-star, so the market is narrower than the typical tourist market, but he said that they have put up prices for next year because higher prices "are the market", as in what the market is prepared to pay. The same applies down the chain to four and three-stars.
The round of fairs begins shortly. London's World Travel Market is the first (7-9 November) ¡, and one suspects that there are going to be some more choice words, with the hoteliers more in the firing-line. If the attitude of Sebastian Darder of the Palmanova-Magalluf hoteliers association is anything to go by, then UK tour operators (and tourists) can get stuffed. The tour operators may be trying things on somewhat by seeking lower prices, but the reaction verged on the despicable. It's understandable that hoteliers seek to maximise returns, but the attitude towards UK tourism was poor. Magalluf grew on UK tourism; Darder and others should remember that.
There was almost a sense of celebration that Magalluf can already boast a lower dependence on the UK market - down some 15%. There's going to be a great deal of spinning coming out of the London fair.
The fact is, though, that hoteliers appear to be able to increase prices without any fears that they'll see a drop in business. There are other markets who will fill any possible void left by UK tourism, and this was emphasised when I spoke earlier this week with a hotel director whose establishment is part of one of Mallorca's leading chains. Yes, his hotel is five-star, so the market is narrower than the typical tourist market, but he said that they have put up prices for next year because higher prices "are the market", as in what the market is prepared to pay. The same applies down the chain to four and three-stars.
Saturday, November 07, 2015
Keeping Quiet About The Tax
Travel fairs don't, as a rule, generate enormous interest except among those attending and who are associated with the travel and tourism industry. They can seem like almost ritualistic affairs for business to talk to business, business to talk to governments, and governments and everyone else to talk to the specialist media. London's World Travel Market was different. Magalluf aside, the general interest lay with the tourist tax.
If there had been an expectation, hope even, that the ExCel was going to be the location for an almighty bust-up, then the expectation was misguided. This was never going to happen. The closest call was the set-to between President Armengol and national tourism minister, José Manuel Soria, a somewhat one-sided affair in any event (with Armengol doing the talking). It was one for Balearic public consumption and was of little interest to anyone else, apart from amused passers-by. Moreover, it wasn't specifically to do with the tax but with the withholding of investment, an arcane matter of internal Spanish regional financing of no interest to anyone else in London. Soria may have called the tax a nonsense or a folly, depending on your translation, but what little interest there might have been in internal Spanish affairs would have been supported by knowledge of the political differences at play. No real story there, then.
Of greater importance than Soria were the tour operators, ABTA and indeed the Balearic hoteliers, none of whom have a good word to say about the tax. But they were saying little in the public forum of the fair. They weren't ever going to kick off a rumpus and a ballyhoo because, much though they might dislike the tax, to draw even more attention to it by engaging in great rows with Barceló and Armengol would have been totally counterproductive. Regardless of the tax, there are holidays to be sold, flights to be filled, contracts to yield returns (and the contracts for the Balearics are more valuable than ever).
So, the tax opponents would have buttoned their lips and pretended that it was all business as usual, which it almost certainly will be, given the forecasts for 2016. Why go and potentially spoil this?
Casting an eye over the British media, there seemed to be comparatively little interest in the tax. "Travel Weekly" managed to mistranslate Soria by insisting that he had called the tax "crazy" when he hadn't. The British media wouldn't of course have laboured a point regarding the IVA (VAT) tourist rate, an increase in which had been an "error", Soria conceded. He, as with other opponents of the tourist tax bang on about the harm it will have for competitiveness, blissfully ignoring the fact that the basic tourist rate was upped while various sectors of the tourism industry, previously in the reduced category, were suddenly subject to 21% IVA.
Hypocritical though this might be, it is perhaps proof that taxes have limited, if any impact on tourists. There again, who pays any real attention to the IVA component of the cost of accommodation, meal or attraction?
Magalluf, it seemed, was of greater interest to the British media. Reports sounded like old hat for those of us here who have become used to Meliá telling us how much they're investing and on what and to the town hall in Calvia saying how much better things are. "The Telegraph" couldn't help pointing out that one of the hotels in the Meliá transformation inventory was the site of a British "balconing" death three years ago, while the same journalist noted that a colleague, who had been in Magalluf in September, had reported that the Punta Ballena "was still packed with drunken revellers". One fancies that it is going to be like this for the next couple of seasons at least: claim and counter-claim as to just how effective or not the changes genuinely are.
If there had been an expectation, hope even, that the ExCel was going to be the location for an almighty bust-up, then the expectation was misguided. This was never going to happen. The closest call was the set-to between President Armengol and national tourism minister, José Manuel Soria, a somewhat one-sided affair in any event (with Armengol doing the talking). It was one for Balearic public consumption and was of little interest to anyone else, apart from amused passers-by. Moreover, it wasn't specifically to do with the tax but with the withholding of investment, an arcane matter of internal Spanish regional financing of no interest to anyone else in London. Soria may have called the tax a nonsense or a folly, depending on your translation, but what little interest there might have been in internal Spanish affairs would have been supported by knowledge of the political differences at play. No real story there, then.
Of greater importance than Soria were the tour operators, ABTA and indeed the Balearic hoteliers, none of whom have a good word to say about the tax. But they were saying little in the public forum of the fair. They weren't ever going to kick off a rumpus and a ballyhoo because, much though they might dislike the tax, to draw even more attention to it by engaging in great rows with Barceló and Armengol would have been totally counterproductive. Regardless of the tax, there are holidays to be sold, flights to be filled, contracts to yield returns (and the contracts for the Balearics are more valuable than ever).
So, the tax opponents would have buttoned their lips and pretended that it was all business as usual, which it almost certainly will be, given the forecasts for 2016. Why go and potentially spoil this?
Casting an eye over the British media, there seemed to be comparatively little interest in the tax. "Travel Weekly" managed to mistranslate Soria by insisting that he had called the tax "crazy" when he hadn't. The British media wouldn't of course have laboured a point regarding the IVA (VAT) tourist rate, an increase in which had been an "error", Soria conceded. He, as with other opponents of the tourist tax bang on about the harm it will have for competitiveness, blissfully ignoring the fact that the basic tourist rate was upped while various sectors of the tourism industry, previously in the reduced category, were suddenly subject to 21% IVA.
Hypocritical though this might be, it is perhaps proof that taxes have limited, if any impact on tourists. There again, who pays any real attention to the IVA component of the cost of accommodation, meal or attraction?
Magalluf, it seemed, was of greater interest to the British media. Reports sounded like old hat for those of us here who have become used to Meliá telling us how much they're investing and on what and to the town hall in Calvia saying how much better things are. "The Telegraph" couldn't help pointing out that one of the hotels in the Meliá transformation inventory was the site of a British "balconing" death three years ago, while the same journalist noted that a colleague, who had been in Magalluf in September, had reported that the Punta Ballena "was still packed with drunken revellers". One fancies that it is going to be like this for the next couple of seasons at least: claim and counter-claim as to just how effective or not the changes genuinely are.
Friday, November 07, 2014
Always On At The World Travel Market
"Always on"? This was the slogan of adverts which appeared in a couple of British newspapers that were apparently designed to convince readers of "The Sun" and "The Mirror" to come to the Balearics. It was a slogan for the missing words round of "HIGNFY" or for a Terry Wogan to invite you to win your touristic "Blankety Blank" cheque book and pen. Always on top? Always on my mind? Always on the buses? Always on fire? Always on the take? Always on drugs? Always on what exactly? A Mr. Sean Dobson nailed it in a letter to "The Bulletin" quite rightly questioning its meaning. He also questioned the use of "Illes Balears" in the adverts. The reason? Sun and Mirror readers wouldn't have a clue what they were.
The ads coincided with the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, which has now come to an end. Everything was coinciding with the fair, such as the release of the promotional video "Calvia Beach V1" and the arrival from different parts of Spain of the all important politicians. President Bauzá was thus compelled to try and avoid national tourism minister Soria (he can't stand him, and the feeling is mutual), but Soria had to be there in order to present the state's case for the prosecution of Magalluf, which was really what the WTM was all about (for Mallorca at any rate). As a worthy at Calvia town hall noted this week, Magalluf has become a "question of state", and the state was making it clear that it has had enough.
Outdoing the Balearics (sorry, Illes Balears) presence at the WTM was Meliá with their own stand and the Calvia Beach promo video of their inspiration, a good enough attempt at promoting what for some would appear to be the un-promotable (a wrong view in my opinion). For form's sake Meliá presumably had to accept the appearance of Calvia's assistant mayor for tourism, Eugenia Frau, in the video, despite her giving the impression of having been under duress with someone off camera pointing a gun at her, and also of tourism minister Jaime Martínez, who cuts a fine figure of promotion for tourism and sport in the Illes Balears. Jaime was in all the photos at the WTM, an omnipotent presence, never at the centre of things but hovering in the background like a menacing bouncer at a strip club.
While all the attempts at righting the image of Magalluf and therefore by association the image of Mallorca and the Illes Balears were going on, back on the rock Calvia town hall had gathered all and sundry, except for a new business association, to consider the "futuro". And this future looks likely to include measures against bar crawls and PRs. Calvia's bizarre legalising of bar crawls up to a certain number of participants backfired spectacularly, and with Martínez determined to eliminate bar crawls - no doubt with the full best wishes of the state - they seem destined to crawl to a halt.
Something else which has emerged over the past few days is the likelihood that Magalluf, as well as Santa Ponsa and Peguera, will officially be declared a "mature zone" in tourism terms. While there are few resorts which can be considered anything other than mature, this is a specific measure contained in the tourism law which is designed to do a number of things. One, any development in a resort (within reason) will be considered to be in the "regional interest" and thus benefit from a removal of whole loads of bureaucracy and licensing requirements. Two, it makes it incumbent on local authorities and businesses to up the quality ante in resorts. The chat in local tourism industry circles has, therefore, included suggestions that the mature zone declaration could have repercussions for Punta Ballena (of a positive variety), though quite what these might be is at present anyone's guess. Nonetheless, there has been ample evidence over the past few days, from the WTM and the island, that there is a dynamic shifting into gear which will result in a genuine transformation that extends beyond the Meliá new town of Calvia Beach.
The ads coincided with the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, which has now come to an end. Everything was coinciding with the fair, such as the release of the promotional video "Calvia Beach V1" and the arrival from different parts of Spain of the all important politicians. President Bauzá was thus compelled to try and avoid national tourism minister Soria (he can't stand him, and the feeling is mutual), but Soria had to be there in order to present the state's case for the prosecution of Magalluf, which was really what the WTM was all about (for Mallorca at any rate). As a worthy at Calvia town hall noted this week, Magalluf has become a "question of state", and the state was making it clear that it has had enough.
Outdoing the Balearics (sorry, Illes Balears) presence at the WTM was Meliá with their own stand and the Calvia Beach promo video of their inspiration, a good enough attempt at promoting what for some would appear to be the un-promotable (a wrong view in my opinion). For form's sake Meliá presumably had to accept the appearance of Calvia's assistant mayor for tourism, Eugenia Frau, in the video, despite her giving the impression of having been under duress with someone off camera pointing a gun at her, and also of tourism minister Jaime Martínez, who cuts a fine figure of promotion for tourism and sport in the Illes Balears. Jaime was in all the photos at the WTM, an omnipotent presence, never at the centre of things but hovering in the background like a menacing bouncer at a strip club.
While all the attempts at righting the image of Magalluf and therefore by association the image of Mallorca and the Illes Balears were going on, back on the rock Calvia town hall had gathered all and sundry, except for a new business association, to consider the "futuro". And this future looks likely to include measures against bar crawls and PRs. Calvia's bizarre legalising of bar crawls up to a certain number of participants backfired spectacularly, and with Martínez determined to eliminate bar crawls - no doubt with the full best wishes of the state - they seem destined to crawl to a halt.
Something else which has emerged over the past few days is the likelihood that Magalluf, as well as Santa Ponsa and Peguera, will officially be declared a "mature zone" in tourism terms. While there are few resorts which can be considered anything other than mature, this is a specific measure contained in the tourism law which is designed to do a number of things. One, any development in a resort (within reason) will be considered to be in the "regional interest" and thus benefit from a removal of whole loads of bureaucracy and licensing requirements. Two, it makes it incumbent on local authorities and businesses to up the quality ante in resorts. The chat in local tourism industry circles has, therefore, included suggestions that the mature zone declaration could have repercussions for Punta Ballena (of a positive variety), though quite what these might be is at present anyone's guess. Nonetheless, there has been ample evidence over the past few days, from the WTM and the island, that there is a dynamic shifting into gear which will result in a genuine transformation that extends beyond the Meliá new town of Calvia Beach.
Monday, November 03, 2014
Re-imagining A Resort: Calvia Beach
The World Travel Market (WTM) at London's ExCeL starts today. It is an important fair, and for the Mallorcan tourism industry there has arguably never been a more important WTM than this year's. And the reason why is Magalluf.
The decisions of Kuoni Nordic and an Italian family-holidays tour operator to drop Magalluf next year and a noticeable fall in occupancy levels in September and October would appear to be evidence of the harmful impact of the negative publicity that has surrounded Magalluf. There is, therefore, a good deal of pressure on tourism industry representatives to get a positive message across at the WTM. Fortunately, they don't seem to wish to accentuate the negative, as would be the case were the ill-conceived campaign to attempt to get British youth to behave themselves to be pursued. Instead, there is the positive to be accentuated, and typical of this is the video "Calvia Beach V1", which is now up on YouTube.
It is easy to be critical of this video. The imagery, primarily promotion for Meliá's new hotels, comes across as too divorced from other realities in Magalluf. These realities are not ignored but at the same time they are not given any prominence. But then, why would they be? Any great focus on the seamy side of Magalluf would diminish and undermine the message that the video wants to get across.
Of the Meliá people who feature in the video, the one with perhaps the greatest responsibility is the hotel group's vice-president for global brand marketing, Tony Cortizas. He talks about the re-imagination of a destination, i.e. Magalluf as Calvia Beach, and he it is who has to deliver and to turn the imagination into tangibility. The physical evidence of this re-imagination is already there, but embedding the name Calvia Beach into the minds of tourists from whichever country they might come from isn't as yet.
By 2016, according to executive vice-president for real estate, Mark Hoddinott, the transformation of the resort will be complete, but which resort is he referring to? And when Tony Cortizas considers the branding, which resort is he branding? He says that Calvia Beach is not about re-naming Magalluf - and nor is that likely to occur, despite the possibility having been aired - so what happens to Magalluf, to the Punta Ballena, to the parts which haven't been given the Meliá treatment? The transformation will not be complete in 2016, not in the sense of the whole of Magalluf having been transformed.
The Calvia Beach development is creating an uneasy resort apartheid at present, and it is one founded not just on the juxtaposition of luxury with the distinctly non-luxury but also on a battle between tourist market profiles. Cursach with its BH hotel complex would seem to be siding with the Meliá vision of the future and with a Meliá focus - in part - on the so-called Millennial Generation, a somewhat nebulous marketing concept which is supposedly characterised by twenty-somethings (and sometimes also thirty-somethings) who have very high expectations of hotels and who are the new generation of luxury travellers. But there are also many in this vast peer group who, because of their age, match this profile but are lying unconscious through drink on Punta Ballena rather than being millennial in a Wave House style.
The Balearics tourism minister, Jaime Martínez, has spoken of his desire to end bar crawls in Magalluf. In the video he reiterates the view that too many businesses have sought short-term profit with no thought given to the reputation of Magalluf. He would happily see an end to the apartheid, with the bar crawls ceasing and many a bar having to undergo its own process of re-imagination. But until such a time as a bar capable of permitting sex videos is re-conceived as some post-modernist art bistro, or whatever it might be, the transformation will remain partial. The branding, the re-imagination of Calvia Beach would stay a Meliá marketing exercise in unholy co-existence side-by-side with the old brand of Magalluf and all the negative but nonetheless powerful attributes it has.
Yet, it is not impossible to believe that through some process of conceptual osmosis, Calvia Beach and its re-imagination for the new age might penetrate the thick skin of Punta Ballena and implant notions of re-conception and thus new types of business. Transformation has to start from somewhere, and Calvia Beach may come to be all-embracing. There is, and it is alluded to in the video, the example of Miami Beach, especially its South Beach. Whether comparisons with Magalluf are wholly appropriate is questionable, but South Beach, at one time seedy, decayed, rife with crime, is now a place for the hip and ultra-cool. Impossible in Magalluf? Re-imagine.
Sunday, November 06, 2011
The Worst Form Of Tourism
The World Travel Market (WTM) in London starts tomorrow. The world will be travelling to the ExCel; getting on for 5,000 exhibitors, 3,000 journalists and any number of VIPs, politicians, businesspeople and the poor sods who have to stand around at the exhibitions for four days.
Among the exhibiting of the 5,000 will be the Balearics Tourism Agency (stand EM1650, if you must know), proudly listed in the alphabetical running-order below Baki Tur, not a tobacconist tour agency but something designed to get you heading off to Azerbaijan. There is an awful lot of world travel to be had nowadays. How very different to the days when the Mallorca (spelt with two l's for the purposes of the WTM) Tourist Board was founded in 1905. Sharing the stand with the tourism agency, its blurb reminds everyone that it really is this old and that "2005 will its centenary year". Oh well, let's hope no one actually reads the blurb. There's nothing like incorrect grammar and downright error to influence people.
The Balearics participation in this year's WTM is, as has been well-publicised, an altogether more austere affair than it has been in the past. The hangers-on are down in number and the budget has been cut. Tourism minister Delgado has insisted that the fair isn't an excuse for a jolly; it's all about business. Which is only right as the WTM itself has adopted the snappy slogan "WTM Means Business", which it doesn't as it means World Travel Market, but let's not quibble.
The WTM isn't just about stands and selling destinations. It is also about trends, and each year a report is produced which considers these trends and immediate prospects. But such reports overlook the unexpected. The 2010 report had nothing about the Arab spring. It predicted "weak performance" for European travel and tourism, which was right only up to a point as it hadn't figured on the boost that the Arab spring gave to tourism to destinations such as Mallorca.
And word coming out of the WTM is that the Arab effect hasn't finished. Libya and Syria together with a perception of growing Islamist influence in both Tunisia and Egypt are likely to help to make 2012 just as good for Mallorca. What can't yet be determined is the extent of any fallout in Europe itself as a result of the Greek and Euro crisis. It is perhaps slightly unfortunate that the WTM international press centre is being sponsored by the Greek National Tourism Organisation.
Among the speakers at the WTM will be representatives of organisations that make it sound like an echo of the recent ABTA convention in Palma - British Airways, Royal Caribbean, Google - but perhaps the most interesting will be Leo Hickman.
That Hickman is a journalist with "The Guardian" is likely to have you leap to all manner of conclusions, but what he has to say is far from unimportant and will chime with what many think about issues in Mallorca. His book "The Final Call" was based on travels across the globe; he didn't make it to Mallorca, but he did get to Ibiza where there are similar issues.
To give you a flavour of his views, and I quote from an interview on the Worldhum website, here is Hickman on tourism in general: "a one-sided transaction whereby the buyer - the tourist - comes off much better from the deal than the sellers at the destination". "Tourism predominantly creates 'McJobs' ... it is largely a myth that (it) creates a form of trickle-down wealth for all." Here he is on "nefarious" effects of tourism. Sex tourism is the worst, but beyond this come all-inclusive hotels (and cruise ships); "one of the most damaging forms of tourism in the fact that they offer the destination so little".
Hickman also refers to the theory of the remarkably named Dr. Stanley Plog who has plotted the rise of tourism destinations to a peak of too much development and then an inevitable decline, one that can be avoided by the right planning by regional governments and others but is all too often absent and instead dominated by short-term thinking.
There is an awful lot of sense in what Hickman says. Though the Balearics Tourism Agency will be busy doing business, it might do well to send at least one of its representatives along to Hickman's presentation. Tourists getting much the better of the deal, McJobs, all-inclusives the worst form of tourism after prostitution, and the inevitable decline of destinations that are too developed. It does sound rather familiar.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Among the exhibiting of the 5,000 will be the Balearics Tourism Agency (stand EM1650, if you must know), proudly listed in the alphabetical running-order below Baki Tur, not a tobacconist tour agency but something designed to get you heading off to Azerbaijan. There is an awful lot of world travel to be had nowadays. How very different to the days when the Mallorca (spelt with two l's for the purposes of the WTM) Tourist Board was founded in 1905. Sharing the stand with the tourism agency, its blurb reminds everyone that it really is this old and that "2005 will its centenary year". Oh well, let's hope no one actually reads the blurb. There's nothing like incorrect grammar and downright error to influence people.
The Balearics participation in this year's WTM is, as has been well-publicised, an altogether more austere affair than it has been in the past. The hangers-on are down in number and the budget has been cut. Tourism minister Delgado has insisted that the fair isn't an excuse for a jolly; it's all about business. Which is only right as the WTM itself has adopted the snappy slogan "WTM Means Business", which it doesn't as it means World Travel Market, but let's not quibble.
The WTM isn't just about stands and selling destinations. It is also about trends, and each year a report is produced which considers these trends and immediate prospects. But such reports overlook the unexpected. The 2010 report had nothing about the Arab spring. It predicted "weak performance" for European travel and tourism, which was right only up to a point as it hadn't figured on the boost that the Arab spring gave to tourism to destinations such as Mallorca.
And word coming out of the WTM is that the Arab effect hasn't finished. Libya and Syria together with a perception of growing Islamist influence in both Tunisia and Egypt are likely to help to make 2012 just as good for Mallorca. What can't yet be determined is the extent of any fallout in Europe itself as a result of the Greek and Euro crisis. It is perhaps slightly unfortunate that the WTM international press centre is being sponsored by the Greek National Tourism Organisation.
Among the speakers at the WTM will be representatives of organisations that make it sound like an echo of the recent ABTA convention in Palma - British Airways, Royal Caribbean, Google - but perhaps the most interesting will be Leo Hickman.
That Hickman is a journalist with "The Guardian" is likely to have you leap to all manner of conclusions, but what he has to say is far from unimportant and will chime with what many think about issues in Mallorca. His book "The Final Call" was based on travels across the globe; he didn't make it to Mallorca, but he did get to Ibiza where there are similar issues.
To give you a flavour of his views, and I quote from an interview on the Worldhum website, here is Hickman on tourism in general: "a one-sided transaction whereby the buyer - the tourist - comes off much better from the deal than the sellers at the destination". "Tourism predominantly creates 'McJobs' ... it is largely a myth that (it) creates a form of trickle-down wealth for all." Here he is on "nefarious" effects of tourism. Sex tourism is the worst, but beyond this come all-inclusive hotels (and cruise ships); "one of the most damaging forms of tourism in the fact that they offer the destination so little".
Hickman also refers to the theory of the remarkably named Dr. Stanley Plog who has plotted the rise of tourism destinations to a peak of too much development and then an inevitable decline, one that can be avoided by the right planning by regional governments and others but is all too often absent and instead dominated by short-term thinking.
There is an awful lot of sense in what Hickman says. Though the Balearics Tourism Agency will be busy doing business, it might do well to send at least one of its representatives along to Hickman's presentation. Tourists getting much the better of the deal, McJobs, all-inclusives the worst form of tourism after prostitution, and the inevitable decline of destinations that are too developed. It does sound rather familiar.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Joy To The World
The tourism dignitaries have gathered in London for the World Travel Market. Today, Balearics Day at the trade fair, will see the premiere of the new Rafael Nadal advert for the Balearics. Let joy be unconfined.
What does any of this achieve? The World Travel Market is, in no small part, a set of shop windows for the industry, one that already knows about Mallorca and the Balearics. The same applies to corporate advertising, of the Nadal style. Not everyone may know about the Balearics, which does of course beg a significant question, but they (the consuming tourist public) know about Mallorca. Both the trade fair and the advertising act, at best, as a means of putting Mallorca in the "front of mind" of the industry and the consumer. But so does that of every other destination.
In "The Sunday Times" at the weekend there was a double-page colour advert for Andalucia. Some of the advertising for this region of Spain has been sensational. Its TV advert, luscious colours, dramatic scenery and vibrant flamenco chill music, was outstanding. But it was still an advert for a region. Just as advertising, of the Nadal variety, is for a region. It may all create attention and therefore, possibly, some action, but that is all it does.
In the case of the Andalucia advert, there is a scrawled blurb across the two pages: "I want you to share my energy, my happiness, my strength, my warmth ... A thousand monuments beyond compare. And just one question: When are you coming?" This last bit, the question, is the only good part of this. The rest is utterly ridiculous and pretentious. An attempt to make personal the impersonal, supported by a photo of a beach at sunset and a church in daytime. Whatever good it may achieve is undone by a small logo at the bottom which refers to "Junta de Andalucia". Someone might have pointed out that the word "junta" has negative connotations where the British are concerned.
Be this as it may. Advertising for Andalucia, for Turkey, for Egypt, for wherever you may care to mention, it all follows the same pattern. Mediterranean destinations tout the same things, the same sorts of images; they display warmth, sun, sea, culture, people, scenery. There is no differentiation. It is why much of the advertising is questionable. Its main purpose is to be there. In other words, it would be conspicuous by its absence.
This advertising is part aspirational and part image-making, but it fits a particular aspirational class and one attracted by a specific image. For all that it is intended to promote the whole gamut of a destination's offer, it does nothing of the sort. Holidaymakers are not a homogeneous group. They differ in all manner of respects. For this reason and for all the attention that gets paid to the Nadal-style corporate advertising (by the media and letter writers), it can only ever act as a starting-point (if that) or as a reinforcement to those already familiar with the island.
How do those who sanction this promotion believe that the process then works? Do they assume that there exists a hierarchical decision-making system? At the top comes Nadal, then there is a series of moves before the holidaymaker chooses a specific resort or hotel. Is this how it is meant to work? If it doesn't, and I don't believe it does, then what's the point of the thing at the top? This is how it used to work, back in the days when the family would be assaulted by Boxing Day adverts, opt for Mallorca and then head off to the nearest travel agency and pretty much have the choice of resort and hotel made for them.
Consumers take more or less as read the elements of a Mediterranean destination, be it Mallorca, Andalucia or wherever. They do so because the advertising and the images are essentially the same. As much as some consumers may work down from image advertising, they also work upwards, if not more so, in making their choices, without necessarily specifying a destination. And they all have different priorities, the satisfying of which is made in no small part through the informal channels of the internet - the forums, the blogs, the this, the that. The choice of a Turkey over a Mallorca lies largely with word of mouth, with a critical mass of recommendation, with a curious incuriosity that is the consequence of somewhere having become the latest in-place, and with a sense of "oh, let's give that a try". And much of this is predicated on price, on hotel (often all-inclusive), on specific offers, on what there is for the kids and all the rest. It is with the very detail of the holiday that the decision lies, not with the broad sweep of a Nadal on a yacht.
The tourism chiefs have singularly failed to understand the new dynamic of holiday decision-making or to appreciate the subversive influence of the internet; subversive in that, though these chiefs see the immense value of internet promotion, the internet acts independently of the corporate advertising. The real challenge lies in attempting to formalise the informal, of working this subversive element so that it favours a particular destination, and not just an island or a region, but a resort or even a particular complex. These chiefs need to cotton on to the reality of how consumers function on the internet, through social networks and so on, and to exploit these subversive factions themselves. If they don't, all that lavish spending on corporate advertising is a waste.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - British Sea Power, "The Lonely", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yK9p-icr0w. Today's title - this one started "Jeremiah was a bullfrog".
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
What does any of this achieve? The World Travel Market is, in no small part, a set of shop windows for the industry, one that already knows about Mallorca and the Balearics. The same applies to corporate advertising, of the Nadal style. Not everyone may know about the Balearics, which does of course beg a significant question, but they (the consuming tourist public) know about Mallorca. Both the trade fair and the advertising act, at best, as a means of putting Mallorca in the "front of mind" of the industry and the consumer. But so does that of every other destination.
In "The Sunday Times" at the weekend there was a double-page colour advert for Andalucia. Some of the advertising for this region of Spain has been sensational. Its TV advert, luscious colours, dramatic scenery and vibrant flamenco chill music, was outstanding. But it was still an advert for a region. Just as advertising, of the Nadal variety, is for a region. It may all create attention and therefore, possibly, some action, but that is all it does.
In the case of the Andalucia advert, there is a scrawled blurb across the two pages: "I want you to share my energy, my happiness, my strength, my warmth ... A thousand monuments beyond compare. And just one question: When are you coming?" This last bit, the question, is the only good part of this. The rest is utterly ridiculous and pretentious. An attempt to make personal the impersonal, supported by a photo of a beach at sunset and a church in daytime. Whatever good it may achieve is undone by a small logo at the bottom which refers to "Junta de Andalucia". Someone might have pointed out that the word "junta" has negative connotations where the British are concerned.
Be this as it may. Advertising for Andalucia, for Turkey, for Egypt, for wherever you may care to mention, it all follows the same pattern. Mediterranean destinations tout the same things, the same sorts of images; they display warmth, sun, sea, culture, people, scenery. There is no differentiation. It is why much of the advertising is questionable. Its main purpose is to be there. In other words, it would be conspicuous by its absence.
This advertising is part aspirational and part image-making, but it fits a particular aspirational class and one attracted by a specific image. For all that it is intended to promote the whole gamut of a destination's offer, it does nothing of the sort. Holidaymakers are not a homogeneous group. They differ in all manner of respects. For this reason and for all the attention that gets paid to the Nadal-style corporate advertising (by the media and letter writers), it can only ever act as a starting-point (if that) or as a reinforcement to those already familiar with the island.
How do those who sanction this promotion believe that the process then works? Do they assume that there exists a hierarchical decision-making system? At the top comes Nadal, then there is a series of moves before the holidaymaker chooses a specific resort or hotel. Is this how it is meant to work? If it doesn't, and I don't believe it does, then what's the point of the thing at the top? This is how it used to work, back in the days when the family would be assaulted by Boxing Day adverts, opt for Mallorca and then head off to the nearest travel agency and pretty much have the choice of resort and hotel made for them.
Consumers take more or less as read the elements of a Mediterranean destination, be it Mallorca, Andalucia or wherever. They do so because the advertising and the images are essentially the same. As much as some consumers may work down from image advertising, they also work upwards, if not more so, in making their choices, without necessarily specifying a destination. And they all have different priorities, the satisfying of which is made in no small part through the informal channels of the internet - the forums, the blogs, the this, the that. The choice of a Turkey over a Mallorca lies largely with word of mouth, with a critical mass of recommendation, with a curious incuriosity that is the consequence of somewhere having become the latest in-place, and with a sense of "oh, let's give that a try". And much of this is predicated on price, on hotel (often all-inclusive), on specific offers, on what there is for the kids and all the rest. It is with the very detail of the holiday that the decision lies, not with the broad sweep of a Nadal on a yacht.
The tourism chiefs have singularly failed to understand the new dynamic of holiday decision-making or to appreciate the subversive influence of the internet; subversive in that, though these chiefs see the immense value of internet promotion, the internet acts independently of the corporate advertising. The real challenge lies in attempting to formalise the informal, of working this subversive element so that it favours a particular destination, and not just an island or a region, but a resort or even a particular complex. These chiefs need to cotton on to the reality of how consumers function on the internet, through social networks and so on, and to exploit these subversive factions themselves. If they don't, all that lavish spending on corporate advertising is a waste.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - British Sea Power, "The Lonely", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yK9p-icr0w. Today's title - this one started "Jeremiah was a bullfrog".
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Smooth Operators
The positive soundings a few days ago that tourism will help to stave off recession in the Balearics may have been somewhat pre-emptory. Despite the Spanish Secretary of State for Tourism suggesting that there has already been an increase of 20% in sales for the coming year, the tour operators are begging to differ. One is inclined to take their word for it, rather than that which may just be political spin.
Word coming out of the World Travel Market in London this past week has not been reassuring. Thomas Cook is reporting a fall in British tourism sales to Mallorca of 15% (Menorca is worse at 24%), while TUI is giving similarly worrying figures - Mallorca down by 22%. The winter tourism, such as it is, is also taking a knock; the recession-hit German market, for instance, has cut back on its Mallorcan off-season.
The only bright spot in all this is that tourists may well be holding off and hoping for some better deals. There was a thing on "Five Live" the other day which said that TUI, in general, has increased its prices by around 12% while also reducing capacity. That TUI feels it can do this at a time of economic downturn is largely due to the failure of XL, which has taken out some 2 million seats in total. In other sectors where capacity is reduced, prices do not necessarily rise or rise as steeply. The tourism market, however, appears to operate by a different set of rules, and important among these is that, although times are tight, people will forego other purchases in order to ensure they have their two weeks in the sun. The person interviewed on the BBC said that sales were brisk, which may seem to contradict the soundings from TUI and Thomas Cook, but there could still be grounds for optimism in that travellers are taking their time, doing their research and then making the purchase. They may also be hoping that TUI decides that those price increases are not going to work, and are therefore waiting for offers.
While TUI may be hiking its prices, the hoteliers on the island are under great pressure to lower theirs, i.e. what they receive from the tour operators. Naturally enough, there is some resistance to this. But one of the more interesting aspects of this is that the hoteliers are "progressively abandoning" all-inclusive offers because of the "ridiculous" daily returns they receive (quotes from "The Diario"). Maybe the price pressures being applied are going to be good news in one respect - the removal of more all-inclusive places. This all does go to emphasise that it is not necessarily the hotels who are, or who have ever been, the driving force behind all-inclusive offers; it is, and has been, the tour operators. I know, for example, of one hotel in Puerto Alcúdia that basically told TUI to sling its hook when it was presented with a demand to move to all-inclusive. I also know of hotels which are all-inclusive, but which would much rather not be. And when one learns of the sort of amounts the hotels can actually receive from the tour operators, it is little surprise that what they then provide as service as part of the all-inclusive package can be so poor. They're just not making enough money out of it. So when one reads all those comments slagging off this and that hotel, just remember that it may be the tour operator who deserves the criticism and not the hotel.
Meanwhile also at the travel market, Balearic Government head, Francesc Antich, together with the minister for tourism, Miquel Nadal, have been trying to offer their own positive take on things, talking about the "opportunity" that the current difficulties offer. Well, always try and make a positive out of a negative, I guess, but they are banging on about modernisation and renovation, which are all well and good but don't actually address the short-term need. They are also mentioning - yet again - different types of tourism, but without, seemingly, putting any flesh on its scrawny bones. There is, though, one campaign to be implemented in that short-term, and if you happen to live in Manchester you will doubtless become aware of it. This coming spring there will be a programme entitled "Manchester discovers the Balearic Islands". This is presumably not some sort of Columbus expedition but an attempt to inform the good people of Manchester that the Balearics exist. Hmm, yes well, I'll have to mention that to friends of mine from Manchester who come to Mallorca each year.
Elsewhere, Antich has been presiding over the little club that is the Eurorregión Pirineos Mediterráneo (areas around this part of the Mediterranean). This rather curious self-help grouping has had its share of spats in the past, but at least now they seem to be as one in having a common perspective on tourism innovation. To this end, there is to be a centre of research and development based in the Balearics, the aim of which is to come up with "cutting-edge strategy and attractions" (says "The Bulletin"). Well I think we've been here before with all this tourism R&D stuff, whatever it might be. They talk about it but never make it clear what it is exactly. And as for attractions. Good. Just make sure they are large-scale and meaningful.
As an additional thought - the government has spoken, time and time again, about upping the quality of hotels and their service as part of an overall improvement of the islands' tourism offer. However, how can the hotels do this if they are being squeezed and pressurised when it comes to both prices and offering all-inclusive? Against this background, much as the hotels themselves may wish to upgrade and much as the government may harp on about it, it needs to born in mind that the real power in the tourism chain resides not with the hotels, not with the government, but with the tour operators. Ultimately you antagonise the tour operators at your potential peril. Without TUI and Thomas Cook, Mallorca has nothing. The government can do some gentle persuading, but it is largely impotent. It may be a harsh fact for the government to appreciate, but fact it is. Of course, neither TUI nor Thomas Cook would abandon Mallorca; it is far too important to them as well. But the balance of power lies with them. The hotels may be kicking, and good luck to them if they want to cut the all-inclusive, but they, too, must know who holds the whip hand.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Robert Palmer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S9Or_bEGQI). Today's title - pluralised; in the singular who did this tremendous song?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Word coming out of the World Travel Market in London this past week has not been reassuring. Thomas Cook is reporting a fall in British tourism sales to Mallorca of 15% (Menorca is worse at 24%), while TUI is giving similarly worrying figures - Mallorca down by 22%. The winter tourism, such as it is, is also taking a knock; the recession-hit German market, for instance, has cut back on its Mallorcan off-season.
The only bright spot in all this is that tourists may well be holding off and hoping for some better deals. There was a thing on "Five Live" the other day which said that TUI, in general, has increased its prices by around 12% while also reducing capacity. That TUI feels it can do this at a time of economic downturn is largely due to the failure of XL, which has taken out some 2 million seats in total. In other sectors where capacity is reduced, prices do not necessarily rise or rise as steeply. The tourism market, however, appears to operate by a different set of rules, and important among these is that, although times are tight, people will forego other purchases in order to ensure they have their two weeks in the sun. The person interviewed on the BBC said that sales were brisk, which may seem to contradict the soundings from TUI and Thomas Cook, but there could still be grounds for optimism in that travellers are taking their time, doing their research and then making the purchase. They may also be hoping that TUI decides that those price increases are not going to work, and are therefore waiting for offers.
While TUI may be hiking its prices, the hoteliers on the island are under great pressure to lower theirs, i.e. what they receive from the tour operators. Naturally enough, there is some resistance to this. But one of the more interesting aspects of this is that the hoteliers are "progressively abandoning" all-inclusive offers because of the "ridiculous" daily returns they receive (quotes from "The Diario"). Maybe the price pressures being applied are going to be good news in one respect - the removal of more all-inclusive places. This all does go to emphasise that it is not necessarily the hotels who are, or who have ever been, the driving force behind all-inclusive offers; it is, and has been, the tour operators. I know, for example, of one hotel in Puerto Alcúdia that basically told TUI to sling its hook when it was presented with a demand to move to all-inclusive. I also know of hotels which are all-inclusive, but which would much rather not be. And when one learns of the sort of amounts the hotels can actually receive from the tour operators, it is little surprise that what they then provide as service as part of the all-inclusive package can be so poor. They're just not making enough money out of it. So when one reads all those comments slagging off this and that hotel, just remember that it may be the tour operator who deserves the criticism and not the hotel.
Meanwhile also at the travel market, Balearic Government head, Francesc Antich, together with the minister for tourism, Miquel Nadal, have been trying to offer their own positive take on things, talking about the "opportunity" that the current difficulties offer. Well, always try and make a positive out of a negative, I guess, but they are banging on about modernisation and renovation, which are all well and good but don't actually address the short-term need. They are also mentioning - yet again - different types of tourism, but without, seemingly, putting any flesh on its scrawny bones. There is, though, one campaign to be implemented in that short-term, and if you happen to live in Manchester you will doubtless become aware of it. This coming spring there will be a programme entitled "Manchester discovers the Balearic Islands". This is presumably not some sort of Columbus expedition but an attempt to inform the good people of Manchester that the Balearics exist. Hmm, yes well, I'll have to mention that to friends of mine from Manchester who come to Mallorca each year.
Elsewhere, Antich has been presiding over the little club that is the Eurorregión Pirineos Mediterráneo (areas around this part of the Mediterranean). This rather curious self-help grouping has had its share of spats in the past, but at least now they seem to be as one in having a common perspective on tourism innovation. To this end, there is to be a centre of research and development based in the Balearics, the aim of which is to come up with "cutting-edge strategy and attractions" (says "The Bulletin"). Well I think we've been here before with all this tourism R&D stuff, whatever it might be. They talk about it but never make it clear what it is exactly. And as for attractions. Good. Just make sure they are large-scale and meaningful.
As an additional thought - the government has spoken, time and time again, about upping the quality of hotels and their service as part of an overall improvement of the islands' tourism offer. However, how can the hotels do this if they are being squeezed and pressurised when it comes to both prices and offering all-inclusive? Against this background, much as the hotels themselves may wish to upgrade and much as the government may harp on about it, it needs to born in mind that the real power in the tourism chain resides not with the hotels, not with the government, but with the tour operators. Ultimately you antagonise the tour operators at your potential peril. Without TUI and Thomas Cook, Mallorca has nothing. The government can do some gentle persuading, but it is largely impotent. It may be a harsh fact for the government to appreciate, but fact it is. Of course, neither TUI nor Thomas Cook would abandon Mallorca; it is far too important to them as well. But the balance of power lies with them. The hotels may be kicking, and good luck to them if they want to cut the all-inclusive, but they, too, must know who holds the whip hand.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Robert Palmer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S9Or_bEGQI). Today's title - pluralised; in the singular who did this tremendous song?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
But Friday Never Hesitate
Despite my scepticism, word coming from the World Travel Market suggests that Mallorca can expect a “spectacular” increase in the number of British tourists in 2008 especially those coming all year round for city breaks - for which, read Palma. I shall bow to this word. Undoubtedly the availability of low-cost air travel and the wide use of the internet for travel booking in the UK are helping to promote this form of tourism, though I remain to be convinced that Palma holds greater attractions than many other destinations. But even allowing for the fact that it does, tourism coming into Palma for a long weekend does virtually nothing for places like Alcúdia and Pollensa.
There is to be a major promotional campaign in collaboration with tour operators and airlines to bring more people to all the Balearic Islands in the low seasons of September to November and March to May, the promotional emphasis seemingly being the cheapness of travel.
Back on the autumn fairs. There was this sound-off thing in “Ultima Hora”. While bemoaning the chaos of parking in Pollensa for its recent fair, the commentator was otherwise full of praise (parking in Pollensa is chaotic at the best of times). He found though that there was a lack of knowledge among craft exhibitors in Pollensa as to the upcoming fair in Sa Pobla, decrying the lack of publicity and lack of dynamism and implicating Muro (which had its fair last weekend - at the same time as Pollensa) as well.
He may well have a point. Living closer to both Sa Pobla and Muro than to Pollensa, I am always fully aware of the Pollensa event as I am of Alcúdia’s fair. It is easy to get information for things going on in Pollensa and Alcúdia, but for Muro and Sa Pobla ... .
For the British, with a tradition of satire from Jonathan Swift (albeit he was half-Irish) to “Punch” and “Private Eye” and, moreover, a tradition of debunking its institutions and their representatives, the case of the “El Jueves” cartoon might seem somewhat odd. To remind you: the magazine was charged for publishing a cartoon which ridiculed the Crown in the form of Crown-Prince Felipe and his wife. This is an offence in Spain. The editor and cartoonist have now been fined.
Inevitably, the prosecution of the magazine’s personnel has led to accusations that the case has been pursued as a means of limiting press freedom and freedom of expression. This is not so. The judgement makes it clear that there are limits, and the magazine crossed these. It is the law and not the specific case that places limits on freedom of expression. Spain is hardly unique in having such limits. Whether these limits need to be stretched by a change to the law is another matter; the publicity surrounding the case might be said to have caused the Royal Family more harm than the original cartoon.
QUIZ
Yesterday - The Strawbs. And for those currently on a roll ... Today’s title - one for weekend-breakers, a line from what song, together with “Saturday wait, And Sunday always comes too late”.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
There is to be a major promotional campaign in collaboration with tour operators and airlines to bring more people to all the Balearic Islands in the low seasons of September to November and March to May, the promotional emphasis seemingly being the cheapness of travel.
Back on the autumn fairs. There was this sound-off thing in “Ultima Hora”. While bemoaning the chaos of parking in Pollensa for its recent fair, the commentator was otherwise full of praise (parking in Pollensa is chaotic at the best of times). He found though that there was a lack of knowledge among craft exhibitors in Pollensa as to the upcoming fair in Sa Pobla, decrying the lack of publicity and lack of dynamism and implicating Muro (which had its fair last weekend - at the same time as Pollensa) as well.
He may well have a point. Living closer to both Sa Pobla and Muro than to Pollensa, I am always fully aware of the Pollensa event as I am of Alcúdia’s fair. It is easy to get information for things going on in Pollensa and Alcúdia, but for Muro and Sa Pobla ... .
For the British, with a tradition of satire from Jonathan Swift (albeit he was half-Irish) to “Punch” and “Private Eye” and, moreover, a tradition of debunking its institutions and their representatives, the case of the “El Jueves” cartoon might seem somewhat odd. To remind you: the magazine was charged for publishing a cartoon which ridiculed the Crown in the form of Crown-Prince Felipe and his wife. This is an offence in Spain. The editor and cartoonist have now been fined.
Inevitably, the prosecution of the magazine’s personnel has led to accusations that the case has been pursued as a means of limiting press freedom and freedom of expression. This is not so. The judgement makes it clear that there are limits, and the magazine crossed these. It is the law and not the specific case that places limits on freedom of expression. Spain is hardly unique in having such limits. Whether these limits need to be stretched by a change to the law is another matter; the publicity surrounding the case might be said to have caused the Royal Family more harm than the original cartoon.
QUIZ
Yesterday - The Strawbs. And for those currently on a roll ... Today’s title - one for weekend-breakers, a line from what song, together with “Saturday wait, And Sunday always comes too late”.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Part Of The Union
Water. Of the utilities, water provision is arguably the most important. It is why the regular water “outages” are so hard to deal with. They never last that long, but they are frequent, usually in the mornings, disrupting showers or washing-machines. I rang the company this morning. Weren’t aware of any cut to supply, but a “técnico” would have a look. Never saw a técnico but the water came back on again after about an hour. Just one of those small trials of local life that really should not have to be.
Noises emanating from the World Travel Market are all very positive. If proof were needed of the importance of the British market, it has been there in abundance - in addition to the politicians, the top people of TUI, Thomas Cook and the Iberostar hotels have made their way to London, and have combined to declare that 2008 will be another excellent year. There is another side to this. If proof were needed of the importance of the tour operators and the major hotel chains to the Balearic and central governments, it has also been there in abundance. The politicians alienate these businesses at their peril, and so when the president of Iberostar announces, as reported in the “Diario” that the recuperation of the coastlines is a “political responsibility” and not one for the likes of Iberostar to assume, one well imagines that the politicians take due note.
There are few more impressive figures in Mallorcan life than Miquel Fluxà, the Iberostar president. He has presided over a highly successful international hotel chain that locally in Alcúdia and Can Picafort and more so in Playa de Muro is a byword for quality as it is elsewhere. Yesterday I was looking around the work going on at the Iberostar Albufera Playa. The interiors are being gutted and refurbished. Its neighbour, the Albufera Park, was similarly refitted last winter; the old Dunas Park became the remodelled Playa de Muro Village the winter before that. Continuous improvement - the old maxim of the quality movement.
And a bit more on politicians, or to be more precise political parties. The Unió Mallorquina (UM - Mallorcan Union) has celebrated its first 25 years. The UM is a nationalist party dedicated to the preservation of facets of Mallorcan (and Balearic) life, the customs, the language and so on. Its achievements cannot be underestimated. Its representatives hold positions of some power in Mallorca, the departing president was the head of the Mallorca council and is now president of the Balearic parliament, the mayors of both Alcúdia and Pollensa are UM. The Alcúdia mayor, Miquel Ferrer, has been in the running to take over as president of the party, but to the annoyance of Ferrer supporters who see his main rival, Miquel Nadal, as being too Palma-centric and being “of the past”, Nadal looks set to be the new president.
For many British expatriates, were they even to have an interest in local or indeed national politics (which generally they do not), the UM would not, I suspect, be the party of choice; that, one might presume, would be the Partido Popular. I declare no interest other than the fact that the UM has demonstrated that a nationalist party can build respectability in a relatively short period. UM nationalism is no militancy. Mallorca and the Balearics have no separatist tendency nor are they a part of any grand Catalan autonomy. Coincidentally, a survey in today’s “Ultima Hora” refers to the fact that the Balearics rank joint fourth among the regions of Spain in terms of how much the people of these regions identify with Spain (the Basque land and Catalonia being right down the list). It is perhaps a curiosity that this affinity with Spain co-exists with such a strong local political voice.
QUIZ
Yesterday - For all old Moodyists everywhere, The Moody Blues. Today’s title - who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Noises emanating from the World Travel Market are all very positive. If proof were needed of the importance of the British market, it has been there in abundance - in addition to the politicians, the top people of TUI, Thomas Cook and the Iberostar hotels have made their way to London, and have combined to declare that 2008 will be another excellent year. There is another side to this. If proof were needed of the importance of the tour operators and the major hotel chains to the Balearic and central governments, it has also been there in abundance. The politicians alienate these businesses at their peril, and so when the president of Iberostar announces, as reported in the “Diario” that the recuperation of the coastlines is a “political responsibility” and not one for the likes of Iberostar to assume, one well imagines that the politicians take due note.
There are few more impressive figures in Mallorcan life than Miquel Fluxà, the Iberostar president. He has presided over a highly successful international hotel chain that locally in Alcúdia and Can Picafort and more so in Playa de Muro is a byword for quality as it is elsewhere. Yesterday I was looking around the work going on at the Iberostar Albufera Playa. The interiors are being gutted and refurbished. Its neighbour, the Albufera Park, was similarly refitted last winter; the old Dunas Park became the remodelled Playa de Muro Village the winter before that. Continuous improvement - the old maxim of the quality movement.
And a bit more on politicians, or to be more precise political parties. The Unió Mallorquina (UM - Mallorcan Union) has celebrated its first 25 years. The UM is a nationalist party dedicated to the preservation of facets of Mallorcan (and Balearic) life, the customs, the language and so on. Its achievements cannot be underestimated. Its representatives hold positions of some power in Mallorca, the departing president was the head of the Mallorca council and is now president of the Balearic parliament, the mayors of both Alcúdia and Pollensa are UM. The Alcúdia mayor, Miquel Ferrer, has been in the running to take over as president of the party, but to the annoyance of Ferrer supporters who see his main rival, Miquel Nadal, as being too Palma-centric and being “of the past”, Nadal looks set to be the new president.
For many British expatriates, were they even to have an interest in local or indeed national politics (which generally they do not), the UM would not, I suspect, be the party of choice; that, one might presume, would be the Partido Popular. I declare no interest other than the fact that the UM has demonstrated that a nationalist party can build respectability in a relatively short period. UM nationalism is no militancy. Mallorca and the Balearics have no separatist tendency nor are they a part of any grand Catalan autonomy. Coincidentally, a survey in today’s “Ultima Hora” refers to the fact that the Balearics rank joint fourth among the regions of Spain in terms of how much the people of these regions identify with Spain (the Basque land and Catalonia being right down the list). It is perhaps a curiosity that this affinity with Spain co-exists with such a strong local political voice.
QUIZ
Yesterday - For all old Moodyists everywhere, The Moody Blues. Today’s title - who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Monday, November 12, 2007
Days Of Future Passed
More fairs. Fairs of differing kinds.
In London the World Travel Market fair opened today. It signals the opportunity for the Balearics to press further their claim on the hearts of the vital British tourism market. The other day the editor of “The Bulletin” expressed a concern about the prominence that Balearics leader Francesc Antich was giving to tourism. Well Antich is one of the delegation pitching up in London. Perhaps that gives the answer.
The fine weather has brought out the hordes to the various autumn fairs. One other that is ongoing is the fair in Inca. “Dijous Bo”, which I take to mean good Thursday, is - like many events here - a several-day affair and not just a dijous. This is the grandest of the island’s fairs. Like the fiestas, the fairs represent a cultural aspect of Mallorcan life that many would no longer recognise in Britain. There is a civic pride in the fairs; they are to be found across the island in all manner of locations during the autumn. And there is something more than just pride; there is an assertion of the qualities of the towns and the island. The “Diario” waxed lyrically in Mallorquín on this: “a fair is not a commemoration of the past; a fair is the exhibition of the present and of the future, a demonstration of the capabilities of the people of one place in today’s society”. Blimey.
Past or not, the island’s fairs do offer a continuity with years gone by, with the island’s history. I said the other day that Mallorca’s history is a side-show compared with that of the mainland. This is the case, but it doesn’t make the digging into this history any less worthwhile. The “Ultima Hora” weekend supplement “Brisas” often features items about the island’s history. The most recent is no different. It highlights the story of a community formed in the final quarter of the nineteenth century in the Albufera area. This community was known as Gatamoix. It came about under a law which permitted the colonisation of coastal areas for the purpose of creating productive agricultural areas. The story of Gatamoix, its founding and its subsequent decline, is linked to a British company which undertook to dry out parts of Albufera. It is a story of dealing with what was an unhealthy place because of malaria, and of confronting the problems of salt and of maintaining the dried-out parts of Albufera. The community lasted for less than fifty years, and all that now remains is one house.
History: it’s all around you; just a case of finding it.
QUIZ
Yesterday - “Our House”, Crosby, Stills and Nash (Young had yet to join). Today’s title - album by?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
In London the World Travel Market fair opened today. It signals the opportunity for the Balearics to press further their claim on the hearts of the vital British tourism market. The other day the editor of “The Bulletin” expressed a concern about the prominence that Balearics leader Francesc Antich was giving to tourism. Well Antich is one of the delegation pitching up in London. Perhaps that gives the answer.
The fine weather has brought out the hordes to the various autumn fairs. One other that is ongoing is the fair in Inca. “Dijous Bo”, which I take to mean good Thursday, is - like many events here - a several-day affair and not just a dijous. This is the grandest of the island’s fairs. Like the fiestas, the fairs represent a cultural aspect of Mallorcan life that many would no longer recognise in Britain. There is a civic pride in the fairs; they are to be found across the island in all manner of locations during the autumn. And there is something more than just pride; there is an assertion of the qualities of the towns and the island. The “Diario” waxed lyrically in Mallorquín on this: “a fair is not a commemoration of the past; a fair is the exhibition of the present and of the future, a demonstration of the capabilities of the people of one place in today’s society”. Blimey.
Past or not, the island’s fairs do offer a continuity with years gone by, with the island’s history. I said the other day that Mallorca’s history is a side-show compared with that of the mainland. This is the case, but it doesn’t make the digging into this history any less worthwhile. The “Ultima Hora” weekend supplement “Brisas” often features items about the island’s history. The most recent is no different. It highlights the story of a community formed in the final quarter of the nineteenth century in the Albufera area. This community was known as Gatamoix. It came about under a law which permitted the colonisation of coastal areas for the purpose of creating productive agricultural areas. The story of Gatamoix, its founding and its subsequent decline, is linked to a British company which undertook to dry out parts of Albufera. It is a story of dealing with what was an unhealthy place because of malaria, and of confronting the problems of salt and of maintaining the dried-out parts of Albufera. The community lasted for less than fifty years, and all that now remains is one house.
History: it’s all around you; just a case of finding it.
QUIZ
Yesterday - “Our House”, Crosby, Stills and Nash (Young had yet to join). Today’s title - album by?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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