A warmer morning, up to 20 degrees at 9am, but a fair amount of hazy cloud. Fine for the rest of the day and quite warm (into the higher 20s), but turning tomorrow as the wet and windy weather comes in from the mainland and stays for the weekend.
Evening update (19.30): A high of 29.5 inland today, but the last of the good weather for a bit; cloud tomorrow and that old yellow alert has been issued again, this time for rain on Saturday.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Love Croatia: More Mallorcan marketing failure
ABTA's decision to not stage its annual convention in Mallorca next year is surprising insofar as the intention to return two years after the emergency relocation to Mallorca in 2011 had been signalled at last year's convention. But, and lest anyone forgets this, there are plenty of other destinations that ABTA can choose from, just as there are plenty of other destinations that tourists can choose from.
From a personal point of view, the decision is disappointing. While there are plenty who look upon an ABTA gathering as one big photo opportunity, it is - for those who can be bothered - an occasion to learn about what is happening in the world of travel and specifically about what is at the cutting edge.
Tourism and travel are nothing without good marketing. While most within the travel industry would understand this, a perception persists that marketing equals something specific - the glossy approach, the magazine, the expensive advert, the hyperbole of a clichéd article or brochure description. This is the glamour part of a supposedly glamour industry. There is a place for glamour, unquestionably there is, but there is also marketing which is as important if not more so - it is the geeky, nerdish part: the systems, the operations, the technology.
Last year's convention was dominated by technology: by the use of social media, apps, voice recognition, search facilities, you name it. For the technology savvy or the gadget freak, it was convention heaven. For the technology indifferent or technology sceptic, it was hell on Mallorcan earth.
When it comes to technology, there are those who get it and those who don't. As a consequence, prejudices and assumptions are created depending upon which of the technology poles one is connected to: the positive or the negative. The result is that tourism marketing is either technology-driven and little else or it is technology passive, if that. The truth, of course, lies somewhere between the two poles.
One example of this is the use of mobile apps. At one extreme, there is a view which suggests that apps are the only game in tourism marketing town; at the other, there is no view - apps may as well be invisible. Neither view is correct. All the technologies that have sprung up in recent years have created a sub-category of one of the 4Ps of marketing; promotion has its own marketing mix of a multitude of media, none of which can be neglected.
But many of these media, if not neglected, are nevertheless treated less than well. Moreover, a lack of appreciation as to what these different media can do creates a marketing disadvantage, and it is not as if this appreciation needs to be marketing rocket science.
Take Facebook. ABTA is going to stage its convention in Croatia next year. It is one of the destinations that is a key competitor for Mallorca (some would say its biggest). As a simple experiment, I typed "Croatia Facebook" into Google and then typed in "Mallorca Facebook" and "Majorca Facebook". Try it yourselves if you want, but if not let me tell you that the first Google entry for Croatia led to a "Love Croatia" Facebook page; 788,634 likes for the "official" Facebook page of Croatia. The Mallorca ones? The results offer absolutely nothing similar; they are fragmented and inconsequential, and fragmented is unfortunately a synonym for Mallorcan tourism marketing.
Four Pillars, the UK hotel group, has just issued the results of a survey into the use of social media. This found, among other things, that 52% of Facebook users said that friends' photos had inspired their holiday choice. It also found, and so confirming previous research which has pointed to the diminishing importance of established media, that 92% "trusted" recommendations above all other forms of advertising (only 47% "trust" TV, magazine or newspaper ads).
This survey emphasises the importance of Facebook and of review sites such as Trip Advisor. These social media have supplanted conventional websites and established print and broadcast media as the main means of travel and tourism communication. It's the reality. There can be no scepticism any longer. Yet in Mallorca, there is a lousy and outmoded web presence provided by tourism authorities (and others) who should know better by now. There is an absence of an official and coherent use of social media and an apparent absence of anyone directing tourism marketing who appears to appreciate them.
ABTA knows all about technology and all about the importance of media technologies for today's tourism. It has decided to give Mallorca a miss next year. But in preferring Croatia, there may be more to the decision than it simply being a case of Buggins's turn. 788,634 people can't be wrong.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
From a personal point of view, the decision is disappointing. While there are plenty who look upon an ABTA gathering as one big photo opportunity, it is - for those who can be bothered - an occasion to learn about what is happening in the world of travel and specifically about what is at the cutting edge.
Tourism and travel are nothing without good marketing. While most within the travel industry would understand this, a perception persists that marketing equals something specific - the glossy approach, the magazine, the expensive advert, the hyperbole of a clichéd article or brochure description. This is the glamour part of a supposedly glamour industry. There is a place for glamour, unquestionably there is, but there is also marketing which is as important if not more so - it is the geeky, nerdish part: the systems, the operations, the technology.
Last year's convention was dominated by technology: by the use of social media, apps, voice recognition, search facilities, you name it. For the technology savvy or the gadget freak, it was convention heaven. For the technology indifferent or technology sceptic, it was hell on Mallorcan earth.
When it comes to technology, there are those who get it and those who don't. As a consequence, prejudices and assumptions are created depending upon which of the technology poles one is connected to: the positive or the negative. The result is that tourism marketing is either technology-driven and little else or it is technology passive, if that. The truth, of course, lies somewhere between the two poles.
One example of this is the use of mobile apps. At one extreme, there is a view which suggests that apps are the only game in tourism marketing town; at the other, there is no view - apps may as well be invisible. Neither view is correct. All the technologies that have sprung up in recent years have created a sub-category of one of the 4Ps of marketing; promotion has its own marketing mix of a multitude of media, none of which can be neglected.
But many of these media, if not neglected, are nevertheless treated less than well. Moreover, a lack of appreciation as to what these different media can do creates a marketing disadvantage, and it is not as if this appreciation needs to be marketing rocket science.
Take Facebook. ABTA is going to stage its convention in Croatia next year. It is one of the destinations that is a key competitor for Mallorca (some would say its biggest). As a simple experiment, I typed "Croatia Facebook" into Google and then typed in "Mallorca Facebook" and "Majorca Facebook". Try it yourselves if you want, but if not let me tell you that the first Google entry for Croatia led to a "Love Croatia" Facebook page; 788,634 likes for the "official" Facebook page of Croatia. The Mallorca ones? The results offer absolutely nothing similar; they are fragmented and inconsequential, and fragmented is unfortunately a synonym for Mallorcan tourism marketing.
Four Pillars, the UK hotel group, has just issued the results of a survey into the use of social media. This found, among other things, that 52% of Facebook users said that friends' photos had inspired their holiday choice. It also found, and so confirming previous research which has pointed to the diminishing importance of established media, that 92% "trusted" recommendations above all other forms of advertising (only 47% "trust" TV, magazine or newspaper ads).
This survey emphasises the importance of Facebook and of review sites such as Trip Advisor. These social media have supplanted conventional websites and established print and broadcast media as the main means of travel and tourism communication. It's the reality. There can be no scepticism any longer. Yet in Mallorca, there is a lousy and outmoded web presence provided by tourism authorities (and others) who should know better by now. There is an absence of an official and coherent use of social media and an apparent absence of anyone directing tourism marketing who appears to appreciate them.
ABTA knows all about technology and all about the importance of media technologies for today's tourism. It has decided to give Mallorca a miss next year. But in preferring Croatia, there may be more to the decision than it simply being a case of Buggins's turn. 788,634 people can't be wrong.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - General strike likely to be 14 November
The main CCOO and UGT unions are to call a national general strike on 14 November (subject to ratification this Friday). The Spanish strike would coincide with the general strike already announced in Portugal.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 17 October 2012
Another sunny morning, between 15 inland and 18.5 at 9.30am. Due to be slightly warmer than yesterday (mid 20s). The forecast now shows showers for Saturday and Sunday with Friday mostly cloudy.
Evening update (19.00): A high of 27.4, the forecast still looks ok for tomorrow but the met office has highlighted a front coming across Spain bringing rain and wind from today, though it will probably be Friday before it gets to Mallorca and keep the weather unstable through the weekend.
Evening update (19.00): A high of 27.4, the forecast still looks ok for tomorrow but the met office has highlighted a front coming across Spain bringing rain and wind from today, though it will probably be Friday before it gets to Mallorca and keep the weather unstable through the weekend.
Packaging Culture: Why Mallorca misses out
Will culture ever become the main reason for tourists visiting Mallorca? The chances are extremely remote. Yet a professor of tourism at Girona University, José Antonio Donaire, reckons that one day it might be. Or at least, he reckons that culture will be the prime motivation for tourists from certain sectors of the tourism market heading to certain destinations. This caveat is important. Parts of Spain have much to offer the tourist going in search of culture. Mallorca and the Balearics, on the other hand ... ?
Turespaña, the national tourism agency, is currently looking at ways of increasing cultural tourism. One of the reasons for doing so is to tackle the vagaries of seasonality; Mallorca is by no means the only part of Spain that suffers from a lack of winter tourism. A second reason is that there has been an acknowledgement that, despite a rich culture and innumerable cultural sites, Spain as a destination for cultural tourism has been poorly positioned in terms of its international marketing, which is incredible given all the talk that emanates from different bodies regarding culture; there has been a huge gap between the talk and meaningful action. Which leads us on neatly to Mallorca.
In 2010, the Fundación Caja Madrid issued a report which put figures on the value of cultural tourism by Spanish tourists in the different regions of Spain. Way out in the lead was Andalucía (452 million euros) with Catalonia in second place (319 million). Rank bottom was Murcia (36 million). And second to bottom? You've guessed it. The Balearics (48 million). Even the Canaries fared better - to the tune of 20 million euros.
A survey of the same year that looked at different aspects of spending on culture was slightly more positive in placing the Balearics as the fifth worst performing region in terms of attracting overseas tourists who came for the express purpose of engaging in cultural pursuits. Three places higher but the percentage of cultural tourists in relation to all tourists to the Balearics was just under 2%, and the number had fallen from the previous year. From a base of under 2%, there is a hell of a way to go for culture to ever be a dominating reason for tourists to come to Mallorca.
Also back in 2010, a company offering an excursion of historic and cultural sites on Menorca said that it was in two minds whether to bother again. Over five months in 2009 it had managed to attract a total of 2,000 excursionists. The principal reason for the lack of take-up was, the company admitted, the far greater attraction of "sun, sea and sand". And for Menorca, read also Mallorca. Both islands' key brand attribute is sun, sea and sand, despite what some people might think and say to the contrary. When this brand attribute is as clearly identifiable and strong as it is, changing perceptions to embrace culture and therefore promote it is a huge task.
Of course, there are plenty of tourists who will take in something of a cultural nature even if they mainly come for the beach. Turespaña points out that the majority of visitors signal their intention to do so, but there is a problem in knowing what exactly is meant by culture. As an example, ABTA conducted a survey almost four years ago which suggested that culture was the third most important element of the British holidaymaker's visit to Mallorca. It made a great song and dance about publicising the fact. Unfortunately, when you went behind the press releases and actually looked at the survey, a quite different picture emerged. What had happened was that several elements (such as food) had been combined to give the result. A specific ranking for "the culture" had been given by only 5% of respondents, not the 18% that was being spoken about.
Mallorca is at a disadvantage when it comes to cultural tourism because it is so readily recognisable with something that is culture's virtual antithesis - sun and beach. One suspects that Turespaña's emphasis will be on parts of Spain that have stronger claims on cultural tourism, such as the old cities of Andalucía, but whichever its priority destinations will be, the agency is looking at how culture can be better packaged. And this is the nub of the issue.
Mallorca has culture, but compared with the money-for-old-rope ease of packaging the sun and beach holiday, culture is a very different beast. To be effective, the cost of marketing cultural package tours would be high, but the returns would be questionable. To be anything other than a minor aspect of Mallorca's tourism, culture would need the kind of volume tour operators could provide, but the tour operators have other holidays and other destinations they can sell and sell more easily.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Turespaña, the national tourism agency, is currently looking at ways of increasing cultural tourism. One of the reasons for doing so is to tackle the vagaries of seasonality; Mallorca is by no means the only part of Spain that suffers from a lack of winter tourism. A second reason is that there has been an acknowledgement that, despite a rich culture and innumerable cultural sites, Spain as a destination for cultural tourism has been poorly positioned in terms of its international marketing, which is incredible given all the talk that emanates from different bodies regarding culture; there has been a huge gap between the talk and meaningful action. Which leads us on neatly to Mallorca.
In 2010, the Fundación Caja Madrid issued a report which put figures on the value of cultural tourism by Spanish tourists in the different regions of Spain. Way out in the lead was Andalucía (452 million euros) with Catalonia in second place (319 million). Rank bottom was Murcia (36 million). And second to bottom? You've guessed it. The Balearics (48 million). Even the Canaries fared better - to the tune of 20 million euros.
A survey of the same year that looked at different aspects of spending on culture was slightly more positive in placing the Balearics as the fifth worst performing region in terms of attracting overseas tourists who came for the express purpose of engaging in cultural pursuits. Three places higher but the percentage of cultural tourists in relation to all tourists to the Balearics was just under 2%, and the number had fallen from the previous year. From a base of under 2%, there is a hell of a way to go for culture to ever be a dominating reason for tourists to come to Mallorca.
Also back in 2010, a company offering an excursion of historic and cultural sites on Menorca said that it was in two minds whether to bother again. Over five months in 2009 it had managed to attract a total of 2,000 excursionists. The principal reason for the lack of take-up was, the company admitted, the far greater attraction of "sun, sea and sand". And for Menorca, read also Mallorca. Both islands' key brand attribute is sun, sea and sand, despite what some people might think and say to the contrary. When this brand attribute is as clearly identifiable and strong as it is, changing perceptions to embrace culture and therefore promote it is a huge task.
Of course, there are plenty of tourists who will take in something of a cultural nature even if they mainly come for the beach. Turespaña points out that the majority of visitors signal their intention to do so, but there is a problem in knowing what exactly is meant by culture. As an example, ABTA conducted a survey almost four years ago which suggested that culture was the third most important element of the British holidaymaker's visit to Mallorca. It made a great song and dance about publicising the fact. Unfortunately, when you went behind the press releases and actually looked at the survey, a quite different picture emerged. What had happened was that several elements (such as food) had been combined to give the result. A specific ranking for "the culture" had been given by only 5% of respondents, not the 18% that was being spoken about.
Mallorca is at a disadvantage when it comes to cultural tourism because it is so readily recognisable with something that is culture's virtual antithesis - sun and beach. One suspects that Turespaña's emphasis will be on parts of Spain that have stronger claims on cultural tourism, such as the old cities of Andalucía, but whichever its priority destinations will be, the agency is looking at how culture can be better packaged. And this is the nub of the issue.
Mallorca has culture, but compared with the money-for-old-rope ease of packaging the sun and beach holiday, culture is a very different beast. To be effective, the cost of marketing cultural package tours would be high, but the returns would be questionable. To be anything other than a minor aspect of Mallorca's tourism, culture would need the kind of volume tour operators could provide, but the tour operators have other holidays and other destinations they can sell and sell more easily.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Proposal for dog-friendly beach in Puerto Pollensa
The Alternativa per Pollença is to present a motion for a pilot project to be undertaken that would allow residents and tourists to take their dogs to the beach. Pets are, as in other towns, banned from beaches in Pollensa, but the Alternativa believe the ban is too restrictive and that designated dog areas would help to attract more "quality" tourists. The pilot would be on the Can Cullerasa beach from Club Sol to the Alcúdia border.
MALLORCA TODAY - Inca mayor closes Facebook page
Just going to prove that getting closer to the citizens via social media can have its drawbacks, Inca's mayor Rafel Torres has been forced to close his Facebook page because of the insults that have been posted.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Over 450 palms in Pollensa eliminated
In a three-month period at the start of the year over 450 palm trees infested by the red palm beetle were cut down in Pollensa and moved to the Llenaire site for burial and burning. Proceedings against four homeowners who did not comply with the order to remove affected trees have been taken out.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Vending machine agent robbed in Alcúdia
A vending machine agent was held up at gunpoint in Alcúdia yesterday, the assailant demanding the keys to his car and getting away with the car and around 4,000 euros. The incident occurred at 11am yesterday by the bar Sa Trobada near to the parking area and Horta school in the town.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 16 October 2012
A bright sunny morning, temperatures at 9am fluctuating greatly - from 10 inland to a coastal 18. Should rise to around 25 generally and stay sunny. Wednesday and Thursday look pretty good; Friday and the weekend less so.
Afternoon update (18.15): A high of 23.8 on a mostly sunny day. The forecast at the end of the week looks to have improved a touch.
Afternoon update (18.15): A high of 23.8 on a mostly sunny day. The forecast at the end of the week looks to have improved a touch.
Before Tourism Stopped: Mallorca in the 1930s
A few months ago I wrote an article which considered what Mallorca's tourism might have been like if the immediate post-Civil War and post-Second World War period had not been one of Spanish insularity. My main conclusion was that it would have developed more smoothly rather than undergoing the massive shock that occurred in the 1960s and that it might, as a consequence, not have given rise to the environmental destruction which it did.
The island's tourism was disrupted by the two wars but prior to 1936 there had been the first great era of Mallorcan tourism. It started after the First World War and came to a shuddering halt when the Civil War closed Mallorca down.
This first great era was not great in terms of numbers. In 1930 there were just under 2,000 hotel beds available on Mallorca, serving an annual total of just over 20,000 tourists. But unlike now, when the discussion is about the modernisation of existing hotel stock, then it was about the building of more hotels. Between 1930 and 1935, the number of tourists doubled and the number of hotel beds increased by a third.
The wars prevented further hotel building, but what was interesting about this first great era was the fact that much of the basic resort infrastructure had begun to take shape. It might be thought that the resorts were essentially products of the tourism boom of the 1960s but they weren't. The first urbanisation was that of Ciudad Jardín, part of Playa de Palma, immediately after the First World War. Palmanova, Cala d'Or, Arenal (or Bella Vista) sprang up in the 1930s, as also did urbanisations in Puerto Alcúdia and, more surprisingly, in Alcanada and Can Picafort. The surprise with these two is that Alcanada is the only one of these early resorts which has not been subject to any serious development since, while Can Picafort's was not the main part of the resort as we now know it. Photos from the late 1950s show that there was virtually nothing in this main part; the urbanisation was primarily at the other end of the resort in Son Bauló.
The growing importance of tourism between the world wars is reflected in its economic contribution. By 1933 it accounted for 30 million pesetas annually (180,000 euros today). As an industry it was dwarfed by agriculture (87 million pesetas then, and now only just over 1% of GDP), but - and this is one of the unknowns of Mallorcan economic development - how much more swiftly might it have overtaken agriculture had it not been for the events which intervened?
It was clearly understood that tourism held the key to economic success. The Palma Chamber of Commerce referred in 1930 to tourism as the industry that is "perhaps the most prosperous and the most profitable". An engineer by the name of Antoni Parietti Coll published an article in 1930 entitled "Tourism: Mallorca's greatest and most urgent problem". He wasn't referring to tourism as a negative influence; rather to how it could be best accommodated and developed. The use of "most urgent" is revealing. Tourism had the potential for serious growth, as indicated by the doubling of tourist numbers in the first half of the 1930s, aided by a burgeoning transport infrastructure - seaplanes and shipping lines.
There were other indications of the growth in tourism and in the establishment of services to support it. The number of cruise passengers visiting Mallorca between 1930 and 1935 rose more than threefold - to over 50,000; Alcúdia acquired a golf course; excursions were available to different parts of the island (eleven pesetas would get you a day out on a bus from Palma to, for example, Pollensa, Puerto Pollensa, Formentor and back).
And there were also publications, numerous ones, all designed to take the message about the "calm" island, the "magnificent" island to a foreign tourism market. Perhaps more surprising was that there were local publications in English. The "Majorca Daily Bulletin" is fifty years old this year, but there were earlier, weekly newspapers - the "Palma Post" and "Majorca Sun and Spanish News" - as well as one in French and two in German. The title "Majorca Sun" is also interesting. Was this an early recognition of the importance, above all, of sun and beach to Mallorca's tourism?
We will never know what might have happened differently - if anything - but one thing that is clear is that when the boom of the second great era occurred Mallorca had an advantage because of what had been cultivated between the world wars.
* In writing this article, I acknowledge Bartomeu Barceló i Pons, "Història del Turisme a Mallorca" ("Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Geografia") and Antoni Vives Reus, "Historia del Fomento del Turismo de Mallorca (1905-2005)".
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The island's tourism was disrupted by the two wars but prior to 1936 there had been the first great era of Mallorcan tourism. It started after the First World War and came to a shuddering halt when the Civil War closed Mallorca down.
This first great era was not great in terms of numbers. In 1930 there were just under 2,000 hotel beds available on Mallorca, serving an annual total of just over 20,000 tourists. But unlike now, when the discussion is about the modernisation of existing hotel stock, then it was about the building of more hotels. Between 1930 and 1935, the number of tourists doubled and the number of hotel beds increased by a third.
The wars prevented further hotel building, but what was interesting about this first great era was the fact that much of the basic resort infrastructure had begun to take shape. It might be thought that the resorts were essentially products of the tourism boom of the 1960s but they weren't. The first urbanisation was that of Ciudad Jardín, part of Playa de Palma, immediately after the First World War. Palmanova, Cala d'Or, Arenal (or Bella Vista) sprang up in the 1930s, as also did urbanisations in Puerto Alcúdia and, more surprisingly, in Alcanada and Can Picafort. The surprise with these two is that Alcanada is the only one of these early resorts which has not been subject to any serious development since, while Can Picafort's was not the main part of the resort as we now know it. Photos from the late 1950s show that there was virtually nothing in this main part; the urbanisation was primarily at the other end of the resort in Son Bauló.
The growing importance of tourism between the world wars is reflected in its economic contribution. By 1933 it accounted for 30 million pesetas annually (180,000 euros today). As an industry it was dwarfed by agriculture (87 million pesetas then, and now only just over 1% of GDP), but - and this is one of the unknowns of Mallorcan economic development - how much more swiftly might it have overtaken agriculture had it not been for the events which intervened?
It was clearly understood that tourism held the key to economic success. The Palma Chamber of Commerce referred in 1930 to tourism as the industry that is "perhaps the most prosperous and the most profitable". An engineer by the name of Antoni Parietti Coll published an article in 1930 entitled "Tourism: Mallorca's greatest and most urgent problem". He wasn't referring to tourism as a negative influence; rather to how it could be best accommodated and developed. The use of "most urgent" is revealing. Tourism had the potential for serious growth, as indicated by the doubling of tourist numbers in the first half of the 1930s, aided by a burgeoning transport infrastructure - seaplanes and shipping lines.
There were other indications of the growth in tourism and in the establishment of services to support it. The number of cruise passengers visiting Mallorca between 1930 and 1935 rose more than threefold - to over 50,000; Alcúdia acquired a golf course; excursions were available to different parts of the island (eleven pesetas would get you a day out on a bus from Palma to, for example, Pollensa, Puerto Pollensa, Formentor and back).
And there were also publications, numerous ones, all designed to take the message about the "calm" island, the "magnificent" island to a foreign tourism market. Perhaps more surprising was that there were local publications in English. The "Majorca Daily Bulletin" is fifty years old this year, but there were earlier, weekly newspapers - the "Palma Post" and "Majorca Sun and Spanish News" - as well as one in French and two in German. The title "Majorca Sun" is also interesting. Was this an early recognition of the importance, above all, of sun and beach to Mallorca's tourism?
We will never know what might have happened differently - if anything - but one thing that is clear is that when the boom of the second great era occurred Mallorca had an advantage because of what had been cultivated between the world wars.
* In writing this article, I acknowledge Bartomeu Barceló i Pons, "Història del Turisme a Mallorca" ("Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Geografia") and Antoni Vives Reus, "Historia del Fomento del Turismo de Mallorca (1905-2005)".
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, October 15, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Calvià police have issued 600 fines for beach massage
The local police in Calvià have brought to an end their summer season security operation on the town's beaches during which 600 fines were issued to Chinese people offering massage on the beaches.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Son Serra yacht club members against expansion
Members of the yacht club at Son Serra de Marina have voted against the increase in the marina to include 300 new moorings. The expansion of the marina, which the regional government has given the green light to, is also opposed by ecologists and the town halls of Artà and Santa Margalida.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 15 October 2012
The storm hit around 1.30. The morning is grey and wet, 16 degrees. The worst of the weather should have passed now; the sun should come out by midday but only moderate temperatures (low 20s).
Evening update (19.45): The first really autumnal day so far. A high of just 18.9 degrees once the cloud and rain had gone and some sun kicked in. Better and warmer from tomorrow until Friday when there is likely to be more cloud and the chance of rain.
Evening update (19.45): The first really autumnal day so far. A high of just 18.9 degrees once the cloud and rain had gone and some sun kicked in. Better and warmer from tomorrow until Friday when there is likely to be more cloud and the chance of rain.
Towers Of Strength: Human castles
Certain sports are local to regions or towns. In the Highlands of Scotland they toss a caber, at Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire they roll cheese, in Ashbourne they play a game of football that can last eight hours, at Eton they play a wall game during which they never score goals, in the Basque Country they created pelota, and in Catalonia they clamber on top of each other and build human towers aka human castles. Unlike other local or regional sports, the human towers are so culturally important, no doubt to a Catalonian delight, that they have been designated by UNESCO as being part of the intangible heritage of humanity, in the same way as the Mallorcan Sibil·la chant has been.
Last weekend, the biennial human towers competition was held in the bullring in Tarragona. There is an irony in the competition being staged in a bullring. Catalonia has banned the bullfight, a sport considered symbolic of Spain, yet uses the bullfight arena for a sport symbolic of Catalonia. It is perhaps as well that they don't try and combine the two. The potential for mayhem would be enormous.
The Tarragona two-day tournament is broadcast on television. It comes with full commentary and slow-motion replays which are particularly useful for analysing any slip by the small child who is meant to get to the top of the tower (and they do sometimes slip). The arena is packed with members of competing towers, identifiable by their team colours, the terraces with supporters, many of whom, this being Catalonia, brandish suitably pro-Catalonia banners: "Catalonia is not Spain" and such like.
The Catalonian prime minister Artur Mas was one of this year's spectators; he would have been heartened by the calls for independence from the teams ("collas") and spectators. There is nothing more Catalonian than the human towers competition and no better an opportunity to broadcast Catalonian solidarity to the rest of Spain (and to the rest of the world, some of which will have been tuning in).
It takes considerable solidarity on behalf of the members of the collas to keep the towers together. It also demands courage to build a tower. This combination of solidarity and courage has been used as a metaphor for the current Catalonian struggle for independence. Laura Edgecumbe on the Trans-Iberian blog* concluded her article on the towers (castles) and the Catalan spirit thus: "Upon an ever strengthening base of grassroots support, it's conceivable that the Catalans might just one day build a new architecture on which its children can climb towards a more autonomous future".
Well possibly, but Laura seemed to have taken the whole metaphor idea to its extreme ("the towering success of the Catalan independence movement", "at risk of being toppled"; you get the picture).
Whatever the strength of the independence movement and the Catalan spirit and however much the human towers might be representative of these, the towers themselves, as with the demand for independence, have travelled in only limited amounts to other Catalan lands. Mallorca has only two collas, the Al·lots of Manacor and the Castellers de Mallorca. If you want another metaphor, then the two tower teams show that there is no real towering wish for a Catalan independence that stretches across the water to the Balearics. And in Mallorca they would not wish to be dominated by Catalonia or by human tower collas that are much stronger than any that could emerge on the island. As with football, so also with human towers; Barcelona dominate at the expense of Real Mallorca, and the Castellers de Vilafranca, winners of this year's tournament, are the Barça of the human tower world.
For photos: http://www.tarragonablog.com/2012/10/08/human-towers-annual-competition-tarragona/
* For Laura Edgecumbe's article: http://blogs.elpais.com/trans-iberian/2012/10/human-castles-a-metaphor-for-the-catalan-spirit.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Last weekend, the biennial human towers competition was held in the bullring in Tarragona. There is an irony in the competition being staged in a bullring. Catalonia has banned the bullfight, a sport considered symbolic of Spain, yet uses the bullfight arena for a sport symbolic of Catalonia. It is perhaps as well that they don't try and combine the two. The potential for mayhem would be enormous.
The Tarragona two-day tournament is broadcast on television. It comes with full commentary and slow-motion replays which are particularly useful for analysing any slip by the small child who is meant to get to the top of the tower (and they do sometimes slip). The arena is packed with members of competing towers, identifiable by their team colours, the terraces with supporters, many of whom, this being Catalonia, brandish suitably pro-Catalonia banners: "Catalonia is not Spain" and such like.
The Catalonian prime minister Artur Mas was one of this year's spectators; he would have been heartened by the calls for independence from the teams ("collas") and spectators. There is nothing more Catalonian than the human towers competition and no better an opportunity to broadcast Catalonian solidarity to the rest of Spain (and to the rest of the world, some of which will have been tuning in).
It takes considerable solidarity on behalf of the members of the collas to keep the towers together. It also demands courage to build a tower. This combination of solidarity and courage has been used as a metaphor for the current Catalonian struggle for independence. Laura Edgecumbe on the Trans-Iberian blog* concluded her article on the towers (castles) and the Catalan spirit thus: "Upon an ever strengthening base of grassroots support, it's conceivable that the Catalans might just one day build a new architecture on which its children can climb towards a more autonomous future".
Well possibly, but Laura seemed to have taken the whole metaphor idea to its extreme ("the towering success of the Catalan independence movement", "at risk of being toppled"; you get the picture).
Whatever the strength of the independence movement and the Catalan spirit and however much the human towers might be representative of these, the towers themselves, as with the demand for independence, have travelled in only limited amounts to other Catalan lands. Mallorca has only two collas, the Al·lots of Manacor and the Castellers de Mallorca. If you want another metaphor, then the two tower teams show that there is no real towering wish for a Catalan independence that stretches across the water to the Balearics. And in Mallorca they would not wish to be dominated by Catalonia or by human tower collas that are much stronger than any that could emerge on the island. As with football, so also with human towers; Barcelona dominate at the expense of Real Mallorca, and the Castellers de Vilafranca, winners of this year's tournament, are the Barça of the human tower world.
For photos: http://www.tarragonablog.com/2012/10/08/human-towers-annual-competition-tarragona/
* For Laura Edgecumbe's article: http://blogs.elpais.com/trans-iberian/2012/10/human-castles-a-metaphor-for-the-catalan-spirit.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 October 2012
A chilly morning at just about 14 degrees at 8.45am. Sunny but deteriorating later in the day when the alert for storms and rain is likely to kick in and carry on in tomorrow when winds will be up and coastal conditions will be rough as well. Today's highs up to mid-20s. The forecast for the week from Tuesday to Friday is mostly good with temperatures on the rise but cloud gathering towards the end of the week.
Afternoon update (18.30): A high of 23.2 on a mostly sunny but increasingly breezy day. Could be a rough night as the yellow alert was issued from 18.00.
Afternoon update (18.30): A high of 23.2 on a mostly sunny but increasingly breezy day. Could be a rough night as the yellow alert was issued from 18.00.
The Seasonality Code: Muro's cycling
Anyone trying to move around Playa de Muro by motor vehicle yesterday would have been inconvenienced. There was yet another cycling event. The Mallorca Masters. It was the final day of the event. As Playa de Muro is at the epicentre of cycling tourism in the north of Mallorca, it falls to the resort to host the climax of the week.
The groups of cyclists, the Trafico outriders, the cars with bikes on their roofs, the queues of traffic were all the obvious signs of what went into the Masters, but hidden away in a Playa de Muro hotel was a different event. It was in the form of a kind of speed-dating networking exercise for companies engaged in activities with winter tourism in mind; cycling obviously, but not exclusively.
This networking exercise, aka workshop, was indicative of what we are told is the "secret" of cracking the seasonality code in the north of Mallorca; indeed, the impression is given that the code has been cracked. A report of the workshop may well have been written by PR people. Given my intimate knowledge of Playa de Muro, it didn't paint a picture with which I am terribly familiar.
There has undoubtedly been some progress in cutting into the barren winter months, primarily because of cycling, but the report would have us believe that progress has been far greater than it has in fact been. "Some hotels" are now open for ten months of the year. Some? Or should that be one? Ten months? Only if you're stretching things a tad.
The secret of the seasonality code has been no more cracked in Playa de Muro than in other parts of the island where there are concentrations of cycling tourists. In fact, it has probably been cracked to less an extent in Playa de Muro. If it really had been cracked, then there would be more than the handful (and it pretty much is a handful) of businesses outside of the hotels (hotel) that are open in February; and this handful is greater than the number open in, say, December.
The head of the hoteliers association in the resort says that hotel profitability cannot be sustained by summer business alone. Well, no you wouldn't have thought that it could be, but there are plenty of hotels in Playa de Muro (32 of them in all) that have maintained the appearance of having been able to sustain profitability through summer business alone for years. In all these years, not one has actually stayed open right through the winter, and even now there is only the one that comes close to that ten months mark.
But things have caught up with some of the hotels. Those operated by the wealthy chains (and Iberostar is the chain which has the hotel open for the ten months) have the wealthy chains to support them. Not all are operated by wealthy chains, though. Hence the sale of two Eden hotels, one in Playa de Muro and one just by the boundary, to Alltours.
The resort is pinning its hopes on cycling and other winter activities, such as hiking. It's the same old offer. It's nothing new. The workshop apparently attracted 20 businesses from eight countries that were seeking to sell themselves (cycling, hiking tours, it would seem) as well as 20 local businesses, mainly hotels, seeking to sell themselves. Such representation was something but it hardly equates to a great leap forward in cracking the seasonality code.
Even if there were some movement forward, it would surely never be more than a small step as opposed to a leap. 32 hotels, many of them substantial both in terms of the amount of land they occupy and the number of places they offer; but how many would it ever be viable to open out of season? The long hoped-for golf course, about which nothing is being said at present, wouldn't make a huge difference, and it would make even less of a difference it were to now go ahead with a dedicated hotel of its own (as has been hinted that it might).
Cycling does offer some business in winter and Playa de Muro's share of the cycling market has grown. But business for whom exactly? Playa de Muro was built as a summer resort. The beach is its main purpose. The name itself is a giveaway. There will never be more than a handful of businesses, other than the odd hotel, that can justify opening in the winter.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The groups of cyclists, the Trafico outriders, the cars with bikes on their roofs, the queues of traffic were all the obvious signs of what went into the Masters, but hidden away in a Playa de Muro hotel was a different event. It was in the form of a kind of speed-dating networking exercise for companies engaged in activities with winter tourism in mind; cycling obviously, but not exclusively.
This networking exercise, aka workshop, was indicative of what we are told is the "secret" of cracking the seasonality code in the north of Mallorca; indeed, the impression is given that the code has been cracked. A report of the workshop may well have been written by PR people. Given my intimate knowledge of Playa de Muro, it didn't paint a picture with which I am terribly familiar.
There has undoubtedly been some progress in cutting into the barren winter months, primarily because of cycling, but the report would have us believe that progress has been far greater than it has in fact been. "Some hotels" are now open for ten months of the year. Some? Or should that be one? Ten months? Only if you're stretching things a tad.
The secret of the seasonality code has been no more cracked in Playa de Muro than in other parts of the island where there are concentrations of cycling tourists. In fact, it has probably been cracked to less an extent in Playa de Muro. If it really had been cracked, then there would be more than the handful (and it pretty much is a handful) of businesses outside of the hotels (hotel) that are open in February; and this handful is greater than the number open in, say, December.
The head of the hoteliers association in the resort says that hotel profitability cannot be sustained by summer business alone. Well, no you wouldn't have thought that it could be, but there are plenty of hotels in Playa de Muro (32 of them in all) that have maintained the appearance of having been able to sustain profitability through summer business alone for years. In all these years, not one has actually stayed open right through the winter, and even now there is only the one that comes close to that ten months mark.
But things have caught up with some of the hotels. Those operated by the wealthy chains (and Iberostar is the chain which has the hotel open for the ten months) have the wealthy chains to support them. Not all are operated by wealthy chains, though. Hence the sale of two Eden hotels, one in Playa de Muro and one just by the boundary, to Alltours.
The resort is pinning its hopes on cycling and other winter activities, such as hiking. It's the same old offer. It's nothing new. The workshop apparently attracted 20 businesses from eight countries that were seeking to sell themselves (cycling, hiking tours, it would seem) as well as 20 local businesses, mainly hotels, seeking to sell themselves. Such representation was something but it hardly equates to a great leap forward in cracking the seasonality code.
Even if there were some movement forward, it would surely never be more than a small step as opposed to a leap. 32 hotels, many of them substantial both in terms of the amount of land they occupy and the number of places they offer; but how many would it ever be viable to open out of season? The long hoped-for golf course, about which nothing is being said at present, wouldn't make a huge difference, and it would make even less of a difference it were to now go ahead with a dedicated hotel of its own (as has been hinted that it might).
Cycling does offer some business in winter and Playa de Muro's share of the cycling market has grown. But business for whom exactly? Playa de Muro was built as a summer resort. The beach is its main purpose. The name itself is a giveaway. There will never be more than a handful of businesses, other than the odd hotel, that can justify opening in the winter.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Significant rise in employment irregularities
Following the publicity given to employment irregularities at the Hotel Formentor and Nikki Beach, the regional government's work inspectorate says that the number of irregularities it detected between January and August rose by almost 30% over the same period last year.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 October 2012
Raining since the early hours and still raining, not cold though with temps at 9am between 17 and 20 degrees. The rain should clear and bring some brightness and highs around 24. The alert is still in place for storms, though these may now have passed. Tomorrow's forecast has deteriorated somewhat, so more risk of rain and Monday still looks poor.
Afternoon update (18.40): The rain ceased by mid-morning and led to some sun amid the cloud, an area high of just 22.1 degrees. But what have we got for tomorrow and Monday? The yellow alert is out again for storms and rain tomorrow and on Monday for the whole kitchen sink of weather in that coastal conditions will be adverse as well, so some rough seas likely.
Afternoon update (18.40): The rain ceased by mid-morning and led to some sun amid the cloud, an area high of just 22.1 degrees. But what have we got for tomorrow and Monday? The yellow alert is out again for storms and rain tomorrow and on Monday for the whole kitchen sink of weather in that coastal conditions will be adverse as well, so some rough seas likely.
The Right Words: Tourism sustainability
The Committee of the Regions is one of those European bodies about which very little is heard and about which very little is known. It has 344 members, 24 each from the four largest European countries - Germany, the UK, France and Italy - and varying numbers from other countries depending on their size. Spain has 21, and one of them is the Balearics.
The Committee has been staging one of its periodic get-togethers in Brussels. A theme of its gathering has been "making a difference", as in how Europe's regions can make a difference. And as part of the collective pursuit to learn how a difference can be made, the regions of Europe have been regaled with Balearic words of wisdom. President Bauzá has been in town.
Brushing aside, one presumes, any concerns he may have at the announcement that the public prosecutor has decided to investigate complaints that he has been engaged in the trafficking of influence (not the sort of way of making a difference the Committee would have in mind, you would have to think), José Ramón lectured the regions on the way that the Balearics are proving to be a pioneer for a new model of tourism.
A new model it may be but it is a model that is far from new in terms of its platitudes. Other regions of Europe will doubtless be familiar with them as they are the stock in trade of tourism politics regardless of country, region or islands.
What difference is the Balearics making? Tourism policy requires a new impulse to make tourism a competitive, modern, sustainable and responsible industry. These are the president's words. They come straight out of the manual of tourism platitudes known as "sustainable tourism". Politicians such as Bauzá are given a short and concise lexicon which they must learn and then regurgitate over and over in the belief that, if the same words are said often enough, people will start believing them.
There were, as part of the president's great oration, some aspects that should have required quizzing but which probably received none. For instance, as an example of the "responsible tourist model" that the Balearics are pursuing, the Rocamar hotel in Port Sóller is to be demolished. How does this qualify as being part of a responsible tourist model? The place has been abandoned for God knows how many years and it has taken them all these years to finally decide to knock the damn thing down, helped by the fact that the regional government has finally found nearly a million euros that will go to the father of the head of inspection at the tourism ministry who had lent this amount to the hotel's owner in 2005.
The plan to do something with the Rocamar predates the current government by almost a decade. The first Antich administration was going to acquire it with money from the eco-tax, but it cost too much. Part of the deal was to knock it down (and the Don Pedro in Cala San Vicente) and create a new tourist complex in Sa Ràpita in the south of the island. There is of course going to be a new tourist complex in Sa Ràpita in any event, slap bang next to Es Trenc beach, a project that has caused considerable opposition. But presumably this project is all part of the responsible tourist model that the current government has embarked upon.
The sustainable side of tourism policy, said the president, includes the conservation of posidonia sea grass meadows. I wonder if he mentioned the expansion of Son Serra de Marina's marina, widely criticised because of its potential to destroy posidonia. Or if he mentioned the growth in cruise ships and the threats they offer to posidonia. Probably not. One of the problems when it comes to regurgitating the lexicon is that "competitive, modern, sustainable and responsible" don't always amount to the same thing. He might have mentioned the floating moorings to be created in Pollensa bay, ostensibly to protect posidonia from anchors but also a nice little earner that might never be realised because boat owners will simply give the bay a wide berth in future. There's competitive for you.
Yes, there may have been some questions that the president should have been subjected to but wasn't, but he would have been in good hands in being guided in the use of the correct lexicon. The president of the Committee is also the president of Murcia and a fellow PP member. Ramón Luis Valcárcel has been on the political scene far longer than the novice Bauzá. And you don't get to become president of the Committee of the Regions without knowing the right words.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The Committee has been staging one of its periodic get-togethers in Brussels. A theme of its gathering has been "making a difference", as in how Europe's regions can make a difference. And as part of the collective pursuit to learn how a difference can be made, the regions of Europe have been regaled with Balearic words of wisdom. President Bauzá has been in town.
Brushing aside, one presumes, any concerns he may have at the announcement that the public prosecutor has decided to investigate complaints that he has been engaged in the trafficking of influence (not the sort of way of making a difference the Committee would have in mind, you would have to think), José Ramón lectured the regions on the way that the Balearics are proving to be a pioneer for a new model of tourism.
A new model it may be but it is a model that is far from new in terms of its platitudes. Other regions of Europe will doubtless be familiar with them as they are the stock in trade of tourism politics regardless of country, region or islands.
What difference is the Balearics making? Tourism policy requires a new impulse to make tourism a competitive, modern, sustainable and responsible industry. These are the president's words. They come straight out of the manual of tourism platitudes known as "sustainable tourism". Politicians such as Bauzá are given a short and concise lexicon which they must learn and then regurgitate over and over in the belief that, if the same words are said often enough, people will start believing them.
There were, as part of the president's great oration, some aspects that should have required quizzing but which probably received none. For instance, as an example of the "responsible tourist model" that the Balearics are pursuing, the Rocamar hotel in Port Sóller is to be demolished. How does this qualify as being part of a responsible tourist model? The place has been abandoned for God knows how many years and it has taken them all these years to finally decide to knock the damn thing down, helped by the fact that the regional government has finally found nearly a million euros that will go to the father of the head of inspection at the tourism ministry who had lent this amount to the hotel's owner in 2005.
The plan to do something with the Rocamar predates the current government by almost a decade. The first Antich administration was going to acquire it with money from the eco-tax, but it cost too much. Part of the deal was to knock it down (and the Don Pedro in Cala San Vicente) and create a new tourist complex in Sa Ràpita in the south of the island. There is of course going to be a new tourist complex in Sa Ràpita in any event, slap bang next to Es Trenc beach, a project that has caused considerable opposition. But presumably this project is all part of the responsible tourist model that the current government has embarked upon.
The sustainable side of tourism policy, said the president, includes the conservation of posidonia sea grass meadows. I wonder if he mentioned the expansion of Son Serra de Marina's marina, widely criticised because of its potential to destroy posidonia. Or if he mentioned the growth in cruise ships and the threats they offer to posidonia. Probably not. One of the problems when it comes to regurgitating the lexicon is that "competitive, modern, sustainable and responsible" don't always amount to the same thing. He might have mentioned the floating moorings to be created in Pollensa bay, ostensibly to protect posidonia from anchors but also a nice little earner that might never be realised because boat owners will simply give the bay a wide berth in future. There's competitive for you.
Yes, there may have been some questions that the president should have been subjected to but wasn't, but he would have been in good hands in being guided in the use of the correct lexicon. The president of the Committee is also the president of Murcia and a fellow PP member. Ramón Luis Valcárcel has been on the political scene far longer than the novice Bauzá. And you don't get to become president of the Committee of the Regions without knowing the right words.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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