Morning high (6.14am): 17.8C
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 12 August - Sun, cloud, 29C; 13 August - Sun, 30C; 14 August - Sun, 32C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southwest 3 to 5 backing East 4 to 5 around midday. Swells of between one and two metres.
A very much cooler night. Outside chance of some rain this morning. Otherwise the unsettled phase is passing.
Evening update (20.00): Cloudier than had been forecast. High of 28.4C.
Friday, August 11, 2017
What Is The Real Shock For Tourism?
Now that they've gone and done it there is almost a sense of shock. It's the immensity which can seem shocking, but do 30,000 illegal tourist rental apartments constitute immensity? This is the number that the tourism ministry reckons that there are in Mallorca.
If one assumes that these 30,000 apartments can accommodate four people, they represent 120,000 places. Another figure that the ministry has been desperate to let us know is the limit that there is to be on all (legal) tourist places on the island: 435,707 (isn't such precision a thing of wonder). The illegal apartment places therefore equate to more than a quarter of this legal figure. Or put another way, they are 25% more than there should be. Immense? I leave that to your own judgement.
More than shock, there is a sense of bewilderment. There is also, inevitably, confusion. The most bewildered are the unfortunate tourists who have booked apartments. There is no best time to introduce legislation, but the rentals' law has come in at the height of summer. People are naturally concerned that they may lose their holidays.
The Aptur holiday rentals association has issued advice to remove all illegal apartments from websites. The threat of fines will exercise many a mind. There will be owners who, to put it crudely, will be bricking it. There are of course those who argue that fines of up to forty grand won't get paid because of legal challenges and even lobbying of Brussels. Perhaps. But who is going to risk that the fines don't stick? Besides, it's not as if there weren't already fines; only that the level has been bumped up.
In isolation, the enforcement of the rentals' law wouldn't be particularly shocking. We have after all known for months that it was coming. But this enforcement isn't in isolation. The timing may be bad for poor tourists worrying about their reservations, but the law has come in against the timing of other events.
The president of the federation of travel agencies associations has described the anti-tourism protests as fascistic. The Fomento del Turismo (Mallorca Tourist Board) hasn't used the word fascist, but it has alluded to it. It has written an open letter to Arran in which it compares their protest actions (and the protests of others) to the "great tragedies of the twentieth century". The greatest of those tragedies was fascism.
The protests haven't of course gone unnoticed abroad. Abta and the European Tourism Association (the leading association for tour operators) have both commented. The foreign media have picked up on them. In Spain, they have become an issue for Congress. The Exceltur organisation is calling for an urgent meeting of the Spanish Tourism Council. And while Palma and Barcelona have been at the epicentre, San Sebastian in the Basque Country finds itself embroiled as well. Graffiti was daubed on the Basque Tourism Agency's building on Wednesday.
It could prove to be the case that this is all a flash in the pan, but the protests have an air of coordination. They aren't unique to Mallorca or Spain, but it is here where the focus is centred. It is here where the protests are becoming a matter for the state to get a grip on. The haven of safety away from terrorism in parts of the Mediterranean can appear to be less of a haven. It's terrorism without the violence, though concerns are being expressed about an escalation.
We have other issues, such as the passport-control queues, though these seem to now be being dealt with: passengers are whizzing through. Another is price. This isn't something that has suddenly emerged, given that the prices of holidays have been going up and indeed went up sharply this year. But for some tourists who are now looking ahead to 2018, there is a suddenness. Prices seem to be going through the roof.
Anecdotes on social media about giving Mallorca a miss because of the prices hardly constitute scientific research, but there are anecdotes from people who have been loyal to the island for years and years. They are looking at alternatives. At some point, the anecdotes might actually represent a critical and proven mass.
So ironically, all the fears about mass - tourism, that is - could be dealt with by the operation of the free market, the very market under attack from the protesters for having created saturation. Moreover, so it is being argued, the elimination of the illegal places could push hotel prices up even higher.
We can get wrapped up in all the agonising about a few idiots who are going around putting stickers with anti-tourism messages on hire cars, when in fact the real shock is to be seen on websites. Not adverts for holiday rentals hurriedly being deleted, but prices for holidays. Concern? Not for the government, as it will be hailing the limits on tourist numbers.
If one assumes that these 30,000 apartments can accommodate four people, they represent 120,000 places. Another figure that the ministry has been desperate to let us know is the limit that there is to be on all (legal) tourist places on the island: 435,707 (isn't such precision a thing of wonder). The illegal apartment places therefore equate to more than a quarter of this legal figure. Or put another way, they are 25% more than there should be. Immense? I leave that to your own judgement.
More than shock, there is a sense of bewilderment. There is also, inevitably, confusion. The most bewildered are the unfortunate tourists who have booked apartments. There is no best time to introduce legislation, but the rentals' law has come in at the height of summer. People are naturally concerned that they may lose their holidays.
The Aptur holiday rentals association has issued advice to remove all illegal apartments from websites. The threat of fines will exercise many a mind. There will be owners who, to put it crudely, will be bricking it. There are of course those who argue that fines of up to forty grand won't get paid because of legal challenges and even lobbying of Brussels. Perhaps. But who is going to risk that the fines don't stick? Besides, it's not as if there weren't already fines; only that the level has been bumped up.
In isolation, the enforcement of the rentals' law wouldn't be particularly shocking. We have after all known for months that it was coming. But this enforcement isn't in isolation. The timing may be bad for poor tourists worrying about their reservations, but the law has come in against the timing of other events.
The president of the federation of travel agencies associations has described the anti-tourism protests as fascistic. The Fomento del Turismo (Mallorca Tourist Board) hasn't used the word fascist, but it has alluded to it. It has written an open letter to Arran in which it compares their protest actions (and the protests of others) to the "great tragedies of the twentieth century". The greatest of those tragedies was fascism.
The protests haven't of course gone unnoticed abroad. Abta and the European Tourism Association (the leading association for tour operators) have both commented. The foreign media have picked up on them. In Spain, they have become an issue for Congress. The Exceltur organisation is calling for an urgent meeting of the Spanish Tourism Council. And while Palma and Barcelona have been at the epicentre, San Sebastian in the Basque Country finds itself embroiled as well. Graffiti was daubed on the Basque Tourism Agency's building on Wednesday.
It could prove to be the case that this is all a flash in the pan, but the protests have an air of coordination. They aren't unique to Mallorca or Spain, but it is here where the focus is centred. It is here where the protests are becoming a matter for the state to get a grip on. The haven of safety away from terrorism in parts of the Mediterranean can appear to be less of a haven. It's terrorism without the violence, though concerns are being expressed about an escalation.
We have other issues, such as the passport-control queues, though these seem to now be being dealt with: passengers are whizzing through. Another is price. This isn't something that has suddenly emerged, given that the prices of holidays have been going up and indeed went up sharply this year. But for some tourists who are now looking ahead to 2018, there is a suddenness. Prices seem to be going through the roof.
Anecdotes on social media about giving Mallorca a miss because of the prices hardly constitute scientific research, but there are anecdotes from people who have been loyal to the island for years and years. They are looking at alternatives. At some point, the anecdotes might actually represent a critical and proven mass.
So ironically, all the fears about mass - tourism, that is - could be dealt with by the operation of the free market, the very market under attack from the protesters for having created saturation. Moreover, so it is being argued, the elimination of the illegal places could push hotel prices up even higher.
We can get wrapped up in all the agonising about a few idiots who are going around putting stickers with anti-tourism messages on hire cars, when in fact the real shock is to be seen on websites. Not adverts for holiday rentals hurriedly being deleted, but prices for holidays. Concern? Not for the government, as it will be hailing the limits on tourist numbers.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 August 2017
Morning high (6.42am): 19.9C
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 11 August - Cloud, sun, 28C; 12 August - Sun, cloud, 29C; 13 August - Sun, cloud, 30C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 5 to 6 easing Variable 2 to 4 in the afternoon. Waves of three metres decreasing in the afternoon.
There has been rain and could be some more. Quite windy too. Brightening up in the afternoon.
Evening update (20.00): There was some more rain. Cleared up reasonably enough. High of 26C.
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 11 August - Cloud, sun, 28C; 12 August - Sun, cloud, 29C; 13 August - Sun, cloud, 30C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 5 to 6 easing Variable 2 to 4 in the afternoon. Waves of three metres decreasing in the afternoon.
There has been rain and could be some more. Quite windy too. Brightening up in the afternoon.
Evening update (20.00): There was some more rain. Cleared up reasonably enough. High of 26C.
The Apartment Rentals Wolves Are Howling
So, have you removed your advert for an apartment rental in Mallorca from Airbnb? Or from any one of the 83 websites in total over which the tourism ministry is hanging its sword of rental Damocles? Like the websites themselves, you are probably ok until the week after next. The ministry has given the websites a short period of grace to get their accommodation house (apartments) in order. After that, let the fines begin.
It's finally happening then. For years (at least since 1999), successive governments have issued dire warnings each summer about illegal apartment rentals. We all got so used to these stern statements of intent that we came to assume - rightly enough - that they were the crying of wolves. Not now. The wolfpack is on the prowl, and it doesn't even need to leave the office. Website A. Click. Apartment without tourism ministry registration licence number? Click. What shall we fine? Twenty grand? No, go on, let's make it 40 grand. Why not? Click and kerching! The tills of fines revenue ring in the summer air. What lovely loot for the government.
Yes, if you fail to take that advert down, you can anticipate being the provider of a nice little earner for the Balearic administration. It'll be of very little use you trying to wriggle out of it. True, there is a defence. But how can you possibly make it stick, especially as the burden of proof is all yours? It's rented out under the tenancy act, you maintain. Really? Where's the contract? This is point number one. How many of these short-term not-so-called holiday rentals have ever been formalised with a contract?
Second question. Has the visitor paid a deposit, understood to be the equivalent of a month's rent? Well, has this allegedly non-tourist done so? Erm, not as such. Third question. Can you prove that this tenant is not a tourist or traveller? You what!? This is the killer question. It will be almost impossible to prove. Indeed I struggle to see how it can be possible at all. The tenancy act defence is thus rendered totally useless. Redundant. Meaningless. Here, have a fine.
The days, therefore, of the occasional inspector from the tourism ministry or tax agency turning up and frightening tourists who were totally unaware that they were in illegal flats are more or less passed. There will probably still be some knocking on doors, but life has become so much simpler for the inspectorates. Isn't internet technology wonderful. It most certainly is. All those nice websites allowing owners to advertise their flats. All those nice websites opening their doors to the inspectors. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
Where do my sympathies lie? On both sides to varying degrees. The government had to act, especially once it became clear that it and whole communities were being eaten by Airbnb. As previously noted, the legislation wasn't going to be like it is. It's all that wonderful internet technology that is to blame. The government suddenly became aware that it existed, as it also became aware of a certain amount of social unrest and Podemos prodding it with a housing emergency pointed stick.
Owners, not all of them, have been getting away with it for years, especially the more corporate variety. Tourists, who are not and never have been to blame, were unknowing participants in an activity not entirely legal. No wonder some might have been shocked when the occasional inspector pitched up in the past. It's not as if anyone was ever going to advise them as to the legality or otherwise. They are now advised. The news of the legislation, the fines is all over the place.
For all that the government needed to intervene, there is nevertheless a sense that it has taken an almighty great sledgehammer to the nut. One of the government's problems is clear. How can it distinguish between a tenant who is a genuine family member and one who is not? I would feel very sorry for any owner who lets his or her family use a flat and gets caught up in all this. Hopefully, some common sense will prevail.
Then there is the owner with one or two apartments who has been renting out to tourists for years either in accordance with the tenancy act or not. There may have been some stretching of the law, but this type of owner now also faces being penalised.
The appetite of Airbnb, however, has meant an impression of everyone getting in on the act, skirting the law and - in certain instances - gobbling up whole portfolios of apartments. At least, though, some apartments will be made legal after the twelve-month moratorium on issuing licences. The question will be where, while certain provisions in the law will in any event automatically exclude them.
But for now the wolf is not crying. It is howling.
It's finally happening then. For years (at least since 1999), successive governments have issued dire warnings each summer about illegal apartment rentals. We all got so used to these stern statements of intent that we came to assume - rightly enough - that they were the crying of wolves. Not now. The wolfpack is on the prowl, and it doesn't even need to leave the office. Website A. Click. Apartment without tourism ministry registration licence number? Click. What shall we fine? Twenty grand? No, go on, let's make it 40 grand. Why not? Click and kerching! The tills of fines revenue ring in the summer air. What lovely loot for the government.
Yes, if you fail to take that advert down, you can anticipate being the provider of a nice little earner for the Balearic administration. It'll be of very little use you trying to wriggle out of it. True, there is a defence. But how can you possibly make it stick, especially as the burden of proof is all yours? It's rented out under the tenancy act, you maintain. Really? Where's the contract? This is point number one. How many of these short-term not-so-called holiday rentals have ever been formalised with a contract?
Second question. Has the visitor paid a deposit, understood to be the equivalent of a month's rent? Well, has this allegedly non-tourist done so? Erm, not as such. Third question. Can you prove that this tenant is not a tourist or traveller? You what!? This is the killer question. It will be almost impossible to prove. Indeed I struggle to see how it can be possible at all. The tenancy act defence is thus rendered totally useless. Redundant. Meaningless. Here, have a fine.
The days, therefore, of the occasional inspector from the tourism ministry or tax agency turning up and frightening tourists who were totally unaware that they were in illegal flats are more or less passed. There will probably still be some knocking on doors, but life has become so much simpler for the inspectorates. Isn't internet technology wonderful. It most certainly is. All those nice websites allowing owners to advertise their flats. All those nice websites opening their doors to the inspectors. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
Where do my sympathies lie? On both sides to varying degrees. The government had to act, especially once it became clear that it and whole communities were being eaten by Airbnb. As previously noted, the legislation wasn't going to be like it is. It's all that wonderful internet technology that is to blame. The government suddenly became aware that it existed, as it also became aware of a certain amount of social unrest and Podemos prodding it with a housing emergency pointed stick.
Owners, not all of them, have been getting away with it for years, especially the more corporate variety. Tourists, who are not and never have been to blame, were unknowing participants in an activity not entirely legal. No wonder some might have been shocked when the occasional inspector pitched up in the past. It's not as if anyone was ever going to advise them as to the legality or otherwise. They are now advised. The news of the legislation, the fines is all over the place.
For all that the government needed to intervene, there is nevertheless a sense that it has taken an almighty great sledgehammer to the nut. One of the government's problems is clear. How can it distinguish between a tenant who is a genuine family member and one who is not? I would feel very sorry for any owner who lets his or her family use a flat and gets caught up in all this. Hopefully, some common sense will prevail.
Then there is the owner with one or two apartments who has been renting out to tourists for years either in accordance with the tenancy act or not. There may have been some stretching of the law, but this type of owner now also faces being penalised.
The appetite of Airbnb, however, has meant an impression of everyone getting in on the act, skirting the law and - in certain instances - gobbling up whole portfolios of apartments. At least, though, some apartments will be made legal after the twelve-month moratorium on issuing licences. The question will be where, while certain provisions in the law will in any event automatically exclude them.
But for now the wolf is not crying. It is howling.
Wednesday, August 09, 2017
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 August 2017
Morning high (6.15am): 23.9C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 10 August - Cloud, sun, 27C; 11 August - Cloud, sun, 28C; 12 August - Sun, cloud, 30C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 4 to 6.
Moon shining brightly out of a mostly clear sky just before dawn. Due to cloud over later. Rain is possible overnight.
Evening update (20.45): Certainly cooler. High of 29.1C. Still on for some possible rain overnight and into tomorrow.
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 10 August - Cloud, sun, 27C; 11 August - Cloud, sun, 28C; 12 August - Sun, cloud, 30C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 4 to 6.
Moon shining brightly out of a mostly clear sky just before dawn. Due to cloud over later. Rain is possible overnight.
Evening update (20.45): Certainly cooler. High of 29.1C. Still on for some possible rain overnight and into tomorrow.
Legitimising Tourismphobia
You probably won't have heard of the Fundéu BBVA. It is a foundation that was created in 2005 by one of the main news agencies, Efe, and the BBVA bank. Fundéu stands for Fundación del Español Urgente. It coordinates its work with the Real Academia Español, the director of which is the foundation's president. The academy supplies the last word on Spanish usage; its dictionary is of biblical proportions in defining what is correct.
"Urgente" means urgent, but in the context of the foundation it has nuance. Emergent is another meaning. Unlike English, for which words are dreamt up and become common usage without any body truly determining their legitimacy or not, Spanish (like French and other languages) has a form of language arbitration. It is the academy which is the arbiter.
Efe's involvement is key to the purpose of the foundation. The news agency seeks to clarify emergent usage and how it is presented. The foundation has, therefore, issued an edict in respect of one of the new words of the moment. "Turismofobia" is perfectly legitimate usage. Moreover, it is not necessary to place it within quote marks or alternatively to italicise it. Turismofobia is here, because Efe and the foundation have decided that it is.
The anglicisation of this - tourismphobia - has been rarely used. I don't know that I can claim to having been the first to have used it, but in 2011, when I did for the first time, it most certainly was new and seemingly unheard of in English. Six years ago, however, it had emerged in Spanish. And Spain, from what I could ascertain in April last year, was still one of the very few countries to have discovered this phobia. Italy was probably in fact the only other. In that country there has most obviously been the phobia in Venice.
Being Spain, there has to be acknowledgement of separate languages. In Catalan it's the same, save for the substitution of a vowel, but Basque is something else. It is "turismo borroka", and I'm reliably informed that "borroka" means fight as opposed to phobia. The actual meaning isn't especially important; the existence of the term is what is.
The Spanish word is, in a way, somewhat misleading. Regions such as Madrid, Andalusia and the Canaries insist that "turismofobia" isn't present. But it is in Catalan-speaking regions and now also in the Basque Country. Nevertheless, the word is on the lips of many a Castellano speaker, including leading hoteliers and politicians: the national minister for tourism, Alvaro Nadal, regularly refers to it.
Accepted and repeated usage brings with it ever broader awareness and diffusion. Tourismphobia has become a social reality, even if it is impossible to say how deep the phobia is or indeed how widespread it is. But the mere fact of its media legitimacy reflects its presence. And there are those who are only too willing to exploit this presence.
Arran in Mallorca maintain that they are not about tourismphobia. Tourism is not going to disappear, they acknowledge, but it needs to be controlled and regulated. It is causing many problems, just one of which relates to workers. Their conditions need to be improved.
In truth, there aren't many sectors which would disagree with the need to improve conditions, including the hoteliers. But the Arran manifesto of expropriation of this, that and the other is quite plainly ridiculous. What will the workers be doing if a sizable chunk of tourism was to disappear? This manifesto, it needs noting, isn't Arran's. It comes from the political party the group claims not to be formally linked with - the CUP in Catalonia.
The bout of tourismphobia that has been recently witnessed is, in my opinion, as much to do with the politics of the agitating far left as it is with tourism per se. Tourism provides a useful and convenient means through which to express this agitation. There are almost quaint echoes of the chaotic situation during the Second Republic, when anarchists were as crucial to the downfall of the Republic as others. Arran are sort of current-day heirs of that anarchy.
It is no coincidence that the Basques are now in on the act. San Sebastian is a city which has witnessed significant tourism growth in recent years. Similar fears about saturation exist there as they do in Palma, but San Sebastian isn't on the same media radar as Palma or Barcelona. Hence, there is the group Sortu, who want to place it on this radar.
It is Catalans and Basques who are fuelling this phobia, and it has to be seen within the context of independence demands. The CUP isn't an irrelevant party: it has ten seats out of 135 in the Catalonian parliament. It has its agenda and it wants to spread it to Mallorca.
Tourismphobia, Efe has clarified, is here. The question is whether it is here to stay.
"Urgente" means urgent, but in the context of the foundation it has nuance. Emergent is another meaning. Unlike English, for which words are dreamt up and become common usage without any body truly determining their legitimacy or not, Spanish (like French and other languages) has a form of language arbitration. It is the academy which is the arbiter.
Efe's involvement is key to the purpose of the foundation. The news agency seeks to clarify emergent usage and how it is presented. The foundation has, therefore, issued an edict in respect of one of the new words of the moment. "Turismofobia" is perfectly legitimate usage. Moreover, it is not necessary to place it within quote marks or alternatively to italicise it. Turismofobia is here, because Efe and the foundation have decided that it is.
The anglicisation of this - tourismphobia - has been rarely used. I don't know that I can claim to having been the first to have used it, but in 2011, when I did for the first time, it most certainly was new and seemingly unheard of in English. Six years ago, however, it had emerged in Spanish. And Spain, from what I could ascertain in April last year, was still one of the very few countries to have discovered this phobia. Italy was probably in fact the only other. In that country there has most obviously been the phobia in Venice.
Being Spain, there has to be acknowledgement of separate languages. In Catalan it's the same, save for the substitution of a vowel, but Basque is something else. It is "turismo borroka", and I'm reliably informed that "borroka" means fight as opposed to phobia. The actual meaning isn't especially important; the existence of the term is what is.
The Spanish word is, in a way, somewhat misleading. Regions such as Madrid, Andalusia and the Canaries insist that "turismofobia" isn't present. But it is in Catalan-speaking regions and now also in the Basque Country. Nevertheless, the word is on the lips of many a Castellano speaker, including leading hoteliers and politicians: the national minister for tourism, Alvaro Nadal, regularly refers to it.
Accepted and repeated usage brings with it ever broader awareness and diffusion. Tourismphobia has become a social reality, even if it is impossible to say how deep the phobia is or indeed how widespread it is. But the mere fact of its media legitimacy reflects its presence. And there are those who are only too willing to exploit this presence.
Arran in Mallorca maintain that they are not about tourismphobia. Tourism is not going to disappear, they acknowledge, but it needs to be controlled and regulated. It is causing many problems, just one of which relates to workers. Their conditions need to be improved.
In truth, there aren't many sectors which would disagree with the need to improve conditions, including the hoteliers. But the Arran manifesto of expropriation of this, that and the other is quite plainly ridiculous. What will the workers be doing if a sizable chunk of tourism was to disappear? This manifesto, it needs noting, isn't Arran's. It comes from the political party the group claims not to be formally linked with - the CUP in Catalonia.
The bout of tourismphobia that has been recently witnessed is, in my opinion, as much to do with the politics of the agitating far left as it is with tourism per se. Tourism provides a useful and convenient means through which to express this agitation. There are almost quaint echoes of the chaotic situation during the Second Republic, when anarchists were as crucial to the downfall of the Republic as others. Arran are sort of current-day heirs of that anarchy.
It is no coincidence that the Basques are now in on the act. San Sebastian is a city which has witnessed significant tourism growth in recent years. Similar fears about saturation exist there as they do in Palma, but San Sebastian isn't on the same media radar as Palma or Barcelona. Hence, there is the group Sortu, who want to place it on this radar.
It is Catalans and Basques who are fuelling this phobia, and it has to be seen within the context of independence demands. The CUP isn't an irrelevant party: it has ten seats out of 135 in the Catalonian parliament. It has its agenda and it wants to spread it to Mallorca.
Tourismphobia, Efe has clarified, is here. The question is whether it is here to stay.
Tuesday, August 08, 2017
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 August 2017
Morning high (6.18am): 28.4C
Forecast high: 33C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 9 August - Sun, cloud, 29C; 10 August - Cloud, wind, 26C; 11 August - Cloud, 27C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 increasing Northeast 5 to 6 in the afternoon.
The cold front coming in from the mainland will reduce temperatures from tomorrow, but some unsettled conditions expected for today: showers possible this afternoon.
Evening update (20.00): Clouded over in the afternoon and the temperature has dropped in areas by as much as eight degrees. High of 34.5C.
Forecast high: 33C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 9 August - Sun, cloud, 29C; 10 August - Cloud, wind, 26C; 11 August - Cloud, 27C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 increasing Northeast 5 to 6 in the afternoon.
The cold front coming in from the mainland will reduce temperatures from tomorrow, but some unsettled conditions expected for today: showers possible this afternoon.
Evening update (20.00): Clouded over in the afternoon and the temperature has dropped in areas by as much as eight degrees. High of 34.5C.
The Independence Of Anti-Tourism
It is perhaps easy to over-exaggerate the anti-tourism actions of Arran. Elements of the UK media - there's a surprise - have done so by their traditional resort to hyperbole. The Palma "attack" provided useful images to support the headlines. Without the flares and the smoke, those images would not have had the same impact. A great deal of "terror" can be spread with the odd flare.
Arran, it is understood, have some 500 members in total. Thirteen of these are said to be in Mallorca. Thirteen. Hardly what you would call, to borrow a current buzzword, "massification". The group denies that it is some sort of youth wing of the Candidatura de Unidad Popular (CUP), the far-left Catalonian political party. It is part of a broader left-wing independence movement. This hasn't stopped the CUP paying fines that Arran members have incurred.
Small the numbers are, but size doesn't matter if you get the publicity right: it's all about the flares. What must have narked Arran was the fact that it initially didn't get any. Despite José Hila having said that the town hall was unaware of what took place on 22 July, one finds that hard to believe. Whether it was aware or unaware, there was a gap of more than a week before the images of the flares flared up. Arran made sure of that.
The delay may have been strategic. The release of the images were on the back of news about incidents in Barcelona. For Arran, for the CUP and others within this independence movement, the Palma restaurant attack was evidence of fraternal and coordinated promotion of independence for the Catalan Lands. The flares of Palma extended a hand of warm greeting across the Mediterranean Sea to the brotherhood in Catalonia.
The anti-tourism protests cannot, therefore, be divorced from the politics of the radical, independence-agitating left-wing. Hila, and how some might now wish he was still mayor, has been the only politician from the left to recognise the Palma incident for what it was: an act of opportunism, the framework for which was the theme of the moment - tourism saturation. Hila, careful not to be seen to be critical of partners at the town hall, also said that there needed to be strong condemnatory statements. One took this as meaning that it wasn't for him, having recently relinquished the post as mayor, to issue such statements. Eventually, his successor, Antoni Noguera, said that 22 July was "reprehensible".
But Noguera and also the tourism minister Biel Barceló (both from the same party, Més) couched whatever condemnation they were willing to display with modification. Barceló shares concerns about saturation and massification, even if the type of protest is not the way to demonstrate these concerns.
Herein, however, lies much of the rub. The political narrative of saturation that has existed over the past couple of years in Palma and Barcelona has proved to be fertile ground for unrest. Arran have merely further politicised the already political. The tardiness of response to events in both cities speaks to political sympathy for the views if not the actions of the radical left. Barcelona's mayor, Ada Colau, eventually issued a condemnation. It appeared as though it almost had to be coaxed out of her.
Over the past twenty-four months or so since new, left-wing administrations emerged in Barcelona, in Palma and at the regional Balearic government, the narrative has advanced significantly. So also have the legislative tools for supporting this. It needs remembering that when Més came into government in 2015, the party was intent on reforming rentals' legislation that had made legal apartment holiday rentals impossible. Like PSOE, Més had been critical of the previous Partido Popular government because of its hostility towards apartment rentals and its unwillingness to countenance more liberal regulation. Més, in "anti" terms, had the hoteliers in their sights.
In Barcelona, the saturation theme pre-dated the elections. After the elections, though, issues in Barcelona transferred themselves to Palma and to Mallorca. Airbnb was top of the list. The narrative and the consequent legislation have therefore moved to a situation where housing, employment, the environment, the whole concept of sustainability, coexistence between tourist and resident have converged. The Balearic legislation wasn't initially going to be as complex or as restrictive as it has turned out to be. Barceló and others were caught out by Airbnb and the political arguments emanating from Barcelona.
To all this are now added the demands for independence plus a smattering of anarchy. In Catalonia these demands are real ones. In Mallorca they are a pipedream of some on the left. But this independence desire has ratcheted up the narrative surrounding tourism. It is this which Arran are tapping into. One can over-exaggerate what happened because of the lack of independence sentiment, but a tourismphobia, promoted however unwittingly by some of Mallorca's politicians, is less exaggerated. "We are all tourists," Barceló says in defence. Yes, and so also, strangely enough, do Arran.
Arran, it is understood, have some 500 members in total. Thirteen of these are said to be in Mallorca. Thirteen. Hardly what you would call, to borrow a current buzzword, "massification". The group denies that it is some sort of youth wing of the Candidatura de Unidad Popular (CUP), the far-left Catalonian political party. It is part of a broader left-wing independence movement. This hasn't stopped the CUP paying fines that Arran members have incurred.
Small the numbers are, but size doesn't matter if you get the publicity right: it's all about the flares. What must have narked Arran was the fact that it initially didn't get any. Despite José Hila having said that the town hall was unaware of what took place on 22 July, one finds that hard to believe. Whether it was aware or unaware, there was a gap of more than a week before the images of the flares flared up. Arran made sure of that.
The delay may have been strategic. The release of the images were on the back of news about incidents in Barcelona. For Arran, for the CUP and others within this independence movement, the Palma restaurant attack was evidence of fraternal and coordinated promotion of independence for the Catalan Lands. The flares of Palma extended a hand of warm greeting across the Mediterranean Sea to the brotherhood in Catalonia.
The anti-tourism protests cannot, therefore, be divorced from the politics of the radical, independence-agitating left-wing. Hila, and how some might now wish he was still mayor, has been the only politician from the left to recognise the Palma incident for what it was: an act of opportunism, the framework for which was the theme of the moment - tourism saturation. Hila, careful not to be seen to be critical of partners at the town hall, also said that there needed to be strong condemnatory statements. One took this as meaning that it wasn't for him, having recently relinquished the post as mayor, to issue such statements. Eventually, his successor, Antoni Noguera, said that 22 July was "reprehensible".
But Noguera and also the tourism minister Biel Barceló (both from the same party, Més) couched whatever condemnation they were willing to display with modification. Barceló shares concerns about saturation and massification, even if the type of protest is not the way to demonstrate these concerns.
Herein, however, lies much of the rub. The political narrative of saturation that has existed over the past couple of years in Palma and Barcelona has proved to be fertile ground for unrest. Arran have merely further politicised the already political. The tardiness of response to events in both cities speaks to political sympathy for the views if not the actions of the radical left. Barcelona's mayor, Ada Colau, eventually issued a condemnation. It appeared as though it almost had to be coaxed out of her.
Over the past twenty-four months or so since new, left-wing administrations emerged in Barcelona, in Palma and at the regional Balearic government, the narrative has advanced significantly. So also have the legislative tools for supporting this. It needs remembering that when Més came into government in 2015, the party was intent on reforming rentals' legislation that had made legal apartment holiday rentals impossible. Like PSOE, Més had been critical of the previous Partido Popular government because of its hostility towards apartment rentals and its unwillingness to countenance more liberal regulation. Més, in "anti" terms, had the hoteliers in their sights.
In Barcelona, the saturation theme pre-dated the elections. After the elections, though, issues in Barcelona transferred themselves to Palma and to Mallorca. Airbnb was top of the list. The narrative and the consequent legislation have therefore moved to a situation where housing, employment, the environment, the whole concept of sustainability, coexistence between tourist and resident have converged. The Balearic legislation wasn't initially going to be as complex or as restrictive as it has turned out to be. Barceló and others were caught out by Airbnb and the political arguments emanating from Barcelona.
To all this are now added the demands for independence plus a smattering of anarchy. In Catalonia these demands are real ones. In Mallorca they are a pipedream of some on the left. But this independence desire has ratcheted up the narrative surrounding tourism. It is this which Arran are tapping into. One can over-exaggerate what happened because of the lack of independence sentiment, but a tourismphobia, promoted however unwittingly by some of Mallorca's politicians, is less exaggerated. "We are all tourists," Barceló says in defence. Yes, and so also, strangely enough, do Arran.
Monday, August 07, 2017
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 August 2017
Morning high (7.11am): 22.4C
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 8 August - Sun, cloud, 33C; 9 August - Sun, cloud, 29C; 10 August - Cloud, 29C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 3 to 4 veering South in the afternoon.
A new alert for high temperatures again today.
Evening update (20.45): High of 36.1C.
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 8 August - Sun, cloud, 33C; 9 August - Sun, cloud, 29C; 10 August - Cloud, 29C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 3 to 4 veering South in the afternoon.
A new alert for high temperatures again today.
Evening update (20.45): High of 36.1C.
The Present Day Remains Of Gabriel Alomar
August isn't always like this. It wasn't, for example, in 1936. The heat of high summer was the hell of war. A victim of that conflict was Gabriel Alomar Villalonga. He wasn't a victim through death but, like many others, through exile.
Alomar was born in Palma in 1873. He grew up in Mallorca but was to leave the island and move to Barcelona. He was to become a journalist, a writer, a politician and a diplomat. Mallorca couldn't satisfy his views. It was a conservative land. It is less so now. In Barcelona he was able to join the movement for Catalan nationalism, one that nowadays has ambitions for enveloping Mallorca and the Balearics in a mythical territory - the Catalan Lands. Enduring conservatism of the island, diminished to a degree, today supplies only modest incentive for such ambitions.
Before the war, Alomar became the ambassador to Italy for the Second Republic: Italy, a country gripped by fascism. Alomar would have witnessed at first hand something of what was to overwhelm Mallorca and Spain. When the war broke out, Alomar was back in Spain and in Madrid, for the time being still the seat of government for the Republicans. He signed up to the manifesto of adherence by Mallorcan intellectuals to the culture of Catalonia and to the broader manifesto of Catalans in favour of the Republic. In 1937 he went to Cairo as the commercial attache. It was to prove to be a fortuitous appointment, though he was to die in Cairo on the seventh of August 1941 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery.
His name was largely forgotten, but it was to be remembered as the nascent revival of Catalan culture in Mallorca took its first tentative steps under Franco: the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB) came into being in 1962. Alomar had been one of the standard bearers of Catalan Republicanism, and when the Franco regime ended, his name was well and truly revived.
Thirty-six years after his death, his remains were brought to Mallorca. They arrived in 1977 on an August day that coincided with when he had died. Around one hundred people gathered in silence at the airport. The cask was covered in the Catalan flag, and the mayor, Paulí Buchens, handed it to Alomar's son, Victor. He said that the burial of the remains in the cemetery of Palma should be a simple act not to be exploited by any particular political group. "My father is heritage of the history and people of the islands."
As tourists flew into Mallorca in that August forty summers ago, they would have had no knowledge of this ceremony or of Alomar. Tourism followed a path quite separate from the recent history of the island. Tourism wasn't totally divorced from the island's culture, but the culture it was served was mainly that as it had long been: the trips to Valldemossa and such like. Tourism was also on its branch line of development, one distinct from the environment. Forty summers on, and there is vastly greater awareness of all these, and the awareness that was to be fostered for tourism and tourists owes a great deal to what happened in that summer. Alomar's remains were just one aspect.
In June of 1977 the first elections of the democratic era were held. Against this background there was a whiff of revolution. In July of that year, as an example, the magazine of the federation of revolutionary communist youth groups was demanding that its voice be heard and was advocating advances in sexuality and ecology. A group calling itself "Denúncia i Control Contra la Destrucció Ecològica" was formed. The environmentalists GOB were to the fore in the occupation of the island of Dragonera, protesting at proposed development. Police confronted some 500 Dragonera protesters in Palma's Plaça Espanya. Rubber bullets were fired.
It was a summer that marked a watershed. Environmental awareness was raised to a level that it had never been, but there was also the confirmation of the presence of the counter-establishment, which today finds expression through at least some of the island's politicians. Gabriel Alomar's remains were symbolic. No one political party did claim them. But at the meeting on 6 August that was held to organise the return of the remains, the parties were joined by various groups - the OCB, GOB, the Congress of Catalan Culture. A cask of remains was a symbol of the future, and in a sleepy August in 2017 it is also a symbol of the present.
* Photo of Gabriel Alomar from Wikipedia.
Sunday, August 06, 2017
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 August 2017
Morning high (7.05am): 26.5C
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 7 August - Sun, 33C; 8 August - Cloud, 32C; 9 August - Sun, cloud, 29C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 4 to 5 easing 3 by the evening. Swells of one to two metres.
Forecast for the coming week currently suggesting a notable drop in temperature on Thursday. We'll see. As for today, more of the same.
Evening update (20.15): Breezier and not nearly as hot. High of 30.6C and little difference inland and on the coasts.
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 7 August - Sun, 33C; 8 August - Cloud, 32C; 9 August - Sun, cloud, 29C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 4 to 5 easing 3 by the evening. Swells of one to two metres.
Forecast for the coming week currently suggesting a notable drop in temperature on Thursday. We'll see. As for today, more of the same.
Evening update (20.15): Breezier and not nearly as hot. High of 30.6C and little difference inland and on the coasts.
The High Summer High Jinks Of Cabrera
You know how it is. You're a member of an everyday European royal family and you're swanning around on your modest yacht. You're admiring the turquoise, crystal-clear waters of the marine reserve national park of Cabrera. You look admiringly at the velvety white sands of the small archipelago's beaches. But you know that you can't go and "privatise" these beaches by installing some handsome tents and loungers because some oik from Terraferida will be lurking in the undergrowth with a smartphone.
So, you continue on your untroubled way. What about a picnic on board? A little light lobster washed down with some Moët Chandon, for example? Very agreeable. Your man servant is preparing the dish and chilling the champagne, and then what goes and happens? The Guardia Civil happens, that's what. The force's marine service roars up to your yacht, takes one look and apologises. "Sorry, your Majesty. We mistook you for being Algerian. You haven't by any chance seen any illegals, have you?" "They went that-a-way."
With this, the Guardia takes off in hot pursuit of north Africans in far less modest crafts. Hundreds of them, all milling around Cabrera in the forlorn expectation of hitching a ride to Palma. If you're going to land illegally, Cabrera is really the last place to choose. You might continue on your way to Colonia Sant Jordi on your little boat, but you might be forced to fork out an arm and a leg for the eco-friendly vessel that normally does the crossing. And that'll blow a massive hole in the budget for eventually getting the train, having also taken the ferry, and heading for Marseille (other French destinations are possible).
Following this brief disturbance, you return to your tranquil navigation only to then get a message on your Twitter feed. It's from Vince Vidal, he of the regional environment ministry. To your horror, Vince has issued a decree: "The days of Moët and lobster in Cabrera have passed." Nervously, you look around at other modest yachts and wonder if the Terraferida/GOB oiks have commandeered one of them and are aiming long lenses in search of Moët and lobster evidence.
Once more, though, you are able to relax. Vince is aiming his ban at the Partido Popular. Given his Mésite eco-nationalist credentials, you should of course have realised that it was the PP incurring his wrath. And Vince, let's be clear (one assumes) is not a champagne and lobster man: more frito (an abundance thereof, which should of course be referred to as frit rather than frito) and a crate of Saint Mick.
And what exactly have the PP done to awaken Vince from a hard-earned, high-summer slumber? Well, to be honest, the PP haven't really done anything. But a bloke called Joan Pocoví has. Not being intimate with the minutiae of Mallorcan politics and business, you request your man servant to consult Google. It turns out that this Joan fellow once paid for PP politicos to indulge themselves in Moët and lobster in Cabrera. And one of those politicos is the now leader of the PP in the Balearics, Biel Company, who was Vince's predecessor as environment minister; he held this post when enjoying the bubbly.
Joan and Biel, it would seem, are mates. Joan, moreover, is on the Hacienda's radar in respect of the PP's dodgy, so-called B accounts. Vince has been informed that this Joan sort had apparently co-opted a worker with the environment ministry's Ibanat agency to give him a ride to Cabrera. Which was the sort of thing that Biel had also once done when carrying the cool boxes with the champers and the lobster. Vince was incandescent: "We will take decisive measures: we will start by punishing the worker who messes up the good work of Ibanat."
You, being a liberal type of royal and a generally good egg, think that this sounds a tad over the top. But no, Vince is determined to expunge the memory of the Moët days and insists that he will not tolerate this type of behaviour.
Later on, you learn that Biel believes that there have been half truths. "I am not used to commenting on half truths," he states, despite the photographic evidence of Joan arriving at Cabrera. The PP, you further discover, have gone into full-on social media mode. Their "artillery" is taking aim of Vince, who responds by forgetting his normal Catalan and giving a boost to trilingual teaching. In English, he says: "Keep Calm and Love Your Company."
What can this mean, you wonder, especially as you are pretty handy when it comes to the old Anglo. You're unsure, as is mostly everyone else. And despite Vince's fury and the PP artillery, no one much pays this latest champagne moment a great deal of attention. It is high summer after all. Silly season and all that, as well as being a time to take to the water: royal families, PP benefactors and Algerians. "No, they went that-a-way."
So, you continue on your untroubled way. What about a picnic on board? A little light lobster washed down with some Moët Chandon, for example? Very agreeable. Your man servant is preparing the dish and chilling the champagne, and then what goes and happens? The Guardia Civil happens, that's what. The force's marine service roars up to your yacht, takes one look and apologises. "Sorry, your Majesty. We mistook you for being Algerian. You haven't by any chance seen any illegals, have you?" "They went that-a-way."
With this, the Guardia takes off in hot pursuit of north Africans in far less modest crafts. Hundreds of them, all milling around Cabrera in the forlorn expectation of hitching a ride to Palma. If you're going to land illegally, Cabrera is really the last place to choose. You might continue on your way to Colonia Sant Jordi on your little boat, but you might be forced to fork out an arm and a leg for the eco-friendly vessel that normally does the crossing. And that'll blow a massive hole in the budget for eventually getting the train, having also taken the ferry, and heading for Marseille (other French destinations are possible).
Following this brief disturbance, you return to your tranquil navigation only to then get a message on your Twitter feed. It's from Vince Vidal, he of the regional environment ministry. To your horror, Vince has issued a decree: "The days of Moët and lobster in Cabrera have passed." Nervously, you look around at other modest yachts and wonder if the Terraferida/GOB oiks have commandeered one of them and are aiming long lenses in search of Moët and lobster evidence.
Once more, though, you are able to relax. Vince is aiming his ban at the Partido Popular. Given his Mésite eco-nationalist credentials, you should of course have realised that it was the PP incurring his wrath. And Vince, let's be clear (one assumes) is not a champagne and lobster man: more frito (an abundance thereof, which should of course be referred to as frit rather than frito) and a crate of Saint Mick.
And what exactly have the PP done to awaken Vince from a hard-earned, high-summer slumber? Well, to be honest, the PP haven't really done anything. But a bloke called Joan Pocoví has. Not being intimate with the minutiae of Mallorcan politics and business, you request your man servant to consult Google. It turns out that this Joan fellow once paid for PP politicos to indulge themselves in Moët and lobster in Cabrera. And one of those politicos is the now leader of the PP in the Balearics, Biel Company, who was Vince's predecessor as environment minister; he held this post when enjoying the bubbly.
Joan and Biel, it would seem, are mates. Joan, moreover, is on the Hacienda's radar in respect of the PP's dodgy, so-called B accounts. Vince has been informed that this Joan sort had apparently co-opted a worker with the environment ministry's Ibanat agency to give him a ride to Cabrera. Which was the sort of thing that Biel had also once done when carrying the cool boxes with the champers and the lobster. Vince was incandescent: "We will take decisive measures: we will start by punishing the worker who messes up the good work of Ibanat."
You, being a liberal type of royal and a generally good egg, think that this sounds a tad over the top. But no, Vince is determined to expunge the memory of the Moët days and insists that he will not tolerate this type of behaviour.
Later on, you learn that Biel believes that there have been half truths. "I am not used to commenting on half truths," he states, despite the photographic evidence of Joan arriving at Cabrera. The PP, you further discover, have gone into full-on social media mode. Their "artillery" is taking aim of Vince, who responds by forgetting his normal Catalan and giving a boost to trilingual teaching. In English, he says: "Keep Calm and Love Your Company."
What can this mean, you wonder, especially as you are pretty handy when it comes to the old Anglo. You're unsure, as is mostly everyone else. And despite Vince's fury and the PP artillery, no one much pays this latest champagne moment a great deal of attention. It is high summer after all. Silly season and all that, as well as being a time to take to the water: royal families, PP benefactors and Algerians. "No, they went that-a-way."
Saturday, August 05, 2017
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 5 August 2017
Morning high (6.30am): 23.6C
Forecast high: 33C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 6 August - Sun, 30C; 7 August - Sun, 32C; 8 August - Sun, cloud, 32C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 2 to 4.
The alert for high temperatures and heat risk is still in place.
Evening update (20.15): Inland high of 35.5C; on the coasts, 33C.
Forecast high: 33C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 6 August - Sun, 30C; 7 August - Sun, 32C; 8 August - Sun, cloud, 32C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 2 to 4.
The alert for high temperatures and heat risk is still in place.
Evening update (20.15): Inland high of 35.5C; on the coasts, 33C.
The Impact Of Rentals' Legislation On Pollensa
The Council of Mallorca has a plan for intervention in tourist areas. The acronym is PIAT. This plan forms the basis of decisions to be made on the allocation of zones for additional tourist places under the recent holiday rentals' legislation.
Included in this plan is a map of what is described as the "non-regulated offer" of places for tourist stays. There are certain hotspots, varying shades of orange and red showing areas with the highest number of non-regulated (aka illegal) places per square kilometre. The centre of Palma is the hottest. The red becomes purple: plus 1,000 per square kilometre. Playa de Palma and parts of Calvia have orange or red. Apart from these, the greatest concentrations of darker oranges turning red are on the bays of Alcudia and Pollensa. Most of Alcudia is covered with red or orange. Can Picafort has a red area. Puerto Pollensa is red. This denotes between 250 and 500 illegal places per square kilometre.
The Council says that the two northern bay areas, Palma and Playa de Palma are the island's leaders when it comes to illegal offer. The Council and the government's tourism ministry have them all in their sights. But neither Puerto Alcudia nor Puerto Pollensa (Playa de Muro and Can Picafort for that matter) has been categorised as a so-called mature resort. The ones which are include Playa de Palma, Magalluf and Cala Millor. In these resorts there can be no increase in the overall number of tourist places (hotels, rentals, anything). While this doesn't exclude there being new holiday rentals' places, it makes the creation of new ones very complicated. In order for there to be new ones, the equivalent number have to be removed from the market.
So this situation doesn't obtain in the bay areas. Nor does a further categorisation - that of being "saturated". The mature resorts are all said to be saturated, i.e. they have enough tourist places as it is. In theory, therefore, and subject to the principle of zoning, there can be additional tourist places, e.g. rentals, once the twelve-month hiatus with registration for licences ends.
This may sound like good news, but not necessarily. Resorts such as Magalluf and Cala Millor already know (more or less) where they stand. The bay areas do not. Reading between the lines, one feels that the Council and the tourism ministry have something up their sleeves, and that is because of the high level of illegal offer.
There are marked differences between the bays in terms of accommodation. In Alcudia, the percentage of legal holiday rentals' places is around 20% of the number of hotel places. Alcudia has more than three times the number of hotel places in Pollensa, where, uniquely, the number of legal rentals' places is higher than hotel places.
The Council and the tourism ministry may just take the view that the roughly 9,000 legal places in Pollensa are sufficient. Puerto Pollensa could simply be excluded from the zones. This wouldn't mean the loss of existing legal places but it would mean that there can't be any more.
There is of course a determination to get to grips with the so-called illegal offer. Underlying this is a political necessity to not be seen to be giving a form of amnesty to what has been illegal. The legislation, again in theory, offers the opportunity of legalising apartments that have been marketed "outside the law". The practice, one feels, will be somewhat different. The councillor for land, Mercedes Garrido, who is responsible for defining the zones, has pretty much said that currently illegal accommodation will remain so. In other words, there won't be the chance of making it legal.
The Council hasn't defined exactly how many illegal places there are in Pollensa or Alcudia. It has only given the range per square kilometre. One can, though, make an estimation. The municipality of Pollensa has a land area of almost 152 square kilometres. Not all of Puerto Pollensa or indeed Pollensa and Cala San Vicente are in the 250-500 bracket. Allowing for this and taking a lower average of, say, 150, the total of illegal places would be more than 22,000, a figure which is almost certainly inaccurate. But would around half this number, the majority in Puerto Pollensa, be unrealistic? At an average of four places per property, if these are added to the existing legal supply, one begins to understand why there is something of a housing shortage in a municipality with some 11,500 actual dwellings.
Over the years, and especially once the 1999 tourism law was passed which prohibited apartment rentals, it has constantly been said of successive governments getting tough on the illegal offer that this would have a serious impact on Pollensa's economy. This impact is drawing closer.
The illegal supply in Pollensa has in a sense filled the void of the comparatively low number of hotels. With all the various provisions in the legislation at their disposal, such as overcoming the tenancy act loophole (which admittedly is a nonsense), the Council and the tourism ministry could eliminate a significant chunk of accommodation. And there would be little prospect of a new government of the right - the PP - reversing this, given its previous track record on apartment rentals. The impact is about to be felt.
Included in this plan is a map of what is described as the "non-regulated offer" of places for tourist stays. There are certain hotspots, varying shades of orange and red showing areas with the highest number of non-regulated (aka illegal) places per square kilometre. The centre of Palma is the hottest. The red becomes purple: plus 1,000 per square kilometre. Playa de Palma and parts of Calvia have orange or red. Apart from these, the greatest concentrations of darker oranges turning red are on the bays of Alcudia and Pollensa. Most of Alcudia is covered with red or orange. Can Picafort has a red area. Puerto Pollensa is red. This denotes between 250 and 500 illegal places per square kilometre.
The Council says that the two northern bay areas, Palma and Playa de Palma are the island's leaders when it comes to illegal offer. The Council and the government's tourism ministry have them all in their sights. But neither Puerto Alcudia nor Puerto Pollensa (Playa de Muro and Can Picafort for that matter) has been categorised as a so-called mature resort. The ones which are include Playa de Palma, Magalluf and Cala Millor. In these resorts there can be no increase in the overall number of tourist places (hotels, rentals, anything). While this doesn't exclude there being new holiday rentals' places, it makes the creation of new ones very complicated. In order for there to be new ones, the equivalent number have to be removed from the market.
So this situation doesn't obtain in the bay areas. Nor does a further categorisation - that of being "saturated". The mature resorts are all said to be saturated, i.e. they have enough tourist places as it is. In theory, therefore, and subject to the principle of zoning, there can be additional tourist places, e.g. rentals, once the twelve-month hiatus with registration for licences ends.
This may sound like good news, but not necessarily. Resorts such as Magalluf and Cala Millor already know (more or less) where they stand. The bay areas do not. Reading between the lines, one feels that the Council and the tourism ministry have something up their sleeves, and that is because of the high level of illegal offer.
There are marked differences between the bays in terms of accommodation. In Alcudia, the percentage of legal holiday rentals' places is around 20% of the number of hotel places. Alcudia has more than three times the number of hotel places in Pollensa, where, uniquely, the number of legal rentals' places is higher than hotel places.
The Council and the tourism ministry may just take the view that the roughly 9,000 legal places in Pollensa are sufficient. Puerto Pollensa could simply be excluded from the zones. This wouldn't mean the loss of existing legal places but it would mean that there can't be any more.
There is of course a determination to get to grips with the so-called illegal offer. Underlying this is a political necessity to not be seen to be giving a form of amnesty to what has been illegal. The legislation, again in theory, offers the opportunity of legalising apartments that have been marketed "outside the law". The practice, one feels, will be somewhat different. The councillor for land, Mercedes Garrido, who is responsible for defining the zones, has pretty much said that currently illegal accommodation will remain so. In other words, there won't be the chance of making it legal.
The Council hasn't defined exactly how many illegal places there are in Pollensa or Alcudia. It has only given the range per square kilometre. One can, though, make an estimation. The municipality of Pollensa has a land area of almost 152 square kilometres. Not all of Puerto Pollensa or indeed Pollensa and Cala San Vicente are in the 250-500 bracket. Allowing for this and taking a lower average of, say, 150, the total of illegal places would be more than 22,000, a figure which is almost certainly inaccurate. But would around half this number, the majority in Puerto Pollensa, be unrealistic? At an average of four places per property, if these are added to the existing legal supply, one begins to understand why there is something of a housing shortage in a municipality with some 11,500 actual dwellings.
Over the years, and especially once the 1999 tourism law was passed which prohibited apartment rentals, it has constantly been said of successive governments getting tough on the illegal offer that this would have a serious impact on Pollensa's economy. This impact is drawing closer.
The illegal supply in Pollensa has in a sense filled the void of the comparatively low number of hotels. With all the various provisions in the legislation at their disposal, such as overcoming the tenancy act loophole (which admittedly is a nonsense), the Council and the tourism ministry could eliminate a significant chunk of accommodation. And there would be little prospect of a new government of the right - the PP - reversing this, given its previous track record on apartment rentals. The impact is about to be felt.
Friday, August 04, 2017
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 4 August 2017
Morning high (6.42am): 23.3C
Forecast high: 32C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 5 August - Sun, 32C; 6 August - Sun, 30C; 7 August - Sun, 32C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 2 to 3 backing North 2 to 4 during the morning.
A cooler morning by comparison with yesterday's record temperatures. Yellow alerts in place for heat for today and tomorrow, but the wind pattern is shifting northerly (today at least), which should reduce the oppressive sensation.
Evening update (19.45): Still hot. High of 35C.
Forecast high: 32C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 5 August - Sun, 32C; 6 August - Sun, 30C; 7 August - Sun, 32C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 2 to 3 backing North 2 to 4 during the morning.
A cooler morning by comparison with yesterday's record temperatures. Yellow alerts in place for heat for today and tomorrow, but the wind pattern is shifting northerly (today at least), which should reduce the oppressive sensation.
Evening update (19.45): Still hot. High of 35C.
Condemn The Silence: Anti-Tourist Attacks
So, where exactly were certain politicians and associations on Wednesday? The news had broken on Tuesday about the Arran anti-tourist attack in Palma on 22 July, but the response was silence. During Wednesday morning I trawled through Twitter and the accounts of Biel Barceló; David Abril (one of the most prominent tourism spokespeople in Més); Més itself; Podemos; Aurora Jhardi of Podemos in Palma; Antoni Noguera, the mayor of Palma; GOB; Terraferida. Not one single mention. When the government finally put up the director-general of tourism, Pilar Carbonell, to make an utterance, she was hardly enraged. Yes, the government rejected the attack, but to then witter on about the need for social and economic balance (which the government is seeking) really didn't cut it.
Was everyone on holiday? Well, Barceló wasn't. He was in the midst of a media interview. Snatches of this appeared on his Twitter account. The holiday rentals' bill will bring guarantees for all those involved; the island councils have been given time for rentals' zoning; the number of tourist places will be controlled ... . Blah, blah, blah. How many more times does he need to say this? Meanwhile, where Arran were concerned, zilch.
Another question that needs asking is: why was this attack with confetti and flares on a restaurant in Palma not mentioned before? It only came to light because Arran made it come to light. More than a week had elapsed. Did no one know about it? The police certainly did, as also did the restaurant manager, various restaurant guests, and undoubtedly a whole host of others, including the owners of boats that were also affected. Palma's Moll Vell is hardly a quiet little backwater.
One has to assume that the town hall was aware of what happened. Was it silent because it didn't wish to draw attention, fearing harm to Palma's tourist image? That is possible, but once it was known about, there needed to be a swift and stern response. There wasn't.
Barcelona town hall had been likewise reticent with regard to the Arran attack on a sightseeing bus. Stung by critical media comment and another attack - the slashing of the tyres of bikes for tourist hire - it suddenly sprang into life, announcing "zero tolerance". Meanwhile in Palma.
Arran are a very, very minority group. Previously, they have been known for attacks against the monarchy, such as the burning of a photo of the King in Palma last December. They have now latched on, in opportunist fashion, to tourism. They are seeking publicity, quite obviously so. They can be ignored for being juvenile irritant idiots, but publicity-seeking by small minorities has the potential of assuming greater significance. Arran's interventions have meant an escalation of so-called "tourismphobia". They as an organisation may be rejected by virtually everyone, but that doesn't make them or the sentiment go away. The failure of the town hall and government (and others) to have issued a forceful condemnation on Wednesday merits as much condemnation as the attack itself.
In business, they refer to crisis management and the process of communications for dealing with PR disasters. The government and the town hall have no such process. Arran can be exaggerated and will be exaggerated, but this doesn't mean silence. It means dealing with negative PR. Questions must be asked of the lamentable lack of crisis management, and these questions become even more pressing as other regional governments - Andalusia, Madrid, Valencia - have all had their say about events. So, why not President Armengol or Vice-President (and tourism minister) Barceló?
Was everyone on holiday? Well, Barceló wasn't. He was in the midst of a media interview. Snatches of this appeared on his Twitter account. The holiday rentals' bill will bring guarantees for all those involved; the island councils have been given time for rentals' zoning; the number of tourist places will be controlled ... . Blah, blah, blah. How many more times does he need to say this? Meanwhile, where Arran were concerned, zilch.
Another question that needs asking is: why was this attack with confetti and flares on a restaurant in Palma not mentioned before? It only came to light because Arran made it come to light. More than a week had elapsed. Did no one know about it? The police certainly did, as also did the restaurant manager, various restaurant guests, and undoubtedly a whole host of others, including the owners of boats that were also affected. Palma's Moll Vell is hardly a quiet little backwater.
One has to assume that the town hall was aware of what happened. Was it silent because it didn't wish to draw attention, fearing harm to Palma's tourist image? That is possible, but once it was known about, there needed to be a swift and stern response. There wasn't.
Barcelona town hall had been likewise reticent with regard to the Arran attack on a sightseeing bus. Stung by critical media comment and another attack - the slashing of the tyres of bikes for tourist hire - it suddenly sprang into life, announcing "zero tolerance". Meanwhile in Palma.
Arran are a very, very minority group. Previously, they have been known for attacks against the monarchy, such as the burning of a photo of the King in Palma last December. They have now latched on, in opportunist fashion, to tourism. They are seeking publicity, quite obviously so. They can be ignored for being juvenile irritant idiots, but publicity-seeking by small minorities has the potential of assuming greater significance. Arran's interventions have meant an escalation of so-called "tourismphobia". They as an organisation may be rejected by virtually everyone, but that doesn't make them or the sentiment go away. The failure of the town hall and government (and others) to have issued a forceful condemnation on Wednesday merits as much condemnation as the attack itself.
In business, they refer to crisis management and the process of communications for dealing with PR disasters. The government and the town hall have no such process. Arran can be exaggerated and will be exaggerated, but this doesn't mean silence. It means dealing with negative PR. Questions must be asked of the lamentable lack of crisis management, and these questions become even more pressing as other regional governments - Andalusia, Madrid, Valencia - have all had their say about events. So, why not President Armengol or Vice-President (and tourism minister) Barceló?
Thursday, August 03, 2017
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 3 August 2017
Morning high (6.46am): 34.3C
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 4 August - Sun, 32C; 5 August - Sun, 33C; 6 August - Sun, 31C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Southeast 2 to 4.
You would think that records have been set for overnight temperatures. It had in fact been up to 36 locally around 2am. Amber alert for heat today.
Evening update (20.15): Sa Pobla has banged out another 40.5C high today. Coastal high of 39C. At quarter past eight, still up around 34-35C.
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 4 August - Sun, 32C; 5 August - Sun, 33C; 6 August - Sun, 31C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Southeast 2 to 4.
You would think that records have been set for overnight temperatures. It had in fact been up to 36 locally around 2am. Amber alert for heat today.
Evening update (20.15): Sa Pobla has banged out another 40.5C high today. Coastal high of 39C. At quarter past eight, still up around 34-35C.
The Deserts Of Summer
It has been quite hot recently, which is an understatement. The maximum (and this article was written on Tuesday) has been 40.5C. This was in Sa Pobla on Sunday. Sa Pobla is typically one of the hottest of weather hotspots on the island, although it doesn't enjoy (if that's the right word) the honour of having registered the all-time record. Its neighbour Muro achieved this in July 1994: the highest official temperature ever in Mallorca was 44.2C. It was that hot that on the same day - 4 July - Lluc in the mountains sweltered with 42.6C.
We are of course regaled with tall tales of current temperatures having matched Muro's record or even surpassed it. Quite probably so, if the wrong measure - direct sunlight - is taken. There can seem to be almost a desire to claim such exceptionally high temperatures as some type of badge of honour. Look, it's 45C!
Be careful what you wish for, and all that. At least in Mallorca it has never got as hot as on the mainland. Unreliable measures suggest that 50C was registered in Seville in 1876 and 1881. The more reliable ones suggest that the highest was recorded last month: 47.3C in Montoro, Cordoba. In 1994, Murcia knocked out 47.2C.
The Aemet met office, bless it, issues its long-range forecasts for the summer and is always suitably vague. This summer's effort said that the heat would be normal, that there would be the odd heatwave and that there could be a certain instability from the middle of August. Never!? Who would ever have thought that? For the record, 15 August two years ago was that bad that the Can Picafort duck swim had to be cancelled. The rain wasn't the problem; the mad state of the sea was.
The question is - what is normal? Despite the mid-August hiccup in 2015, that was a very hot summer. So was 2016. It's possible that this one could eclipse all others, and the pattern since May has been very similar to the unbearable summer of 2003, which was so hot (and not just in Mallorca and Spain) that people were expiring. Prior to 2003, one can go back to the phenomenal heatwave of 1994 and also to 1983 to find examples of very hot summers.
Because there have been exceptional summers in the past - the ones of 1876 and 1881 must have been, even if the records were unreliable - are the summers now being experienced just one of those things that nature serves up? Perhaps they are. Or perhaps not.
Mallorca is lucky in that there aren't the kind of extreme conditions in parts of the mainland. Take the area around Cartagena, for instance. That's in Murcia, with its all-time high that may or may not still be a record. The summer of 2015 produced something of an agricultural disaster; for farmers with almond trees at any rate. Thousands of trees died off not because of pest but because of the excessive heat. The trees were in effect being roasted. They are now planting less and less in the countryside around Cartagena. And what does get planted has to contend with the extremes: Murcia was more badly affected by last winter's floods than Mallorca was.
The rain was welcome, but the lack of precipitation has been evident for some twenty years. The area is becoming increasingly like a desert.
According to researchers who have had their work published in the journal Science, within seventy years from now the current desert conditions in the south-eastern part of Spain will have spread greatly. The Iberian Peninsula will be divided into two along a line from Lisbon in Portugal to Alicante in Valencia. South of this divide will be desert.
We are of course used by now to all manner of predictions as to the consequence of climate change, e.g. rising sea levels, and are also used to those who have their heads in the sands in denial. In Murcia's interior, they needn't worry about drowning (not in summer anyway); on Murcia's coast and on the coasts of other parts of Mediterranean Spain, they should worry, if the sea rises as much as it is feared that it might.
Evidence for the advance of desert on the mainland seems irrefutable, and the national government is just one body that is stuck in the sand. There has been no update of the national action plan against desertification for ten years. It might take a while, but the seat of government may wish to reactivate this plan when it realises that temperatures in Madrid are on a par with what they are now in north Africa.
In Mallorca, there isn't such an extreme, but it is argued that the Mediterranean will warm up more than any other part of the globe because of climate change. Hot summers? Yes, and getting hotter.
We are of course regaled with tall tales of current temperatures having matched Muro's record or even surpassed it. Quite probably so, if the wrong measure - direct sunlight - is taken. There can seem to be almost a desire to claim such exceptionally high temperatures as some type of badge of honour. Look, it's 45C!
Be careful what you wish for, and all that. At least in Mallorca it has never got as hot as on the mainland. Unreliable measures suggest that 50C was registered in Seville in 1876 and 1881. The more reliable ones suggest that the highest was recorded last month: 47.3C in Montoro, Cordoba. In 1994, Murcia knocked out 47.2C.
The Aemet met office, bless it, issues its long-range forecasts for the summer and is always suitably vague. This summer's effort said that the heat would be normal, that there would be the odd heatwave and that there could be a certain instability from the middle of August. Never!? Who would ever have thought that? For the record, 15 August two years ago was that bad that the Can Picafort duck swim had to be cancelled. The rain wasn't the problem; the mad state of the sea was.
The question is - what is normal? Despite the mid-August hiccup in 2015, that was a very hot summer. So was 2016. It's possible that this one could eclipse all others, and the pattern since May has been very similar to the unbearable summer of 2003, which was so hot (and not just in Mallorca and Spain) that people were expiring. Prior to 2003, one can go back to the phenomenal heatwave of 1994 and also to 1983 to find examples of very hot summers.
Because there have been exceptional summers in the past - the ones of 1876 and 1881 must have been, even if the records were unreliable - are the summers now being experienced just one of those things that nature serves up? Perhaps they are. Or perhaps not.
Mallorca is lucky in that there aren't the kind of extreme conditions in parts of the mainland. Take the area around Cartagena, for instance. That's in Murcia, with its all-time high that may or may not still be a record. The summer of 2015 produced something of an agricultural disaster; for farmers with almond trees at any rate. Thousands of trees died off not because of pest but because of the excessive heat. The trees were in effect being roasted. They are now planting less and less in the countryside around Cartagena. And what does get planted has to contend with the extremes: Murcia was more badly affected by last winter's floods than Mallorca was.
The rain was welcome, but the lack of precipitation has been evident for some twenty years. The area is becoming increasingly like a desert.
According to researchers who have had their work published in the journal Science, within seventy years from now the current desert conditions in the south-eastern part of Spain will have spread greatly. The Iberian Peninsula will be divided into two along a line from Lisbon in Portugal to Alicante in Valencia. South of this divide will be desert.
We are of course used by now to all manner of predictions as to the consequence of climate change, e.g. rising sea levels, and are also used to those who have their heads in the sands in denial. In Murcia's interior, they needn't worry about drowning (not in summer anyway); on Murcia's coast and on the coasts of other parts of Mediterranean Spain, they should worry, if the sea rises as much as it is feared that it might.
Evidence for the advance of desert on the mainland seems irrefutable, and the national government is just one body that is stuck in the sand. There has been no update of the national action plan against desertification for ten years. It might take a while, but the seat of government may wish to reactivate this plan when it realises that temperatures in Madrid are on a par with what they are now in north Africa.
In Mallorca, there isn't such an extreme, but it is argued that the Mediterranean will warm up more than any other part of the globe because of climate change. Hot summers? Yes, and getting hotter.
Wednesday, August 02, 2017
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 2 August 2017
Morning high (6.41am): 26.9C
Forecast high: 33C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 3 August - Sun, 36C; 4 August - Sun, cloud, 31C; 5 August - Sun, 32C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 2 to 4.
A cloudy morning again, and cloud expected most of the day. It'll be steamy and sweaty in the narrow street when the Moors and Christians clash in Pollensa this evening.
Evening update (20.30): Punishing. A high of 39.4C in Pollensa. For once, the coastal high was almost the same - only one degree lower.
Forecast high: 33C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 3 August - Sun, 36C; 4 August - Sun, cloud, 31C; 5 August - Sun, 32C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 2 to 4.
A cloudy morning again, and cloud expected most of the day. It'll be steamy and sweaty in the narrow street when the Moors and Christians clash in Pollensa this evening.
Evening update (20.30): Punishing. A high of 39.4C in Pollensa. For once, the coastal high was almost the same - only one degree lower.
Terrorising The Tourist Bus
Imagine that you are a tourist taking a trip on the sightseeing bus in Palma or even one (of seemingly several) in Alcudia. You are enjoying the sights. Here is the Cathedral. Or there, in Alcudia, is the site of the old Roman town of Pollentia. While you are enjoying this ride, you are suddenly shocked. More than just shocked. You are scared witless. Four terrorists wearing hoods have leapt onto the bus.
On Thursday last week, tourists in Barcelona were presented with just this scenario. They thought the attackers were terrorists. They weren't. They were four members of Arran, the revolutionary youth movement. A Dutch tourist, with his children, certainly thought they were terrorists. He told a radio station that he had believed they were.
The sightseeing bus had its tyres slashed. Graffiti was daubed on it. The principal message was that tourism kills the neighbourhoods, i.e. the local residential areas which are meant to be for the people of Barcelona. They have been invaded by tourists. By holiday rentals. By Airbnb.
The incident occurred by the Camp Nou football stadium. News of it only emerged almost three days later. The town hall, the police had given no notification of its occurrence. It was, however, noted on social media, not least by Arran themselves. Tourism, the group averred, damages the working classes. And in case anyone wasn't getting the message or thought the bus invasion hadn't taken place, they supplied video evidence.
Arran is linked to a political party known as Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (CUP). Of the extreme left, the CUP advocates anti-capitalist Republicanism, bank nationalisation, Catalonian independence and Spain's exit from the European Union and NATO. The CUP has ten seats (out of 135) in Catalonia's parliament. Either directly or via Arran, it has associations with Valencia and the Balearics, where another link is via Endavant, the socialist organisation for national liberation.
Both Arran and Endavant were involved with the latest display of anti-tourist sentiment in Palma last week. As such, therefore, one can't wholly rule out there being a repetition in Palma of what took place in Barcelona with the sightseeing bus. The two cities are, where anti-tourist protest is concerned, pretty much joined at the hip. But Barcelona is where this protest has been much stronger. There was a previous incident involving the sightseeing bus (blocking its way so that it was stuck for a considerable time). There was a protest against Harmony of the Seas when the giant cruise ship sailed for the first time from Barcelona's port. There have been occupations of apartments and anti-Airbnb banners shown. In May this year, several hotels were "attacked".
In their social media statements, Arran stated that the bus attack was not "tourismphobia". Rather, it was a defence against "barriocidio", which can be translated as something like a form of neighbourhood genocide. The working class is condemned to "misery" because of mass tourism. Arran therefore is fighting against a "predatory and murdering" tourism model. This model creates jobs that are only insecure and temporary. It gentrifies cities. It benefits only a few. There is the need for an alternative and sustainable tourism model.
When one considers all of this, some of it could have been said by Balearic politicians, certainly those of Més or Podemos. In Barcelona, the town hall is headed by Ada Colau. Her grouping, Barcelona en Comú, is a coming-together of her own movement against evictions and political entities of the left. It isn't Podemos but it has some similarities.
One of the councillors with Colau's grouping is Agustí Colom. He is responsible for employment, business and tourism. Faced with what happened with the bus - the town hall having not even previously acknowledged the incident - he has said that the town hall is looking to see if there is any basis for legal action. The impression given is that the town hall is in no desperate hurry to establish the facts and therefore the need for such action. It is being suggested that the town hall will brush it all off in the same way it did with the "attacks" on the hotels, which were more or less categorised as having been a bit of fun.
The bus incident wasn't terrorism in that no one was targeted and no one was hurt. But it was terrorism insofar as tourists were terrorised. To even hint that it was only some youthful revolutionary high-jinks would be utterly irresponsible. But are administrations, such as Barcelona's and perhaps also Palma's, creating the environment for this type of terrorising? Why was Barcelona town hall so apparently reticent in recognising what took place? For fear of damaging the city's tourism image? And where, one might ask, could it lead?
Palma should take note. Some of its councillors should be very careful with what they say.
* Since writing this (on Monday), the town hall and the Catalonian government have said that they will take action against the bus attack. They have also denounced another incident involving Arran: tyres on bikes for rental to tourists in Barcelona were slashed. Jaume Collboni, the second deputy mayor, says that the incidents of "tourismphobia" are expressions of xenophobia that are to be condemned. Barcelona is a "democratic and open city" and there will be "zero tolerance" if similar incidents occur.
On 20 July, Arran were also behind an attack on a restaurant in Palma's Moll Vell. Confetti was thrown over clients and their food and flares were let off.
On Thursday last week, tourists in Barcelona were presented with just this scenario. They thought the attackers were terrorists. They weren't. They were four members of Arran, the revolutionary youth movement. A Dutch tourist, with his children, certainly thought they were terrorists. He told a radio station that he had believed they were.
The sightseeing bus had its tyres slashed. Graffiti was daubed on it. The principal message was that tourism kills the neighbourhoods, i.e. the local residential areas which are meant to be for the people of Barcelona. They have been invaded by tourists. By holiday rentals. By Airbnb.
The incident occurred by the Camp Nou football stadium. News of it only emerged almost three days later. The town hall, the police had given no notification of its occurrence. It was, however, noted on social media, not least by Arran themselves. Tourism, the group averred, damages the working classes. And in case anyone wasn't getting the message or thought the bus invasion hadn't taken place, they supplied video evidence.
Arran is linked to a political party known as Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (CUP). Of the extreme left, the CUP advocates anti-capitalist Republicanism, bank nationalisation, Catalonian independence and Spain's exit from the European Union and NATO. The CUP has ten seats (out of 135) in Catalonia's parliament. Either directly or via Arran, it has associations with Valencia and the Balearics, where another link is via Endavant, the socialist organisation for national liberation.
Both Arran and Endavant were involved with the latest display of anti-tourist sentiment in Palma last week. As such, therefore, one can't wholly rule out there being a repetition in Palma of what took place in Barcelona with the sightseeing bus. The two cities are, where anti-tourist protest is concerned, pretty much joined at the hip. But Barcelona is where this protest has been much stronger. There was a previous incident involving the sightseeing bus (blocking its way so that it was stuck for a considerable time). There was a protest against Harmony of the Seas when the giant cruise ship sailed for the first time from Barcelona's port. There have been occupations of apartments and anti-Airbnb banners shown. In May this year, several hotels were "attacked".
In their social media statements, Arran stated that the bus attack was not "tourismphobia". Rather, it was a defence against "barriocidio", which can be translated as something like a form of neighbourhood genocide. The working class is condemned to "misery" because of mass tourism. Arran therefore is fighting against a "predatory and murdering" tourism model. This model creates jobs that are only insecure and temporary. It gentrifies cities. It benefits only a few. There is the need for an alternative and sustainable tourism model.
When one considers all of this, some of it could have been said by Balearic politicians, certainly those of Més or Podemos. In Barcelona, the town hall is headed by Ada Colau. Her grouping, Barcelona en Comú, is a coming-together of her own movement against evictions and political entities of the left. It isn't Podemos but it has some similarities.
One of the councillors with Colau's grouping is Agustí Colom. He is responsible for employment, business and tourism. Faced with what happened with the bus - the town hall having not even previously acknowledged the incident - he has said that the town hall is looking to see if there is any basis for legal action. The impression given is that the town hall is in no desperate hurry to establish the facts and therefore the need for such action. It is being suggested that the town hall will brush it all off in the same way it did with the "attacks" on the hotels, which were more or less categorised as having been a bit of fun.
The bus incident wasn't terrorism in that no one was targeted and no one was hurt. But it was terrorism insofar as tourists were terrorised. To even hint that it was only some youthful revolutionary high-jinks would be utterly irresponsible. But are administrations, such as Barcelona's and perhaps also Palma's, creating the environment for this type of terrorising? Why was Barcelona town hall so apparently reticent in recognising what took place? For fear of damaging the city's tourism image? And where, one might ask, could it lead?
Palma should take note. Some of its councillors should be very careful with what they say.
* Since writing this (on Monday), the town hall and the Catalonian government have said that they will take action against the bus attack. They have also denounced another incident involving Arran: tyres on bikes for rental to tourists in Barcelona were slashed. Jaume Collboni, the second deputy mayor, says that the incidents of "tourismphobia" are expressions of xenophobia that are to be condemned. Barcelona is a "democratic and open city" and there will be "zero tolerance" if similar incidents occur.
On 20 July, Arran were also behind an attack on a restaurant in Palma's Moll Vell. Confetti was thrown over clients and their food and flares were let off.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)