Under-Cooked: Tour operators' profits down

The tour operators are facing significant drops in their profits, Thomas Cook issuing a profits' warning. The reasons are not too difficult to work out. Like all other parties in the tourism industry this year, the tour operators have not been immune to economic pressures and the totally unexpected. The good news in all this is that there are some remarkable bargains to be had, "The Guardian" reporting yesterday that anything up to 60% off can be expected once the school holidays are over, while 40% off this month can be obtained. The less good news is destinations that are on offer, the Balearics heading the list.

With TUI, Thomas Cook and others suffering falls in profit, a question that has to be asked is what this might mean for next season. There was some indication that tour operators' prices had risen this year in the expectation of a better year, one that has failed to materialise. Price rises in 2011 might be on the cards, but they would be folly, especially for some destinations, including Mallorca and the Balearics.

The island's hoteliers have come to the end of their contract arrangements for next year: they can expect no or only a one per cent increase in their own prices. One per cent is the maximum that the tour operators will give them. Yet, you have a situation in which certain hotel associations, such as the Alcúdia-Can Picafort one, are saying that up to 30% of places have been left unsold in July and August this year; some hotels have reported far worse.

But go further behind all this, and one finds a rather mysterious situation, or one that is being alleged by hotels in Puerto Pollensa. Against the background of a potential rise in all-inclusive there, hotels have accused the tour operators of not selling holidays to Pollensa, the operators claiming that hotels are sold out, when they are not. The hotels also reckon that the tour operators have been diverting clients, who would have booked in Puerto Pollensa, to hotels elsewhere.

Without knowing the precise nature of the contractual agreements tour operators might have with different hotels in different resorts, it is hard to comment on this. If what the Puerto Pollensa hotels allege is true, and they say it is, albeit that "sources" preferred to maintain anonymity when this was reported on a few days ago in "The Diario", might this be interpreted as a bit of pressure to conform with a tour operator desire to change the status of offers at certain hotels - to all-inclusive, in other words?

In the same Guardian article, a spokesperson for travelsupermarket.com says that there will be a "bloodbath" of last-minute deals in September and October. If the tour operators are going to get so badly burned this year, might we be facing a different sort of bloodbath, that of hotels not being contracted with? It is already the case that individual hotels are making pre-emptive strikes, effectively removing themselves from under the tour operators umbrellas and going for independent, direct bookings in a far more aggressive fashion than has been the case until now. It may be that others have to do likewise. What they can expect as revenue from the tour operators will not increase in real terms; indeed it is down this year in many instances. And to what extent will they be willing to take the tour operator shilling in return for offering something - all-inclusive - that many are loathe to?

2011 is going to be a lively year. It could also be make or break for many hotels, assuming they are not already broken.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Wear Your Shirt With Pride: Football returns

England play Hungary this evening. On Saturday, the Premier League kicks off again. Rarely have two football occasions been greeted by such a lack of enthusiasm. By me, at any rate. Not so by the local Brit bars. There is at least one that counts the number of England matches through the tourist season; days when it can expect a full house and empty barrels come the end of the evening. It won't be the only one.

The dependence upon football, England or Premiership, seems a bizarre way of running a business. But it's not so bizarre when one witnesses the hordes that take to the bars when Saturday (or Sunday or Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday or Friday) comes. Has anyone ever attempted to measure the level of "ancillary" business that football creates - the takings in the bars of Mallorca and elsewhere?

One wonders, though, at the enduring capacity of footy to entice tourists into parting with good money to demonstrate affiliations with teams unworthy of the price of a pint of Saint Mick. During the England game against Slovenia, I started to contemplate the peaks of beer buying during a match and the average pint consumption per punter. I never arrived at a scientific figure, but the peaks were rarely troughs and the consumption seemed massive. There are a lot of cold drinks imbibed in the name of ... in the name of what?

Come the day of a match, the football shirt is ritually removed from the hotel or apartment drawer. Wear your replica shirt with pride. In England's case, it's the last thing anyone should be admitting to, let alone donning. Affiliation? Ah yes, a team run by an Italian, increasingly being exposed as an idiot, and populated by numbskulls such as Potato Head. Premier League and affiliation? Ah yes, to whole African tribes and a European dribbling diaspora handed fat cheques by representatives of superpowers, past and present. Rod Liddle in "The Sunday Times" at the weekend raised the possibility of Premier matches provoking nuclear attacks. To the USA and Russia, we must now, in all likelihood, add China, to say nothing of the threat of Islam.

Why does anyone care any longer? My own team, Spurs (who it might be said were to blame for a movement towards football fan alienation when they grabbed footballing aliens - Villa and Ardiles), do at least have an English manager and a smattering of English/British players, but it's not the club of Greaves, Mullery, Gilzean and the rest. Yet, curiously, alienation has never quite caught on, despite the hopelessness of success for any club unprepared to spend the equivalent of an African nation's GDP on ... on an African player, and despite the not infrequent references to the size of those cheques and the disproportionately lamentable performances they pay for.

It's all due to marketing, one presumes, a process that can result in a red-cheeked English child walking the streets of Alcúdia in a Messi shirt. Why? The only good reason I can think of is because it's not a Rooney shirt. Marketing, constant and exhaustive media coverage, the 24/7 outpouring of inanities and also, just as important, the weird tribalism of football, one that is not just reserved for the English. Wear your replica shirt with pride. It's a statement, one of lurking confrontation and of territorial bravado, like a dog urinating against a lamp-post. When England played and I hacked along to the bar, I felt under-dressed not wearing an England shirt, akin to turning up in jeans at a wedding and finding everyone else in morning suits. The replica shirt sends out a message not just to supporters of other clubs, it does so also to Johnny Foreigner. Once upon a time, a foreigner in a foreign land was advised to keep his head down, unless there was a pith helmet on top of the head and he was running the foreign land. Not now.

One can understand the Blackpool supporter turning up at a bar with an orange torso and a bright pink face. An affiliation to the totally lost cause. He's likely to be bought drinks out of sympathy. He also knows that this season will be his only opportunity. But for most of the others, it's an exercise in compliant manipulation, in the pressure to affirm a marketing concept rather than a football team, in tribalism disguised as support, symbolised by the replica shirt and shouted over the constant chasing of yet another pint. Not, though, that the bars will be complaining.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

White Elephants: Can Ramis in Alcúdia

Of the local town hall administrations, Alcúdia tends to enjoy greater harmony than the others. There are not the shenanigans that arise in Santa Margalida, not the controversies of Muro, such as the golf course, not the close to fist fights of Sa Pobla and not the seemingly daily criticisms of Pollensa's poor mayor Cerdà. However, there is one matter in Alcúdia that stubbornly refuses to go away and which has returned as a brickload of contention.

To remind you, Can Ramis is the new building by the market square. It cost, in the end, a whacking great two and a half million plus euros (a figure I think I'm right in saying includes the cost of redoing the square next to it). It was meant to have cost more than a million less. To say that the building is unattractive is an understatement; it is an abomination. When it finally opened towards the end of April, there was a singular lack of fanfare. You could understand why. A rotten building, delayed, vastly over-budget and not doing what it was intended to. A grand, official opening was the last thing that was needed, except as a way of exposing some sheepish and embarrassed expressions. There was no grand opening.

The opposition Partido Popular has been on the Can Ramis offensive for some time. In 2008, the party issued a "denuncia" in respect of what it claimed were irregularities. The accusation was "archived", but the PP, as reported in "Ultima Hora", intends to get the case re-opened.

Other than relocating the tourist office, which was envisaged under the original plans, the building has two exhibition areas which are of questionable value given other display areas in the town, and an office for the town hall's markets and fairs department. The town's service agency, EMSA, is meant to be moving in at an additional cost of 30,000 euros. Can Ramis is therefore ending up as overspill accommodation for the town hall. The main feature of the construction, some sort of bus station, along with a waiting room and a café all failed to materialise. In the case of the café someone came to the conclusion that it wasn't necessary, given the number of bars nearby. Why it was ever thought necessary, who knows.

The thrust of the PP's accusations centre, one understands, on what happened to the original budget, which was spent even before the actual construction of the building started. There are other questions that arise in respect of Can Ramis. Who approved the design? When was it clear that there would be a change of use? And was there consideration given to a re-design when this became clear?

Can Ramis, you would have hoped, would have been a symbol of civic pride. It is anything but. It is unlovely and, as the PP point out, under-utilised; not quite a white elephant but a sickly elephant calf. It was a mistake, and a ridiculously expensive one, to boot.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Pax Bulletinis: British community and newspapers

The British Ambassador to Spain has been visiting Mallorca. You could hardly have missed this if you had read "The Bulletin" on Saturday; not one, not two, not three, but four pages devoted to Giles Paxman - Paxo Minor, he is the younger brother of Jezza. How to fill space and fail to influence people.

The ambassador pitched up at the offices of "The Bulletin" to hand over a commemorative letter, albeit that it is two years early; the paper celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2012, but this didn't stop a small orgy of self-congratulation, the always beaming British Consul on hand to enjoy a toast. Oh, that he might venture northwards to meet British businesses. He could take a leaf out of his boss's book: Paxo the younger will apparently be meeting such businesses in Benidorm. But that's not what I want to talk about.

The letter commends the paper on its achievement and on playing a "very important role within the British community". It will be an achievement, but you have to wonder for how much longer.

According to the audited circulation figures supplied by OJD (Oficina de Justificatión de Difusión), the paper's average net circulation declined by 11% from 3,839 copies in 2008 to 3,405 in 2009. Economic hard times may partially explain this, but there surely are other factors, such as ease of buying British papers and the internet.

When the paper started in 1962, and for many years thereafter, it was not only a visionary move to publish it but it was also "very important". British papers could not be bought easily, and there were few alternative sources of information, especially for the Brit who resolutely refused to learn or read Spanish.

None of this obtains now, other than the Brit still steadfastly avoiding the native. What actually is the point of the paper now? One that uses translated pieces from "Ultima Hora", stuff from the internet (sometimes verbatim), can verge on the unintelligible (we all know what) and is rarely if ever contentious or provocative, except to a few who engage in arguments regarding British or arcane international politics or when a letter-writer raises a vaguely controversial point. The word "lightweight" too easily comes to mind.

Perhaps when the paper's nickname is used - and I assume everyone knows this - there is a sense of unfairness; too high a level of expectation. Look at those circulation figures, and work it out for yourselves. This unfairness also masks genuine affection for the paper, despite its idiosyncracies. But this affection stems in part from the fact that it is something of a bygone age. In the same stable as "The Bulletin", the Catalan paper "dBalears" has been commended for its visual style. It, "Ultima Hora" and the German weekly, "Mallorca Magazin" all have decent websites, replete with additional advertising possibilities. None of this applies to "The Bulletin".

And is it genuinely "very important" within the British community? I would like to say that it is. It was, but I doubt that it now is. Too often, for example, one hears the gripe that it neglects parts of Mallorca away from Palma or Calvia. Some of you will know that I did have a brief association with the paper. It was intended to create more of an emphasis on the north of the island. I also spoke to them about how to enhance the brand name of the paper, and it's a strong name, despite the mickey-taking nickname; nigh on fifty years lend the brand enormous credibility, or should do, but they fail to in a way that commands real respect. I came to realise I was wasting my time. There was seemingly little interest in either the northern community or in something a bit more innovative. It's a great shame. It could still be "very important", but it's hard to see how without a radical re-think.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Aw Phooey: Duck nonsense in Can Picafort

The decks of Carl Cox quietened, the people of Can Picafort can return to more traditional fiesta matters, namely ducks. A week from today the annual duck liberation will take place. The duck liberation front (DLF) is on the move once more. It wishes to liberate real ducks and not stupid rubber ones, to have swimmers pursue a quacking, flapping Donald and not a mute bath-time bobber.

Although the ban on live ducks is ridiculous, and it is when it is placed in the context of the treatment of other animals, the pro-duck lobby is equally as ridiculous: in its sheer pretentiousness and self-importance. It argues in favour of a tradition, but the tradition itself is pretty stupid: toss some ducks into the water and then see who can be the first to catch them. All a bit of fun but ultimately pointless.

The DLF, and I've made this up by the way, has issued a video as part of a warning that live ducks will feature once more this year. For sheer pomposity, it takes some beating.

The duck tossing goes back some 75 years. Quite why it ever came about, who knows. It was officially banned in 1999, but it took fines issued against Santa Margalida town hall for the ban to complied with. These came from the agriculture ministry. One fancies that the town hall has never quite accepted the ban. That it sanctioned the fiesta poster in 2008 which featured children with Power Rangers masks (as worn by the DLF when letting live ducks go the year before) suggested either just a streak of humour or a sympathy with the DLF cause.

What can be sure is that this year there will be more security and more scrutiny of what happens on the sea in front of the hotel Mar y Paz. And what can also be sure is that there will be huge numbers who turn up in the anticipation of the ban being flouted once more. It's now become a game, a new tradition as much as the one of chucking ducks into the sea.







Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

A Load Of Cox: Why event tourism marketing is wrong

There will have been some weary souls wending their way from Can Picafort this morning. Dawn will have dawned before the decks were put to sleep. Decks and not ducks, for once during the Can Picafort fiestas.

The Carl Cox extravaganza was far from being the first time the DJ had played Can Pic. But the buzz that it created suggested that it could have been. The buzz was perceptible. Cox got people talking in a way that the fiestas rarely get people talking. Partly this was because of rarity value. A question should be - why is it so rare? So rare for international performers to head north, to the north of Mallorca.

The tourism ministry's teaming-up with the promoters to push the Elton John-Andrea Bocelli event in Palma spoke volumes. Spoke volumes for Palma and southern-Mallorca-centricity. Spoke volumes for the fact that if the event cannot be sold out, it might indicate that Mallorca cannot stage a big gig. Spoke volumes for something "safe", something not so much middle-of-the-road but lurching along in the slow lane or coming to a halt on the hard shoulder. And no one has been speaking in loud volume about the event. It has no buzz factor. Carl Cox, on the other hand ... .

A justification for the belated promotion of the Elton John show is that apparently tour operators have been calling for events around which they can mould packages. It's a reasonable enough point, but it ignores the fact that there are "events" which can, or could, form the focus of packages. It also ignores the fact that whatever tourists might be attracted will end up in or around Palma.

What it also ignores is an underlying cynical aspect to such events. Ancient "stars" and the punter will roll up, hopefully coughing up three figures for something that presents Mallorca as a venue for the old hat. The island needs none of this. It needs to project freshness, newness. Tourism and event tourism is going down an antiquated drain inhabited, down, down, deeper and down by other geriatrics - Status Quo, for example.

The tourist market is anything but homogeneous, but this is largely how it is conceived by those who should know better, namely those charged with tourism promotion. It is straight-line thinking. Elton may not conform to all definitions of straight, and a current push for the pink tourist may suggest a broader appreciation of diverse markets, but there remains a lack of innovation and niching when it comes to an appreciation of lifestyle and age-group demographics as well as a lack of "branding " for individual resorts or areas. Segmentation is performed on national and geographic lines - Brits, Germans etc. - rather than on personal motivation.

Carl Cox is not leading-edge in the dance world, but he's as close as it comes in Mallorcan terms. He is also a "name", one that should be shouted very loudly in connection with Can Picafort. There is no reason why a youthful market cannot co-exist alongside the generic family market: witness Magaluf, for example, with which, through BCM, Cox has been closely associated.

All the resorts (and their towns) lend themselves to specific marketing, that which goes beyond the normal and bland. Pollensa and Puerto Pollensa, for example, should be by-words for high sophistication and culture, as evidenced by the Pollensa Music Festival. But it should be a music festival of "real" international importance, as should other events. Can Picafort should be a by-word for dance, for a more youthful market. Don't stop at one event - Cox at the Auba. Do it through the season.

You'll say, ah but they can't afford it. Up to a point, they can't, but there are cover charges for the likes of the music festival and Carl Cox and, as importantly, there is the colossal squandering of money that goes on. Santa Margalida town hall, as with Pollensa town hall, should not have to underwrite its events. It should be done centrally, and when you have the tourism promotion agency in the Balearics (IBATUR) currently under investigation for - get this - forty million euros of questionable spend, you can understand the amount of money that sloshes around and ends up in the wrong pockets that could be used to create highly dynamic, local events and highly dynamic, local marketing.

But they won't, because rather than bolstering the resorts, the spend will end up in Palma and on the crocodile rock of Elton. I don't dislike Elton, I don't dislike Andrea Bocelli, but I couldn't care less about either of them appearing in Palma. Carl Cox on the other hand ...


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Desperation: Promotion to the British market

The Balearic Government and the Spanish tourism promotion agency, Turespaña, are combining to spend one and a half million euros on a campaign to attract last-minute British tourists. This comes in the context of an 11% decline in British tourism this season. The campaign will be a pure selling one, rather than one with "image" in mind.

The fact that this campaign is being launched now raises questions. Why wasn't something done earlier when it was clear that the British market was down? Why does it take the admission of poor numbers from the UK to convince the government and others that concentrating on "image" promotion is largely irrelevant? What will these poor numbers mean in more general terms?

The answers to the first two questions can be explained, in part, by the turmoil at the tourism ministry and the lack of cohesion in respect of marketing this year and by an erroneous belief that spending considerable amounts of money on celebrities, i.e. Rafa Nadal, to appear in adverts that get shunted to obscure outer reaches of television will have any impact. The third question is more complex.

There was a decline in British tourism last year as well, and we know why. It may be a short-term decline, but hoteliers and tour operators cannot afford to wait for the short term to end. In other words, they cannot afford for 2011 to be as Brit bad. They cannot afford for occupancy figures to be the same, or worse, than those which have been admitted to in certain instances: occupancy rates as low as 25% or little better than 50% in specific hotels in both Puerto Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa, hotels with a high reliance on the British market.

What is becoming clear is that some hotels are looking to lessen this reliance or get rid of the British altogether. It isn't only the stronger of the established markets, German and Scandinavian, to which they are turning; the new markets of eastern Europe are being eyed up with ever-increasing desire. What one may well find is a distinct shift in terms of tourism demographics, both geographically and socially. Take, for example, the experience of Cala San Vicente. It has seen the influx of an economy-class Polish market. If the Don Pedro does finally get knocked down, or even if it doesn't, there's plenty of space over in Puerto Pollensa, space that could just as easily be made all-inclusive, as with the relatively small Don Pedro (fewer than 150 rooms), space that could be taken up by non-British markets.

Whether this latest promotional campaign will have any effect, who knows. Whether any of these campaigns have much effect, who knows. This one sounds like a case of desperation promotion.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

All Mod (Air) Cons

As the temperatures took a real dive yesterday, thanks to the rain, air-conditioning became unnecessary (even if lurking were some truly bizarre, exaggerated ideas as to yesterday's temperature, but 'tis ever thus). By coincidence though, there was a report in "Ultima Hora" about the optimum setting for air-con units during the summer. A couple of days ago, the government's energy director-general kicked off a campaign for different aspects of energy-saving. One of them is that the temperature should be 26 degrees. For every degree lower, energy consumption rises by eight per cent, so he says. Given the cost of electricity, his advice is probably worth heeding. But those of you who have been paying attention will recall a piece on 8 July ("Rattle and Hum") about air-con. In that, I mentioned the plan to establish temperatures in bars and restaurants etc ("a mad proposal"). Interior temperatures would not be lower than 26, which is exactly what the director-general is now recommending.

Recommendation is one thing. Getting people to do anything about it quite another. But there is more than just recommendation. In the article, it says that a temperature of 26 degrees is "obligatory for public places". Is it really?

A while ago, there was another press report about temperatures being too high in public buildings during the colder part of the year. One of these buildings was the island's environment ministry. Heating too high or air-con too low. It's the same waste of energy, and guess who's wasting it? One should perhaps applaud the town hall of Andratx which has banned air-con. Sales of fans must have soared, and not necessarily electric ones.

It's the definition of "public places" that is confusing. The smoking ban will apply to just these public places, as in bars and restaurants. So has an obligatory level of air-con temperature been applied to these and no one has been told. If it hasn't, then one can guess that it probably will be. It might sound like a mad proposal, but the government is serious as to its energy policy.

There are places one goes into which are near freezing. Supermarkets, for example. Are these public places? The 26 degree advice (78/79 Fahrenheit) is widely accepted as being energy-efficient, and not just in Spain, but when there are higher air temperatures, the temptation is to turn the air-con down lower. It is for this reason, one presumes, that there is the other proposal regarding keeping doors to bars and restaurants closed.

If the current definition of public places is only public sector, then one can expect that it will be widened, and that recommendation will turn into enforcement. Bars and restaurants have been warned.

By the way, as far as weather is concerned, and there will be those who are concerned given the rain, this is the link to the Spanish Met Office for Alcúdia. You can go to http://www.aemet.es/es/-m:b/eltiempo/prediccion/localidades/alcudia-07030. It shows (or did at 21:00 yesterday) 30 degrees maximum by Friday with a five per cent chance of rain and the same for a few days after. For Pollensa, you can click on "localidades" and get to the forecast for there which, you will not be surprised to learn, is the same. On the HOT! Facebook, I posted the links for the local weather stations, and these give current weather information.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Air-traffic controllers' strike - update

It now seems that the strike will take place across three days - 14, 15, 16 August (according to the report in "The Diario"). Last-minute bookings to Mallorca are going to be seriously affected; up to 30% of bookings being lost, it is being claimed.

It Just Gets Worse - Part Two: Air-traffic controllers' strike

In early season it was the volcanic ash, now there is due to be more air chaos. Air-traffic controllers have voted (massively) to strike later this month. The date is likely to be 18 or 20 August. They haven't ruled out further strikes.

The controllers have got a real beef with the government. Rest periods and salaries have been cut, the latter - in practice - by up to 40%. There has been a sort of strike already, if one believes that taking a "sicky", which has been happening, constitutes a withdrawal of labour. Unlike their French colleagues who have been on strike and do so on a seemingly regular basis, the Spanish air-traffic controllers have historically not been militant. This will in fact be the first official strike they have ever called.

The hyperbole has of course gone into overdrive. It will be a disaster. But of course it won't be. What would be were if a lack of rest were to result in a mid-air collision. The controllers do have a point. Nevertheless, bang in the middle of high season is hardly convenient. It will cause considerable disruption, though quite how strong the strike will be is unclear. There are legal requirements as to maintaining "minimum services". The rail service, for example, is covered by these. But there are no precedents for air-traffic controllers. While the railways can help to ease the transport burden on the mainland, Mallorca and the islands have little by way of a fall-back position, as was exposed by the volcano; increased ferry services make little impression. One option, being floated by the government, would be to bring in the military, but the controllers argue that this would be unsafe as there would be a lack of expertise in handling the sheer volume of air traffic.

A wider question, set against the austerity measures that the Spanish Government has brought in and will add to next year, is whether others will follow the air-traffic controllers. A general strike of all sectors, not just public, is meant to be occurring at the end of September. Though Spain has not experienced the kind of unrest that Greece has, there was an alarming report in "The Observer" at the weekend in which the Greek security forces warned of a descent into violence, provoked by the country's own austerity measures.

The air-traffic controllers could just be a start.


QUIZ:
Yesterday - Deacon Blue, "Your Town", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm7xlyH3YsI


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

It Just Gets Worse: All-inclusive comes to Puerto Pollensa

There was a report in "The Diario" yesterday that should, despite the heat, send shivers through many in Puerto Pollensa. Hotels in the resort are admitting defeat. They have resisted all-inclusive, but can no longer do so. To not offer it could mean having to close.

The hotels don't necessarily want AI, but the tour operators do. The report makes clear, as should be clear to those in other resorts, that AI has largely been driven by tour operator pressure. The good news may be that only a few hotels in the port will go down this route next year. That's one view. The less good news is an alternative view that it will be more widespread and will be a necessity.

One can guess at which hotels might move to AI: those not on the "front line". But one can also imagine certain establishments on the front that might embrace AI. Currently, as far as one is aware, only one hotel in Puerto Pollensa has some form of AI, and that is Club Sol, where it might be argued that it is appropriate, given the location. (Club Pollentia doesn't count as it's more Alcúdia than Puerto Pollensa, while Duva, on its website at any rate, says nothing about AI.) Whatever the current situation is, from next year, all-inclusive will, in all likelihood, not be out of town.

There is no point in revisiting the arguments for and against all-inclusive; they are well enough known. While these arguments focus on the market that AI creates and on the impact on local businesses, they don't necessarily deal with the character of a resort. In Puerto Pollensa, the chances are that this - the character - will change, though this might merely be a continuation of a change that has been occurring for some years.

Where Puerto Pollensa is different to resorts such as Puerto Alcúdia and Can Picafort is that it has a high level of residential tourism (holiday lets in other words) relative to hotel accommodation, so all-inclusive might have less of an impact, but impact it will most certainly have. When the protest against the sorry state of affairs in the Moll took place in early June, calls for either more hotels or improvements to hotels would surely not have had AI in mind. The protesters are likely to see their wishes met. More tourists could be on their way, but not ones they might have hoped for. The target of protests may well shift, and while the town hall has it within its gift to do something about the state of the streets and rubbish collection, it has no power to prevent all-inclusives; they are for the tour operators, the hotels and the tourism ministry (now presumably the Council of Mallorca as well) to determine. And as ever, what the tour operators want, the tour operators get.

Although some hoteliers take the view that all-inclusive is just a case of good business and that they have no responsibility for what happens to local bars, restaurants and the rest, not all agree. In Puerto Alcúdia, the director of a hotel that has stood against AI and who doesn't like AI precisely because of its effect on businesses, has become almost resigned to the fact that his hotel will have to accept the inevitable. And the inevitable can bring advantages to hotels, other than just guests. What is sometimes overlooked is that tour operators, granted longish-term contracts with certain hotels, will help financially with improvements. So long as they get something in return. And that, increasingly, means all-inclusive. Pollensa's mayor recently suggested that hotels in Puerto Pollensa may not all be "adequate". Those which are not may well become so. Adequate enough to stop guests patronising the local eateries.

This should not happen. But it's going to. A bad day.

* Those of you who do the native may want to read the full article. Here's the link: http://www.diariodemallorca.es/part-forana/2010/08/02/hoteles-port-ceden-presiones-operadores-ofertar-incluido/591491.html


QUIZ:
And especially for all the Puerto Pollensa Jocks. Come on, show us your credentials. From which song does "it just gets worse" come? "Living out in ... ." Brilliant stuff.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Strange Town: The strange case of Porto Cristo's name

The question as to the correct usage of local place names is rarely a case of being correct or incorrect, simply (simply!?) a case of Catalan versus Castellano. Hence, one has Port de Pollença versus Puerto (de) Pollensa and Port d'Alcúdia versus Puerto (de) Alcúdia. Oh, that the usage should be this straightforward. Consider, if you will, the case of a resort on the east coast of Mallorca. It is commonly called Porto Cristo. Indeed, this is how pretty much everyone knows it. However, the correct name of the resort has been open to debate for years, and still is.

"The Diario" yesterday pointed out that there are five possibilities: Porto Cristo, Portocristo (all one word), Port de Manacor, Cala Manacor or Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme. You can also toss in a hyphenated Porto-Cristo, if you are inclined to do so.

Apparently, the original name was the Colònia mouthful one, so we should probably be grateful that there aren't many batting for it to be reinstated. This took its name, one assumes, from the church in Manacor, so was the "colony" of the church. The port or cala of Manacor are obvious, or will be to those who know that Porto Cristo is Manacor's resort, in the same way that Puerto Pollensa is Pollensa's. So why isn't it Port de Manacor (or Puerto de Manacor, if you prefer the Spanish)? For some reason it just fell out of common use, but this doesn't explain how it came to be Porto Cristo.

There are other "portos" in Mallorca, and it is a word that has confused me. It is neither a Spanish nor a Catalan word. I have assumed that it came either from Portuguese or Italian. According to a professor at the university in Palma, Portocristo - one word - is an imitation of other portos on the island and is a "false" adaptation from the language of the Mozarabés, the Christians who lived among the Muslims during their reign in Spain (there are now only some 2000 families said to be Mozarabés).

None of this, however, gives an answer as to how the name came to be adopted, other than one arrived at for religious reasons, and gives rise to the confusion as to what the place really should be called and to competing linguistic, cultural and political opinions as to what it should be. Twelve years ago, the matter received adjudication - in the Balearics Supreme Court, believe it or not. And it reckoned that it should be Porto Cristo, with two words and not Portocristo. Notwithstanding the court's decision, the confusion still exists, as does the debate.


More toplessness
The arguments over women removing their tops on beaches seem pretty daft, but they risk becoming an absurd diversion when there are matters of rather greater importance to be considered. As alluded to yesterday, they can be seen within the context of a far wider clash between conservative, Catholic Spain and today's liberalism. There is another organisation which is strident in its calls for women to cover up. This is a far-right group called "Hazte Oír" (which translates as make yourself heard). It has handed in a petition to the Balearic Government, calling for there to be a ban. The petition does not seem to be that strong; it's nothing on the scale of the petition that led to the bullfighting ban in Catalonia: some 700 families support the proposal, according to the report in "Ultima Hora".

If you go to its website (and it is quite an impressive one), you will find a whole load on the usual suspects of subjects, abortion for example, and there is a headline for something termed "Playas Familiares 2010". In this, exactly the same words as used by the family policy institute can be read. These bodies, one has to conclude, are all part of the same thing - a movement of the Catholic far right. The toplessness argument is petty, but there is something altogether more serious lurking.


QUIZ:
Yesterday - The Style Council. The best thing they ever did. Worthy of a youtube embedding ... And "strange town" - continuing a Weller theme.





Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Shout To The Top (less)

There is a body called the "Instituto de Política Familiar" (institute of family policy). Family and policy - sounds like a euphemism for something of the right. And right is not wrong. This body is making a thing about the body. The female body. On the beach and by the pool. The president of the Balearics wing of the institute, Agustín Buades, would most unlikely be one to shout "get your tits out for the lads". (And do excuse me for this lapse of taste.) Quite the contrary. He wants them covered up.

The institute reckons that topless sunbathing by women exceeds norms of decorum and that beaches and pools should be places for family use in conditions of "respect and protection of childhood". The institute wants a ban on toplessness but is most unlikely to get its way. Thank God for that, albeit that God must surely play a role in its thinking. Not that it says it is a religious or indeed a politically-aligned body. Well, it would do.

Go for a trawl through Google and you will unearth a number of references to this institute. Unsurprisingly, the references crop up alongside themes such as homosexuality, abortion and the pill. It seems less than well-disposed to any of them. It may deny religious and political associations, but the words "Catholic" and "right" come swiftly to mind. Comments accompanying the article about the institute's call for a ban in "The Diario" are revealing. They are invariably hostile and some invoke Opus Dei in connection with Buades.

Among the references in Google, you will come across one to an interview with the institute's national president in a publication called "Arbil", the name also of a pressure group for Catholic values, Spanishness and of course the family. The president says, in this interview, that he is in total agreement with the aims of the Arbil forum. On the home page of its website is a black bow under a photo of the dead president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski. Why would that be, do you suppose? Nothing to do with Kaczynski's opposition to homosexuality presumably.

Topless sunbathing is commonplace. In the interests of research, I assessed the level of toplessness on the local beach yesterday afternoon. Commonplace but in the minority. What there was not was total kit-off. The institute may or may not be aware that, according to the Spanish naturist federation at any rate, kit-off is legal on any beach. (Not that I recommend you try putting this into practice.) I mention this, though, because some local councils have sought to outlaw nudism and have had to rescind any ban. Nudity, partial or total, is a question of personal liberty, a concept that doesn't always sit easily with those of an outlook at the farther ends of the political spectrum - right and left.

The worry with this institute is that, as with other movements or politics that make the "family" its focus, the family is hijacked as a camouflage for an agenda that, while it may well be sincere in its promotion of family values (and there's no reason to question this), may well have other aims. It, the institute, is clearly at odds with the liberalism of Spain under Zapatero, and bare breasts expose it - as it were - as being so. If it wants women to cover up, then maybe it should support the wearing of a burka. But it wouldn't. You don't get many burkas in Spanish families.


QUIZ:
Back for a guest appearance. "Shout To The Top". Brilliant. Who was it?


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Clutching At Straws: Concerts and tourism responsibilities

Straw, clutch. Clutch, straw. Elton, Andrea. Andrea, Elton.

On 4 September, Elton John and Andrea Bocelli will be playing Real Mallorca's stadium. Not at football, but at their day jobs - in the evening. At the risk of offending fans, excuse me if I stifle an unenthusiastic yawn. I may well be out of tune with my audience, some of whom - you, in other words - may be in the audience. At up to a mere 169 euros a pop. Pop music meets the classics at classic prices - they've got to be kidding.

Whenever, which isn't very often, a major name in the music world - or two, as the case may be - pitches up in Mallorca, excitement goes into overdrive, among some. And where Reg and Bocelli are concerned, the government's tourism ministry is getting excited. Together with the concert's promoters, it is eyeing the gig up as a means of attracting tourists. Straw, clutch.

The stadium will be able to hold 34,000 for the concert. Not exactly Wembley, but still a fair number of people, but not so many for an island with an 800,000 or so population plus all the others who are knocking about. Two major artists. The tickets went on sale on 21 June. It is now the end of July. Hmm.

The ministry reckons that tour operators will be able to offer packages to come to Mallorca and take in the event. It will "prove a vital adjunct to the success of marketing the Balearic Islands this season" (quote from "The Bulletin").

Let's just consider this. Tour operators may indeed be able to offer packages, but isn't this all a little late? How many tourists would actually come? However many might will make barely a dent in the overall tourism intake over a whole season. A season that, by implication from that quote, has already been something of a success. Has it really? The belated marketing of Reg sounds less like an enhancement of the tourist season and more one of desperation to sell tickets.


Elsewhere in tourism ministry-land, a previous bonkers suggestion that its responsibilities should be handed to the Council of Mallorca has not been taken up fully, but it has been taken up in part. Some of the ministry's duties, those related to the regulation and administration of tourism businesses, are to go to the council, which presumably will allow the ministry to concentrate on more glamorous tasks, such as trying like hell to fill Mallorca's stadium when Elton comes to town. It doesn't really matter where the responsibilities reside, except for the fact that it will have the effect of beefing up the council when the reverse should be happening. If they want to save money, then they should slim it down not fatten it.

The ministry is also to create yet another damn body, this one a "mesa" (table) around which will sit government institutions and the private sector and have a chinwag about boosting some "alternative" tourism, such as trekking and bird-watching. Fair enough perhaps, but not if it merely creates a further link in the not always joined up chain of tourism promotion and not if, as one fears, this "alternative" tourism is largely illusory. Straw, clutch.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.


Index for July 2010

Air-conditioning - 8 July 2010
Alejandro de Abarca: murder of Ana Niculai - 26 July 2010
Beach life - 2 July 2010
Bullfighting ban in Catalonia - 29 July 2010, 30 July 2010
Butane gas - 19 July 2010
Catalonian self-government - 11 July 2010
Coast road, Alcúdia-Puerto Pollensa - 13 July 2010
Elton John and Andrea Bocelli - 31 July 2010
Fiesta elections - 20 July 2010
Garden rubbish - 6 July 2010
High temperatures - 6 July 2010
Hotels: receptions and smells - 9 July 2010
IBATUR corruption case (Operación Pasarela) - 1 July 2010, 7 July 2010
Lobsters - 5 July 2010
Looky-looky men - 15 July 2010
Muro golf course - 10 July 2010, 22 July 2010
Nightlife, tourists and - 17 July 2010
Pedestrianisation in Puerto Pollensa - 25 July 2010
Playa de Muro, all-inclusives and - 23 July 2010
Price rip-offs - 14 July 2010
Puerto Alcúdia v. Puerto Pollensa: British - 3 July 2010
Puerto Pollensa: tourism study - 24 July 2010
Sant Crist, Alcúdia - 27 July 2010
Sex advertising - 18 July 2010
Sources, newspaper - 21 July 2010
Tourism responsibilities - 31 July 2010
Tourism secretary of state and ministry: changes - 28 July 2010
Tourist destinations, most popular - 21 July 2010
Tribute acts - 16 July 2010
Walk On Water Balls - 16 July 2010
World Cup - 4 July 2010, 12 July 2010

A Bit More Bull: The bullfighting ban

"A sad day." One of the reactions to the news of the Catalonian ban on bullfighting. The local press in Mallorca sought opinions and found them, "The Diario" even asking Joaquín Sabina, a well-known Spanish singer and someone from the left, who believes that the ban is a "tremendous mistake", one made by ignorant politicians. A one-time matador believes that other regions will not follow the Catalonian lead in instituting a ban. The Catalonians have never wanted bulls, he believes; they just want to demonstrate that they are somehow "special".

The anti-bullfight brigade takes quite a different view, as you might expect. Rather than a sad day, it was one to celebrate. The bullfight, as with other social, cultural and political issues in Spain, has the power to divide opinion, and to divide it markedly.

To read what Sabina had to say was surprising. Here is someone who was in exile for some years. He was an opponent of the Franco regime, which was fully supportive of the traditional "Spanishness" of the bullfight. Yet he considers that the ban does away with centuries of cultural heritage. Or perhaps it is not surprising. The bullfight is not a political issue per se, even if politicians have decided its fate in Catalonia; right and left are equally as likely to support it or reject it, and the vote in Catalonia was one of conscience - a free vote in other words.

To brand the politicians who backed the ban as "ignorant" is a peculiar charge. Whereas some observers from outside Spain might be considered thus when it comes to all the arguments for and against, it seems implausible to believe that Spanish (Catalonian) politicians would not know them. Much as though there is a political dimension (Catalan-Spanish relations) to the decision, it is also implausible to suggest that the ban is purely a political snub to Spain.

The cultural aspect is fundamental to the debate as to the future of the bullfight; Sabina is not wrong in this regard. Spanish culture is spectacularly at variance with others in its disregard for what might be considered the norm. As there is only a nodding acquaintance with health and safety when it comes to certain traditions, so there is often a thumbing of the nose to animal welfare. But local culture can appear to practise double standards. Compared with the harmless duck tossing of Can Picafort (banned), the bullfight is, in the view of many, cruel and obscene. The ducks are a soft target though and do not have a cultural symbolism or power.

Yet to what extent should this culture be neutered? Do we wish to see Spain go further in becoming somehow homogenized within a set of standards which, while not determined by a European authority, smack of pandering to sensibilities in other European countries? The ban was of course inspired not by outside opinion or law but by Spanish (Catalonian) citizens, and many of the changes that Spain has undergone over the past decade and especially just recently are in line with a liberal morality in most of Europe - gay marriage, easier divorce and abortion; all of them arrived at by shifting mores in the country. The Spanish have become "good" Europeans in this respect, and should be applauded for having done so. The Catalonians, who crave independence within the European Union, have, through the ban, made a political statement in proclaiming their greater "European-ness", even if they demonstrate hypocrisy by allowing other bull "traditions" to persist. For the rest of Spain, the question it has to address is how it can reconcile increased social liberalism with seemingly archaic manifestations of culture, of which the bullfight is the most obvious.

I have no wish to see the culture neutered. Nor do many Spaniards. And nor do many from other countries. But this is precisely what has been happening, and, for the most part, we have been happy to stand and clap. The bullfight remains a vestige of an old Spain. The argument as to its continuance is one about the heart and soul of the country. The bullfight is repugnant. But ban it and what would Spain lose?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

A Load More Bull: Catalonia votes to ban bullfighting

The Catalonian parliament voted yesterday to ban bullfighting. There were 68 votes in favour of a ban, 55 against with nine abstentions. The ban will take effect as from 2012. It is not the first time that a region of Spain has imposed a ban, but one in a region as important - for various reasons - as Catalonia is significant.

Though politicians are seeking to deny it, there is more than just a hint of the anti-Spain about the ban. Bullfighting, with all its ceremony and overtones of nobility, is representative of an old Spanish order that persists - one at variance with Catalonian nationalism. One can nuance the ban as a slap in the face for Castile and history, as a political statement as much as one founded on animal rights. It might also have ramifications in other regions of Spain.

"The Diario" has polled members of the Balearic parliament as to their views of a potential ban. Ten were in favour of a ban, ten were against with four abstaining. It is just possible that the islands would follow Catalonia were a motion to be brought before parliament.

The annual bullfight as part of the Sant Jaume fiestas was staged in Alcúdia last Sunday. As with the bullfight in Muro in June, there was a demonstration against it. The numbers were not great, and those participating were generally youthful. This might be taken as a protest of idealistic young people, but there are many local Mallorcans who do not like the bullfight. They would not protest though. To do so would be to make themselves known. It isn't necessarily a good career move to be seen to be allying oneself with the anti-bullfight brigade.

Rather like the fox-hunting debate in Britain introduced all manner of pros and cons, so the bullfight-ban debate has its. One of them is economic. In Catalonia, it is being said that a ban will result in a cost to each family of 250 euros. How on earth such a figure is arrived at, heaven only knows, but there is an economic downside to the prohibition of bullfighting. Also like fox-hunting, the debate is essentially emotional - you either like the bullfight or you don't. The president of Catalonia, José Montilla, radical in his calls for Catalonian self-government, voted against the ban as he doesn't approve of a legal imposition that would deny the bullfight to those who enjoy it, though how his position stacks up against other legislation "imposed" in Catalonia, I'm not quite sure.

However, in Catalonia the impulse for a ban came not from parliament or political parties; it came from the views of Catalonian people. There is a system known as the "iniciativa legislativa popular" which under the constitution allows for mass petitions to be presented as the basis for potential reform of laws. It was such a petition that brought the Catalonian parliament to debate and now outlaw bullfighting. In this respect, therefore, the ban might be said to reflect the will of the people and not be an imposition. In Catalonia, the popular will has worked, and while Catalonia is not like the rest of Spain, alarm bells are ringing that similar petitions might force votes in other regions.

The 180,000 signatories to the petition represent a massive expression of popular will, and President Montilla has said that it is correct to respect this will. The popular will was activist-driven, though it does appear to reflect majority opinion. But to believe that it did not have at least an element of nationalist politics about it would be wrong. Montilla, not exactly temperate in his views after the constitutional tribunal dismissed Catalonian self-government aspirations, has been quick to downplay the vote as an indication of the state of Catalan-Spanish relations. Others will see it as a deliberate waving of a red rag in front of a Spanish bull.

At a more general level, the vote, together with the growing opposition to bullfighting throughout Spain, indicates - once again - the degree to which the country has changed. The apathy and conservatism of a predominantly rural population pre-tourism boom and pre-restoration has given way to an urban awareness, activism and liberalism. The vote may have been about Catalonia versus Spain, but it was also about new versus old Spain.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Pedestrianisation plan and the Don Pedro

As flagged up on 25 July, Pollensa town hall yesterday approved the plan for a development in the Ullal area of Puerto Pollensa which would also involve the developers undertaking the pedestrianisation of the resort's "front line". The town hall has also approved the demolition of the Don Pedro hotel in Cala San Vicente.

Men From The Ministry: Downgrading Spanish tourism

In an attempt to reduce costs, the Spanish Government has been cutting back on posts and ministries. In what might seem like a bizarre, almost perverse move, the tourism secretary of state has been, in effect, demoted, and the ministry itself merged.

There is particular anger at the move in Mallorca, whence came the secretary of state, Joan Mesquida. But setting aside any possible feelings of a Mallorcan politician having been slighted, the greater upset is reserved for the fact that tourism as a whole appears to have been downgraded in terms of importance. Now is not the time to be ... you can fill in the rest, it all has to do with crisis, recession and competition from other destinations.

While the move does seem strange, to Mallorcan hoteliers and politicians, is it really that important? The percentage of GDP created by tourism in Spain as a whole amounts to around 5%, not that much higher than in the UK. Is there a tourism minister at cabinet in the British Government? Take a look at the list of cabinet members and their jobs, and nowhere does the word tourism appear. I may be wrong but I don't think tourism has ever commanded a cabinet post, per se, in Britain.

Spain is different though. Take away a tourism secretary of state, and it's as if national pride and the national psyche have been attacked; it was tourism, as much as anything else, that was the foundation of contemporary Spain and of the economic boom that propelled the country from its position as a basket case. Moreover, Spain is reckoned to have the second largest tourism economy in the world. It is a not insignificant industry.

Though the GDP percentage may appear relatively low in national terms, at local levels it is far, far higher. Some latitude may be applied as to how the figures are arrived at, but in Mallorca, tourism is said to amount to 80% of the island's GDP, almost certainly an exaggeration, but maybe not when one takes into consideration related industries.

One of the arguments in favour of maintaining the more elevated role of tourism is that in competing countries tourism is at the very heart of government. Yet these competing countries have far greater levels of centralised government, Egypt for example. Spain was once highly centralised, and tourism was once the flagship industry, but no longer; the country is highly decentralised. It is decentralised not just in terms of regional government but also in terms of its tourism diversity. Selling "Spain" is as outmoded as Franco's state-directed system of government. Do tourists treat Spain and Mallorca as being synonymous? I would very much doubt it. The regional governments, such as that in the Balearics, have their own tourism marketing and their own tourism ministries. The ministry in the Balearics may have become a laughing-stock, but the strategic significance of tourism is reflected in the importance attached to the ministry (one that I have argued should in fact have greater importance attached to it).

One suspects that anger in Mallorca is an expression of anxiety as to possible cuts in funding for tourism from Madrid. Given that the local tourism ministry has found innumerable ways to fritter away public money, not all of them legal (allegedly), one might have sympathy were the Zapatero administration to wish Mallorca a plague on its various tourism houses (and institutes and foundations).

Mallorca is in competition with other destinations, and included among the competition are other parts of Spain, the Canaries and the Costas. The island's politicians want Madrid to be its benefactor and seemingly its tourism "leader" as part of a greater Spanish tourism industry, while at the same time doing whatever they can to nick tourists from other parts of the country. It doesn't quite add up. The regional government has its own structure, its own tourism industry, its own ministry, its own ability to determine industries (well, one) of strategic importance; it should get on with what it's meant to be doing and not fret about musical chairs in Madrid. They can't have everything. Why should there be a tourism secretary of state? There isn't one for construction or one for making donkeys with sombreros on their ears. They should just get over it.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

History Repeating Itself: Sant Crist

It rained yesterday. Quite heavily. Miraculously even. The coincidence was even noted on Facebook. For yesterday was the triennial celebration of the miracle of Sant Crist which delivered the poor sods who lived in Alcúdia at the start of the sixteenth century from a period of drought, pestilence and all manner of privations of biblical proportions. On Sunday evening there was a special Via Fora street dramatisation of Sant Crist in the old town, one that featured a good friend of all things to do with the publications I'm involved with - Xisco at Sunwing. "Ultima Hora" described it as portraying the "leyenda" of Sant Crist: that word again - legend. For, as with many of the religious celebrations, there is a degree of, how can one put it, licence as to the reality of their origins, as there also is with their dating. Sant Crist shouldn't occur in July, as its date is in fact 24 February. Though even this might be open to interpretation.

In 2007, the town celebrated the 500th anniversary of Sant Crist. Three years ago. How time flies. While I get a distinct sense of history repeating itself when the annual fiestas roll around, a three-year lapse might be thought long enough to forget the previous occasion. Not so. I remember it well. And it was on this blog. There is something rather satisfying about the chronicling of events over a period of time. Three years seem like a long time, but they're not. Here is what was said about Sant Crist back then, and when I went back and located it, I was startled to find that the same piece had a photo of Mike and Jane Lynham at their leaving do. Was that really three years ago? It was.


From "The History Man", 21 July 2007:

"In 1507, Alcúdia and indeed the whole of the island was enduring a time of famine, plague and warring between competing dynasties. To add to this, Alcúdia had a threat of drought, which, in turn, threatened the harvest. In order to try and combat this, the local clergy and justices, organised a procession. It was to be a form of begging or pleading procession, the centrepiece of which would be an image of Christ on the cross, crafted from wood. The hope was that an adoration of and pleading to this image would lead to some form of deliverance from the misfortune that had befallen the local people.

The image was taken from the cave of Sant Martí, which is at the foot of the Puig (hill) Sant Martí, which overlooks Alcúdia. On returning to the cave, it was noted that the image oozed water and some drops of blood. This was subsequently confirmed by the religious men. The upshot of all this was that the next harvest was one of the best for many years, thus cementing the miracle of Sant Crist into local history, tradition and folklore. Whether you believe it or not (and as with most of these alleged miracles, they are implausible at best), is not really the point. The fact is that it is part of local history, mythology one might even venture. And it gives the clergy a chance to dress up and walk through the streets and for there to be a bit of a do.

And as to why every three years. In 1697 the then rector of the Sant Jaume church decreed as such. Moreover, they shifted the actual date from 28 July to 26 July, which also happens to be the date of Santa Anna.

So, now you know."


De Abarca
Following on from yesterday ... You can all sleep easy in your beds. He has been caught. And no, he wasn't in Albufera. He was found near Selva, quite some distance away.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The Legend Of The Stones: The de Abarca murder case

In the garden there are a number of stones, some of them quite big stones, more like small rocks. There are also a whole load of small stones, observable on the surface of what would normally be called a lawn were it not for it having been divested of the usual grass and having turned the colour of a German tourist. What all these stones have in common is that, for some time now, they have all remained unturned, something that leaves me baffled, as the Balearics delegate, an old friend of this blog Ramon Socias, has said that no stone is being left unturned in the search for crazed murderer Alejandro de Abarca. I say "crazed" because one is expected to use such a word, even if I have no evidence as to his mental state. I also say "murderer" though he has not only not been caught he also not been charged or convicted. But to say anything else wouldn't have quite the same impact. Like saying that no stone is being left unturned.

My guess is that Sr. Socias didn't use these precise words, but we are led to believe that he did. Maybe the phrase is in common usage among police forces across Europe and among politicians who must attempt to reassure a nervous public. But the assiduous or otherwise turning of stones appears to be unnecessary in setting the public's mind at ease. Despite the fact that de Abarca may or may not be holed up in the vicinity, following the discovery of the burnt-out car in Muro with the body of Ana Niculai, his unfortunate victim - or rather, alleged victim - no one is taking much notice. Yet for all we know, he could be only a short distance away in Albufera, hiding under the nearest water buffalo. As he is nicknamed The Dwarf, this is not as far-fetched as it might sound.

Now just think about this for a moment. Killer on the loose. Massive manhunt. Sounds a bit familiar doesn't it. What isn't, to a British audience, is that there is a complete absence of hysteria. There is also an absence of British media, wandering along streets with sincere expressions saying that things like this don't happen here and that this is a tight-knit community. Delegates may resort to clichés but they are the only ones who do. There is also likely to be an absence of any Facebook pages devoted to the "legend", or "leyenda" if you prefer, of de Abarca. Tempting though it may be to apply a touch of expat snobbery in believing that the British have sole claim on complete stupidity, one finds it hard to think that there is lurking a Spaniard who would make Shannon Matthews' mother appear to possess an intellect akin to Wittgenstein's by comparison with the absurd woman behind the Raoul Moat Facebook (and if you've not seen/heard it, I implore you to go to You Tube for the interview with Talk Sport's Ian Collins).



Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.