MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 26 December 2013

No Frills Excursions


Morning high (9.00am): 11C
Forecast high: 13C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): West and Northwest 6 to 7 easing 5 to 6 by the afternoon.

Following the dip in temperature yesterday afternoon, a chilly morning with strong winds, there being alerts in place for the wind and for poor coastal conditions. Sunny though. The wind should ease by tomorrow and the rest of the week looks reasonable but with temperatures up and down.

Evening update (18.00): With chill winds gusting up to 80kph, a high of only 14.4C but still a bit higher than forecast. Mostly sunny though.

Improving Gotmar - After All These Years

The residents of the Puerto Pollensa urbanisation of Gotmar received an early Christmas present when Pollensa town hall announced five days before Christmas that it would start work on improvements to the urbanisation in the new year. These are improvements which have been a long time in the waiting.

The story of the urbanisation and the problems it has encountered go back to its development in the 1960s. As with other urbanisations, it was essentially a private initiative. There are numerous examples elsewhere of urbanisations created by private companies or individuals which had to wait many years before they were "received" by town halls, i.e. they officially became local authority responsibilities with all the attendant services these imply. In Gotmar's case it was to be some fifteen years after the development was started before it was "received" by the town hall.

Over thirty years, however, the urbanisation has not been paid the attention it should have been. Things really started to come to a head around six years ago when the town hall said that improvements to pavements, roads, drainage and street lighting would be undertaken but with the aid of money raised through a special charge on residents.

This charge, naturally enough, didn't sit well with property owners who had seen the urbanisation deteriorate because of apparent town hall neglect. Around this time, therefore, these owners started to exert their muscle. And one of the most vocal was Dr. Garry Bonsall, the founder and first president of the Gotmar Residents' Association.

Garry, who is no longer a permanent resident in Gotmar, is someone I know quite well. He was a thorough pain in the town hall's backside, especially that of the by then mayor Joan Cerdà. Pressure from the residents' association began to bear some fruit. The mayor conceded that there should be an architect's plan for Gotmar's rehabilitation but insisted that there wasn't the finance to effect it. The residents' association disagreed. It was the town hall's obligation.

The influence of this association cannot be underestimated. There had been a previous association but it was all but moribund. It was reconstituted and became a powerful voice, and one of those who helped it to become so was, surprisingly one might think, the current mayor Tomeu Cifre. It was he who suggested that the association should be the means of communication with the town hall and the means therefore of channelling complaints.

Residents' associations can, if set up properly, be influential, and so it proved with the Gotmar association. Now, some years after it began to take on and challenge the town hall, the urbanisation is to get the improvements that had been demanded years ago.

It should not be forgotten in all of this that it was Cifre who was instrumental in getting the association back up and running. It is he who has now approved financing of over one million euros; the special charge is not to be applied. There is perhaps an irony regarding Cifre's involvement. Regularly criticised for acting in a less than fully participatory fashion and in a less than accountable manner, the suggestion he made about the association was one in which participation and accountability were inherent.

On becoming mayor, there had been the prospect of Cifre meeting regularly with a sort of confederation of different residents' associations in Pollensa. This appears not to have happened, but this may not be because the mayor found he had other things to do but because of the associations themselves.

Recently, the role of residents' associations was spoken about in a wider context than just Pollensa, so across the Balearics. They have a role to play for several reasons. One is that they are a genuine form of citizen participation. Two is that town halls are obliged to listen to them. Three is that they give non-Spanish residents a place in local democracy which they might not otherwise take, or take particularly seriously. Though non-Spaniards can vote in local elections, rare are those who become actively involved in local politics. As groups - and they can comprise considerable numbers of voters - they can influence or threaten to influence the outcome of elections, so they do have to be listened to, but only if they are organised properly and act with common purpose. One suspects that this doesn't always happen.

As with any group, there is the potential for factions to form and for there to be separate agendas. The Gotmar association, when Garry was president, was evidence of how to try and avoid this. Efforts were made, which included bringing in a trainer, to get people to work towards specific objectives and a common purpose, thus overcoming differences which might stem from cultural differences or simply different agendas. But, and in Mallorca it is especially the case, the differences can arise for reasons unrelated to issues which residents might face. They can include the power of individual friendships linked to political parties which undermine a common purpose - the pervasiveness, therefore, of amiguismo and of self-interests.

Then there is the potential for one association to dominate a confederation. In Pollensa, the residents association in Puerto Pollensa is powerful insofar as it operates as a commercial entity. It runs the beach, for example. And it hasn't been immune from accusations of a rather cosy relationship with the town hall. If it operates to its own agenda, then why should it be that interested in what other associations want?

In Gotmar at least the association does seem to have got what it wanted, though whether this is as a result of some political expediency - local elections looming - is hard to say.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 25 December 2013

No Frills Excursions


Morning high (8.30am): 14.5C
Forecast high: 17C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Southwest 6 to 7 easing 5 by the afternoon but increasing and veering West 7 by the evening.

Mild but grey with some rain around and a fair bit of wind. Alert in place for coasts, meaning wind and potentially dangerous seas. Not much hope of sun today, but brightening up tomorrow and giving a good spell of weather as we head towards the new year.

Evening update (20.45): A high of 16.5C on a windy and rainy day, the temperature falling from midday to the mid-13s.

The Mallorca (And Spain) Quiz Of The Year

This was done for the Majorca Daily Bulletin and appeared in the paper yesterday. So, here's the chance for others to see how much attention they have been paying this year. Most of the questions relate to articles on the blog over 2013. Answers will be posted on 27 December.  





Majorca/Balearics
1. A theme park in Sineu was talked about. What was to have been its theme?
2. Javier Salinas became the new what in January?
3. A Mr. Gary Gale produced a map of the world in which the small town of Búger was the only place in Majorca to be identified. What was it a map of?
4. A town hall was raided by the Guardia Civil, acting on complaints regarding the town's radio station. Which town?
5. A book was published about the Canamunt and Canavall. Who were they?
6. The 2009 Miss Balearics, Verónica Hernández, was appointed as secretary to whom?
7. The German tour operator Oböna opened the first what this year?
8. Who was told to stay away from the Minorcan and Ibizan stands at this year's Madrid Travel Fair?
9. Majorca was referred to as the "seventeenth state" and was said to be "toppling". The seventeenth state of where?
10. In June, the Balearic Government dropped plans for what sort of taxes?
11. "The Sunday Times" journalist Matt Rudd wrote an article entitled "Escape from All-catraz". What was he writing about?
12. Where is there an arena called La Macarena? What is it and why has it not been used since 2008?
13. Who, during a press briefing whilst visiting the King at Marivent Palace, referred to Majorca as the "island of Palma"?
14. Which two towns were said to have been the hottest (temperature-wise) during August's heatwave?
15. Despite economic crisis, the number of what type of business had increased by 15% in 2012?
16. Minorca has this year celebrated twenty years since UNESCO declared it to be what?
17. What type of tourism is said to attract a tourist who spends twice as much per day as regular tourists?
18. An amnesty on 20,000 what is due to form part of a new law in the Balearics?
19. Under reforms of local government, the number of what are set to be reduced from 701 to 206 in Majorca?
20. An estimate of 28.6 million euros was placed on demolishing which uncompleted building?
21. The German Frank Hanebuth was arrested in Majorca in July. He was the leader of a criminal organisation associated with an international club formed in California in 1948? Which?
22. Ryanair decided to charge passengers flying from Majorca eight euros for taking oversize what onto its planes?
23. The right-wing union Manos Limpias denounced which mayor for, so it said, failing to pursue prosecution of crimes committed in which resort?
24. Where did two dogs die having ingested poison at a beach allocated for dogs?
25. The first law for what in the Balearics was approved in October?
26. What peaked at 1,926,681 on 9 August?
27. 28.45% of people in the Balearics were unable to do what, according to a report issued in November?
28. Work on a new luxury hotel complex started this autumn? Where?

Spain
29. There are none in the Balearics but over 80 in Spain as a whole. They are "paradors". What are they?
30. Luis Bárcenas supposedly had ledgers which detailed illicit payments. What job did he used to have?
31. Spain beat Denmark in January to become world champions at what?
32. Which global business offered to help Spain with its tourism marketing for free?
33. Artist Eugenio Merino committed an "offence that no modern civilisation can tolerate" (it was said). Who did he place in a cold-drinks fridge?
34. What comprised six volumes and 4,000 pages and was completed in 1739?
35. Who suggested a "relaxing cup of café con leche"? And on what occasion did she make the suggestion?
36. Energy minister José Manuel Soria said he believed in domestic energy self-sufficiency but still proposed a tax on what?
37. In Candeleda in the Spanish region of Castile and León an avenue was named after which former British prime minister?
38. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates took a six per cent shareholding in which Spanish company?
39. Manolo Escobar died in October. What song did he have a hit with in 1973?
40. What, from the start of next year, will not come in refillable containers in bars and restaurants?

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 24 December 2013

No Frills Excursions


Morning high (9.15am): 14.5C
Forecast high: 17C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Southwest 4 to 5 increasing 6 during the morning.

A breezy morning and the wind is going to pick up today and over Christmas and Boxing Days. Mainly sunny today but clouding up to bring rain tomorrow. Boxing  Day will be better.

Evening update (18.45): A high of 17.2C on a fairly windy day. Some sun, but the vloud making its way in for what is likely to be quite a rough Christmas Day.

They Said This: Some Mallorcan/Spanish quotes of 2013

"Spanish history and culture don't teach the philosophy of success by hard work and risk-taking but to have respect for those who have gained success through acting craftily and cunningly." American, Barcelona-based writer Jennifer Riggins.

"The government we have right now is a national-Catholic government which has turned this country into a pre-fascist, if not fascist country." Actor Willy Toledo talking about the Spanish Government.

"The Third Republic will soon be born in Spain." Retired Colonel Amadeo Martínez Inglés, aged 74, who was in court to face a charge that he had insulted the King.

"Luis, nothing is easy, but we will do what we can." "Stay strong." Text messages to former Partido Popular treasurer Luis Bárcenas from Mariano Rajoy sent in 2012 and reproduced in the press in July. Bárcenas' so-called B ledgers allegedly showed illegal payments to Rajoy and others.

"Nobody is going to change my ideas with bombs." Senén Pousa, Partido Popular mayor of Beade in Galicia after a bomb went off at the town hall. Pousa is an unashamed admirer of General Franco.

"Premeditated criminal activity." Judge José Castro referring to the Instituto Nóos formed by Diego Torres and the King's son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin.

"A heartless deputy in Parliament." Headline in the "Diario de Mallorca" for an article by Joan Riera about the death of the immigrant Alpha Pam. The deputy was the Balearics health minister Marti Sansaloni.

"The Guardia Civil's report is typical of Torrente." Balearics tourism minister Carlos Delgado comparing the Guardia's investigation of alleged irregularities at Calvia Town Hall regarding Radio Calvia when Delgado was mayor to a comic film detective, Jose Luis Torrente. This character is a fascist, a racist, a sexist, a Francoist, a heavy drinker ...

"Trilingualism requires time and the involvement of teachers." David Marsh, educational expert in multilingualism, commenting on the introduction of trilingual teaching in the Balearics.

"In many countries there are multilingual systems and they do not cause this Armageddon that has been suggested." Former Balearics education minister Rafael Bosch speaking two weeks before he was removed about the opposition to trilingual teaching.

"The tread on report." Balearics education minister Joana Maria Camps (the successor to Bosch) translating the acronym PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) into the Catalan verb "trepitjar", which means to tread on, during a session at the Balearic Parliament.

"Always distrust the carpenter who blames the hammer for a bad result." Ex-Balearics finance minister and vice-president Pep Aguiló tweeting about the handling of the economy a couple of months after having been dismissed.

"I have lived close to a Catalanist dictatorship." Partido Popular's Ana Aguiló, a deputy in the Balearic Parliament, expressing her displeasure with Catalan and the "prohibition" of Castellano in the Balearics.

"The president of the Balearic Islands, unlike ministers, holds only powers of representation and direction. Conversely, there are no executive or managerial powers." President José Ramón Bauzá explaining (?) his role in light of accusations that he did not declare business interests which might be considered incompatible with his position.

"It is unacceptable that these reports ignore the enormous effort made by businesses and the town hall to maintain the safety and welfare of tourists and instead present an absolutely crass and sensationalist image." Statement by Calvia Town Hall responding to the BBC documentary, "The Truth About Magalluf".

"Tourism is for the benefit of all sectors not just the hotel. This industry (tourism) has to benefit the most people possible." Antoni Pastor, the mayor of Manacor, criticising the Balearic Government's stance on holiday rentals.

"I was not in Mallorca. I was in an all-inclusive hotel indistinguishable from any other place in the Mediterranean." "Sunday Times" journalist Matt Rudd.

"The misfortune for Spanish tourism is that, generally speaking, it is mass tourism with low spending power." Economist Santiago Niño Becerra.

"Mallorca is Sicily without guns." A bon mot quoted in the German magazine "Stern" reporting on "The Dark Side of the Holiday Island".

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 23 December 2013

No Frills Excursions


Morning high (8.15am): 10C
Forecast high: 16C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Variable 2 to 3 then Southwest during the morning, increasing 3 to 5 by the afternoon.

Misty morning, clearing to give sun. Fine tomorrow (Christmas Eve) but with the wind picking up and being a factor on Christmas Day as well when there will be rain.

Evening update (19.15): A high of 17C. Fair bit of sun today, clouded over later.

When The Seagulls Follow: Partido Popular factions

The larus is a genus of seagull. The scientific name for the Mediterranean gull is "Larus melanocephalus". The term is Greek and it means "black-headed". As such, and because of its root, it bears some similarity with the Greek word "melankholia", which passed into Old and then Modern English as initially "black bile" and eventually sadness or depression.

The "melanocephalus" does not feature in the title given to a set of awards. Larus sits on its own. The seagull genus. The bird which flaps around making an at-times God awful racket and being, also at times, an all-round nuisance. Larus is the title of annual awards handed out by the Balearics Partido Popular.

Why this title was chosen I couldn't tell you, but chosen it was in 2012 and so gave rise, if one was of a mind to make them, to any number of associations. Black-headed, melancholic, black bile, a racket, a nuisance. A seagull may look graceful as it hangs on the thermals above the shoreline, but as with many wonders of the natural world it has a spiteful and unpleasant side to it as well.

The Larus awards were presented for the first time at the end of last year. One recipient was Antoni Arabí, a former footballer who was born in Ibiza and who played for Espanyol for eight seasons. He became active in politics with the PP when he hung up his boots. Another award-winner was Joan Verger, a former president (PP) of the Council of Mallorca who died in May this year. A third recipient was the Banco de Alimentos de Mallorca. Earlier this month, this "bank" arranged for the collection of some 120 tons of food from leading supermarkets to be handed out to the needy.

The awards are designed to recognise the achievements of individuals or groups in political, cultural, social or sporting fields. The recipients are intended to be people or organisations affiliated to, friends of or sympathisers of the PP. Such qualification may or may not be rather loose. The Red Cross in the Balearics has received an award this year, a reflection, one would think, of general good works, as with the Banco de Alimentos, rather than any political affiliation.

But certain awards are quite clearly of a PP and a PP only nature. Ventura Rubí received a posthumous award this year. The one-time president of the PP in Sencelles, he was the promoter of the golf course in that town, one which had been blocked until there was a change of political regime in 2011. And another one-time president has picked up a Larus this year. He is Gabriel Cañellas, the first president of the Balearics who held the post from 1983 until he was forced to resign and step down in 1996, embroiled as he then was in the Sóller Tunnel affair.

Cañellas is an interesting figure. Effectively, he is the father of regional democracy, yet he fell from grace because of the tunnel corruption case. It was the first big corruption investigation in Mallorca. The case was eventually archived, but there are still those who insist that some of those indicted got off. Who can really say?

Seagulls invite aphorisms or metaphors. Or they did where Eric Cantona was concerned. Acceptance speeches in the name of a seagull award can also invite sayings which require interpretation. Cañellas offered not one but two. The first was a reminder not to kill that which was helped to be born. The second referred to carts and horses. What did he mean? They were oblique allusions to the people and to regionalism.

There was no mention in his speech of the economy or of the fuss about trilingual teaching or the banning of symbols. Cañellas eschewed full-frontalism in favour of the veiled broadside. Father of regional democracy, he is of a PP which was, from the start of this democracy, a supporter of regionalism. There are others from his time who are still powerful voices who believe in this regionalism too. President Bauzá doesn't. Or doesn't appear to.

The award has been seen as an attempt to mend bridges between factions, one of them represented by the Cañellas old school, and to appeal to PP opponents of Bauzá in parts of the Balearics. And in photos of the occasion, there is the president, beaming as Cañellas lectures the audience and makes, as has been suggested, a "masterly" speech. It is the beaming expression all too familiar to political descendants of former masters. It was one to always be found on the faces of Conservative Party figures whenever Margaret Thatcher appeared and spoke. It is an expression that is necessary, so as to avoid being purged and airbrushed, so as to show respect. But it is also fawning and even patronising. Place a thought bubble above Bauzá's head and what might he have been thinking behind the smile? "I hear what you say, but I'm not listening."?

The Larus stage was set, therefore, for a meeting of the old and new schools. Which one is better? Regionalism aside, Bauzá should be given some credit for the new. He has attempted to rid the party of its previously dubious behaviour, now so much in the public view thanks to Jaume Matas. Was the old school more in tune with the people though? With what is behind the truck and with what was born? It's a question only the PP can answer. Or the electorate. And meantime, the good works baton was handed to the Red Cross. From an evening of awards at Christmas time to days of soup kitchens over the festivities.

MALLORCA TODAY - Alfaro's goals make Christmas a happy one for Mallorca

Real Mallorca 2 : 0 Girona
Mallorca, pressing for a play-off position against struggling Girona, dominated proceedings against weak opposition. Alfaro, having gone close early on, continued his recent goalscoring form by putting Mallorca ahead after 35 minutes. He added a second from the penalty spot five minutes into the second period after Nunes was brought down in the box. Girona were producing very little threat until they too had a penalty with 20 minutes to go, well saved by Miño. Time for Israeli striker Hemed to come on as sub after months out with injury, as Mallorca remained in complete control and ran out comfortable winners. No game next week because of the Christmas break, Mallorca will make the long trip to the Canary Islands to play Las Palmas on 4 January.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 22 December 2013

No Frills Excursions


Morning high (8.30am): 13C
Forecast high: 16C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Southeast 3 to 4 easing 2 to 3 and backing East by the afternoon.

Bright morning and a good day on the cards. The forecast for Christmas remains as was - rain on Christmas Day and then getting better on Boxing Day.

Evening update (18.45): Plenty of sun and a high of 18.5C.

Far From Ideal: The rural tourism idyll

Rural tourism is a part of Mallorca's tourism mix which provides an inland idyll but which is also idealistic. The island, along with the rest of the Balearics, doesn't, in national terms, do at all badly in terms of rural tourism performance. In June this year, as an example, the Balearics topped the national list with more overnight stays in rural tourism accommodation than any other region of the country. The total number of these stays was 92,963. In September, the number was higher - 112,605 - and this represented an increase of almost 30% over the same month in 2012.

Heartening though these statistics may appear, they should be put in context. Overnight stays in hotels in the Balearics for September amounted to 8,560,293. Rural tourism, therefore, equates to (or equated in September at any rate) 1.3% of hotel volume in tourist areas, i.e. the coastal resorts.

Add up the different types of non-hotel accommodation for September, and the overnight stays were 1,750,863. Rural tourism was a touch under 6.5% of this non-hotel tourism (in fact the figure does include rural hotels). The other non-hotel accommodation comprises camping, of which there is a negligible amount in Mallorca but some in Ibiza, and tourist apartments. (When reports refer to tourist apartments, it isn't entirely clear what these are, so it is wise not to necessarily treat them as consisting of the so-called illegal offer.)

However one looks at the numbers for rural tourism, and despite the healthy performance in the Balearics compared with other regions, this is a type of tourism which is on the margins of the tourism mix. And yet, it is a type of tourism - through agrotourism, converted country mansions as hotels etc. - which the Balearics tourism ministry holds out great hope for. It is why the ministry was therefore permissive in facilitating the creation of more rural tourism accommodation in the 2012 tourism law and why its colleagues elsewhere in government are proposing an amnesty on illegal rural properties (some 20,000) which could in certain instances be transformed as additional accommodation.

The ministry, in this same law, was at pains to establish in principle the need for quality standards (for all types of accommodation), but standards (or lack of them) may be an issue which explains why, across Spain as a whole, there is a low loyalty factor among holidaymakers who stay in rural accommodation. Only 25% of clients say they would return, and the Balearics do not head the list when it comes to repeat business (Extremadura and the Basque Country come out on top).

The loyalty factor aside, rural tourism is far more susceptible to wild fluctuations in demand than regular coastal tourism. In April this year, as a further example, there was a national decline of just over 50% in rural tourism stays compared with the previous April. The slightly earlier Easter may well have contributed to this, but even so, 50% is a far from insignificant fall. For the Balearics, there was still some good news as the islands were again number one, but with only 38% of places occupied.

Standards may not be a key issue. I fancy that rural tourism is a more discretionary type of tourism than coastal tourism. It is something which visitors give a try and not something which they intend repeating on a regular basis. While this is supposition, there are some more solid issues to take into account, and one of them is the nature of services on offer. For instance, how good, if at all, are wifi networks in rural areas? Wifi is an increasingly important ingredient for the traveller, but if communications infrastructure is lacking, then rural accommodation may find that clients prefer to give it a miss.

To wifi one can add the total package that is made available to the rural tourist, and it is this which could well represent the biggest challenge to rural tourism. Two years ago, an article in "Hosteltur" attacked the rural tourism sector for being "allergic to change" and for simply being boring. It is as though the rural setting is considered sufficient to attract guests, when it quite plainly isn't. Tourists, wherever they go, are more demanding than ever. And as noted yesterday, the report for the ITB Berlin travel fair revealed that, in contrast to the growth in urban tourism, the demand for rural and nature tourism has been falling. The ideal of the rural idyll, it might be said, doesn't match the dynamism and vitality of the city; one might be boring, while the other isn't.

In the Balearics at least, there is better performance than elsewhere, but it is performance which makes only a small contribution to the total tourism picture. It is probably worth pushing rural tourism more, but how much more? Is there genuinely the demand, while a not unimportant matter related to any growth in rural tourism is that of resources. A criticism of Balearics "quality" rural tourism is that it has a huge hunger for water, which is costly and inefficient when compared with densely populated, coastal, urban areas. 

Rural tourism sounds good in theory and it does have much to commend it but its importance is being exaggerated.

MALLORCA TODAY - Improvements to Gotmar to start in the new year

Pollensa town hall has announced that 1.2 million euros are to be spent on improvements to the Gotmar urbanisation in Puerto Pollensa. Undertaken in two phases, the first beginning in January, the work will include improvements to street lighting and paving.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 21 December 2013

No Frills Excursions


Morning high (8.30am): 14.5C
Forecast high: 17C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Northeast 3 to 4. Rough seas improving and swells to two metres easing.

A very much better morning, the wind having dropped but there is still rain and will be during the day. Mild and staying so into next week, but getting a bit colder on Christmas Day when it will be wet.

Evening update (18.00): So much for a forecast for rain. It wasn't a bad day with a good deal of sun. A high of 16.9C.

Urban Myth: Palma as an urban tourism destination

IPK International is a tourism consulting group. In keeping with other consultancies, it publishes various reports. One of these is the "ITB World Travel Trends Report 2013/2014", which has been produced in advance of the ITB Berlin travel and tourism fair in March next year, and a key finding of the report has to do with urban tourism, which has grown four times more quickly than sun and beach tourism since 2009 - up by 47%, if you want to know.

At the turn of the millennium, the European Commission produced a report of its own on the same theme. Entitled "Towards Quality Urban Tourism", the report took 15 case studies of European cities in promoting a concept called integrated quality management for urban tourist destinations. This IQM concept was and is a familiar enough box of tools to anyone with some knowledge of the principles of quality management that have been knocking around corporations since the late 1970s.

One of the 15 case studies was Malaga. It was the one Spanish city included in the report. In May this year, there was yet another report, one produced by Exceltur, the Spanish alliance for touristic excellence. "UrbanTUR 2012" was a "monitor of touristic competitiveness of Spanish urban destinations". Malaga was ranked sixth out of the 20 destinations which were considered. In October, figures from the Spanish national statistics office revealed that in the first nine months of this year Malaga had been the Spanish city which had enjoyed the highest increase in the level of urban tourism - up by 6%.

Malaga isn't particularly special in how it has applied quality principles to its tourism. It, as with many other cities and indeed quite small towns in Spain, follows quality principles known as SICTED, an "integrated system of touristic quality in destination". Palma does as well, and so indeed do smaller places like Alcúdia. But Malaga had been, as noted in the European Commission's report of 2000, one of the first movers in establishing a comprehensive plan of action for its tourism. Though only sixth in the UrbanTUR rankings, it has some serious hitters ahead of it - Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Seville and San Sebastian. Behind it, though, are the likes of Santiago de Compostela, Granada and Bilbao.

Of the twenty cities in those UrbanTUR rankings, Palma wasn't one of them. It didn't qualify for inclusion because it was impossible to separate values derived from sun and beach tourism, i.e. that of Playa de Palma. The report's organisers are looking at developing a methodology which will enable values of Palma's urban tourism alone to be calculated, but for the meantime, in official rankings, Palma doesn't feature as an urban tourism destination.

Yet, Malaga has sun and beach tourism as well. So too does Barcelona. What is it, therefore, which permits their inclusion as an urban tourism destination and not Palma's? Perhaps it is because sun and beach is that much more important, relatively speaking, to Palma than to these other cities. Or perhaps it is a matter of perception - that of visitors and of the city's authorities.

Malaga, despite its having beaches, has far more of a reputation and therefore perception as a city than as a beach destination. Its tourism is, as a consequence, much more clearly of an urban nature and more focused on this. It has certain obvious claims to fame and selling points to attract the urban tourist; it is, for example, the birthplace of Picasso. Cities like Madrid, Santiago, Granada are all obviously urban tourist destinations and all have strong attractions. Barcelona, even with its beaches, is known as an urban destination, famed for Gaudi and all that.

Palma, on the other hand, is far less recognisable as an urban tourism destination. Playa de Palma is one reason why it isn't. Another, though, is that it doesn't have the strength of attraction of, say, a Barcelona or even a Malaga. If you disagree with this statement, then ask yourself a question: what is it about Palma that is in any way unique or that makes it stand out as an urban tourism destination?

Destination duality - that of urban and sun and beach - should, in theory, be an advantage. The best of both worlds can be had. But maybe it is in fact a drawback, because there is an unevenness between the two. One dominates the other. In Palma, which of the two dominates? In tourist perception terms and perhaps also in the perception of people of Palma itself, it is sun and beach.

The growth in urban tourism that the ITB report has referred to, helped by, among other things, an increase in the popularity of short city breaks and business and conference tourism, suggests that Palma is on the right lines in the way it is now being promoted as an all-year destination. But the city does face a big challenge. It is the one of perception, and as such, Palma's ambitions for non-sun and beach tourism are a metaphor for Mallorca as a whole. The perception of the island is one of sun and beach and not the rest. And as for this rest, the ITB report has something else to say: rural and nature tourism has slumped by 10%.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 20 December 2013

No Frills Excursions


Morning high (8.30am): 13C
Forecast high: 15C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): North and Northeast gale force 8 to 9, easing by the afternoon to 6 to 7. Extremely rough.

A tempestuous morning. Very high winds gusting to 90kph. Very rough seas and dangerous coastal conditions. Rain persisting through the day, the wind due to ease later but staying into tomorrow. The forecast into next week is for rain; Christmas Day looks like being a washout.

Evening update (18:15): Pretty awful day. The wind has eased a bit and should do more so overnight, but the rain is likely to continue. It has been heavy in some areas, though nothing out of the ordinary. The high has been 12.7C, so a little down on what it was this morning.

Highly Symbolic: Balearics Law of Symbols

How important is a flag? I guess the answer will vary according to one's sense of nationalism, but however much one honours the flag or doesn't and so however much one might feel nationalistic or not, there is little denying that it conveys nationalism. There is also undeniable potency in the flag. Combined with the anthem, it can reduce even the strongest Olympian to a gibbering wreck. Hung at half mast, it pays homage to the war dead and the notably dead. Paraded in streets, it shouts victory or opposition.

There has been research into the effects of exposure to a flag. Unsurprisingly, and even at subliminal levels of exposure, this leads to greater national identity or identity with some entity (politicial party perhaps) which utilises or exploits the flag. It is unsurprising simply because the more there is exposure, the greater the awareness of the flag and what it might represent.

The flag's origins were in battle as military standards. Or they were a means of identifying particular clans. These might have doubled as military standards but otherwise they were a device to extract fealty or loyalty and to exert supremacy, power, influence and ownership. The flag didn't really become a statement of nationalism until it was necessary for a nation to announce its dominance and even then, overt nationalism, as expressed by the flag, was something which didn't emerge until revolutionary upheaval in the late eighteenth century and nineteenth century. The Stars and Stripes and the Tricolore were arguably the first truly overt statements of nationalism via pieces of cloth with different colours.

Despite this relatively recent exploitation of the flag as nationalist symbol, historical revisionism enables the flag as potent national symbol to be placed much further back in time. One such flag is the senyera. Originally the flag of the old kings of Aragon, it has long been adopted either wholesale or in part by the component regions of what became the Crown of Aragon. Catalonia's flag is the senyera, while the flags for Mallorca and the Balearics (there being two different ones) both use the senyera. For the purposes of nationalist revisionism and so therefore for the potency of the senyera as national symbol, Catalonia is a case study all in its own right. Was it ever a nation? Some would argue that it was, while others would dismiss the suggestion.

There are also arguments regarding the generally held view that the flag was originally that of the kings of Aragon. Following the Catalonian line of historical revisionism (or even accuracy), it was in fact a flag of the Count of Barcelona towards the back end of the eleventh century and so at a time when there wasn't a Catalonia as such but a County of Barcelona.

Whatever the exact origin, there is no question that the senyera is a very old flag. It is one of the oldest of European flags that has survived to the present day. And however the arguments go, either pro- or anti-Catalonia, there is also no question that it was not a flag of Castile. It was a flag apart, albeit one that ended up being shared by a number of regions.

The flag, any flag that is, is a symbol, a symbol of nationalism. As far as the senyera is concerned, it has become a popular symbol in Mallorca. Indeed, its popularity has never been greater. Up until about two years ago, the senyera, while popular, was a latent symbol of centuries past, reflected in the modern-day island flags. Now, it is not latent. Quite the contrary.

It was the current regional government's attitudes and legislation which led to the senyera being rediscovered anew. It started to appear on public buildings, usually tied in a bow. These buildings included town halls and schools. It was a symbol of opposition, a symbol of rejection of the government's apparent indifference to regionalism and its antagonism towards Catalonia and all things Catalan, including the language.

The government has finally approved its Ley de Símbolos, the law of symbols. It is a law which doesn't only deal with the senyera, but it is how the senyera is being dealt with which is its main focus, because how the senyera was to be dealt with was the reason for the law ever having been proposed.

The law, therefore, bans the hanging of the senyera on public buildings. As such, opponents argue, it is a limit to freedom of expression and a return to the bad old days of Franco. One will wait and see if and how the law is flouted. And flouted, one imagines it will be.

Dredging up the Francoist past makes the law of symbols appear more than it really is. In truth, it is very petty. Stupid even. It is a law of symbols which is symbolic in revealing the difficulties which the government has in being able to accept criticism of its policies. The very acts of hanging out the senyera might also have been considered rather petty, but for those who have done so, these acts have not been.

But how far have these acts been representative of an expression of nationalism - Catalan nationalism? For some, they will have been, but for many others, they won't have been. They will have been merely acts of defiance and opposition. By banning the senyera, the government is achieving what it had hoped it could put an end to. The ban is stupid because it increases the potential for Catalan nationalism to take hold in Mallorca not reduce it. Exposure to the flag. Exposure to the symbol. Even if it cannot now appear on public buildings. Nationalist identity grows. It's a bad law.

Photo: From "Ultima Hora". A senyera bow at the secondary school in Marratxi.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 19 December 2013

No Frills Excursions


Morning high (8.30am): 14C
Forecast high: 16C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Southwest 3 to 4 increasing 4 to 5.

Cloudy morning and rain due later with an alert in place for rain and then alerts for tomorrow for rain, wind and poor coastal conditions.

Evening update (19.30): Rain came in as expected. Not heavy but may be over the next few days. Wind due to really get up overnight. The forecast for Christmas Day is for more rain.

Of Paramount Importance: Theme parks

Paramount Pictures needs little introduction. From the early Marx Brothers output to the more modern-day likes of "Star Trek", Paramount has been one of Hollywood's most famous studios. It is, in marketing parlance, a highly recognisable brand and, as with other brands, its value can be exploited in ways other than the cinema and media.

The Walt Disney Company was probably the first studio to truly appreciate branding potential. And boy did it appreciate it. Arguably, Disney is now better known for its theme parks than for Mickey Mouse, and theme parks have become an important additional line of business for other studios. Universal is one. It used to own most of the shares in the PortAventura theme park in Salou but sold out in 2004. Now, there is another studio coming to Spain with a theme park - Paramount.

The move into resorts and theme parks is a recent venture by Paramount. Its first resort is being built in Dubai but it may be a close-run thing as to where the first one becomes operable. Paramount Murcia is scheduled to be completed some time in 2015, the same year as the Dubai project.

Alhama in the region of Murcia has a population of a little over 20,000 people. It is a town noted for nature parks and protected natural areas. Its economy is based primarily on agriculture and industry. There is a tourism economy, but this is confined to those natural areas. It is some way inland in a region that is not that well known for its sun and beach tourism. Murcia obviously has a coast but it doesn't have resorts of the type which are to be found in the Alicante province to its north and along the Costa Almeria and therefore Costa del Sol to its south.

When the Paramount project was first announced in 2010, concerns were raised that it was just some sort of publicity stunt that wouldn't see the light of day. Interestingly, despite the location and all that nature, there was surprisingly little opposition. Naturally it has caused some controversy, but the benefits seem to outweigh this. Leading unions have, for example, accepted that it would be a great opportunity for Murcia.

It was fair though for some scepticism to have been expressed. At the time of the initial announcement, the Gran Scala project in Aragon was still seen as a goer, but it was to soon collapse through a mixture of co-ordinated opposition and, more importantly, a lack of investors.

Investment for Paramount Murcia - Paramount Park and Lifestyle Center to give it its official name - hasn't yet been put in place totally. The promoters behind the park is a company called Premursa (Proyectos Emblemáticos Murcianos), which is made up by the institute of development in Murcia, the Murcia Tourist Region body and Santa Monica Financial Services. The whole project is expected to need investment of 450 million euros. Premursa expects to get this investment mainly from foreign sources. In the meantime, the first phase is to start now that Ferrovial, a company which is known of course for its airports, has been awarded a contract worth 52 million euros.

The schedule for completion in 2015 does therefore seem a little tight for what will be a project occupying 133 hectares that will combine Paramount theming with the lifestyle of casino, hotels, restaurants, shopping mall and culture and which will be notable for utilising advanced technologies, including 3D and 4D. And the schedule might be even more optimistic if all the investment doesn't pour in. The hope is that now that Spain is seemingly being seen as a good investment opportunity it will.

But there are concerns about theme park viability in general. The Murcia minister for tourism has sought to dispel these concerns, pointing to, for example, a 1.8% growth for Spanish theme parks in 2012 as well as to the unique features of Paramount Park. If it all comes off, the theme park is expected to create 23,000 jobs and attract some three million tourists per annum. And if it does indeed all come off, then it will be a theme park on the Spanish mainland of the type which Mallorca does not have.

Murcia makes a great deal of sense as a location because it is a region that is crying out for tourism investment. But just as regions which are deficient in tourism terms need investment so also do those which have been heavily invested in, such as Mallorca. Constant new investment is required in order to create new attractions and so keep up in the tourism competition race.

Theme parks, so we have been led to believe by the Balearics tourism ministry, are on the cards. If so, then where is the evidence? And even if there were evidence, 133 hectares in an area of nature parks as in Murcia? Forget it. It would never happen.

* Photo from the Premursa website.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 18 December 2013

No Frills Excursions


Morning high (8.30am): 11C
Forecast high: 17C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Southeast 2 to 3 becoming Variable during the afternoon and Southwest by the evening.

Pleasant enough morning. Calm and quite a bit of clear sky. Poor weather looks a though it is coming in from tomorrow afternoon with Friday expected to be particularly poor with high winds and rain and then some improvement over the weekend.

Evening update (18.00): A high of 19C. Pretty good day, but hold on to your hats from tomorrow.

The Missing Funds For Resort Modernisation

Resort modernisation was one of the key themes behind the Balearics tourism law of 2012. One of the measures included in the law was the payment of a tax equivalent to 5% of the value of reconstruction or rehabilitation of a hotel that underwent a change of use. This change of use referred to the establishment of tourist condo hotels or a complete alteration to residential apartments for sale. Such conversions, and in the build-up to the passing of the 2012 law they were one of the most publicised aspects, have thus far been few and far between. Yet the pre-law publicity hinted that they would be many and close between and, moreover, that many 5% levies would find their ways into the coffers of different town halls who would then be able (obliged) to use the money for infrastructure modernisation in the vicinity of the converted hotel.

It all seemed, therefore, like a fairly decent scheme. But as conversion has been only fractionally more than zilch, it now seems like less of a decent scheme. Why hasn't there been a dash to convert? Finance almost certainly, but was there ever the demand for condos (or cash available to buy them) and is there not already a surplus of apartments for sale in tourist areas? And why might someone wish to buy an apartment in a tourist area from a former hotel. Not as a holiday rental private apartment, surely?

Conversion fever being absent, additional funds for town halls are also absent and so modernisation of resorts or parts thereof is being starved of additional funds. Yet these funds are badly needed. There are old, all but obsolete hotels in Mallorca and there are old, all but obsolete parts of resorts as well. Forty or fifty years on from the great boom times, the coastal urban areas of the island are showing their age and looking tired.

The regional government is hugely dependent upon the private sector to assist with this resort modernisation. The funds it receives by way of project investment from Madrid are laughably small - some 70 odd million euros in 2014 - and those which it can afford to allocate are similarly paltry and determined by a lack of cash and an inability to raise credit, even if banks were willing to extend it.

The tourism ministry has announced a series of projects that will commence in 2014 and run into 2015. The funds available amount to a little over 12.5 million euros. The government may be able to find some more cash and may also be able to announce more than the 15 projects that it has, but 12.5 million does not go a long way when one considers the scale of modernisation that needs to be undertaken across the island.

What is interesting about this 12.5 million, though, is that it is a sort of special fund. It comes from the hoteliers. Not because they have been disposing largesse but because they were liable under an agreement drawn up in 2009 to hand over 4,000 euros for every hotel place that had to be "regularised". There were, or supposedly there were, a whole load of hotel places that were illegal.

The then tourism minister Miguel Nadal and the Council of Mallorca reckoned that there were 50,312 hotel places that required regularising, though they weren't In fact all hotel places. Roughly a half related to tourist apartments of the type which hoteliers operate. Whatever the type of accommodation, there was an apparently large discrepancy between what these 50,000 or so places should have generated and what the government at the time anticipated receiving - up to 70 million euros. There is now an even greater discrepancy. Since 2009, the total number of places that have been regularised is less than 10% of the 2009 figure, and the amount raised has totalled only a bit more than 18 million euros, 12.5 million of which is now earmarked for the 15 projects.

So whatever happened to the 50,000 places and what, therefore, ever happened to the funds that were going to be raised? Both seem like pretty legitimate questions, but neither have an obvious or satisfactory answer. Perhaps the tourism ministry got the figures wrong back in 2009. Who can say? The process of regularisation and so the period for which the government receives funds are due to end in 2015, so 50,000 places are most certainly not going to be regularised.

The shortfall on the 2009 estimate potentially gives a lie to the government's belief in the private sector contributing to modernisation and also to the rapidity with which this might be undertaken. Though modernisation was a tenet of the 2012 tourism law, the legislative framework for the regularisation, the raising of funds and yes, modernisation, was, remarkably enough, established under the 1999 tourism law. Which all goes to prove how slowly things can proceed and how, even once they do proceed, they do not proceed as might have been anticipated. Modernisation? It'll take years.