Morning high (8.07am): 7.6C
Forecast high: 19C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 16 February - Cloud, 19C; 17 February - Cloud, 18C; 18 February - Cloud, 16C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 2 to 3.
A fine, sunny day expected. Tomorrow and the weekend cloudy with some rain at times.
Evening update (21.30): High of 21.3C. Hooray!
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Keeping Quiet About Holiday Rentals
Tomàs Adrover Albertí is Alcudia's councillor for the environment. They hadn't needed to let Tomás take care of the environment. They hadn't needed to even invite him to be part of the ruling administration. But they did. It was all something to do with being inclusive, if my memory serves me correctly.
They are the centre-right El Pi and the socialist PSOE. The last municipal election in Alcudia produced a situation reminiscent to how it had been for many years prior to the 2011 election (which the Partido Popular won). The former Unió Mallorquina, of which El Pi is not a direct descendant but is a descendant nevertheless, and PSOE used to form pacts. And by and large they worked well. The pact since 2015 has also worked reasonably well.
The inclusion of Tomàs slightly changed the dynamics of this pact. Tomàs is a councillor with GxA, Gent per Alcúdia. This "people's" party was in fact a compromise between Més and the Esquerra Unida (United Left). At each other's throats before the election, in Alcudia they were able to create a mini-pact. Tomás was from the Més wing; the PSM Mallorca Socialist Party to be precise.
Between them, El Pi and PSOE ended up with ten councillors after the election. As the required majority was nine, they didn't require anyone else. Tomàs was brought in nevertheless. Very little, to be honest, has been heard of him, and even on an issue as contentious as holiday rentals, Tomàs - environment portfolio and all - has been quiet.
Somehow, Alcudia town hall manages to keep a lid on things. Perhaps it's the sign of a certain maturity that exists within the corridors of that building on the calle Major. The three ruling parties may not have seen eye to eye on everything, but disagreements and dirty linen do not get a general airing in public. Holiday rentals have provided a perfect opportunity for such an airing, but remarkably enough there seems to be an absence of tension or conflict.
Prior to Tomás becoming a councillor, he stated that Alcudia lives from tourism and not from rubbish (this was a reference to the waste that was being imported via the port for incineration). Mayor Toni Mir (El Pi) told me in an interview that Alcudia lives from tourism. Joan Gaspar Vallori (PSOE), the tourism councillor and fifth deputy mayor, told me the same thing in a different interview. Everyone's agreed then, as they are on the type of tourism that Alcudia wishes to live from - quality, aka a tourism that has plenty of money to spend and isn't inclined to stagger along the streets of the municipality vomiting and urinating everywhere.
Alcudia has its share of the non-quality class. This is a reason why holiday sickness compensation claims farming touts descended on certain all-inclusive hotels and why the owners of one complex - Club Mac - set the whole ball rolling which led to the arrests of touts and their boss.
Holiday rentals, although I personally have an issue with them because of the pressure caused in the residential rental market, generally speaking do conform to the "quality" that Alcudia wants. As with all-inclusives, where not all holidaymakers should be tarnished with the same negative and disparaging brush, the holiday rental tourist is not universally "quality". By and large, though, he or she is.
The town hall held a council meeting on Monday. The Partido Popular opposition raised a motion. In essence, it was against the Council of Mallorca and the holiday rentals zoning. El Pi backed the motion. It was passed. PSOE and Tomàs were against. The pact was therefore fractured. So, has there been a rumpus? No. And nor was there much of an air of conflict when the Council of Mallorca worthies - the Més president and the PSOE councillor for land - turned up at the auditorium for a rentals presentation and discussion. Were this other town halls, Pollensa's for example, you wouldn't hear the end of it.
The point is that all parties are agreed on the principle of quality tourism. Where they do have disagreement is the means of achieving this. El Pi wants less restriction on rentals. PSOE and Tomàs follow the party lines as have been set out by the likes of Mercedes Garrido, the PSOE councillor for land, and Miquel Ensenyat, the Més president of the Council.
My own view is that despite the dog's breakfast approach to zoning, I am generally in agreement with the Council of Mallorca and the Balearic tourism ministry. But having a dispassionate and civilised debate about rentals can at times seem nigh on impossible. In Alcudia, at least on the public surface, they appear to manage this impossibility.
They are the centre-right El Pi and the socialist PSOE. The last municipal election in Alcudia produced a situation reminiscent to how it had been for many years prior to the 2011 election (which the Partido Popular won). The former Unió Mallorquina, of which El Pi is not a direct descendant but is a descendant nevertheless, and PSOE used to form pacts. And by and large they worked well. The pact since 2015 has also worked reasonably well.
The inclusion of Tomàs slightly changed the dynamics of this pact. Tomàs is a councillor with GxA, Gent per Alcúdia. This "people's" party was in fact a compromise between Més and the Esquerra Unida (United Left). At each other's throats before the election, in Alcudia they were able to create a mini-pact. Tomás was from the Més wing; the PSM Mallorca Socialist Party to be precise.
Between them, El Pi and PSOE ended up with ten councillors after the election. As the required majority was nine, they didn't require anyone else. Tomàs was brought in nevertheless. Very little, to be honest, has been heard of him, and even on an issue as contentious as holiday rentals, Tomàs - environment portfolio and all - has been quiet.
Somehow, Alcudia town hall manages to keep a lid on things. Perhaps it's the sign of a certain maturity that exists within the corridors of that building on the calle Major. The three ruling parties may not have seen eye to eye on everything, but disagreements and dirty linen do not get a general airing in public. Holiday rentals have provided a perfect opportunity for such an airing, but remarkably enough there seems to be an absence of tension or conflict.
Prior to Tomás becoming a councillor, he stated that Alcudia lives from tourism and not from rubbish (this was a reference to the waste that was being imported via the port for incineration). Mayor Toni Mir (El Pi) told me in an interview that Alcudia lives from tourism. Joan Gaspar Vallori (PSOE), the tourism councillor and fifth deputy mayor, told me the same thing in a different interview. Everyone's agreed then, as they are on the type of tourism that Alcudia wishes to live from - quality, aka a tourism that has plenty of money to spend and isn't inclined to stagger along the streets of the municipality vomiting and urinating everywhere.
Alcudia has its share of the non-quality class. This is a reason why holiday sickness compensation claims farming touts descended on certain all-inclusive hotels and why the owners of one complex - Club Mac - set the whole ball rolling which led to the arrests of touts and their boss.
Holiday rentals, although I personally have an issue with them because of the pressure caused in the residential rental market, generally speaking do conform to the "quality" that Alcudia wants. As with all-inclusives, where not all holidaymakers should be tarnished with the same negative and disparaging brush, the holiday rental tourist is not universally "quality". By and large, though, he or she is.
The town hall held a council meeting on Monday. The Partido Popular opposition raised a motion. In essence, it was against the Council of Mallorca and the holiday rentals zoning. El Pi backed the motion. It was passed. PSOE and Tomàs were against. The pact was therefore fractured. So, has there been a rumpus? No. And nor was there much of an air of conflict when the Council of Mallorca worthies - the Més president and the PSOE councillor for land - turned up at the auditorium for a rentals presentation and discussion. Were this other town halls, Pollensa's for example, you wouldn't hear the end of it.
The point is that all parties are agreed on the principle of quality tourism. Where they do have disagreement is the means of achieving this. El Pi wants less restriction on rentals. PSOE and Tomàs follow the party lines as have been set out by the likes of Mercedes Garrido, the PSOE councillor for land, and Miquel Ensenyat, the Més president of the Council.
My own view is that despite the dog's breakfast approach to zoning, I am generally in agreement with the Council of Mallorca and the Balearic tourism ministry. But having a dispassionate and civilised debate about rentals can at times seem nigh on impossible. In Alcudia, at least on the public surface, they appear to manage this impossibility.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 February 2018
Morning high (8.09am): 12.4C
Forecast high: 16C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 15 February - Sun, 20C; 16 February - Sun, cloud, 19C; 17 February - Cloud, 18C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northwest 4 to 6 easing Variable 2 to 3 around midday.
Cloudy but not heavy. Due to be like this for most of the day.
Evening update (20.00): High of 15.5C.
Forecast high: 16C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 15 February - Sun, 20C; 16 February - Sun, cloud, 19C; 17 February - Cloud, 18C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northwest 4 to 6 easing Variable 2 to 3 around midday.
Cloudy but not heavy. Due to be like this for most of the day.
Evening update (20.00): High of 15.5C.
Airbnb: Poacher Turned Gamekeeper
Booking.com is part of the American company The Priceline Group. It is also one of the four largest online travel companies in the world: the others are Expedia, the Chinese Ctrip and Airbnb. Booking offers all sorts of accommodation. As far as its rentals side is concerned, it has been commended by certain regional authorities in Spain for being rather more willing to comply with regulations than other online concerns: Valencia has been one, the Balearics another.
Expedia used to be TripAdvisor's parent company. The website that is ostensibly about user reviews was spun off from Expedia, which has since acquired HomeAway, perhaps the biggest rival to Airbnb. TripAdvisor branched out to become its online travel company as well. It, as with HomeAway and Airbnb, has fallen foul of regulators in Spain, such as the Balearics.
Airbnb, it doesn't really need pointing out, has grown to be the business it is by being an "intermediary" for non-hotel accommodation. This is now, however, all about to change. Airbnb, rather than just being an online travel company (which it would in any event dispute), is to become an online travel agency - an OTA, the term used for the likes of Booking.com. Again, of course, Airbnb would dispute that it is or will be an OTA.
What is changing is that a tie-up with another website - a non-exclusive one with SiteMinder - means that hotels which appear on SiteMinder can also go on Airbnb. Yes, Airbnb is to become a hotel distributor, just like Booking and Expedia. The website so maligned by the hotel industry will now, if hotels wish, become something of a friend. As Airbnb appears to have no limits in its ambitions in becoming an "infinite" company (CEO Brian Chesky's term), you can be pretty sure that the first foray into hotel distribution will only grow much bigger.
Hotels have already been able to use Airbnb, but only an individual basis. They now stand to be incorporated en masse, and they also stand to benefit from the vastly more favourable commissions. Booking and Expedia will be looking on all this with some degree of horror. The difference between Airbnb and Booking/Expedia commissions is anything from three or five per cent to fifteen or thirty per cent.
The Airbnb commission range may change, but for now it will look very tempting. And as such, it puts hoteliers into more of a fix. Can they carry on being as aggressive towards Airbnb if they want to take advantage of the more advantageous commissions?
The massive global industry that is accommodation is undergoing yet more revolution. There is Facebook and there is also Amazon. And as these global concerns move into new product areas, so they move further away from what they were originally, none more so than Airbnb. The disingenuous propaganda about the collaborative, sharing economy is further undermined by having a hotel product. There is nothing sharing about this; it is business pure and simple, and hugely profitable it is, too.
Moreover, the Airbnb (and HomeAway) argument about being merely intermediaries which operate in accordance with European e-commerce regulations is also further undermined. The European ruling regarding Uber, which basically determined that it is a transport services operator subject to member state regulations, has yet to be applied more broadly. But the European Commission will have greater evidence to rule that Airbnb is a travel services company (an OTA), which brings with it very different regulations to that of e-commerce. And that would mean that there would be far less defence against the type of fine that the Balearics and other administrations care to dish out.
Expedia used to be TripAdvisor's parent company. The website that is ostensibly about user reviews was spun off from Expedia, which has since acquired HomeAway, perhaps the biggest rival to Airbnb. TripAdvisor branched out to become its online travel company as well. It, as with HomeAway and Airbnb, has fallen foul of regulators in Spain, such as the Balearics.
Airbnb, it doesn't really need pointing out, has grown to be the business it is by being an "intermediary" for non-hotel accommodation. This is now, however, all about to change. Airbnb, rather than just being an online travel company (which it would in any event dispute), is to become an online travel agency - an OTA, the term used for the likes of Booking.com. Again, of course, Airbnb would dispute that it is or will be an OTA.
What is changing is that a tie-up with another website - a non-exclusive one with SiteMinder - means that hotels which appear on SiteMinder can also go on Airbnb. Yes, Airbnb is to become a hotel distributor, just like Booking and Expedia. The website so maligned by the hotel industry will now, if hotels wish, become something of a friend. As Airbnb appears to have no limits in its ambitions in becoming an "infinite" company (CEO Brian Chesky's term), you can be pretty sure that the first foray into hotel distribution will only grow much bigger.
Hotels have already been able to use Airbnb, but only an individual basis. They now stand to be incorporated en masse, and they also stand to benefit from the vastly more favourable commissions. Booking and Expedia will be looking on all this with some degree of horror. The difference between Airbnb and Booking/Expedia commissions is anything from three or five per cent to fifteen or thirty per cent.
The Airbnb commission range may change, but for now it will look very tempting. And as such, it puts hoteliers into more of a fix. Can they carry on being as aggressive towards Airbnb if they want to take advantage of the more advantageous commissions?
The massive global industry that is accommodation is undergoing yet more revolution. There is Facebook and there is also Amazon. And as these global concerns move into new product areas, so they move further away from what they were originally, none more so than Airbnb. The disingenuous propaganda about the collaborative, sharing economy is further undermined by having a hotel product. There is nothing sharing about this; it is business pure and simple, and hugely profitable it is, too.
Moreover, the Airbnb (and HomeAway) argument about being merely intermediaries which operate in accordance with European e-commerce regulations is also further undermined. The European ruling regarding Uber, which basically determined that it is a transport services operator subject to member state regulations, has yet to be applied more broadly. But the European Commission will have greater evidence to rule that Airbnb is a travel services company (an OTA), which brings with it very different regulations to that of e-commerce. And that would mean that there would be far less defence against the type of fine that the Balearics and other administrations care to dish out.
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 February 2018
Morning high (7.43am): 6.8C
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 14 February - Cloud, 15C; 15 February - Sun, cloud, 19C; 16 February - Cloud, 20C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 4 to 6.
Clearer skies. Fair bit of sun today. Better all round than yesterday.
Evening update (20.00): Reasonable, as in there was some sun, but there was also a chilly wind. High of 13.7C.
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 14 February - Cloud, 15C; 15 February - Sun, cloud, 19C; 16 February - Cloud, 20C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 4 to 6.
Clearer skies. Fair bit of sun today. Better all round than yesterday.
Evening update (20.00): Reasonable, as in there was some sun, but there was also a chilly wind. High of 13.7C.
The Sardines Of A Mallorcan Carnival
* A revival of an article from the past; appropriate as today is the sardine burial day.
Francisco de Goya knew a thing or two about painting. He could turn his hand to pretty much any subject and do so with a remarkable ability for subversion and the portrayal of darkness. His painting of the burial of the sardine is a good example. Apparently there were at least two alternative versions, but the one most commonly known is an expression of supreme grotesqueness with the "sardine" symbolised by a grinning but disturbing face on a banner. Goya's painting, while celebrating the joy of the common man, is a satire on the church and on the crown. It was created during the reign of the absolutist monarch, Ferdinand VII, who had attempted to outlaw Carnival and so the end-game of Carnival, the burial of the sardine before the start of Lent.
Goya didn't invent the tradition of the burial of the sardine but he certainly helped to popularise it. Quite what its origins are is open to debate. The generally held theory is that it arose during the reign of Carlos III, so some time between 1759 and 1788. The king, the story goes, ordered that there be one final party before Lent and, because there was an abundance of sardines, these were the culinary centrepiece. However, because there were so many sardines and because the weather was particularly warm, there was an almighty great pong on account of sardines rotting in the heat. The solution was to bury them. As theories go, it seems as good as any, though the fact that there appears to be no documentary evidence to support this royal command could mean that it is just a tall tale.
Goya's painting (or paintings) most definitely assisted in spreading the sardine tradition and in also reinforcing the bizarre, profane and anti-establishment nature of Carnival as a whole. Over the decades of turmoil through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, Carnival and the sardine were symbolic of the people taking over for a short while and poking fun at those who often made their lives a misery.
The burial of the sardine is nowadays absolutely central to the Carnival story. It clearly isn't a Mallorcan tradition as such, but it finds expression here in Mallorca as much as it does on the mainland. Consequently, there are sardine-burial ceremonies, most of which confirm that, on occasion, Mallorcans are more than capable of acting in a totally bonkers fashion.
A sardine, being a sardine, is only small. As such, it doesn't command a great presence when it comes to a spot of street-theatre, fiesta-style celebration. In order to overcome its diminutive nature, there are mock, giant sardines instead, and nowhere does this in any more peculiar fashion than the village of Portol in Marratxi.
Since 1993, the burial of the sardine has taken place on Shrove Tuesday, the last day of feasting before fasting, Ash Wednesday and Lent kick in. Today at 6pm, as has become traditional, a giant, comedy sardine will be paraded through the streets, carried as though by pallbearers, accompanied by suitably solemn music from the local band (music of a tongue-in-cheek variety, if it is possible to describe music in such a fashion) and by ladies of the village, clad in black mourning dresses and weeping (in a hammed-up, over-the-top manner). The weeping, so tradition suggests, is all to do with the people being saddened at the end of the Carnival festivities and being faced with the prospect of several weeks of strict religious observance (or not).
The Portol sardine, as is the case with some sardines elsewhere, doesn't actually get buried. The Mallorcans enjoy nothing more than setting fire to something, and little excuse is needed for a festivity to feature a roaring bonfire. The comedy sardine is toast, its final moments being marked by the sound of a trumpet reveille. Having committed the sardine to its fiery end, it is of course time to get eating. Cue, therefore, many a real sardine and any amount of strong alcoholic beverage plus, of course, the ubiquitous ball de bot folk dance.
The actual burial (or burning) usually requires some form of blessing, which may or may not be serious and may or may not actually feature clergy. These burials can crop up anywhere. So, take note. If you see some strange sorts wandering along the streets carrying something which looks as though it is destined for a funeral, don't be alarmed. In Mallorca, just as you are never far from the sea at any time of the year, at the end of the Carnival, you are never far from a sardine.
Francisco de Goya knew a thing or two about painting. He could turn his hand to pretty much any subject and do so with a remarkable ability for subversion and the portrayal of darkness. His painting of the burial of the sardine is a good example. Apparently there were at least two alternative versions, but the one most commonly known is an expression of supreme grotesqueness with the "sardine" symbolised by a grinning but disturbing face on a banner. Goya's painting, while celebrating the joy of the common man, is a satire on the church and on the crown. It was created during the reign of the absolutist monarch, Ferdinand VII, who had attempted to outlaw Carnival and so the end-game of Carnival, the burial of the sardine before the start of Lent.
Goya didn't invent the tradition of the burial of the sardine but he certainly helped to popularise it. Quite what its origins are is open to debate. The generally held theory is that it arose during the reign of Carlos III, so some time between 1759 and 1788. The king, the story goes, ordered that there be one final party before Lent and, because there was an abundance of sardines, these were the culinary centrepiece. However, because there were so many sardines and because the weather was particularly warm, there was an almighty great pong on account of sardines rotting in the heat. The solution was to bury them. As theories go, it seems as good as any, though the fact that there appears to be no documentary evidence to support this royal command could mean that it is just a tall tale.
Goya's painting (or paintings) most definitely assisted in spreading the sardine tradition and in also reinforcing the bizarre, profane and anti-establishment nature of Carnival as a whole. Over the decades of turmoil through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, Carnival and the sardine were symbolic of the people taking over for a short while and poking fun at those who often made their lives a misery.
The burial of the sardine is nowadays absolutely central to the Carnival story. It clearly isn't a Mallorcan tradition as such, but it finds expression here in Mallorca as much as it does on the mainland. Consequently, there are sardine-burial ceremonies, most of which confirm that, on occasion, Mallorcans are more than capable of acting in a totally bonkers fashion.
A sardine, being a sardine, is only small. As such, it doesn't command a great presence when it comes to a spot of street-theatre, fiesta-style celebration. In order to overcome its diminutive nature, there are mock, giant sardines instead, and nowhere does this in any more peculiar fashion than the village of Portol in Marratxi.
Since 1993, the burial of the sardine has taken place on Shrove Tuesday, the last day of feasting before fasting, Ash Wednesday and Lent kick in. Today at 6pm, as has become traditional, a giant, comedy sardine will be paraded through the streets, carried as though by pallbearers, accompanied by suitably solemn music from the local band (music of a tongue-in-cheek variety, if it is possible to describe music in such a fashion) and by ladies of the village, clad in black mourning dresses and weeping (in a hammed-up, over-the-top manner). The weeping, so tradition suggests, is all to do with the people being saddened at the end of the Carnival festivities and being faced with the prospect of several weeks of strict religious observance (or not).
The Portol sardine, as is the case with some sardines elsewhere, doesn't actually get buried. The Mallorcans enjoy nothing more than setting fire to something, and little excuse is needed for a festivity to feature a roaring bonfire. The comedy sardine is toast, its final moments being marked by the sound of a trumpet reveille. Having committed the sardine to its fiery end, it is of course time to get eating. Cue, therefore, many a real sardine and any amount of strong alcoholic beverage plus, of course, the ubiquitous ball de bot folk dance.
The actual burial (or burning) usually requires some form of blessing, which may or may not be serious and may or may not actually feature clergy. These burials can crop up anywhere. So, take note. If you see some strange sorts wandering along the streets carrying something which looks as though it is destined for a funeral, don't be alarmed. In Mallorca, just as you are never far from the sea at any time of the year, at the end of the Carnival, you are never far from a sardine.
Monday, February 12, 2018
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 12 February 2018
Morning high (8.30am): 12.3C
Forecast high: 16C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 13 February - Cloud, sun, 15C; 14 February - Cloud, 15C; 15 February - Sun, 18C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 5 to 6.
Quite a change from yesterday morning; cloudy skies meaning it's not nearly as cold. The cloud will persist. Rain is likely.
Evening update (20.00): Rain was likely. Most of the day. The morning high was the day's high. Tumbled to six or seven degrees.
Forecast high: 16C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 13 February - Cloud, sun, 15C; 14 February - Cloud, 15C; 15 February - Sun, 18C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 5 to 6.
Quite a change from yesterday morning; cloudy skies meaning it's not nearly as cold. The cloud will persist. Rain is likely.
Evening update (20.00): Rain was likely. Most of the day. The morning high was the day's high. Tumbled to six or seven degrees.
The Dark Night Sky Of Tourism
"The dark night sky is the underlying resource," explains a piece of worthy research. A definition of "underlying" is real but not immediately obvious. I would suggest that the dark night sky is more than underlying when it comes to astronomical tourism. Without the dark night sky there is no astronomical tourism.
The resource itself is abundant. It is theoretically infinite. The dark night sky as with the light day sky is always there in its unfathomable vastness. The resource is, however, greater - or rather better - in different parts of the globe, especially if someone has taken the trouble to advance the cause for its particular dark night sky resource. Here is where underlying enters the adjective-noun conjunction. The resource is certainly real but its status as better is not immediately obvious until it is explained that it is better.
Astronomical tourism is a segment of the tourism market, a niche product. It has existed for centuries, if one cares to define travellers who have wanted to search the dark night skies as tourists. They went to Stonehenge, at least in part, to wonder at the dark night sky. Ancient skies of an English summer might not have been habitually clouded. They most certainly were not affected by light pollution, and nowadays the absence of this pollution holds the key to unlocking the niche potential of the dark night sky and of astronomical tourism.
Mallorca has (or had) an underlying resource other than its dark night sky. One day we might know what really occurred at the observatory in Costitx. What we can say is that it was a resource which was woefully underexploited. It was managed well as a scientific resource but was mismanaged in terms of its tangential potential. Administrations must share the blame. And in this day and age of sustainable tourism, they have missed an almighty trick. The sky is sustainability writ very large. Tourism attracted by the sky is respectful of one of the greatest resources known to mankind.
The Starlight Foundation explains the various dimensions to its activities. One is economic: "To boost the economy through the contemplation and interpretation of the starry sky, promoting infrastructure, products and activities in the field of sustainable tourism which we call 'star tourism'." Starry, starry night; every astronomical tourist is a star.
The Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) was founded in 1982. A Spanish public research institution, it is an international benchmark for astrophysics, advanced scientific instrumentation, university education and the cultural dissemination of science. There are observatories in Tenerife (the Teide Observatory) and in La Palma (the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory).
In 2012, the Starlight Foundation, a body that was created by the IAC, recognised La Palma as the first Starlight destination on the planet. There are now others. In the Canaries, the dark night skies - away from the urban centres - are unrivalled for their clarity. The foundation and the IAC might have seemed to have been somewhat self-serving in accrediting La Palma as they did six years ago, but to qualify as "Starlight" there is a requirement to be able to observe the stars in optimal conditions while at the same time being an example of environmental protection and conservation, including protecting the environment from artificial light pollution.
At the Madrid Fitur tourism fair in January, La Palma received a new distinction. It was deemed to be the "best active tourism product"; active as in tourists undertaking an activity - stargazing in this instance. Above all, La Palma - and this is the whole island - was given the award because of the public and private sector collaboration which has enabled the island to become Spain's foremost destination for astronomical tourism; not only Spain's, one of the world's foremost.
Mark the words of Inés Jiménez, the councillor for tourism in Gran Canaria, where they also pursue astronomical star tourism. Various municipalities and the whole business sector - large and small - have come together in not only appreciating that the island is for tourism but also has an "alternative product to sun and beach". The Canaries, admittedly benefiting from the backing that goes back to the 1980s, have made a sustainable tourism virtue of their dark night skies. Not so Mallorca; not so the Balearics.
The Canaries are not alone. In Castile-La Mancha, there is a multi-municipality cooperation project that has created an astronomical park - Serrania de Cuenca. Work has started on certifying as Starlight a new park in the Valle del Alcudia. This is an Alcudia in the Ciudad Real province, not an Alcudia in Mallorca.
Cordoba, Aragon, Navarre, Extremadura; here are other parts of Spain where the underlying resource of dark night skies has been developed to beneficial effect, and all in the name of sustainable tourism. In Mallorca, meanwhile, they seek to blame each other for the loss of what was a real resource.
The resource itself is abundant. It is theoretically infinite. The dark night sky as with the light day sky is always there in its unfathomable vastness. The resource is, however, greater - or rather better - in different parts of the globe, especially if someone has taken the trouble to advance the cause for its particular dark night sky resource. Here is where underlying enters the adjective-noun conjunction. The resource is certainly real but its status as better is not immediately obvious until it is explained that it is better.
Astronomical tourism is a segment of the tourism market, a niche product. It has existed for centuries, if one cares to define travellers who have wanted to search the dark night skies as tourists. They went to Stonehenge, at least in part, to wonder at the dark night sky. Ancient skies of an English summer might not have been habitually clouded. They most certainly were not affected by light pollution, and nowadays the absence of this pollution holds the key to unlocking the niche potential of the dark night sky and of astronomical tourism.
Mallorca has (or had) an underlying resource other than its dark night sky. One day we might know what really occurred at the observatory in Costitx. What we can say is that it was a resource which was woefully underexploited. It was managed well as a scientific resource but was mismanaged in terms of its tangential potential. Administrations must share the blame. And in this day and age of sustainable tourism, they have missed an almighty trick. The sky is sustainability writ very large. Tourism attracted by the sky is respectful of one of the greatest resources known to mankind.
The Starlight Foundation explains the various dimensions to its activities. One is economic: "To boost the economy through the contemplation and interpretation of the starry sky, promoting infrastructure, products and activities in the field of sustainable tourism which we call 'star tourism'." Starry, starry night; every astronomical tourist is a star.
The Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) was founded in 1982. A Spanish public research institution, it is an international benchmark for astrophysics, advanced scientific instrumentation, university education and the cultural dissemination of science. There are observatories in Tenerife (the Teide Observatory) and in La Palma (the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory).
In 2012, the Starlight Foundation, a body that was created by the IAC, recognised La Palma as the first Starlight destination on the planet. There are now others. In the Canaries, the dark night skies - away from the urban centres - are unrivalled for their clarity. The foundation and the IAC might have seemed to have been somewhat self-serving in accrediting La Palma as they did six years ago, but to qualify as "Starlight" there is a requirement to be able to observe the stars in optimal conditions while at the same time being an example of environmental protection and conservation, including protecting the environment from artificial light pollution.
At the Madrid Fitur tourism fair in January, La Palma received a new distinction. It was deemed to be the "best active tourism product"; active as in tourists undertaking an activity - stargazing in this instance. Above all, La Palma - and this is the whole island - was given the award because of the public and private sector collaboration which has enabled the island to become Spain's foremost destination for astronomical tourism; not only Spain's, one of the world's foremost.
Mark the words of Inés Jiménez, the councillor for tourism in Gran Canaria, where they also pursue astronomical star tourism. Various municipalities and the whole business sector - large and small - have come together in not only appreciating that the island is for tourism but also has an "alternative product to sun and beach". The Canaries, admittedly benefiting from the backing that goes back to the 1980s, have made a sustainable tourism virtue of their dark night skies. Not so Mallorca; not so the Balearics.
The Canaries are not alone. In Castile-La Mancha, there is a multi-municipality cooperation project that has created an astronomical park - Serrania de Cuenca. Work has started on certifying as Starlight a new park in the Valle del Alcudia. This is an Alcudia in the Ciudad Real province, not an Alcudia in Mallorca.
Cordoba, Aragon, Navarre, Extremadura; here are other parts of Spain where the underlying resource of dark night skies has been developed to beneficial effect, and all in the name of sustainable tourism. In Mallorca, meanwhile, they seek to blame each other for the loss of what was a real resource.
Sunday, February 11, 2018
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 11 February 2018
Morning high (8.22am): 1.1C
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 12 February - Rain, 16C; 13 February - Cloud, sun, 15C; 14 February - Sun, cloud, 18C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 4 to 5.
Cold start to the day but bright. Sun for most of the day. Yellow alert still in place for coastal conditions.
Evening update (19.15): A significant improvement. High of 17.2C.
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 12 February - Rain, 16C; 13 February - Cloud, sun, 15C; 14 February - Sun, cloud, 18C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 4 to 5.
Cold start to the day but bright. Sun for most of the day. Yellow alert still in place for coastal conditions.
Evening update (19.15): A significant improvement. High of 17.2C.
Will The Davis Cup Really Come To Alcudia?
If one were being purely objective and it was a case of anywhere in Mallorca being lined up for the event, then there are probably easier options. They might even involve existing tennis facilities, such as courts and stands. When the announcement was first made about Alcudia, I was racking my brain - where are they planning on holding the event? They were talking about ten thousand spectators on temporary stands. Where?
From what one can make out, there are two possibilities. The less favoured would appear to be where everyone once thought was going to be something to do with Mercadona - the land that was levelled in front of Garden Lago on Avenida Tucan. The preferred site seemingly involves where the circus used to be held on the land by the Magic Roundabout. The tournament village would go there, while the court and stands would be on another plot behind it.
The cost of all this, never mind the logistics, would be at least one million euros. The government will probably cough up, although the tennis federation - understandably enough - is seeking some assurance as to who will be paying for what and how much. Time is running short. The tennis federation needs all the documented proposal by Monday. The tie is over the weekend of 6 to 8 April. The Spanish federation has to make a decision by Monday week.
Well, it would unquestionably be excellent news if a high-profile sport event such as the Davis Cup were to come to Alcudia. But is it realistic? And why actually is everyone so keen for it to be in Alcudia? One reason is the municipality's profile of being a destination for sports tourism. In this regard, it fits in with the government and the Council of Mallorca's quest for tackling tourism seasonality. Sport is a tourist product mainly for the low season. Another reason is that German tourists will get to know about Alcudia. Yes, and those German tourists would probably then be more inclined to come in the summer, on top of all the thousands who already do.
We will shortly find out if Alcudia will be successful in its bid - there's stiff opposition from the likes of Valencia. But if it is successful and there are indeed to be ten thousand spectators, there is another question. It is being said that the Magic site is well connected in transport terms. Which it may well be, but what happens with the transport, such as cars? Where would they park?
* Would they really hold the Davis Cup on this site? In a residential area near to Sunwing.
Saturday, February 10, 2018
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 February 2018
Morning high (7.44am): 5C
Forecast high: 12C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 11 February - Sun, cloud, 16C; 12 February - Rain, 16C; 13 February - Cloud, sun, 13C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 6 to 7.
Windy and grey. Coastal conditions amber alert and a yellow one for wind. Snow could fall at 200 metres. Alcudia, Muro and Santa Margalida are going to have better conditions for their parades tomorrow. Buger, Campanet, Can Picafort, Pollensa, Sa Pobla may not be too clever today.
Evening update (20.00): At least the sun came out for a bit. High of 10.1C.
Forecast high: 12C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 11 February - Sun, cloud, 16C; 12 February - Rain, 16C; 13 February - Cloud, sun, 13C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 6 to 7.
Windy and grey. Coastal conditions amber alert and a yellow one for wind. Snow could fall at 200 metres. Alcudia, Muro and Santa Margalida are going to have better conditions for their parades tomorrow. Buger, Campanet, Can Picafort, Pollensa, Sa Pobla may not be too clever today.
Evening update (20.00): At least the sun came out for a bit. High of 10.1C.
Spending By Holiday Rental Tourists
Statistics, as we know, can be used to prove anything, and when it comes to tourism statistics, there is no measure more open to interpretation than that for tourist spending. Depending on where one stands on a particular argument, however, the spending stats can be called upon to provide useful support, even perhaps by those who would normally call the stats into question.
The Egatur survey of tourist spending is primarily a tool designed to give the Bank of Spain data for calculating the balance of payments. In this respect it does need to be pretty accurate, despite people often not believing it. A reason for questioning it is that it can seem as if it doesn't correspond with the realities of some resorts. How often does one hear someone complain that no one's spending any money, yet Egatur insists that spending is going up?
The survey isn't and cannot be totally comprehensive, but one has to accept that it is a reflection of variance in the tourism market: not all resorts are the same, not all tourists are the same. But there is one significant ingredient in Egatur that can skew the spending statistics: the cost of the holiday. If this is a package holiday, bought from a foreign tour operator, then much of this spending element never touches the destination. Take away the package and factor in direct bookings, and a more realistic figure is attained; realistic in terms of what goes into local economies.
Egatur does, therefore, seek to reflect the different types of holiday, and the latest survey provides some ammunition for the pro-holiday rentals lobby. Again, not all of the spending is in the destination, if the rentals booking is, say, made via a foreign agency, but for the most part it will be. And where Egatur is concerned, it doesn't distinguish between the nature of rentals - they could be legal, they could be illegal, they could be ones made under the terms of the tenancy act.
Anyway, the survey shows that tourists who last year stayed in holiday rental accommodation (which falls under what Egatur broadly defines as the "rest of the market") spent almost 24% more than tourists who stayed in hotels. The average spend per tourist in non-hotel accommodation was 1,295 euros, and it increased by 20% over 2016. Another survey, the Frontur one that measures foreign tourist arrivals, offered some symmetry in this regard: there was a 20% rise in foreign tourists staying in holiday rentals.
The figures are for the whole of the country, but they clearly tell a story where the Balearics are concerned. Importantly, Egatur (and Frontur) are about as independent as one can get in measuring tourism performance. There are no agendas, which isn't always the case with studies that emanate from rival factions in the rentals argument, most notably the Exceltur alliance for touristic excellence and the Aptur holiday rentals association. Egatur, while noting that spending by tourists in hotels increased by ten per cent, does provide greater support for the Aptur stance than Exceltur's.
As I say, the stats can prove what you want them to, but here - despite the questions that surround the Egatur methodology - is some evidence of what many have long argued: holiday rental tourists spend more.
The Egatur survey of tourist spending is primarily a tool designed to give the Bank of Spain data for calculating the balance of payments. In this respect it does need to be pretty accurate, despite people often not believing it. A reason for questioning it is that it can seem as if it doesn't correspond with the realities of some resorts. How often does one hear someone complain that no one's spending any money, yet Egatur insists that spending is going up?
The survey isn't and cannot be totally comprehensive, but one has to accept that it is a reflection of variance in the tourism market: not all resorts are the same, not all tourists are the same. But there is one significant ingredient in Egatur that can skew the spending statistics: the cost of the holiday. If this is a package holiday, bought from a foreign tour operator, then much of this spending element never touches the destination. Take away the package and factor in direct bookings, and a more realistic figure is attained; realistic in terms of what goes into local economies.
Egatur does, therefore, seek to reflect the different types of holiday, and the latest survey provides some ammunition for the pro-holiday rentals lobby. Again, not all of the spending is in the destination, if the rentals booking is, say, made via a foreign agency, but for the most part it will be. And where Egatur is concerned, it doesn't distinguish between the nature of rentals - they could be legal, they could be illegal, they could be ones made under the terms of the tenancy act.
Anyway, the survey shows that tourists who last year stayed in holiday rental accommodation (which falls under what Egatur broadly defines as the "rest of the market") spent almost 24% more than tourists who stayed in hotels. The average spend per tourist in non-hotel accommodation was 1,295 euros, and it increased by 20% over 2016. Another survey, the Frontur one that measures foreign tourist arrivals, offered some symmetry in this regard: there was a 20% rise in foreign tourists staying in holiday rentals.
The figures are for the whole of the country, but they clearly tell a story where the Balearics are concerned. Importantly, Egatur (and Frontur) are about as independent as one can get in measuring tourism performance. There are no agendas, which isn't always the case with studies that emanate from rival factions in the rentals argument, most notably the Exceltur alliance for touristic excellence and the Aptur holiday rentals association. Egatur, while noting that spending by tourists in hotels increased by ten per cent, does provide greater support for the Aptur stance than Exceltur's.
As I say, the stats can prove what you want them to, but here - despite the questions that surround the Egatur methodology - is some evidence of what many have long argued: holiday rental tourists spend more.
Friday, February 09, 2018
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 February 2018
Morning high (7.55am): 6.4C
Forecast high: 13C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 10 February - Cloud, sun, wind, 13C; 11 February - Cloud, wind, 15C; 12 February - Rain, 16C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 3 to 4.
Grim. Very grey and damp, though not raining at present. May be ok though for Puerto Pollensa's Carnival parade at five this afternoon.
Evening update (22.00): It was a ghastly morning - cold and rain. Better later on, as in it stopped raining. High of 10.4C.
Forecast high: 13C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 10 February - Cloud, sun, wind, 13C; 11 February - Cloud, wind, 15C; 12 February - Rain, 16C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 3 to 4.
Grim. Very grey and damp, though not raining at present. May be ok though for Puerto Pollensa's Carnival parade at five this afternoon.
Evening update (22.00): It was a ghastly morning - cold and rain. Better later on, as in it stopped raining. High of 10.4C.
Not Local: Petit Deià
Bel Busquets' minder scaled the protest ramparts in Deià the other day, these having been in the Joan Mas amphitheatre, named after the writer who was born in the village. Normally a location for a civilised summer string quartet, the amphitheatre heard the minder denounce a little Deià development that would affect Deià's littleness. There is little and there is little: Deià doesn't even run to 700 inhabitants.
Why would you want to build a little development (21 houses priced up to 1.6 million euros) in a little place like Deià? The answer's easy. It's a nice little place, potentially about to get less little, and someone would make a shedload out of some luxury gaffs that will be snapped up by outsiders. Not local!? One can hear The League of Gentlemen's Tubbs and Edward screaming into the Tramuntana skies.
So, the locals would have every reason to protest. They also have every right to protest, as the mayor, Magdalena López, has conceded. The only thing was that, according to the mayor, the locals were thin on the ground; indeed the protesters did not number the 200 (or was it 400) that had been reported. There were more like 120, and only a sixth of these were Deià persons. This is the mayor's version anyway.
Where did the other one hundred come from? López insists they were incomers from groups such as the environmentalists GOB. Not local. Some may have been chums of the minder, Lluís Apesteguía. Lluís is on an upward Més trajectory. A mere opposition councillor in little Deià, he was a councillor in the much bigger Council of Mallorca. He is now Bel Busquets' minder, her chief of staff at the tourism ministry/vice-presidency. Happy days for Lluís, a government post beckons, assuming Més make it past the electorate in 2019 and so do PSOE and Podemos.
It really doesn't harm anyone's eco-nationalist political career to have a cause célèbre that combines contentious issues of saturation, housing availability and resources, especially when it's in one's own backyard - Petit Deià, the development that drew the 120 (or maybe more) to the streets of little Deià the other day. Not that Petit Deià was all that the minder and the not locals were concerned about. There were also hotel developments and holiday rentals. Little Deià can't cope with all of this. It's a resources issue apart from anything else. Lluís will be among those who didn't mind Deià being coloured purple for saturation on the rentals zoning map.
But was it so wrong for not locals to voice their protest? Are they not permitted a say in the defence of cherished parts of the island? There have, after all, been other protests that reject some form of development or other. When, for example, a few thousand (estimates varied) gathered along the beach in Son Serra de Marina, constructed a human chain and declared their opposition to a beach chiringuito, these were most certainly not all locals. Hardly anyone lives in Son Serra in winter, which was when the protest was staged. The protesters weren't necessarily from the Santa Margalida municipality either. But why did they have to be? The beach is for everyone, and in the case of Son Serra it is one of the few remaining examples of a beach that can genuinely be described as unspoiled.
Locals or not locals, is it really the case that we wish to see gems like Deià further gentrified and taken over by not locals who might grace the village with occasional summer visits (if this is what Petit Deià would mean)? I can only pose the question. I am not local. I have no personal interest in the affair, merely an interest as an observer. And what of other locals? Perhaps there are those who are in favour of Petit Deià. Maybe their voice needs to be heard and not drowned out by the minder from the ministry.
Petit Deià is a further example of how political capital can be made, and not just by Més politicians who may have aspirations for higher things. There is GOB, there is Terraferida. There is the raggle-taggle army of associations and political agitators for this and that which gathered in protest against "massification" last September. The politics thus take over, as do the opportunities they present. But much though one can (and does) despair of the negative publicity that is generated by certain protests, one can also empathise with the sentiments. Petit Deià is a developmental branch line of the massification cause, of the opposition to ever more wounding of Terraferida's wounded land.
One can appreciate this, just as one can appreciate the politics. As Magdalena López has observed, Lluís Apesteguía was a member of the Council of Mallorca's historical heritage commission that voted in favour of Petit Deià. There's local for you.
Why would you want to build a little development (21 houses priced up to 1.6 million euros) in a little place like Deià? The answer's easy. It's a nice little place, potentially about to get less little, and someone would make a shedload out of some luxury gaffs that will be snapped up by outsiders. Not local!? One can hear The League of Gentlemen's Tubbs and Edward screaming into the Tramuntana skies.
So, the locals would have every reason to protest. They also have every right to protest, as the mayor, Magdalena López, has conceded. The only thing was that, according to the mayor, the locals were thin on the ground; indeed the protesters did not number the 200 (or was it 400) that had been reported. There were more like 120, and only a sixth of these were Deià persons. This is the mayor's version anyway.
Where did the other one hundred come from? López insists they were incomers from groups such as the environmentalists GOB. Not local. Some may have been chums of the minder, Lluís Apesteguía. Lluís is on an upward Més trajectory. A mere opposition councillor in little Deià, he was a councillor in the much bigger Council of Mallorca. He is now Bel Busquets' minder, her chief of staff at the tourism ministry/vice-presidency. Happy days for Lluís, a government post beckons, assuming Més make it past the electorate in 2019 and so do PSOE and Podemos.
It really doesn't harm anyone's eco-nationalist political career to have a cause célèbre that combines contentious issues of saturation, housing availability and resources, especially when it's in one's own backyard - Petit Deià, the development that drew the 120 (or maybe more) to the streets of little Deià the other day. Not that Petit Deià was all that the minder and the not locals were concerned about. There were also hotel developments and holiday rentals. Little Deià can't cope with all of this. It's a resources issue apart from anything else. Lluís will be among those who didn't mind Deià being coloured purple for saturation on the rentals zoning map.
But was it so wrong for not locals to voice their protest? Are they not permitted a say in the defence of cherished parts of the island? There have, after all, been other protests that reject some form of development or other. When, for example, a few thousand (estimates varied) gathered along the beach in Son Serra de Marina, constructed a human chain and declared their opposition to a beach chiringuito, these were most certainly not all locals. Hardly anyone lives in Son Serra in winter, which was when the protest was staged. The protesters weren't necessarily from the Santa Margalida municipality either. But why did they have to be? The beach is for everyone, and in the case of Son Serra it is one of the few remaining examples of a beach that can genuinely be described as unspoiled.
Locals or not locals, is it really the case that we wish to see gems like Deià further gentrified and taken over by not locals who might grace the village with occasional summer visits (if this is what Petit Deià would mean)? I can only pose the question. I am not local. I have no personal interest in the affair, merely an interest as an observer. And what of other locals? Perhaps there are those who are in favour of Petit Deià. Maybe their voice needs to be heard and not drowned out by the minder from the ministry.
Petit Deià is a further example of how political capital can be made, and not just by Més politicians who may have aspirations for higher things. There is GOB, there is Terraferida. There is the raggle-taggle army of associations and political agitators for this and that which gathered in protest against "massification" last September. The politics thus take over, as do the opportunities they present. But much though one can (and does) despair of the negative publicity that is generated by certain protests, one can also empathise with the sentiments. Petit Deià is a developmental branch line of the massification cause, of the opposition to ever more wounding of Terraferida's wounded land.
One can appreciate this, just as one can appreciate the politics. As Magdalena López has observed, Lluís Apesteguía was a member of the Council of Mallorca's historical heritage commission that voted in favour of Petit Deià. There's local for you.
Thursday, February 08, 2018
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 February 2018
Morning high (7.32am): 5.2C
Forecast high: 13C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 9 February - Cloud, sun, 13C; 10 February - Cloud, wind, 12C; 11 February - Cloud, sun, 14C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 2 to 3.
Could be more by way of sun today. Still chilly.
Evening update (20.15): There was some sun. Only a high of 12.7C.
Forecast high: 13C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 9 February - Cloud, sun, 13C; 10 February - Cloud, wind, 12C; 11 February - Cloud, sun, 14C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 2 to 3.
Could be more by way of sun today. Still chilly.
Evening update (20.15): There was some sun. Only a high of 12.7C.
For Half A Metre More
Joan Gaspar Vallori is Alcudia's tourism councillor. He is also the chap in charge of public works. Given his combined responsibilities, he was in a reasonable position to offer an opinion on the cycle lane that is supposed to link Puerto Alcudia to Can Picafort and onto Son Real but which will in fact be missing a significant part - the whole of Playa de Muro.
The town hall in Muro has had an issue with this cycle lane project. Of the three town halls involved, it has faced the greatest complications. And where there are complications, there are also costs. Just one of these complications, which have led the town hall to pull out of the project, had to do with a Council of Mallorca proposal by which there would in fact have been two lanes - one on each side of the main road. This, however, would have required the environment ministry's department for biodiversity and natural spaces agreeing to give up some land. And we're talking land in the Albufera nature park, which is on both sides of the road for a stretch of approximately one kilometre or so because of the forest and dunes on the beach side.
The environment ministry was being asked to let go of what amounted in total to one metre: fifty centimetres on both sides. Alcudia town hall had by this time started to lose patience with the whole affair, such had been the endless complications. When the half a metre problem surfaced, Vallori observed that it would be ridiculous to hold everything up because of an argument over fifty centimetres. Quite.
The total area of the Albufera park is 1,645.50 hectares. I'm not even going to begin attempting to calculate what the percentage of two fifty centimetre strips would be, but I think that both you and I can conclude that it is a very small percentage. The park is of course protected. Therefore, nothing can be built on it. But half a metre?
The biodiversity and natural spaces might well have argued that had it agreed to the Council's plan, this could have been a case of the thin end of the wedge. Who knows, someone else might come along after a further thirty years of the park's existence and want to nab a whole metre either side. One can understand the protected status, but given that there is a main road running right by the park, how much biodiversity along the fifty centimetre strips would have been affected? None, one would think.
The tale of the Albufera fifty centimetres brings us to another half a metre story. This one doesn't affect the natural environment. It has to do with the urban environment: Palma's and Palma's terraces.
I understand that a standard wheelchair measures 760 millimetres width and 1,220 millimetres depth. In other words, neither in width nor in depth is a standard wheelchair two metres, let alone two and a half metres. I only mention the dimensions of a standard wheelchair because accessibility is at least one issue for Palma town hall and its saga of the new terraces bylaw.
To explain, in case you are unaware or have given up the will to live, so long has this saga been ongoing, the town hall plans that terraces should allow a minimum of two and a half metres space for pedestrians (or wheelchairs or other forms of reduced mobility vehicle). The current minimum is two metres.
Is it really necessary, as with the fifty centimetres of Albufera, to be arguing over fifty centimetres of terrace space? It seemingly is necessary. And the argument includes the loss of business - up to 500 terraces affected, with some of them going altogether. Half a metre matters.
Terraces can't just be put any old place. Noise is a legitimate concern. But half a metre? Can this really make such a difference to so-called saturation of the public way or indeed to noise? There are other aspects to this bylaw - the technical chaps have been out with their tape measures all over the city - but it is this fifty centimetre cut that has caused the greatest fuss. And whose fuss is it exactly?
Podemos, in the form of their councillor Aurora Jhardi, have made terraces a cause célèbre in Palma. No sooner had they become part of the ruling administration, than they decided that terraces on the Born had to go. What a rumpus that created. So they held a citizens' referendum, and the citizens - those few who could be bothered to take part - told the town hall where they could stick their terraces' restrictions. A point is that terraces may occupy the public way, and do so with the permission of the municipality, but it is the public which occupies terraces as much as the public walks along the public way.
Mallorca, where government is measured in centimetres.
The town hall in Muro has had an issue with this cycle lane project. Of the three town halls involved, it has faced the greatest complications. And where there are complications, there are also costs. Just one of these complications, which have led the town hall to pull out of the project, had to do with a Council of Mallorca proposal by which there would in fact have been two lanes - one on each side of the main road. This, however, would have required the environment ministry's department for biodiversity and natural spaces agreeing to give up some land. And we're talking land in the Albufera nature park, which is on both sides of the road for a stretch of approximately one kilometre or so because of the forest and dunes on the beach side.
The environment ministry was being asked to let go of what amounted in total to one metre: fifty centimetres on both sides. Alcudia town hall had by this time started to lose patience with the whole affair, such had been the endless complications. When the half a metre problem surfaced, Vallori observed that it would be ridiculous to hold everything up because of an argument over fifty centimetres. Quite.
The total area of the Albufera park is 1,645.50 hectares. I'm not even going to begin attempting to calculate what the percentage of two fifty centimetre strips would be, but I think that both you and I can conclude that it is a very small percentage. The park is of course protected. Therefore, nothing can be built on it. But half a metre?
The biodiversity and natural spaces might well have argued that had it agreed to the Council's plan, this could have been a case of the thin end of the wedge. Who knows, someone else might come along after a further thirty years of the park's existence and want to nab a whole metre either side. One can understand the protected status, but given that there is a main road running right by the park, how much biodiversity along the fifty centimetre strips would have been affected? None, one would think.
The tale of the Albufera fifty centimetres brings us to another half a metre story. This one doesn't affect the natural environment. It has to do with the urban environment: Palma's and Palma's terraces.
I understand that a standard wheelchair measures 760 millimetres width and 1,220 millimetres depth. In other words, neither in width nor in depth is a standard wheelchair two metres, let alone two and a half metres. I only mention the dimensions of a standard wheelchair because accessibility is at least one issue for Palma town hall and its saga of the new terraces bylaw.
To explain, in case you are unaware or have given up the will to live, so long has this saga been ongoing, the town hall plans that terraces should allow a minimum of two and a half metres space for pedestrians (or wheelchairs or other forms of reduced mobility vehicle). The current minimum is two metres.
Is it really necessary, as with the fifty centimetres of Albufera, to be arguing over fifty centimetres of terrace space? It seemingly is necessary. And the argument includes the loss of business - up to 500 terraces affected, with some of them going altogether. Half a metre matters.
Terraces can't just be put any old place. Noise is a legitimate concern. But half a metre? Can this really make such a difference to so-called saturation of the public way or indeed to noise? There are other aspects to this bylaw - the technical chaps have been out with their tape measures all over the city - but it is this fifty centimetre cut that has caused the greatest fuss. And whose fuss is it exactly?
Podemos, in the form of their councillor Aurora Jhardi, have made terraces a cause célèbre in Palma. No sooner had they become part of the ruling administration, than they decided that terraces on the Born had to go. What a rumpus that created. So they held a citizens' referendum, and the citizens - those few who could be bothered to take part - told the town hall where they could stick their terraces' restrictions. A point is that terraces may occupy the public way, and do so with the permission of the municipality, but it is the public which occupies terraces as much as the public walks along the public way.
Mallorca, where government is measured in centimetres.
Wednesday, February 07, 2018
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 February 2018
Morning high (7.41am): 9C
Forecast high: 13C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 8 February - Cloud, sun, 13C; 9 February - Cloud, 13C; 10 February - Cloud, sun, 14C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 6 to 7 easing Northwest 3 to 4 in the afternoon.
More greyness. Sun not expected. Wind down.
Evening update (19.45): Well, the sun put in a brief appearance. Otherwise ... . High of 12.4C.
Forecast high: 13C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 8 February - Cloud, sun, 13C; 9 February - Cloud, 13C; 10 February - Cloud, sun, 14C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 6 to 7 easing Northwest 3 to 4 in the afternoon.
More greyness. Sun not expected. Wind down.
Evening update (19.45): Well, the sun put in a brief appearance. Otherwise ... . High of 12.4C.
Balearics Tourism: A Research Experiment
The things I do. Having grappled with the equation-littered methodology of Messrs Rosselló and Sansó and their taxing tourism, as highlighted two days ago, I set myself the masochistic task of consulting the whole 93rd edition of the journal Cuadernos Económicos (special theme, tourism and sustainability).
Actually, I didn't bother with something about visitors to the Teide National Park in Tenerife or with a hybrid multi-criteria method for evaluating the development of community tourism in Imababura, Ecuador (there are limits even to my research). Otherwise though, here was a minor treasure trove of tourism sustainability intelligence; or one hoped there was.
Mercifully, not all of it was the avalanche of mathematical formulae that Rosselló and Sansó had presented in determining (or maybe not determining) the loss of tourism because of the Balearic tourist tax. Indeed some of it was fairly straight to the point, insofar as anything that appears in an academic publication can ever be described as being straight to the point (and normally it can't be).
Bernard Lane, who is the founding editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, offered views on the evolution and future of sustainable tourism. He identified twenty likely growth areas for second-generation sustainable tourism research (we are apparently now in the second generation). One of these made for particularly interesting reading. Under financial and taxation instruments, Lane said that tourism has fought shy of this type of control and referred to the "anger" created by the tourist tax in the Balearics both in 2002 and more recently in 2016.
It was illuminating that he should single out the Balearics tax. The Catalonia tax has been a more permanent feature - it's been going for six years - while there are other taxes, especially city ones, which predate the Balearics Ecotax Mark II. Yet it was the Balearics tax which was highlighted. I am ever more convinced that the "anger", notwithstanding the rates of the tax, is the consequence of the attention that Mallorca and the Balearics attract, which is vastly greater than anywhere else.
Lane added that "as neo-liberalism increases, financial and taxation issues will assume greater importance". Neo-liberalism? Are we to conclude that ex-minister Biel Barceló and the current Balearic government have inherited the neo-liberalism Earth of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Milton Friedman? Besides, isn't neo-liberalism something to do with less tax? Well no, it's about expanding the tax base. Even so, it seems curious to link neo-liberalism to tourist taxes, especially as it is supposed to promote growth, competitiveness and wealth.
What I think he was really driving at was that taxation is a means of sustainability and the sole means. He later adds that neo-liberalist ideologies actually threaten sustainability, and that - one assumes - is because such ideologies are so geared towards growth and can be the antithesis of, say, environmental sustainability. Whatever one thinks about the Balearics tax, there is at least some genuine defence of the environment.
Lane also considered governance issues, and on these his words leave one wondering as to who, if anyone, is in charge of tourism: "Tourism is remarkably ungoverned and perhaps in some respects ungovernable, in part because of the fragmented ownership of its private sector elements, and in part because of the changing and complex nature of the public sector components that both control infrastructure and have some governance powers through planning permissions and some marketing activities. Tourism is also a relatively leaderless industry except in terms of lobbying."
Well, pick the bones out of that. He could easily be describing the Balearics. There is fragmentation in the private sector, such as with all the hotel groups that exist and their differences, as exemplified by the wage negotiations. The larger and wealthier groups basically drove the wage increases through in their desire for more sustainable employment. The leadership through lobbying is manifestly the case in the Balearics, as with the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation. Lobbying is its prime function.
At the public sector level we have the regular shifts in political control. These create a flip-flop of policies and of matters such as planning. The lack of leadership is such that there may no longer be a tourism minister in future, if Biel Barceló is to believed. This leadership, if it exists, will be shunted downwards to the islands councils until there is a later decision to reverse this. There is therefore an incoherence that undermines long-term planning for sustainability.
The article wasn't offering any solutions. It was about areas for further research or even some research. With financial measures for sustainability, e.g. the tourist tax, there is very little knowledge of their impact. The Balearics provide a perfect test base for understanding this impact because of the scale and scope of the tax. But do we really want the islands' tourism to be treated as an experiment? Because that is what it appears to be.
Actually, I didn't bother with something about visitors to the Teide National Park in Tenerife or with a hybrid multi-criteria method for evaluating the development of community tourism in Imababura, Ecuador (there are limits even to my research). Otherwise though, here was a minor treasure trove of tourism sustainability intelligence; or one hoped there was.
Mercifully, not all of it was the avalanche of mathematical formulae that Rosselló and Sansó had presented in determining (or maybe not determining) the loss of tourism because of the Balearic tourist tax. Indeed some of it was fairly straight to the point, insofar as anything that appears in an academic publication can ever be described as being straight to the point (and normally it can't be).
Bernard Lane, who is the founding editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, offered views on the evolution and future of sustainable tourism. He identified twenty likely growth areas for second-generation sustainable tourism research (we are apparently now in the second generation). One of these made for particularly interesting reading. Under financial and taxation instruments, Lane said that tourism has fought shy of this type of control and referred to the "anger" created by the tourist tax in the Balearics both in 2002 and more recently in 2016.
It was illuminating that he should single out the Balearics tax. The Catalonia tax has been a more permanent feature - it's been going for six years - while there are other taxes, especially city ones, which predate the Balearics Ecotax Mark II. Yet it was the Balearics tax which was highlighted. I am ever more convinced that the "anger", notwithstanding the rates of the tax, is the consequence of the attention that Mallorca and the Balearics attract, which is vastly greater than anywhere else.
Lane added that "as neo-liberalism increases, financial and taxation issues will assume greater importance". Neo-liberalism? Are we to conclude that ex-minister Biel Barceló and the current Balearic government have inherited the neo-liberalism Earth of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Milton Friedman? Besides, isn't neo-liberalism something to do with less tax? Well no, it's about expanding the tax base. Even so, it seems curious to link neo-liberalism to tourist taxes, especially as it is supposed to promote growth, competitiveness and wealth.
What I think he was really driving at was that taxation is a means of sustainability and the sole means. He later adds that neo-liberalist ideologies actually threaten sustainability, and that - one assumes - is because such ideologies are so geared towards growth and can be the antithesis of, say, environmental sustainability. Whatever one thinks about the Balearics tax, there is at least some genuine defence of the environment.
Lane also considered governance issues, and on these his words leave one wondering as to who, if anyone, is in charge of tourism: "Tourism is remarkably ungoverned and perhaps in some respects ungovernable, in part because of the fragmented ownership of its private sector elements, and in part because of the changing and complex nature of the public sector components that both control infrastructure and have some governance powers through planning permissions and some marketing activities. Tourism is also a relatively leaderless industry except in terms of lobbying."
Well, pick the bones out of that. He could easily be describing the Balearics. There is fragmentation in the private sector, such as with all the hotel groups that exist and their differences, as exemplified by the wage negotiations. The larger and wealthier groups basically drove the wage increases through in their desire for more sustainable employment. The leadership through lobbying is manifestly the case in the Balearics, as with the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation. Lobbying is its prime function.
At the public sector level we have the regular shifts in political control. These create a flip-flop of policies and of matters such as planning. The lack of leadership is such that there may no longer be a tourism minister in future, if Biel Barceló is to believed. This leadership, if it exists, will be shunted downwards to the islands councils until there is a later decision to reverse this. There is therefore an incoherence that undermines long-term planning for sustainability.
The article wasn't offering any solutions. It was about areas for further research or even some research. With financial measures for sustainability, e.g. the tourist tax, there is very little knowledge of their impact. The Balearics provide a perfect test base for understanding this impact because of the scale and scope of the tax. But do we really want the islands' tourism to be treated as an experiment? Because that is what it appears to be.
Tuesday, February 06, 2018
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 February 2018
Morning high (7.35am): 7.6C
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 7 February - Cloud, wind, 14C; 8 February - Cloud, 13C; 9 February - Cloud, 13C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 increasing North 6 to 7 in the afternoon.
General greyness all day, with showers possible any time and the wind getting up. Amber alert for coastal conditions.
Evening update (21.15): Rubbish. High of 11.2C.
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 7 February - Cloud, wind, 14C; 8 February - Cloud, 13C; 9 February - Cloud, 13C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 increasing North 6 to 7 in the afternoon.
General greyness all day, with showers possible any time and the wind getting up. Amber alert for coastal conditions.
Evening update (21.15): Rubbish. High of 11.2C.
The Old Woman Of Lent
Antoni Maria Alcover, sage of the Mallorcan folk tale, explains: "The Jaia Serrada was an old woman made of paper, cardboard or painted wood. Thin and haggard, she had a cod in one hand and a bunch of carrots in the other. She had seven legs and seven teeth. On the first day of Lent, they hanged that old woman in the kitchen or the dining room, and on each Sunday they cut off one leg of the seven she had until by Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday) she had no legs at all, and they would discard what remained of her. But by the middle of Lent they were already performing an operation, from which came her name (serrada - sawn), and it was on the Thursday of the fourth week that the old woman was taken down and sawn in half, because half of Lent had passed."
Her name, prior to being sawn in half, was Jaia Corema, the old woman of Lent. How she came to be as she was is something of a mystery, but her main purpose was to act as a form of calendar. The father of the household would ceremoniously cut off each leg, so the family knew where they were in terms of the period of abstinence. The Jaia came in different varieties. The cod was a constant element, but she could also hold a small grill and a rosary.
The Jaia is just one of the folk legends that surrounds Mallorca's Carnival and post-Carnival. There has been a sort of revival of her story. In Porreres on the fourth Sunday of Lent they conduct the public trial of two straw dolls, who are then executed because of their bad behaviour. Afterwards, they all tuck into some coca pastries and wine. Lent it may be, but Lent is not totally for the observance.
Once upon a time of course, they did take the abstinence pretty seriously, but what preceded it - namely Carnival - was anything but serious. The grand parade for Carnival, in Palma at any rate, didn't appear until the early years of the last century, but there had been parades with costumes and masks for a good two hundred years prior to the grand parade.
It all goes back, it's reckoned, to Pope Gregory the Great in the late sixth century. He came up with the idea for a period of fasting prior to Easter as a way of mirroring Christ's fasting in the desert. Carnival was thus a period of excess in the lead-up to Lent. But Pope Gregory wasn't the perhaps inadvertent originator of Carnival as such. The origins are pagan. The excess, the wearing of masks, the mocking of important people as well as a celebration of the return of the sun - these are all rooted in the dim and distant past.
The Church and the State have not always been terribly at ease with Carnival. Franco did of course ban it. In Cadiz, where Carnival has long been celebrated more wildly than anywhere in Spain, they had a special event in February last year to mark the eightieth anniversary of the prohibition. The Franco regime's repression was at least partially motivated by a fear that Carnival could be used as a time to show dissent. And this wasn't the first time that the State had been concerned about this.
Carlos I in the sixteenth century slapped on a ban. It remained for several decades until it was lifted by Felipe IV. But some one hundred years later, during the reign of Carlos III, there were other bans. In 1776 in Mallorca, the Marquis Alos, the captain general and governor of the Balearics, issued a prohibition. There could still be parties but these had to be limited to friends and relatives. Masks were not allowed. Behaviour had to be modest, and anyone who didn't comply or who was out on the street after nine in the evening faced a jail sentence.
This was all a consequence of Church pressure and fears about social uprising. The Esquilache Riots of 1766 had been sparked off by the rising cost of cereals, bread and other staples. There was also a severe drought that lasted well into the mid-1770s.
Carnival is therefore as much a socio-political celebration as it is a cultural one. It is said that Carnival has been moulded to suit tourism. This may be the case in places such as Tenerife, but in Mallorca the tourist dimension is by and large absent. It is essentially a time for some fun, for dressing up and holding parades of floats. As for the Jaia Corema, well yes, she may still be about, but her tradition is not as it was.
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