A fair amount of light but high cloud first thing, which should all disappear later in the day. The weather pattern does now seem more settled, with a good week in prospect. Local high at 08.00 is 18.9 in Puerto Pollensa.
Well, so much for the weather being settled. Another storm came in this afternoon. Not a particularly heavy affair, nearly 7mm of rain in Puerto Pollensa being the most that fell, with hardly any in other parts of the area. The day's high to 17.00, also in Puerto Pollensa, has been 25.9.
In case you wonder, 1mm of rain is basically equivalent to one litre per square meter. Rainfalls are given either in millimetres or litres, which can confuse.
Monday, June 13, 2011
The Magic Wand
The "vara". Wand, rod, pole. Take your pick. A magic wand. Spare the rod. Poles apart. They all seem somehow appropriate in the aftermath of the game of pass the parcel to see who ends up unwrapping the mayoral wand.
New mayors may hope that they can wave their wands and make all the problems disappear, but the problems are only just beginning, and are mainly those of fractiousness.
The municipalities of Alcúdia, Pollensa and Santa Margalida highlight how fractiousness consumes the operations of town halls. In Alcúdia's case, it will be new; for Pollensa and Santa Margalida, it will be business as usual.
The tensions that will now exist are only partly to do with party politics. They are more personal than this. And no more so than in Santa Margalida where Miguel Cifre has been handed the baton of mayoral office once again, fourteen years after a motion of censure resulted in his being kicked out of office.
Santa Margalida is a town of mutual dislike among its leading political lights. It's why Cifre and his party of change couldn't attract any other party with which to coalesce. He'll run the town hall, if run is the right word, with a minority three short of that which was required. He'll be a lame duck (aptly enough for a town which stages the annual nonsense of the duck throwing), and one despised by the Partido Popular in particular.
Another lame duck is now the second in command at Alcúdia, despite the fact that she abstained from giving any candidate for mayor her support. Carme Garcia's decision to cosy up to the Partido Popular, one that went against the wishes of her party, the Mallorcan socialists, has unleashed a tsunami into what had been a rare oasis of calmness in the politics of local towns.
At every opportunity, at every meeting of the town hall, she can now expect to be hounded, attacked and vilified. And she will have brought it on herself. Photos of the councillors in Alcúdia, taken after the meeting to select Coloma Terrasa as mayor, were very revealing. Terrasa was smiling, wand in hand, ex-mayor Llompart was grinning and PSOE's Pere Malondra was laughing. Garcia looked even more frumpish and put-upon than usual.
Llompart and Malondra further exposed her decision to side with the PP as an act of opportunism. It was rumoured that they would try something, and so they did. Malondra was nominated to be mayor. Had Garcia voted for him, a natural political ally for someone who claims to be of the left, then Malondra would have become mayor. She didn't. The boys of the Convergència and PSOE were laughing at her, and so it will be for four years.
Pollensa doesn't have a lame duck, it has a Tommy Cifre installed as mayor. Two Tommy Cifres, there are only two Tommy Cifres. Thankfully. It's confusing enough with two of them. One Tommy Cifre, there's only one Tommy Cifre in the PP. The new mayor, and not the one Tommy Cifre from the Mallorcan socialists. Cifre, together with the La Lliga lovely, Malena Estrany, will hope to restore some order to Pollensa town hall. They surely can't do any worse than what passed for administration under Joan Cerdà.
Fortunately, both Cifre and Estrany are respected, which was not the case with Cerdà who lost any semblance of respect as a result of the fiasco over the aborted pedestrianisation in Puerto Pollensa. It was this which turned him into a lame duck for much of his period of office. The charge of lack of consultation that was levelled at him (among other charges) is to be addressed by Cifre. He has promised "citizen participation", and a system of monthly meetings with associations across Pollensa is meant to come into being.
The PP-La Lliga coalition, one short of a majority, will be praying it can rely on the support of the one Unió Mollera Pollencina councillor. If not, and despite what respect there might be for Cifre and Estrany, then the fun and games in Pollensa are likely to continue.
But fun and games are what we want. They are what makes Mallorcan politics the theatre of the absurd that it so often is. A stage for illusionists who in every town conjure up a generally misplaced sense of their own importance. They wave their wands on new regimes and in a puff of smoke the old ones disappear. That's magic.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
New mayors may hope that they can wave their wands and make all the problems disappear, but the problems are only just beginning, and are mainly those of fractiousness.
The municipalities of Alcúdia, Pollensa and Santa Margalida highlight how fractiousness consumes the operations of town halls. In Alcúdia's case, it will be new; for Pollensa and Santa Margalida, it will be business as usual.
The tensions that will now exist are only partly to do with party politics. They are more personal than this. And no more so than in Santa Margalida where Miguel Cifre has been handed the baton of mayoral office once again, fourteen years after a motion of censure resulted in his being kicked out of office.
Santa Margalida is a town of mutual dislike among its leading political lights. It's why Cifre and his party of change couldn't attract any other party with which to coalesce. He'll run the town hall, if run is the right word, with a minority three short of that which was required. He'll be a lame duck (aptly enough for a town which stages the annual nonsense of the duck throwing), and one despised by the Partido Popular in particular.
Another lame duck is now the second in command at Alcúdia, despite the fact that she abstained from giving any candidate for mayor her support. Carme Garcia's decision to cosy up to the Partido Popular, one that went against the wishes of her party, the Mallorcan socialists, has unleashed a tsunami into what had been a rare oasis of calmness in the politics of local towns.
At every opportunity, at every meeting of the town hall, she can now expect to be hounded, attacked and vilified. And she will have brought it on herself. Photos of the councillors in Alcúdia, taken after the meeting to select Coloma Terrasa as mayor, were very revealing. Terrasa was smiling, wand in hand, ex-mayor Llompart was grinning and PSOE's Pere Malondra was laughing. Garcia looked even more frumpish and put-upon than usual.
Llompart and Malondra further exposed her decision to side with the PP as an act of opportunism. It was rumoured that they would try something, and so they did. Malondra was nominated to be mayor. Had Garcia voted for him, a natural political ally for someone who claims to be of the left, then Malondra would have become mayor. She didn't. The boys of the Convergència and PSOE were laughing at her, and so it will be for four years.
Pollensa doesn't have a lame duck, it has a Tommy Cifre installed as mayor. Two Tommy Cifres, there are only two Tommy Cifres. Thankfully. It's confusing enough with two of them. One Tommy Cifre, there's only one Tommy Cifre in the PP. The new mayor, and not the one Tommy Cifre from the Mallorcan socialists. Cifre, together with the La Lliga lovely, Malena Estrany, will hope to restore some order to Pollensa town hall. They surely can't do any worse than what passed for administration under Joan Cerdà.
Fortunately, both Cifre and Estrany are respected, which was not the case with Cerdà who lost any semblance of respect as a result of the fiasco over the aborted pedestrianisation in Puerto Pollensa. It was this which turned him into a lame duck for much of his period of office. The charge of lack of consultation that was levelled at him (among other charges) is to be addressed by Cifre. He has promised "citizen participation", and a system of monthly meetings with associations across Pollensa is meant to come into being.
The PP-La Lliga coalition, one short of a majority, will be praying it can rely on the support of the one Unió Mollera Pollencina councillor. If not, and despite what respect there might be for Cifre and Estrany, then the fun and games in Pollensa are likely to continue.
But fun and games are what we want. They are what makes Mallorcan politics the theatre of the absurd that it so often is. A stage for illusionists who in every town conjure up a generally misplaced sense of their own importance. They wave their wands on new regimes and in a puff of smoke the old ones disappear. That's magic.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Garcia abstains but Terrasa takes over as Alcúdia mayor
The now former member of the PSM (Mallorcan socialists), Carme Garcia, abstained from voting during the mayoral selection process in Alcúdia yesterday. Combined Convergència and PSOE support for Pere Malondra (PSOE) as mayor could not gain Garcia's vote in order to prevent the Partido Popular's Coloma Terrasa becoming mayor. The PP will govern in minority but can call on Garcia's support. Garcia will be a second-in-command to Terrasa. A heated investiture debate brought forward criticisms of the nature of the PP's "pact". Garcia defended herself by saying that she was not a turncoat as she had not joined another party.
MALLORCA TODAY - Cifre becomes mayor in Pollensa and promises participation
Tomeu Cifre of the Partido Popular was voted in as the new mayor of Pollensa yesterday, the last-minute pulling-out from an alternative pact of leftist groups by the Esquerra meaning that a combination of the PP and La Lliga was able to form a coalition to which it will hope to add the support of Nadal Moragues of the Unió Mollera Pollencina. Cifre has said that citizen participation will improve during his period of mayor.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 12 June 2011
A good sunny start to the morning, and hopefully it will remain so, even if the forecast shows some cloud until the late afternoon. A local high of 19.9 in Puerto Pollensa at 08.30.
It has got progressively warmer during the day. Generally sunny, though hazy at times, the local high by 17.00 has been 24.9 in Alcúdia/Playa de Muro.
It has got progressively warmer during the day. Generally sunny, though hazy at times, the local high by 17.00 has been 24.9 in Alcúdia/Playa de Muro.
MALLORCA TODAY - Santa Margalida faces instability
With six councillors, three short of a majority, and the support of no other party, the Suma pel Canvi (PSOE and independents) in Santa Margalida has assumed control of the town hall and Miguel Cifre has become mayor, 14 years after having been removed through a motion of censure. The Partido Popular's ex-mayor, Martí Torres, criticised the selection of Cifre, pointing to the greater support that the PP (and its usual partner, the Can Picafort Unit) got at the election and suggesting that Cifre was not a legitimate mayor.
Groundhog Month: All-inclusives
I know it seems like it's bad flavour of the month, but that's partly because June is the month for all-inclusive angst. Why? Because the season is well underway and some businesses, finding that they are not thronged, have to reach out and blame someone or something. The all-inclusive. I am in all-inclusive Groundhog month. It's been like this for years.
I seem to have spent a lifetime writing about all-inclusives. And another one reading all the familiar arguments and imagery that are used to discuss them. The poverty of the discussion, the recycling of the imagery bug me even more than all-inclusives bug me. So also does the implicit notion behind this impoverished discussion that any of this is new. Because it isn't. But it hasn't stopped it, once more, being the June flavour of the month.
I touched on the themes of this discussion the other day. One of them is that all-inclusives are appropriate only for remote parts of the world where no restaurants exist and where it is necessary to be holed up in a gated hotel complex because to leave it would be to risk having a machete taken to your throat. In other words, they are not appropriate for Mallorca.
We know all this. We've known all this for years. We've also known for years the imagery of resorts becoming "ghost towns" as we've known for years the analogy of the impact of out-of-town shopping centres on British high streets. We've known all this because the same imagery and analogies are used time and time again.
We've also known for years that it should be the job of the anonymous "authorities" to do something, when the truth is that there is nothing these authorities can do or are willing to do. We've known this because, without any suggestion as to how these authorities might actually do anything, they still keep being called on to do it.
Oh, sorry, there have been suggestions. Like banning all-inclusives. Ah yes, when all else fails, ban them, and bye-bye, TUI. But there is the law. European law. All-inclusives might be considered anti-competitive (it's been tried; Can Picafort, 2005), they might be subject to the services directive (and it's questionable as to whether many meet it), but they are, by the same competitive token, a product of an unfettered market. And the tour operators would drive a coach and horses through any attempt to make them otherwise. Oh, and by the way, there was once an attempt at a ban. In The Gambia. It was dropped after a year because the tour operators objected and threatened to pull out.
We've also known for years that the hoteliers are meant to be to blame, when they are not. The president of the hoteliers' federation has recently said that the increase in all-inclusive is out of the hotels' hands. This is a rather disingenuous deflection of criticism, but it isn't without some basis in truth.
So why does it all get dragged out, over and over again? Always the same points. Nothing changes, and hasn't changed for much of the current century, with the exception that the number of all-inclusive places increases. And amidst all these same old points is the dire consequence of bars and restaurants closing.
Yet, at the end of 2010, the number of restaurants in Mallorca had increased. By 3.4%. The number of cafeterias had increased. By 6.1%. Only the number of bars had fallen. By 1%.
Of course, such catch-all statistics do not reflect precisely the circumstances of different resorts, but they are an indication. Perhaps this increase is a result of it being difficult to find alternative means of making a living or of the greater ease there now is in simply renting premises rather than paying a traspaso. Whatever the reason, though, and notwithstanding economic crisis and the onward march of the all-inclusive, there always seems to be someone willing to take somewhere on, thus continuing to spread business thinly.
The repetitious discussion and the repetitious imagery will be used again. Next June, in all likelihood. Nothing will have changed. The discussion will not have moved on beyond what have now become the clichés of the all-inclusive discourse. And it won't have moved on, partly because there is nowhere for it to move onto. Unless the tour operators say so.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
I seem to have spent a lifetime writing about all-inclusives. And another one reading all the familiar arguments and imagery that are used to discuss them. The poverty of the discussion, the recycling of the imagery bug me even more than all-inclusives bug me. So also does the implicit notion behind this impoverished discussion that any of this is new. Because it isn't. But it hasn't stopped it, once more, being the June flavour of the month.
I touched on the themes of this discussion the other day. One of them is that all-inclusives are appropriate only for remote parts of the world where no restaurants exist and where it is necessary to be holed up in a gated hotel complex because to leave it would be to risk having a machete taken to your throat. In other words, they are not appropriate for Mallorca.
We know all this. We've known all this for years. We've also known for years the imagery of resorts becoming "ghost towns" as we've known for years the analogy of the impact of out-of-town shopping centres on British high streets. We've known all this because the same imagery and analogies are used time and time again.
We've also known for years that it should be the job of the anonymous "authorities" to do something, when the truth is that there is nothing these authorities can do or are willing to do. We've known this because, without any suggestion as to how these authorities might actually do anything, they still keep being called on to do it.
Oh, sorry, there have been suggestions. Like banning all-inclusives. Ah yes, when all else fails, ban them, and bye-bye, TUI. But there is the law. European law. All-inclusives might be considered anti-competitive (it's been tried; Can Picafort, 2005), they might be subject to the services directive (and it's questionable as to whether many meet it), but they are, by the same competitive token, a product of an unfettered market. And the tour operators would drive a coach and horses through any attempt to make them otherwise. Oh, and by the way, there was once an attempt at a ban. In The Gambia. It was dropped after a year because the tour operators objected and threatened to pull out.
We've also known for years that the hoteliers are meant to be to blame, when they are not. The president of the hoteliers' federation has recently said that the increase in all-inclusive is out of the hotels' hands. This is a rather disingenuous deflection of criticism, but it isn't without some basis in truth.
So why does it all get dragged out, over and over again? Always the same points. Nothing changes, and hasn't changed for much of the current century, with the exception that the number of all-inclusive places increases. And amidst all these same old points is the dire consequence of bars and restaurants closing.
Yet, at the end of 2010, the number of restaurants in Mallorca had increased. By 3.4%. The number of cafeterias had increased. By 6.1%. Only the number of bars had fallen. By 1%.
Of course, such catch-all statistics do not reflect precisely the circumstances of different resorts, but they are an indication. Perhaps this increase is a result of it being difficult to find alternative means of making a living or of the greater ease there now is in simply renting premises rather than paying a traspaso. Whatever the reason, though, and notwithstanding economic crisis and the onward march of the all-inclusive, there always seems to be someone willing to take somewhere on, thus continuing to spread business thinly.
The repetitious discussion and the repetitious imagery will be used again. Next June, in all likelihood. Nothing will have changed. The discussion will not have moved on beyond what have now become the clichés of the all-inclusive discourse. And it won't have moved on, partly because there is nowhere for it to move onto. Unless the tour operators say so.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Mayoral day of decision
Today is when all the negotiations have to end and that the make-ups of town halls are agreed, along with who is going to be mayor.
Pollensa: Agreement has been reached between the Partido Popular and La Lliga. Under this, Tomeu Cifre of the PP will become mayor and will also have responsibility for urban planning. Malena Estrany of La Lliga will be a second-in-command with responsibilities for finance and culture. This agreement will still leave the coalition one short of a majority, but it hopes to draw on the support of the councillor for the Unió Mollera Pollencina which has been holding out for special responsibilities to be drawn up for a councillor for Puerto Pollensa.
Alcúdia: Controversy will spill over into today's meeting. It is likely that that the PP will now rule in minority, with Coloma Terrasa as mayor. It is unclear if Carme Garcia, now no longer with the PSM (Mallorcan socialists), will formally align with Terrasa, but she is expected to subsequently lend her vote to Terrasa. The PP needed the extra support to reach a majority of nine. However, it is possible that the Convergència and PSOE, with eight councillors between them, will spring a surprise and vote for Garcia as mayor, which would send everything into chaos. Police are to be drafted in today as there are threats of protests directed at Garcia.
Pollensa: Agreement has been reached between the Partido Popular and La Lliga. Under this, Tomeu Cifre of the PP will become mayor and will also have responsibility for urban planning. Malena Estrany of La Lliga will be a second-in-command with responsibilities for finance and culture. This agreement will still leave the coalition one short of a majority, but it hopes to draw on the support of the councillor for the Unió Mollera Pollencina which has been holding out for special responsibilities to be drawn up for a councillor for Puerto Pollensa.
Alcúdia: Controversy will spill over into today's meeting. It is likely that that the PP will now rule in minority, with Coloma Terrasa as mayor. It is unclear if Carme Garcia, now no longer with the PSM (Mallorcan socialists), will formally align with Terrasa, but she is expected to subsequently lend her vote to Terrasa. The PP needed the extra support to reach a majority of nine. However, it is possible that the Convergència and PSOE, with eight councillors between them, will spring a surprise and vote for Garcia as mayor, which would send everything into chaos. Police are to be drafted in today as there are threats of protests directed at Garcia.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 11 June 2011
Some rain overnight and a cloudy morning but with some sun. The temperature has certainly risen, though, with an early morning high in the area being 20.3 at 08.00 in Puerto Pollensa. The outlook is good and by later today there should be unbroken sun, with the same tomorrow and then the week ahead looking very good and getting hot.
A pleasant enough day, but not especially sunny and it turned out not to be as warm as the morning temperature suggested it would be. The local high today, to 17.30, has only been 20.8 in Alcúdia/Playa de Muro.
A pleasant enough day, but not especially sunny and it turned out not to be as warm as the morning temperature suggested it would be. The local high today, to 17.30, has only been 20.8 in Alcúdia/Playa de Muro.
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa beach workers stage protest
Workers who had been contracted by the neighbourhood association in Puerto Pollensa for operating the beaches Puerto Pollensa this summer yesterday staged a protest outside Pollensa town hall. The workers have denounced various councillors for not having prevented their loss of employment and have also attacked the management of the new company, which appears not to be complying with the full specification for the beaches. Furthermore, they claim that the technician at the town hall's environment department had acted badly and slowly and that the correct documentation has never been presented to the ultimate authority for the beaches, the Costas.
Smiley, Smile
"The Balearics (are) a summer destination and in winter there are not many alternatives."
These are words that will not be music to the ears of anyone much in Mallorca or the other Balearic islands. And certainly not to a succession of tourism officials who have sought to promote Mallorca in the winter and to promote specifically its "alternatives". We are treated, through the words of these officials, to an endless diet of gastronomy, to an endless round of golf, to an endless tour of cultural sites. But to no avail. There aren't many alternatives. Who says so? TUI. And worse still, TUI Germany.
The moaning that occurs regarding the lack of winter tourism is primarily one inspired by the absence of British tourists and by the absence of aircraft belonging to airlines from the British Isles rumbling along the runway in Palma. There are tourists in winter, however, and they are mainly German, courtesy of Air Berlin's regular services from all over Germany.
Notwithstanding the winter lifeline that Air Berlin throws Mallorca, for TUI Germany to state that the Balearics are a summer destination should make tourism officialdom and all others who claim that there are alternatives to "sol y playa" (sun and beach) squirm in the vacuity of their endless desires to promote the alternatives. The desires count for little or nothing, as do whatever is meant to have been happening to realise them. "There is a lack of initiative to give life to the (winter) season." Who says so? TUI.
If it really wanted to, TUI could probably do something about the "many places that are dead" in winter (again, its words). But why should it? There are plenty of other places that aren't dead. Anywhere but Mallorca, let alone Ibiza or God-forsaken Menorca.
TUI Germany's director-general and his two able lieutentants were holding court the other day in Palma. The three wise men followed the ibero star to Mallorca, bearing gifts but unable to turn dross into gold. But what gifts they were. The level of all-inclusive will rise to 33% from its current 20. Gifts to the consumer who has driven the demand (says TUI). And the consumer is the gift to Mallorca this summer. "The level of sales is very, very good." And guess what type of hotel is increasingly enjoying these very, very good sales.
At roughly the same time as the kingdom of TUI and its court was assembling in Palma, elsewhere in the city a different type of court was amassing. The new kingdom of Bauzá. It must be utterly disheartening for a Mallorcan and Balearic leader to know that his own court is largely irrelevant and that the real power has just arrived from the north.
You know that story about the German businessmen who wanted to buy Mallorca. I've never known if there was any substance to it or if it was simply an urban myth. It doesn't really matter, because Germany runs Mallorca anyway. The castle and stripes are not the flag of Mallorca. The real one is a smiley logo. TUI's.
When TUI puts in its court-like appearance, it is offered tribute by the media and the lickspittles of officialdom. When Völker Böttcher, the TUI boss, speaks, it is as though there were a papal visit and address. What TUI says is far more important than anything that comes out of the Balearic parliament or from the mouths of a Balearic president or tourism minister.
It is in the gift of TUI to do something about winter tourism, were it minded to. And were it minded to, it would simply reinforce the fact that Mallorcan officialdom has been incapable of doing anything. This officialdom talks a good game - of golf, mainly - but knows, or should know, as TUI knows, that the only real game in town and across the island is sun and beach. It always has been and always will be.
It is also in the gift of TUI to do something about summer tourism. Like turning its back on it. It wouldn't do so, of course it wouldn't, but it can do pretty much as it wishes. Hence, a 13% increase in all-inclusives. What's to stop it? TUI can make or break the island. It's the real power. You just have to lump it, and smiley, smile.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
These are words that will not be music to the ears of anyone much in Mallorca or the other Balearic islands. And certainly not to a succession of tourism officials who have sought to promote Mallorca in the winter and to promote specifically its "alternatives". We are treated, through the words of these officials, to an endless diet of gastronomy, to an endless round of golf, to an endless tour of cultural sites. But to no avail. There aren't many alternatives. Who says so? TUI. And worse still, TUI Germany.
The moaning that occurs regarding the lack of winter tourism is primarily one inspired by the absence of British tourists and by the absence of aircraft belonging to airlines from the British Isles rumbling along the runway in Palma. There are tourists in winter, however, and they are mainly German, courtesy of Air Berlin's regular services from all over Germany.
Notwithstanding the winter lifeline that Air Berlin throws Mallorca, for TUI Germany to state that the Balearics are a summer destination should make tourism officialdom and all others who claim that there are alternatives to "sol y playa" (sun and beach) squirm in the vacuity of their endless desires to promote the alternatives. The desires count for little or nothing, as do whatever is meant to have been happening to realise them. "There is a lack of initiative to give life to the (winter) season." Who says so? TUI.
If it really wanted to, TUI could probably do something about the "many places that are dead" in winter (again, its words). But why should it? There are plenty of other places that aren't dead. Anywhere but Mallorca, let alone Ibiza or God-forsaken Menorca.
TUI Germany's director-general and his two able lieutentants were holding court the other day in Palma. The three wise men followed the ibero star to Mallorca, bearing gifts but unable to turn dross into gold. But what gifts they were. The level of all-inclusive will rise to 33% from its current 20. Gifts to the consumer who has driven the demand (says TUI). And the consumer is the gift to Mallorca this summer. "The level of sales is very, very good." And guess what type of hotel is increasingly enjoying these very, very good sales.
At roughly the same time as the kingdom of TUI and its court was assembling in Palma, elsewhere in the city a different type of court was amassing. The new kingdom of Bauzá. It must be utterly disheartening for a Mallorcan and Balearic leader to know that his own court is largely irrelevant and that the real power has just arrived from the north.
You know that story about the German businessmen who wanted to buy Mallorca. I've never known if there was any substance to it or if it was simply an urban myth. It doesn't really matter, because Germany runs Mallorca anyway. The castle and stripes are not the flag of Mallorca. The real one is a smiley logo. TUI's.
When TUI puts in its court-like appearance, it is offered tribute by the media and the lickspittles of officialdom. When Völker Böttcher, the TUI boss, speaks, it is as though there were a papal visit and address. What TUI says is far more important than anything that comes out of the Balearic parliament or from the mouths of a Balearic president or tourism minister.
It is in the gift of TUI to do something about winter tourism, were it minded to. And were it minded to, it would simply reinforce the fact that Mallorcan officialdom has been incapable of doing anything. This officialdom talks a good game - of golf, mainly - but knows, or should know, as TUI knows, that the only real game in town and across the island is sun and beach. It always has been and always will be.
It is also in the gift of TUI to do something about summer tourism. Like turning its back on it. It wouldn't do so, of course it wouldn't, but it can do pretty much as it wishes. Hence, a 13% increase in all-inclusives. What's to stop it? TUI can make or break the island. It's the real power. You just have to lump it, and smiley, smile.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, June 10, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 June 2011
A cloudy start. Local temperatures at 08.00 ranging from 16 to 18 degrees. The day's forecast suggests cloud mixed with sunny spells, with a slight possibility of rain this afternoon. The weekend would seem to be generally fine as will be next week, with temperatures rising to 27 degrees.
So much for these forecasts then. A storm brew up in the afternoon but proved how erratic the local weather can be. The thunder and lightning was across the mountains but missed pretty much everywhere. Barely any rain in Pollensa or Playa de Muro, but a downpour on the road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. Very odd. A local high today of 24.2 in Alcúdia. If you can trust what the met centre says, the weekend is meant to see clear skies, though it also says there could be light showers in the Balearics. Anything, in other words.
So much for these forecasts then. A storm brew up in the afternoon but proved how erratic the local weather can be. The thunder and lightning was across the mountains but missed pretty much everywhere. Barely any rain in Pollensa or Playa de Muro, but a downpour on the road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. Very odd. A local high today of 24.2 in Alcúdia. If you can trust what the met centre says, the weekend is meant to see clear skies, though it also says there could be light showers in the Balearics. Anything, in other words.
In Jason Moore's Shoes
I had Jason Moore's shoes in the boot of my car. Oh, yes, you might be thinking. And how exactly did the shoes of the editor of "The Bulletin" come to be there? Why might I have had the shoes? Were they being held as ransom? I confess this did occur to me.
There is a very innocent explanation. The shoes had been left in a wardrobe at the end of a weekend break in a hotel not that far from me. Could I do a favour and pick them up? No sooner asked ... .
The shoes weren't left in a wardrobe of any old hotel. They were in a wardrobe of an all-inclusive hotel. Hang on, no, it is any old hotel. Like many. Like many an all-inclusive. But it was quite good. And the cost for a family of four was also good. Very good in fact. Jason said so.
There is something more significant to the saga of the shoes than the shoes themselves. The greater significance lies with putting yourself in someone else's shoes. Those of a tourist with a family of four.
The debate about all-inclusives that has been called for by business associations will never be more than a repetition of all that has ever been said about all-inclusives and never more than a statement of entrenched opinion. These organisations could never put themselves in tourists' shoes and accept that all-inclusives might actually represent value for money.
It is the repetition of arguments that makes you despair. When you get someone, i.e. the head of PIMEM, trotting out the ancient reference to all-inclusives being suitable only to "South American countries", you do have to wonder. Is this supposed to be some great revelation? Because it most certainly isn't. This line of argument is about as old as all-inclusives in Mallorca themselves.
Actually, this isn't quite true. And nor is the South America, Central America, Caribbean is where all-inclusives came from argument. Want to know where the all-inclusive concept was born? I'll give you a clue. Island, begins with an "M". Resort, begins with an "A". Still don't know? Mallorca. Alcúdia. 1950.
To be fair, the current-day all-inclusive is far removed from the first Club Med tents, but to hear the arguments, you would think that this current-day all-inclusive is somehow new. The first serious all-inclusives in Mallorca emerged in the 1990s. The arguments have been around ever since. Just that they have become louder as the volume of all-inclusive has increased.
A peculiarity of the all-inclusive is that it took so long for the concept to really take off. It did indeed take the lack of infrastructure in under-developed parts of the world to truly forge the concept, but once the Caribbean and elsewhere showed it to be successful, it was only a matter of time for it to be transported back to where it originally came from. To the by-now developed tourism world. Mallorca.
Mallorca is an all-inclusive victim of its own success. A mass tourism market, ripe for the flogging of a "different" product by the tour operators. A mature market whose life cycle required energising.
Just think for a moment. What would have happened had Gerard Blitz started opening up all-inclusive hotels in the 1950s and not gone off with his tents to islands elsewhere? A very, very different economy would have been created in Mallorca. It didn't happen, partly because no one thought to make it happen and also because there was an unchallenged and seemingly natural symbiosis between hotel and outside bar and restaurant.
It has now happened. Or rather, it started to happen some fifteen years ago, and the current-day consequences could have been predicted. And now, PIMEM want a debate. Sorry to have to tell you, fellas, but you're too late. Fifteen years too late. You can't put the all-inclusive genie back. You can walk a mile in your shoes and debate till you're blue in the face, regurgitate the same old arguments. But you should put yourselves in the shoes of a family of four. The debate is not about all-inclusives per se. It is about tourism in Mallorca. It is about how you live with all-inclusives, because they are not going away.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There is a very innocent explanation. The shoes had been left in a wardrobe at the end of a weekend break in a hotel not that far from me. Could I do a favour and pick them up? No sooner asked ... .
The shoes weren't left in a wardrobe of any old hotel. They were in a wardrobe of an all-inclusive hotel. Hang on, no, it is any old hotel. Like many. Like many an all-inclusive. But it was quite good. And the cost for a family of four was also good. Very good in fact. Jason said so.
There is something more significant to the saga of the shoes than the shoes themselves. The greater significance lies with putting yourself in someone else's shoes. Those of a tourist with a family of four.
The debate about all-inclusives that has been called for by business associations will never be more than a repetition of all that has ever been said about all-inclusives and never more than a statement of entrenched opinion. These organisations could never put themselves in tourists' shoes and accept that all-inclusives might actually represent value for money.
It is the repetition of arguments that makes you despair. When you get someone, i.e. the head of PIMEM, trotting out the ancient reference to all-inclusives being suitable only to "South American countries", you do have to wonder. Is this supposed to be some great revelation? Because it most certainly isn't. This line of argument is about as old as all-inclusives in Mallorca themselves.
Actually, this isn't quite true. And nor is the South America, Central America, Caribbean is where all-inclusives came from argument. Want to know where the all-inclusive concept was born? I'll give you a clue. Island, begins with an "M". Resort, begins with an "A". Still don't know? Mallorca. Alcúdia. 1950.
To be fair, the current-day all-inclusive is far removed from the first Club Med tents, but to hear the arguments, you would think that this current-day all-inclusive is somehow new. The first serious all-inclusives in Mallorca emerged in the 1990s. The arguments have been around ever since. Just that they have become louder as the volume of all-inclusive has increased.
A peculiarity of the all-inclusive is that it took so long for the concept to really take off. It did indeed take the lack of infrastructure in under-developed parts of the world to truly forge the concept, but once the Caribbean and elsewhere showed it to be successful, it was only a matter of time for it to be transported back to where it originally came from. To the by-now developed tourism world. Mallorca.
Mallorca is an all-inclusive victim of its own success. A mass tourism market, ripe for the flogging of a "different" product by the tour operators. A mature market whose life cycle required energising.
Just think for a moment. What would have happened had Gerard Blitz started opening up all-inclusive hotels in the 1950s and not gone off with his tents to islands elsewhere? A very, very different economy would have been created in Mallorca. It didn't happen, partly because no one thought to make it happen and also because there was an unchallenged and seemingly natural symbiosis between hotel and outside bar and restaurant.
It has now happened. Or rather, it started to happen some fifteen years ago, and the current-day consequences could have been predicted. And now, PIMEM want a debate. Sorry to have to tell you, fellas, but you're too late. Fifteen years too late. You can't put the all-inclusive genie back. You can walk a mile in your shoes and debate till you're blue in the face, regurgitate the same old arguments. But you should put yourselves in the shoes of a family of four. The debate is not about all-inclusives per se. It is about tourism in Mallorca. It is about how you live with all-inclusives, because they are not going away.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 June 2011
This seems a lot better. The worst of the weather would now appear to have gone, so the forecast was pretty much spot-on, as it had predicted that things would improve from today. A good, sunny morning and good, sunny day in prospect. High at 08.00 in the local area is 18.3 in Puerto Pollensa.
Well, it wasn't quite as good as might have been hoped. A bit of rain and some heavy cloud at times, but also long periods of sun. And pretty warm, too, with a local high today of 24.4 in Alcúdia/Playa de Muro.
Well, it wasn't quite as good as might have been hoped. A bit of rain and some heavy cloud at times, but also long periods of sun. And pretty warm, too, with a local high today of 24.4 in Alcúdia/Playa de Muro.
Unprincipled
A double-header today. Firstly, Alcúdia and its pacts. A bit later, the tourism minister.
The other day, under the title "Carme Chameleon", I looked at the possibility of the PSM (Mallorcan socialists) forming a pact with the Partido Popular to govern Alcúdia town hall. The title was quite deliberate. Turning colours. I hadn't expected that it would happen, but, unless there is a change of heart, it is now on the cards. To use another song from the 1980s, Carme Garcia will have shed her skin and smashed a damn great sledgehammer into what pretence there is in Mallorca as to principled politics.
The spin is that she will align herself with the PP by setting aside ideological differences because the PP, which gained eight councillors (one short of the nine required), has the moral right to govern Alcúdia. There's no debating this. Twice as many councillors as the next party, almost twice as much of the vote as the next lot, the PP has to be allowed to run the town hall. There is also, unquestionably, a bit of a sisters' act going on, which, where Garcia is concerned, you can understand. The alternative for her would be to align with the mates of the Convergència and PSOE, which might pose problems for her, and them.
However, there is also ambition. Garcia is likely to end up as the right-hand woman of the PP's Coloma Terrasa, whether Terrasa really wants her or not. Then there is credibility. Garcia's has been shot to pieces. If she does indeed end up as a "teniente" to the new mayor, she will be treated with utter contempt. Her party, the PSM, is livid and she has been booted out of the party for arriving at a personal agreement with the PP. She has been branded as a turncoat.
The PSM is pleading with the PP to reject the agreement. PSOE is calling on José Bauzá to in effect veto it. If there were any principles, then the PP would do so and Terrasa would be left to govern with a minority, notwithstanding the difficulties this would create.
Garcia's actions are disgraceful. They are not principled. Yes, she was returned as a councillor, but it was with a small percentage of the vote. Who did this small percentage vote for? Her or the PSM? Activists within the PSM might have enjoyed the opportunity of town hall representation, but they wouldn't have enjoyed an alliance with the PP which is the complete opposite of the PSM. Nor, you would think, would PP supporters enjoy the idea of a Mallorcan socialist pulling some strings.
The proportional system can be held open to ridicule, and it is being made to look completely ridiculous in Alcúdia, while Garcia has made herself a laughing-stock.
Tourism minister
Moving onto the never-ending saga as to who might end up as the new tourism minister, the possibility of a so-called "professional" taking the reins at the ministry keeps on popping up.
It would appear that certain professionals have indeed been canvassed as to their willingness to become tourism supremo. One of them is Alvaro Middelmann, the boss of Air Berlin in Iberia, and the former president of the Fomento del Turismo (the Mallorcan tourism board). Why on earth would Middelmann want the job? He's hugely qualified to do it, but what benefit would it bring him? It wouldn't be financial, that's for sure. And he's pretty much said as much.
It's all very well people banging on about the need for a professional to be in charge of tourism, but the problem is that professionals, if they are any good, earn a considerably larger wedge doing what they do outside of government than were they inside it.
There is also a potential problem as to perception. Middelmann, for example, is associated with one particular airline and with one particular market, the German market. Such associations could cause issues down the line, even if the perception were misplaced. Similar associations and perceptions could apply to others.
And then there is an issue of principle. What exactly is the deal with possibly appointing someone who hasn't been elected? Carlos Delgado, the bookies' favourite for the job, may be disliked, other candidates from within the PP may in fact be useless, but they have at least been elected.
Finally, if the tourism ministry is as bust as it is meant to be and if it fails to be a massive beneficiary of Bauzá benevolence, do you honestly think someone such as Middelmann, or any other highly-regarded professional, would risk their reputation when the mud starts flying about lack of promotion this, lack of promotion that? If a pro does end up at tourism, it's probably because he or she needs a job. You wouldn't want it otherwise.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The other day, under the title "Carme Chameleon", I looked at the possibility of the PSM (Mallorcan socialists) forming a pact with the Partido Popular to govern Alcúdia town hall. The title was quite deliberate. Turning colours. I hadn't expected that it would happen, but, unless there is a change of heart, it is now on the cards. To use another song from the 1980s, Carme Garcia will have shed her skin and smashed a damn great sledgehammer into what pretence there is in Mallorca as to principled politics.
The spin is that she will align herself with the PP by setting aside ideological differences because the PP, which gained eight councillors (one short of the nine required), has the moral right to govern Alcúdia. There's no debating this. Twice as many councillors as the next party, almost twice as much of the vote as the next lot, the PP has to be allowed to run the town hall. There is also, unquestionably, a bit of a sisters' act going on, which, where Garcia is concerned, you can understand. The alternative for her would be to align with the mates of the Convergència and PSOE, which might pose problems for her, and them.
However, there is also ambition. Garcia is likely to end up as the right-hand woman of the PP's Coloma Terrasa, whether Terrasa really wants her or not. Then there is credibility. Garcia's has been shot to pieces. If she does indeed end up as a "teniente" to the new mayor, she will be treated with utter contempt. Her party, the PSM, is livid and she has been booted out of the party for arriving at a personal agreement with the PP. She has been branded as a turncoat.
The PSM is pleading with the PP to reject the agreement. PSOE is calling on José Bauzá to in effect veto it. If there were any principles, then the PP would do so and Terrasa would be left to govern with a minority, notwithstanding the difficulties this would create.
Garcia's actions are disgraceful. They are not principled. Yes, she was returned as a councillor, but it was with a small percentage of the vote. Who did this small percentage vote for? Her or the PSM? Activists within the PSM might have enjoyed the opportunity of town hall representation, but they wouldn't have enjoyed an alliance with the PP which is the complete opposite of the PSM. Nor, you would think, would PP supporters enjoy the idea of a Mallorcan socialist pulling some strings.
The proportional system can be held open to ridicule, and it is being made to look completely ridiculous in Alcúdia, while Garcia has made herself a laughing-stock.
Tourism minister
Moving onto the never-ending saga as to who might end up as the new tourism minister, the possibility of a so-called "professional" taking the reins at the ministry keeps on popping up.
It would appear that certain professionals have indeed been canvassed as to their willingness to become tourism supremo. One of them is Alvaro Middelmann, the boss of Air Berlin in Iberia, and the former president of the Fomento del Turismo (the Mallorcan tourism board). Why on earth would Middelmann want the job? He's hugely qualified to do it, but what benefit would it bring him? It wouldn't be financial, that's for sure. And he's pretty much said as much.
It's all very well people banging on about the need for a professional to be in charge of tourism, but the problem is that professionals, if they are any good, earn a considerably larger wedge doing what they do outside of government than were they inside it.
There is also a potential problem as to perception. Middelmann, for example, is associated with one particular airline and with one particular market, the German market. Such associations could cause issues down the line, even if the perception were misplaced. Similar associations and perceptions could apply to others.
And then there is an issue of principle. What exactly is the deal with possibly appointing someone who hasn't been elected? Carlos Delgado, the bookies' favourite for the job, may be disliked, other candidates from within the PP may in fact be useless, but they have at least been elected.
Finally, if the tourism ministry is as bust as it is meant to be and if it fails to be a massive beneficiary of Bauzá benevolence, do you honestly think someone such as Middelmann, or any other highly-regarded professional, would risk their reputation when the mud starts flying about lack of promotion this, lack of promotion that? If a pro does end up at tourism, it's probably because he or she needs a job. You wouldn't want it otherwise.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
MALLORCA TODAY - Alternativa slam maintenance of Pollensa's beaches
The Alternativa per Pollença have listed a number of deficiencies in respect of the maintenance and management of Puerto Pollensa's beaches, claiming that the new company in charge of the beaches is not meeting the specification that was drawn up by the town hall at the end of last year. One deficiency would appear to be the material for umbrellas (grass rather than reeds), while facilities such as showers have not yet been made available.
MALLORCA TODAY - Sixty litres of rain in Puerto Pollensa
The downpours and storms of yesterday - 7 June - were at their worst in the north of Mallorca. Puerto Pollensa registered 61.4 litres alone, with the town of Pollensa copping for 36.4 litres.
MALLORCA TODAY - Garcia makes pact with PP in Alcúdia
Carme Garcia, who won representation as a councillor in Alcúdia on behalf of the PSM (Mallorcan socialists) has, unless she changes her mind, entered into a personal agreement to form a pact with the Partido Popular, thus giving the PP and Coloma Terrasa the nine councillors to create a majority and to make Terrasa mayor. Garcia has effectively resigned from the PSM which appears aghast at her decision.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 June 2011
Well, this is rubbish. Heavy rain at times in the early morning, there is currently a light shower, but it is overcast with only glimpses of blue sky. Temperatures hardly seem to matter, but the local high at 08.30 is 17.8 in Puerto Pollensa. The forecast is good, though, and things should improve during the day and be much better tomorrow.
There has been an improvement this afternoon, some good spells of sunny weather mixed with periods of cloud. Temperatures nothing out of the ordinary, the local high to 18.00 has been 20.3 in Alcúdia/Playa de Muro. While the met centre is saying that the instability in the weather is likely to linger through the weekend, the general forecast is reasonable enough, with only low risks of any rain and with plenty of sunny spells.
There has been an improvement this afternoon, some good spells of sunny weather mixed with periods of cloud. Temperatures nothing out of the ordinary, the local high to 18.00 has been 20.3 in Alcúdia/Playa de Muro. While the met centre is saying that the instability in the weather is likely to linger through the weekend, the general forecast is reasonable enough, with only low risks of any rain and with plenty of sunny spells.
Not Flush But Bust: Mallorca's town halls
The total debt of town halls in Mallorca is just short of 475 million euros. Two hundred million of this is accounted for by Palma, the ninth most indebted city administration in Spain.
The 2010 report into town hall debt issued by the national finance ministry will make uneasy reading for the new Partido Popular administration. Apart from Palma, not run by the PP over the past four years, eight of the ten most indebted town halls in Mallorca were governed by the PP and still are.
The PP of José Bauzá is intent on austerity, adding to that which central government has already demanded of town halls. The fact that town halls have been barred from acquiring further debt just emphasises the parlous state of public finance in Mallorca and in Spain.
It is, or should be, an embarrassment to the PP that, outside Palma, two large municipalities - Calvia and Llucmajor - both controlled by the PP and, in the former case, ruled over until recently by cabinet aspirant Carlos Delgado, account between them for over 20% (100 million euros) of Mallorca's town hall debt. Inca, another PP enclave and one formerly presided over by the new "speaker" of the Balearics parliament, Pere Rotger, has amassed close to 16 million.
While it is to be expected that larger towns might have greater debt, this doesn't explain how tiny Escorca, with only 276 residents, manages to outstrip even Calvia, to the tune of 2.5 to 1, in terms of debt per head of population. It is the per capita debt that gives a rather more real picture of debt, and it is this which relates to the eight out of the top ten most indebted town halls being PP-run.
This figure is more real because the responsibilities of town halls, just as with the number of councillors a town hall can have, are determined by the size of a municipality's population. Logically, the greater the responsibilities and the greater the population, so the greater is the demand for funding, which invariably means debt. The issue isn't so much that there is debt, but that there is so much of it. (It should be pointed out that the costs for servicing smaller municipalities are, in relative unit-cost terms, higher than those of larger towns.)
The Spanish equivalent of the Audit Commission fired a warning shot across the bows of town halls in December last year by saying that there needed to be rationalisation, by which it meant merger of municipalities or the sharing of resources. Though the federation of local authorities in the Balearics had admitted some months before that cuts were going to have to be made, such as to fiesta budgets, it argued that the current system of financing was the best. Despite all the debt, therefore.
One reason why debt has become such an issue relates to the sometimes staggering increase in the cost of town hall staffs since the turn of the century. Take another small municipality: Santa Eugènia. It has a population of just over 1500 people. It is not one of the worst offenders when it comes to debt (just shy of 600,000 euros, three-quarters that of Escorca's), but its town hall personnel costs rose 2700% between 1999 and 2009. Admittedly it was starting out from a very low base - the equivalent of 14,300 euros in 1999 - but the increase was still startling.
What shouldn't be forgotten, however, is that during the first decade of this century there was an equally startling increase in Mallorca's population - 25%.
Notwithstanding the figures produced by the finance ministry, doubts prevail as to the real level of debt at certain town halls. In Pollensa, for example, a lack of transparency is blamed for uncertainty as to the true nature of debt, while in Alcúdia the Mallorcan socialists, who hold the key to the town's future administration, have made a comprehensive audit a stipulation of any pact it will broker.
Whatever the real figures, there is no question that there is one hell of a lot of debt sloshing about in Mallorca's town halls, but it is debt that has been driven, in no small part, by extraordinary population growth. However, if you also take into account the fact that the local authorities' federation reckons that town hall revenues have declined by as much as 40%, then you have a situation in which something has to give.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The 2010 report into town hall debt issued by the national finance ministry will make uneasy reading for the new Partido Popular administration. Apart from Palma, not run by the PP over the past four years, eight of the ten most indebted town halls in Mallorca were governed by the PP and still are.
The PP of José Bauzá is intent on austerity, adding to that which central government has already demanded of town halls. The fact that town halls have been barred from acquiring further debt just emphasises the parlous state of public finance in Mallorca and in Spain.
It is, or should be, an embarrassment to the PP that, outside Palma, two large municipalities - Calvia and Llucmajor - both controlled by the PP and, in the former case, ruled over until recently by cabinet aspirant Carlos Delgado, account between them for over 20% (100 million euros) of Mallorca's town hall debt. Inca, another PP enclave and one formerly presided over by the new "speaker" of the Balearics parliament, Pere Rotger, has amassed close to 16 million.
While it is to be expected that larger towns might have greater debt, this doesn't explain how tiny Escorca, with only 276 residents, manages to outstrip even Calvia, to the tune of 2.5 to 1, in terms of debt per head of population. It is the per capita debt that gives a rather more real picture of debt, and it is this which relates to the eight out of the top ten most indebted town halls being PP-run.
This figure is more real because the responsibilities of town halls, just as with the number of councillors a town hall can have, are determined by the size of a municipality's population. Logically, the greater the responsibilities and the greater the population, so the greater is the demand for funding, which invariably means debt. The issue isn't so much that there is debt, but that there is so much of it. (It should be pointed out that the costs for servicing smaller municipalities are, in relative unit-cost terms, higher than those of larger towns.)
The Spanish equivalent of the Audit Commission fired a warning shot across the bows of town halls in December last year by saying that there needed to be rationalisation, by which it meant merger of municipalities or the sharing of resources. Though the federation of local authorities in the Balearics had admitted some months before that cuts were going to have to be made, such as to fiesta budgets, it argued that the current system of financing was the best. Despite all the debt, therefore.
One reason why debt has become such an issue relates to the sometimes staggering increase in the cost of town hall staffs since the turn of the century. Take another small municipality: Santa Eugènia. It has a population of just over 1500 people. It is not one of the worst offenders when it comes to debt (just shy of 600,000 euros, three-quarters that of Escorca's), but its town hall personnel costs rose 2700% between 1999 and 2009. Admittedly it was starting out from a very low base - the equivalent of 14,300 euros in 1999 - but the increase was still startling.
What shouldn't be forgotten, however, is that during the first decade of this century there was an equally startling increase in Mallorca's population - 25%.
Notwithstanding the figures produced by the finance ministry, doubts prevail as to the real level of debt at certain town halls. In Pollensa, for example, a lack of transparency is blamed for uncertainty as to the true nature of debt, while in Alcúdia the Mallorcan socialists, who hold the key to the town's future administration, have made a comprehensive audit a stipulation of any pact it will broker.
Whatever the real figures, there is no question that there is one hell of a lot of debt sloshing about in Mallorca's town halls, but it is debt that has been driven, in no small part, by extraordinary population growth. However, if you also take into account the fact that the local authorities' federation reckons that town hall revenues have declined by as much as 40%, then you have a situation in which something has to give.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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