A Load Of Bull (Ducks And Parties): Fiesta peculiarities

The power of Facebook. Possibly.

Some weeks after one Facebook group in Can Picafort emerged, comes another. The first was concerned with what used to be the “Auba” party that took place on the beach, but which was moved to the sports centre three years ago. The second has to do with another tradition that used to occur during the Can Picafort summer fiesta – the tossing of live ducks into the sea. Both groups want a return to the traditions.

In the case of the second Facebook group, anyone joining it should be slightly wary. The miscreants who have released live ducks, in defiance of the ban these past three years, have never been identified. The police are likely to be taking an interest in this group. As for the first group, this might also attract some attention from the forces of the law; an unofficial party in the dunes is being talked about.

While the aims of the two groups are different, there might well be common cause: the night party and the live ducks were the soul of the fiestas in Can Picafort. The move to the sports centre has done much to strip the party of its atmosphere, while the rubber duck substitutes are just plain daft. There is another aspect to be taken account of where the party is concerned, and that is money. It is doubtful that the organisers could stretch to a Carl Cox again in the current circumstances. But this shouldn’t necessarily be an obstacle to what once was the biggest and most anticipated of the fiesta parties. If Puerto Pollensa – Puerto Pollensa, for God’s sake – can have a party on the beach, why shouldn’t Can Picafort?

The Facebook group promoting the return of the live ducks makes precisely the point that I have – here and in HOT! – that by comparison with genuine acts of cruelty to animals, the release of ducks is not in the same league. It isn’t really in a league at all. The ducks were a soft target; unlike bulls and all the passion that they arouse on both sides of the argument. Bull traditions, in particular the bullfight, are far more deep-rooted in Mallorcan and Spanish society than those involving ducks, and one might also argue that they are not without Francoist connotations. El Caudillo was greatly in favour of the bullfight, given its “Spanishness” and suggestions of nobility.

The annual bullfight during Muro’s Sant Joan fiestas, due to be staged on 20 June, had looked as though it might not go ahead, owing to the need for certain improvements to be made to the bullring and its facilities. These have been made. The town hall, in addition to the nearly half a million euros it paid to acquire the bullring, has forked out a further 30 grand to effect the improvements, using, it says, money that was held over from last year. The equivalent of the RSPCA is none too impressed with the town hall. It has been denounced to the ministry of the interior on the grounds that it has, in effect, financially supported the bullfight, which seemingly is in contravention of a law that disbars it from doing so. The society has also made reference to the demonstration against the bullfight that occurred last year.

The bullfight will go ahead. Even before final sign-off, due to be given today by technicians, doctors and vets, the programme for the fiestas had been published, with the bullfight and the matadors listed. Meanwhile fiesta organisers in Can Picafort will be arranging the acquisition of rubber ducks.

Something isn’t quite right.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Marsans Sold For Six Hundred Million Euros

The troubled travel concern, Grupo Marsans, has been sold to a company called Posibilitum Business. This is controlled by a Valencian businessman Ángel de Cabo who is involved with the real estate market in the Valencia area and has a reputation for taking on companies in difficulty.

Included in the sale is, of course, Hotetur, the hotel chain of which Bellevue (and Lagomonte) are a part. With the sale, one would imagine that rumours as to Bellevue’s future should subside. Nevertheless, it will take a while to see how the new owners tackle the problems that surround Marsans. Typically, businesses that specialise in taking over companies in distress look to reduce costs as a means of extracting profit, slimming them down with the possible intention of selling them on at a later date. The exact strategy for Marsans, and therefore for Hotetur, is not known as yet.

Happy Together? Hotel occupancy Alcúdia and Can Picafort

Following on from the mention of low occupancy in Puerto Alcudia on 8 June, some firmer figures, not just those for one establishment. The combined Alcúdia and Can Picafort hotel association reports (from “The Diario”) rates similar to last year. Currently, occupancy stands at 57% in Alcúdia and 58% in Can Picafort. Not very high in other words. The forecast for July puts the numbers at 78% in Alcúdia and 72% in Can Picafort. For July, these aren’t particularly impressive; indeed, they are distinctly unimpressive.

Leading lights in the association gathered for a chinwag a couple of days ago. The report from “The Diario” included a photo, featuring, among others, Juan from the Sol Alcúdia Center and Ricardo from the Siesta 1 Apartments. They looked happy enough for the camera. Not so sure that they really are.

The association approves of the regional government’s attempts to attract new markets, but reckons that the push on the Russian front is unlikely to bear much fruit in either of the resorts, as the Russian market, mainly high worth, prefers four or five-star accommodation. Which does, I suppose, beg a question as to the standard, overall, of hotels in the resorts. Not, however, that there aren’t four-star hotels. Relatively greater numbers of four stars and indeed two five stars are, however, in Playa de Muro. Not for the first time, I wonder why Playa de Muro hasn’t combined with the associations in Alcúdia and Can Picafort, especially as Playa de Muro sits between the two other resorts. Or maybe this Russian thing gives the game away. Muro wants Russian. It already has it, and yes, they, the Russians, do go to five-star hotels.

In an attempt to drum up more business, the association has invited representatives of 25 tour operators to come along for some gentle persuasion on Friday. It will, apparently, be highlighting such wonders as the improvements to the beach in Alcúdia and the restoration of dunes, and then following it all up with a meal at Son Real, just outside Can Picafort. God, they know how to win and influence tour operators. Here are some new showers on the beach, here are some dunes with some walkways, here is a nature area where no one much goes to. I don’t think we should be holding our breath. But hats off, nonetheless; at least the association is trying. Or is it desperate?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The Rumour Mill: Bellevue

Rumours. It was the regularity with which rumours surrounding Bellevue in Alcúdia surface that was one of the reasons why I spoke with the assistant director last year. Rumours are always circulating about Bellevue. Unfortunately, the contact is no longer there, but even were he it is doubtful that I would get far in asking a question about the current rumour that’s doing the rounds – that Bellevue will not be open next year.

There have been previous rumours along these lines, and they have all proven to be false. What is fuelling the current one is nothing directly to do with Bellevue or indeed Hotetur, the chain which operates the hotel. It has to do with the financial problems at Grupo Marsans, the ultimate owner of both Hotetur and the hotel complex. I have referred to these problems before, both here and in “Talk Of The North”. Marsans faces demands from creditors, one of which is the travel group Orizonia. A guarantee against a debt of some 40 million euros is Bellevue. Orizonia is demanding payment of this debt and the execution of its mortgage on Bellevue.

It is from this, one assumes, that the rumours are stemming. In the reports of the court hearings into Marsans and its difficulties, there has been nothing about Bellevue closing. The rumours would appear, as so often, to be the result of taking facts (and one can’t even be sure that facts are being taken) and moulding them into something without any basis in truth. I have asked people about the sources from which they have heard about Bellevue’s alleged closure. They go along the lines of someone who spoke to someone in a bar near to the hotel.

Bellevue stands on some 200,000 square metres of prime real estate in Alcúdia. It can, at a stretch, accommodate 6,000 guests. Orizonia, as with many a hotel or travel group, would love to get their hands on it. It has a hotel division that was created in 2008, into which Bellevue might well fit, though if you go to the website – http://www.luabay.com – and read the over-the-top narrative about how they will “seduce” you, you might be forgiven for thinking that Bellevue might not fit after all.

Of course, there is also a question as to quite how well Bellevue (as with many other hotels) is shaping up under the current difficult circumstances. But this is a separate issue. One finds it hard to believe that there is substance to the rumours.

And who knows, maybe a “new” Bellevue might become the destination for the much-longed-for Russian tourist market. President Antich has been in Moscow, wooing tour operators and predicting that Russia will become the third most important foreign market for Mallorca and the Balearics after Germany and the UK. Germans do not go to Bellevue in huge numbers, which is probably as well. You think there might be a bit of British-German antagonism, well according to some of my German sources this is nothing compared to that which exists between the Germans and the Russians. Hey ho, perhaps it’s as well that Russia aren’t in the World Cup.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

25 Per Cent: Crazy tourism

Further to the piece of 2 June (Window-Dressing), in which I mentioned a contact I had made with Inestur, the since-defunct government tourism “company”, I got a phone call. It came not from Inestur, because it doesn’t exist any longer, but from what is now the Tourism Agency for the Balearic Islands, a combination of Inestur and IBATUR (the former tourism agency). The gentleman who rang was extremely helpful and extremely chatty.

As my enquiry had to do with Mallorca alone, he explained, I would have to get in touch with the Mallorca Tourism Foundation (Fundación Mallorca Turismo), a body, I confess, I had completely forgotten existed. The gentleman said, at one point, that the system for promotion was a bit “crazy”. He isn’t kidding. Let’s just try and clarify, shall we. The new agency, the one the chap was calling from, has overall co-ordination for tourism across the islands, but each island has its own “foundation”, dedicated to promoting that island. Mallorca’s foundation falls within the control of the Council of Mallorca, as opposed to the regional government. The Fomento del Turismo, the private-sector “tourism board”, which has existed since 1905, doesn’t do any tourism promotion, despite its confusing pretensions to being a tourism board.

So, I hope that’s cleared up how tourism administration works now, as I’m sure you would have been wondering.

When the gentleman came on the phone, one of the first things he said, thinking – as I had suspected – that I was looking for money, was that there is no money. A state of affairs I had also suspected. He was quite surprised when I said I wasn’t looking for money. Normally that’s why people get in touch with him. That there isn’t any money, much of what there had been having ended up where it shouldn’t have, is slightly worrying. It is a regular enough theme of course that more and more money should be thrown at tourism promotion in its different guises. One wonders quite how tourism promotion is going to be both funded and organised over the next few months or years. The austerity measures are one thing. Who controls the purse strings, were there a purse to be strung, is another. The upheaval in the “crazy” system of tourism administration does invite questions.

This might not be so bad were it not for some alarming figures that one hears. Yesterday I was told about the situation at one establishment in Alcúdia. Last year (not a great year of course), the bookings at the start of June were around 75%. What do you think they are at present? 50 per cent? Go lower. 25 per cent. 25 per cent!! Even more alarming is the fact that July is not exactly full to overflowing.

As always one has to balance this with reports elsewhere, and there are certainly examples of hotels with good occupancy rates, but a quarter full in early June is quite shocking a statistic. Workers would normally be paid off at the end of the season with money in lieu of their holiday entitlement. Not this year they won’t. They’ll be taking holidays, a situation that is all but unheard of.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

All Night Long: Bar noise and music

Various municipalities across Mallorca share a similar problem, a similar “dilemma”, that of balancing night-time bars and entertainment with the need for some peace and quiet. “The Diario” yesterday looked at the situation in places such as Manacor and Andratx. It could as easily have gone to other towns and resorts.

The dilemma has existed for as long as there have been night-time bars. It is not just the bars and clubs, it is also hotels, though in the case of the latter the issue is straightforward enough. Noise ceases by midnight and is often self-regulating, as it is in Playa de Muro where there are not the same impositions in terms of limiters as there are elsewhere; the hotels act with responsibility without being dictated to. Playa de Muro is also, when it comes to other forms of evening or late-night music, a rather different case to many other resorts; there just simply aren’t the establishments.

The noise issue is at its most extreme in Magaluf where residents have been complaining for years and where the complaints have been getting louder. Nearby, in Son Caliu, there is an almighty row regarding the Pacha disco in what is essentially a residential zone, where the club would be open to early morning. On the other hand, the Mallorca Rocks hotel venue, which kicked off last night, keeps to the midnight curfew; The Kooks were due to have finished by 11.30, giving half an hour for those leaving to hopefully disperse.

It is the noise of people leaving (or arriving at) bars that is generally the issue. In Puerto Alcúdia, in the main tourist centre, one hears little by way of complaint, except about the shouting and whatever at three, four in the morning or later from those making their way from the likes of Cheers or Bells. Otherwise, the noise inside the establishments is contained; the midnight closure of terraces and doors is complied with.

The problem is far greater in the towns. Resort Puerto Pollensa may be, as indeed the port area of Puerto Alcúdia is also a “resort”, but both are also towns. Complaints about noise are more likely to come from residents than from tourists; residents who live in the towns. But again, it is not the music from inside that creates the problem, which is why it is so difficult to understand Pollensa town hall’s absurd stance on live music in bars in Puerto Pollensa, especially if this finishes by midnight.

There is no real solution, short of prohibiting anything beyond midnight, which would be a mistake and would be contrary to a culture of tourism (for some) and to a local culture which treats midnight as a starting-point not an ending-point for a night’s entertainment. It is unfair, though, to say to people living by bars that they have to just lump it. Unfortunately, however, this is probably what they have to do.

Noise is a facet of holiday life and of Mallorcan life. The best thing is to go and live in the country. Or at least choose streets in towns where there are no bars. Problem is, someone has to live in the streets that do have them. Not easy.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Public Sector General Strike In Mallorca (8 June)

In line with strikes in other regions of Spain, there is to be a public sector general strike across the Balearics in protest at measures adopted by the Zapatero administration to tackle Spain’s parlous economic situation.

The strike will take place on Tuesday, 8 June. All the main unions are supporting the strike and have the additional support of the unions for the police and the Guardia Civil. To what extent the police will be affected by the strike is unclear, but areas of the public sector which will most certainly be affected are – among others – health services, schools, colleges and the university, train services and the town halls. There will be minimal services at hospitals, similar to those on Sundays, and the regional government has said that there will be services for other areas affected by the strike. It has advised, for example, that children be taken to schools as usual, though the indications are that most teachers will be on strike. At present, it is unclear whether the transport sector, other than trains, will be affected. Were it to be, then there could be an impact on airports, ports and buses.

Yet Another Cup Of Coffee: The déjà vu of price

Go back a couple of months to the second of April and I said sorry. Said that I was going to stop. That there would be no more. Until the next time.

This is the next time.

In “The Last Supper” (2 April) I referred to “anecdotal simplism”. It was in respect of prices, specifically the price of a coffee. “The Bulletin” had commented on a small coffee costing one euro, ninety. So it did again. Yesterday. There was an admission that the point had been made before, and so there should have been. The example was the same, the line of argument the same; that there should be price controls, mainly it would appear (this time round), for coffees in Palma. You can, if you want, go further back, to 30 August last year. Same price control argument. You can go back much further than August last year; it’s a line that has been trotted out for some years. Editorial déjà vu.

I just don’t get it. I don’t get the argument for the simple reason that there is no chance of a price control being implemented (and the tourism minister in April said that there was nothing she could do about the prices). It is an issue for individual businesses. I don’t get it for the additional reason that I don’t get why it has been dragged out once more.

There are all sorts of examples one can pull out regarding inflated prices, just as there are all sorts of examples of the opposite, of prices being kept low or simply being low. A while back I mentioned a conversation during which I was told how the Swedish are finding beer prices higher than once was the case. But this was specific to beach bars. You simply cannot just cite examples here and there and claim that you have proven a case.

It is this, especially this, that I don’t get: “The Bulletin”, any paper, should strive for some balance. Quoting the example of an expensive cortado in Palma is far from this. All it does is to inspire the moans of others who will cite their own selected examples. And all this does is to create an uneven impression. Last year, another paper – “The Diario” – spoke to tourists and came up with a rather different conclusion: that prices weren’t all that bad. What it did was to go and talk to people; it was acting with a degree of balance. I’m afraid that “The Bulletin” doesn’t do this; just hauls out the odd example and calls for what is not feasible – price controls.

I said that I would stop it. I wish others would.

An event for your diary. If, that is, you like your club music in the sun – all day long. On June 27 there will be an “Ibiza Summer Festival” at Hidropark in Puerto Alcúdia. Sounds pretty good, kicking off at 10:30 in the morning. Information posted on the WHAT’S ON BLOG – http://www.wotzupnorth.blogspot.com

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The Old Curiosity Tower: The towers of Alcúdia Bay

The towers of Alcúdia Bay, those which stretch from Playa de Muro to Colonia Sant Pere, are undergoing a process of restoration, courtesy of the regional government’s environment ministry. Though the towers are said to have “limited heritage value”, the ministry believes that they are “curious constructions”; it is their curiosity that demands their being maintained. One can argue, and I would, that their heritage value is rather greater than the government says; they are notable, weird landmarks that don’t exist anywhere else on the island. The very brooding nature of these obelisks, standing as pairs amidst the dunes, lends them a mystery. The curious thing about these curiosities is quite why so little is known about them.

By the dunes along the coastline of the bay, there are signs which explain aspects of the natural environment, but none which give any information about the most obvious sights in the dunes. The failure to impart information is a failure in terms of not only overlooking what is under the tourist’s nose but also what might (and does) inspire the tourist’s curiosity – the curious.

In HOT!, the tourism newspaper that is out and about in the area, there is a short feature about the towers, as there is also a feature about the roundabout sculptures. The towers and the sculptures are not what is normally spoken about in the tourism literature, yet they inspire visitor (and resident) questions, for which there are few answers. It is for this reason that I sought to give some answers. Someone should.

The towers, and anyone who has read HOT! will now know, were built primarily as target practice for dummy torpedoes being fired from submarines that used to be based in Alcúdia. But very few people locally know this to be the case. That they were also navigational aids is true, but this was not why they were built. They were definitely not anything to do with the Civil War, but the other day, when I was showing a copy of HOT! to a lady who runs businesses based out of Can Picafort (and who is Mallorcan), she said something to the effect that they were to do with the war. Even locals who have lived their lives by the towers don’t know the real story.

Perhaps it all has to do with that feeling that the towers are of limited heritage value that so little appreciation exists as to their real purpose. But it astounds me just how little is made of the curious, the needing-to-be-explained, like the sculptures, like also the kiwi-fruit-shaped balls that accumulate on the beaches. I only found out what they were thanks to Klaus’s Photo Blog (they are formed from sea grass).

The towers might be said to be part of a “hidden” Mallorca. Hidden in the sense that information is hidden. But they are staring everyone in the face. They are hardly hidden. And there are numerous other examples, including the curiosity of some villages. It’s another book coming on – the curios of Mallorca. I look forward to its being written, and maybe I will.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The 169 Position: Rationalisation of government companies

Call me clairvoyant, but the Balearic Government’s rationalisation of its so-called “companies” is to bring about a merger between Inestur and IBATUR, two tourism agencies which have, since the former was established seven years ago, duplicated much effort. It is hardly public administration rocket science to appreciate that there is no point in having two agencies. A question should be, though, why there ever were two; why Inestur was ever formed. Its main purpose seems to have been as a conduit for siphoning off public funds into the coffers of the Unió Mallorquina party – allegedly.

The rationalisation affects at least a half of these companies, of which there are – get this – 169. What on earth are they all and what on earth do they all do? Add them into the various levels of government in Mallorca, and you complete the picture of the insanity of the public sector for an island with under a million people (or a couple of hundred thousand over a million, if you lump in the whole of the Balearics). But in announcing the rationalisation, President Antich has said that jobs are not to be affected. Why ever not? Simple. It would be politically unacceptable and would merely add to the unemployment burden. Were these “real” companies, however, with “real” shareholders, mergers would lead to job losses. What savings are truly going to be achieved by maintaining jobs that will still duplicate effort? The turf wars that will result from these mergers would be the stuff of dreams for a management researcher studying cultures in combined businesses; they are a recipe for unproductive behaviour and organisation.

There are all manner of suggestions and observations flying around as to this rationalisation process. “The Bulletin”, commenting on the fact that the agriculture and fisheries ministry is to be swallowed up by the office of the presidency, asks why such a ministry is needed. Agriculture is far less important than it once was, but it still is important to Mallorca. Potato exports, almonds, wine, the traditional subsistence crops such as cabbage; they are hardly unimportant. And if one takes the words of those “gurus” from a few days back, agriculture should be something of the back to the future for the Mallorcan economy. No, there probably is a need for such a ministry, if, that is, one believes agriculture to be of strategic significance, like tourism.

Strategic. That is something missing in all this. A suggestion from the left-wing Bloc is that the tourism and transport ministries at government level should be scrapped and responsibilities handed over to the island councils, such as the Council of Mallorca. Why stop at these? Why not hand all ministries over to the councils and get rid of the regional government? It’s the reverse take on my belief that it is the councils which should go, a move that would make a genuine saving in public spending.

It is the lack of strategic thinking that is worrying. The government is casting around, looking for anything it can to be the target of a short-term fix. Which is not to say that there isn’t some sense to merging pointless agencies (“companies”). But the pressing need is for a thorough strategic review – from top to bottom – of the whole system of public administration, which is probably why it won’t happen.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.