Clutching At Straws: Concerts and tourism responsibilities

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.