The Invisible Station

I’m making an apology on behalf of “The Bulletin”. If you had gone along to the ferry terminal in Puerto Alcúdia on Sunday and had expected to find some free watersports activities which you could have enjoyed, you would have been disappointed.

I showed a short news item (from Thursday’s paper) to someone in Alcúdia who, how can I put this, is in the know. The jaw dropped, followed by an expression of understanding as to how the mistake had been made. I understood it as well, as it’s a mistake many people are making.

What happened on Sunday was that there were indeed free watersports activities, but they were nothing to do with the terminal or the commercial port. They were part of a promotion, in the form of a “fiesta”, for the estación náutica. And it is this which caused the mistake and causes other mistakes to be made.

The estación náutica doesn’t exist. It is not bricks, mortar, aluminium, glass or any material. It is a “station” without physical manifestation. It is an un-thing. But the concept, and that is all it is – a concept, begs an interpretation of the physical. Of course it does. A station is a thing not an abstraction; hence a not unreasonable confusion with the terminal.

Since the estación naútica concept was first raised in Alcúdia – at the start of 2009 – I have written about it on a few occasions, and I keep making the same point; it is not understandable. The concept is elusive, it doesn’t translate into anything sensible in English (even watersports centre doesn’t work because this can also imply something physical), and it doesn’t even mean much to the Spanish; they also expect to find an actual centre.

This is not Alcúdia’s fault as such. There are other such stations in Spain and in the Balearics. But the confusion that has existed in Alcúdia with regard to the concept makes you wonder if it hasn’t occurred elsewhere. It must have done, and the same mistakes and misinterpretations are surely being made there.

In Alcúdia, however, to make matters less clear, there is a website for this station. It doesn’t work. For a time at the weekend it didn’t even load. Yet, there it was, proudly mentioned on the publicity, assuming it was seen. There was another website, for the “Fiesta del Mar” which is what occurred on Sunday and which was one of a series arranged by the estación náutica people in their different resorts, but it was in Spanish only. At least it worked though.

As part of this fiesta, there was also an evening event. The “orange fiesta”. Nice poster, shame about the language. Catalan only. I had an exchange on Facebook about this. Catalan is an official language and the fiesta was directed at locals. Well yes, up to a point, but Puerto Alcúdia is a tourist resort and why was the tourist office emailing the poster to those, such as myself, who have a stake in the local tourism industry? Moreover, the estación náutica concept is meant to be a way of attracting more tourists, of the so-called quality type.

But Catalan-only material appears all the time. In all sorts of resorts. The estación náutica concept, the publicity in Catalan are different types of example that raise the same question: what thought process lies behind any of this? Is there one?

I had a chat with a tourist about this. Is it stubbornness that results in the Catalan-only publicity? I don’t know that it is. It’s more likely a case that no one stops to really think who they are meant to be marketing to and what they are marketing. But who makes these decisions?

Alcúdia is a tourist resort with a highly diverse market. It would be impractical to put out material in all the languages necessary. But at a minimum it should be in English and German; more so than even Spanish, where tourists are concerned, as the level of Spanish tourism in Alcúdia is well below that of either the UK or Germany.

The counter argument is that Catalan (and Spanish) are the local languages and so this is how it should be. Sorry, but it isn’t much of an argument. Not if the market doesn’t understand either language.

Poor marketing occurs because the starting-point is the wrong way round. It should be the consumer, the intended market or markets, and it is this fundamental thought process that seems to be lacking.

I don’t know that there should be an apology for the mistake in “The Bulletin”. The apology should be coming from somewhere else. The trouble is you don’t where that somewhere else is.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Getting It Wrong: Tourism promotion

At the same time as various agencies are criticising the regional government’s tourism ministry for pulling the plug on promotion to the Spanish market, the same government is turning out its largely empty pockets to scrape together 50 grand for some different promotion; more of this below.

The failure to promote to the Spanish market for the lower months of the main season is due to a lack of funds. Does this matter?

It is easy to overlook mainland tourism, yet it forms, along with the British and the German markets, one of the three most important markets for Mallorca. It has its own characteristics. It is one that is accused of being the most miserly when it comes to spend and it is, obviously, not a foreign market. For the Spanish, a holiday in Mallorca is a “holistay”.

Though Spanish tourists might be more aware, regardless of promotion, of what is available to them in their own country, it doesn’t mean they should be ignored. They are also, like their British and German counterparts, subject to what happens in the world, i.e. they go to places like Egypt; or don’t, as the case may currently be.

You wonder if behind this lack of promotion (other than the fact that the tourism ministry is all but bust) is the hope that the overseas (and potentially higher-spending) markets are going to be that strong this season that promotion to the home market doesn’t indeed matter. But it may matter for different parts of Mallorca.

The distribution of Spanish tourists is heavily loaded towards the south of the island, with Palma a particular attraction. By contrast, in the northern resort of Alcúdia, the volume of Spanish tourism typically accounts for only 8% of total tourism. It’s still 8%, nonetheless.

But there is a more fundamental issue, and it is one that gets back to just how effective, or not, any of this promotion and marketing really is. And that’s where the 50 grand spend on something else comes in.

The national tourism ministry is putting together a promotion package, to be directed to both the home and foreign market, that will amount to nearly 500,000 euros in total, one tenth of which will come from the Balearics. It’s a small amount, but the size is not what matters. It’s what this plan is.

It is for the promotion of the estaciones náuticas. In Mallorca, there is one of them. In Alcúdia. Not that you would really know. At the risk of repeating myself, because I have spoken about this before, an estación náutica is not a physical entity, it is a marketing concept. One that is meant to promote a resort’s water sports and related activities; water sports and related activities which already exist.

Are you aware of any marketing of this marketing concept? Well, there is some. There is a website, not for Alcúdia’s estación náutica specifically, but for the estaciones in general. I didn’t know about it until I spoke to a business which is one of the so-called related activities. It is not a big concern, without a huge amount to spend on promoting itself. It is nervous that the 500 euros it has paid to feature on this site is a complete waste of money.

I would be nervous, too. But then I wouldn’t have spent 500 euros on a website for a questionable concept that is just an umbrella for all the various estaciones náuticas and which also, at present, does not provide a version in any of the languages its flag icons suggest – English, for instance.

I guess you can say that the marketing concept has been successful insofar as it has persuaded a business, which can ill afford to do so, to part with 500 euros. But what is any of it going to achieve?

The Balearics have five other estaciones – three in Menorca. I have a question. Where is the evidence that they have benefited Menorca? The island has been suffering a decline for some time. Has this marketing concept helped? I would seriously doubt it.

And this is the real point. It doesn’t matter in the slightest what is spent. If it’s spent badly, if the concept’s lousy, then no amount of money makes any difference. I hope that I am proven wrong where the estación náutica idea is concerned, but I fear I might not be.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

To The Alcúdia Station: Estación Náutica

Never let it be said that things move swiftly. So slowly do they move that you can be forgiven for believing that whatever they are had been forgotten. As is, or was, the case with the Estación Náutica in Alcúdia.

You have to go back to February 2009 to be reminded of when this concept first surfaced in Alcúdia. In May of that year it was actually signed into being. And then? Silence. But the silence has now been broken. The business association behind the “estación” in Alcúdia has finalised the process of its candidature to become a part of the Asociación Española de Estaciones Náuticas (AEEN). A further meeting in January should seal this candidature and allow Alcúdia to call itself an “estación náutica”.

We can all breathe a sigh of relief. Put out the bunting perhaps. We would do if we really knew what the whole thing was about and, more importantly, what benefits it is likely to bring. I can go back to a meeting at Alcúdia town hall in February last year to remind myself of the degree to which attendees were unclear. I can recall a later meeting, one that I didn’t attend, but which was – as it was described to me – full of those looking to extract whatever benefits they could for themselves. Whatever the concept was, it appeared to be a recipe for self-interest.

Let me try and clarify. An “estación náutica”, and this description is aided with the words of the head of tourism in the town as expressed in May 2009, is “a tourist product with accommodation and water-sports activities sold as a tourist package that allows the tourist to engage in the likes of sailing and underwater activities and complementary activities such as golf and horse-riding”. Alcúdia will become the first such “estación” in Mallorca; others exist elsewhere in the Balearics and on the mainland. AEEN’s website declares that these centres are the “best nautical destinations in Spain”.

There is a lengthy document which lists the requirements for becoming an “estación náutica” and the benefits of doing so. If I try and put them in a nutshell, they demand levels of quality and service of all participating members, of whatever type of business, and the use of the “estación náutica” brand as a mark of quality. There is also a requirement, one to tackle seasonality, which demands a minimum of the principal offer of accommodation and water-sport activities from March to November; a requirement that should be a benefit.

The concept does not necessarily mean creating anything new – Alcúdia has plenty of water-sports activities plus all the complementary activities and offers. It is largely a marketing exercise.

Anything that might assist tourism in Alcúdia (or anywhere else that fancies branding itself in this way) has to be welcomed. But questions do arise. One is why it requires an outside agency, AEEN, to bring parties together in establishing a “brand” that already exists? Or rather, could have existed if parties had been minded to put their heads together to come up with something similar.

Secondly, would it really help with lengthening the season? Menorca has such centres. Are they operating for the minimum period set out? Maybe they are, but whether anyone is going to them or indeed can get a flight out of season, I couldn’t honestly say. Thirdly, there is the matter of organisation.

What you will have is a further agency involved in tourism, one separate to the town hall but which will presumably work alongside the town hall. There will be a separate website, a separate office (like a tourism information office, I guess) and separate promotional material. Duplication is everything in tourism promotion.

This could all be a great success, and innovation is not to be sniffed at, if success does follow. But what would be useful to know is what hard benefits have accrued to those resorts in the Balearics and the mainland that already operate as an “estación náutica”. Does this marketing have a positive bottom-line effect? Well, does it? I have searched for examples which might indicate this, but without success.

However, one does also need to consider this in the longer-term. Establishing a reputation as a water-sports centre doesn’t happen overnight, nor does one for high quality. So in terms of measuring benefits, some patience is necessary.

There remains, though, one final question. The name “estación náutica” might mean something to the Spanish, but what does it mean to those from other countries. How is it translated? A nautical destination in English, according to AEEN. Sorry, this doesn’t cut it. Water-sports centre or resort? Better perhaps, but isn’t Alcúdia already known as this? Maybe it isn’t, in which case fine, but water-sports resort conjures up an image of something different, of something specific, of something new. And unfortunately, apart from the “brand” name, it is none of these.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Sail Away

The “estación náutica”. You may recall this being mentioned previously. On Friday, various businesses got together in Alcúdia to sign into being the first such “estación” in Mallorca. If you don’t recall this or are unclear as to what it is, here is what the head of the town hall’s tourism describes it as: “a tourist product with accommodation and water-sport activities sold as a tourist package” which will allow the tourist to engage in things such as sailing, underwater activities and skiing (water skiing, one presumes) and complementary activities like horse-riding and golf. In other words, the tourist will be able to do things that he has until now. So what’s the deal? Good question.

The first problem with this whole notion is how it is presented to tourists. In the case of British tourists, this problem starts with what it is called. Literally, “estación náutica” means nautical station, i.e. it doesn’t mean anything. Let’s hope they don’t resort (sic) to “nautical centre”; the word nautical is widely used locally and used erroneously as the English-speaker associates it with sailing and sailing only. The closest translation that will mean something will be water-sports centre or resort, and this, one suspects, is how it will be presented. But the trouble with this is that it suggests a physical centre, and there is not going to be one; all it is, is a coming-together of existing activities under this “brand”. And that, essentially, is what this whole exercise is – a marketing exercise. There’s nothing wrong with promoting Alcúdia as  a resort with lots of water-sport activities, but to call it a water-sports resort would also hint at something rather more than the packaging of otherwise separate attractions, accommodation and probably restaurants.

Underlying this concept is a desire to attract the so-called “quality” tourist, i.e. the one who has pretty deep pockets. But does a branding process achieve this, or will it? There is some advantage for tourists who like to organise activities prior to their holiday and this they will be able to do, but not everyone wants this. The tourist interest is more often to know what is available as opposed to actually booking it in advance. And this availability already exists.

At a more altruistic level, there is a further notion that this is a communal promotion of the resort by individual businesses which have only the best interests of Alcúdia at heart. Oh that it was. I am told that meetings have been conspicuous by the degree of self-interest that has been evident. Frankly, you wouldn’t expect anything else. Businesses will only get involved if there is something in it for them. Why hadn’t they got together before, rather than have the idea “sold” to them by the Spanish government’s tourist promotional wing?

It’s not a bad idea in itself. Alcúdia does have a lot of water sports; it is a significant centre for yachting and sailing. To promote the resort in this way is fine. But I can predict that at some point the internet forums will be filling up with Brit tourists saying that they have heard that there is a new water-sports centre in Alcúdia. And this, in a nutshell, is where what is otherwise a fair approach falters in terms of its name and therefore its marketing.

AlcudiaPollensa At Eurovision
Our annual invite to the centre of music cutting-edge, this year we were taken to Moscow and fêted, as befits this best of all blogs. And what an event. The highlight was the opening set – you can’t keep a good communist or ex-communist country down; it was just like the Beijing Olympics. But the bird introducing the gig had scrubbed up well and had looked to create a pro-Spanish vote with her flamenco dress – not that she kept it on, as in she changed at least three times. And not that it helped Spain.

Ronan Keating co-wrote the Danish entry and seemed to have been singing it as well, the Spanish Soraya wanted to be taken and shaken – like a vacuuming ad of yore. The trick when she “disappeared” was disappointing; she didn’t disappear, even if she did later given her lack of votes. Jade. Unremarkable song, but even for a cynic like myself, it was a hell of a performance; quite out of keeping with the rest. Spanish TV had the Spain entry as being among the favourites, and what happened (despite fraternal seven points from Portugal)? Second to bottom. Anyway, one can but hope that Lord Lloyd-Webber was well remunerated so that he can return to Mallorca for a future birthday thrash.