Walk Is Cheap

Capdepera is the municipality on the north-eastern tip of Mallorca. Its coastal resort is Cala Ratjada. It is mainly a German destination, the resort itself a peculiar stretch between two sea fronts, the main beach small and crowded, one to which one can see hordes of lilo carriers heading in summer, taking a long-ish walk from the centre of Cala Ratjada. The town has announced some “initiatives” designed to attract more tourism. And these are? Cycling, audio guides for the mediaeval castle and a Nordic walking track. These, together with promotional materials, will cost somewhat less than a hundred thousand euros.

Fine, you might think, but just look at that list again and at the budget. Cycling. Nordic walking. Me-too tourism facilities in other words. Take Nordic walking. Alcúdia has a route, Can Picafort has a route and now Capdepera is to have one. Nordic walking falls into the category of “alternative” tourism, an alternative aimed at extending the tourism offer and season.

Given the German dominance of Cala Ratjada, a Nordic walking offer makes some sense, but, as with the other resorts in the north, it is an addition to the tourism mix that will make only minimal impact. More than that, it is cheap. And it is this – the lack of cost – that is the most germane point in seeking more German tourists. For a relatively small spend, the town hall and the tourism ministry can announce that “something is being done”, can be seen to be taking some action. It is, therefore, largely a PR exercise, not one aimed at more tourism but one aimed at trying to convince that effort is being put into extending the season.

Tourism minister Ferrer, in presenting these initiatives, spoke of the need to “create new attractions” to “re-invent” the island as a tourism destination and to “extract the value” that exists on the island in terms of its natural landscape and heritage. Well he would say that, as his predecessors and other tourism authority spokespeople will have done. It is spin, a formulaic pronouncement lifted from the brief manual that is phrases to use when talking about things other than sun and beach tourism.

The worry is not that there is to be a Nordic walking track, not that there is to be more cycling in Capdepera, not that there are to be audio guides to the castle which is promoted as having a “fascinating history”, one bound up in battles against pirates. The worry is the spend and the me-too nature of the offers. If less than a hundred grand could be converted into half a million more tourists per year, then you would take your hat off to the brilliance of the thinking. But it won’t. Nowhere, moreover, is any evidence offered as to how many new tourists might be created or how many existing tourists might be willing to not trade in Mallorca for another destination. It’s not surprising, because the tourism authorities don’t know. What they do know is that Nordic walking and the rest is something alternative on the cheap. This is one of the failures of Mallorca’s so-called alternative tourism. There is not much by way of investment. Not much directed at grander schemes that might mean serious numbers of tourists. Not much, in fact nothing, by way of some out-of-the box thinking for creating genuine alternatives or even additions to the main summer tourism. One of the failures? No, the failure.

Too Much To Ask

“We’re doing a survey. We’d like your views about …” It’s the oldest trick in the book. Stop someone with an apparently innocent request to ask if you might do some seemingly legitimate market research, and use it as a means to something else. It’s a trick that the scratch-cardists are using. They want to know if people are satisfied with things in Puerto Alcúdia. How dare they? Without wishing to sound like “disgusted of Tunbridge Wells”, it is an absolute disgrace – at different levels. It is the thing that the market research industry has fought against for years, and for the scratch-cardists to even vaguely suggest that they might be doing something that is a) market research or b) has Alcúdia’s interests at heart is little short of scandalous. They are not conducting market research and they care not one iota about Alcúdia. If they did, they would not be helping to harm the resort’s reputation.

Can Picafort and its frontline
Can Picafort’s hoteliers had a meeting with tourism minister Nadal the other day. Top of the agenda, as reported by “The Diario”, was the state of the frontline, a project for the improvement of which has been on the cards for five years, but which has yet to come to fruition. This project started to take on greater urgency last year when the German newspaper “Bild” laid into Can Picafort beach, the frontline included, and went so far as to recommend that tourists go to Playa de Muro beach instead. It was exaggerating the state of the frontline and the beach area, but the paper had a point, and some local politicos appeared to take the report’s sentiments to heart. Yet still no plans are concrete – so to speak.

Can Picafort, despite the over-abundance of hotels, is not an unpleasant place. Lacking in character perhaps but appealing in a let’s not pretend this is anything but a holiday resort way. The paseo marítimo (promenade) is one of its main drawbacks. There may be some gripes about parts of Puerto Pollensa’s frontline looking a tad tacky nowadays, but it is a thing of beauty compared with the in-parts ramshackle appearance of Can Picafort’s. One has to admire how Puerto Alcúdia transformed its main prom, in order to appreciate what some TLC can achieve.

The hoteliers were also interested in the minister creating a Nordic walking area. Oh, here we go. Alcúdia’s got one, so we’d better have one as well. That said, Can Picafort is holiday home to a large German contingent and so it may well make sense for there to indeed be a Nordic walking zone. No reason why not. However, this request does once again highlight the degree to which there is a “follow-the-leader” mentality; golf courses being the prime example. It also highlights the apparent lack of some, what one might call, lateral thought in terms of doing something different. In defence of Nordic walking, however, if a special “park” is established, it would in all likelihood reside in a natural environment – forest land, rather as it does in Alcúdia. It would be essentially environmentally neutral and healthy; it would not be something which should raise any great objection. They should do it.

Alcúdia Nordic walking event
And while on Nordic walking, this weekend will see something of a stick-in or pole-in, however you call it, of Nordic walkers in Alcúdia. On Saturday afternoon, a grand trek will start in the old town and then, from 18:00, one to Barcares. On Sunday, there will be a second go, with – from 11:15 – a walk from the old town to Sunwing via the beach. This is all part of the “Alcúdia Living Sport” summer programme of healthy activities.