Tourism: Not the political bridesmaid it is made out to be

Despite this wide variation, tourism ministries tend to be treated in a similar way. They are combined with other portfolios, the sense of these combinations also tending to vary. However, until recently in the Balearics, it was the case that there was a minister for tourism and nothing else.

After the 2011 election, Carlos Delgado of the PP became minister for tourism and sport, there having been a brief period from 2010 to 2011 when tourism found itself alongside employment and training. The reason why was that the tourism ministry had been run by the Unió Mallorquina. They were booted out of the PSOE-led coalition government because of all the corruption scandals that had engulfed them - some directly involving the tourism ministry. With the UM no longer in government, tourism needed a home. It found one with Joana Barceló, the PSOE minister for employment and training.

Accidental though this combination was, it did start a sort of trend. Delgado handed over to Jaime Martínez, now the mayor of Palma, and when the left returned to power in 2015, tourism was in a ministry with innovation and research. Biel Barceló of Més had two big things that he wanted responsibility for, and a ministry was therefore created so that he could get his wish.

This wasn’t an even match of a ministry. Tourism had far the greater emphasis, not least because it was Barceló who had insisted on the introduction of the tourist tax and on legislating for holiday rentals. It wasn’t until Iago Negueruela of PSOE became minister in 2019 that tourism formed part of a ‘super-ministry’. Negueruela had been employment and trade minister. He was now the minister for employment, for tourism and for something called the economic model. This super-ministry in part reflected Negueruela’s importance in the Armengol government. He was a key figure, and tourism - despite being just one third of this super-ministry - had arguably never had such prominence in a Balearic government.

With the change of government, the PP have turned the clock back to 2011 and combined tourism with sport and added on culture for good measure. It will have less weight because of the combination of portfolios, but tourism will nevertheless continue to be high profile, as it always been since the inception of autonomous government in the Balearics.

At national level, there has never been a minister solely responsible for tourism. The closest was Manuel Fraga, Franco’s minister from 1962 to 1969. Fraga was also minister for information, so while he was responsible for censorship, he was also a propagandist, and Spain’s tourism demanded a great deal of propaganda. Fraga was the ideal man. In some respects, it could be argued that Fraga was Spain’s best ever tourism minister, given the role that tourism played in Spain’s economic miracle of the 1960s. Otherwise, tourism, when there has been a ministry - which has not always been the case - has found itself alongside the likes of trade and industry, which is currently the case. There have often been calls from the tourism sector for a minister for tourism and nothing else. These calls usually come when there is a general election, and this election has been no different. Regardless of a left or right victory, the sector was saying what it typically always says - let’s have a minister with sole responsibility for tourism, let’s ensure there is investment in tourism, let’s guarantee tourism competitiveness, etc.

But why should there be a minister for tourism alone? Other countries with similar levels of tourism GDP don’t have one. It is the case in fact that powerful voices like the national confederation of hotel associations (CEHAT) are saying that it’s not important. What matters is that there’s a good secretary-of-state for tourism (at present the Mallorcan Rosana Morillo), while it needs to be borne in mind that 90% of powers for tourism lie with the regions. And this does rather explain why tourism in the Balearics does have greater ministerial weight than at national level, although the question now arises - because of further delegation of powers (to the island councils) - whether tourism will retain this weight.

Biel Barceló once said that he could envisage there no longer being the need for a tourism ministry, given the process of delegating powers. I doubt this would ever happen; not when tourism is so essential to the islands’ economy. And also for historical reasons. Tourism can look like a ministerial bridesmaid in the Spanish government, but not in the Balearics.