Week in Review: Bumper season, affordable homes, illegal holiday lets and free water

Easter on its way and Mallorca was looking forward to a “bumper” start to the season. Spain’s secretary-of-state for tourism, Rosana Morillo, reported that bookings for the Balearics were 30% higher than in pre-pandemic 2019 and that the number of flights to and from the islands were up 24%. The recruitment company Randstad suggested that 25% more jobs were being created, while hotel occupancy in resorts with high German demand could edge towards 100%.

Everything was looking very rosy, but the Mallorca tourism industry long ago learned that there should be no counting of chickens - in other words, being aware of the possibility (probability) of industrial action conveniently timed to mean that a bumper Easter might just hit the bumper. The usual suspects were being viewed with some concern, namely French air-traffic controllers. A strike started at the Bordeaux and Marseille control centres last weekend and was due to end on April 1, but the worry was that this action might extend into Easter week.

Meanwhile, UK Border Force workers were threatening more action to go with the strike by passport office staff that will commence on April 3. Some bright news was that strikes by ground crews employed by Swissport Handling at Spanish airports won’t affect the airports in the Balearics as Swissport doesn’t operate at any of them.

The pretend holiday let clients

A bumper season as a whole being predicted, and different authorities were looking at how they will be able to manage and control consequences of the rush. No sensible person in Mallorca questions the fact that illegal holiday lets are a cause of the so-called tourist saturation, but despite best efforts to curb them, they continue.

In Palma, where there has been a complete ban on apartments being let as tourist accommodation since 2018 - it’s not possible to get a licence for an apartment - the Council of Mallorca tourism inspectors have come up with a cunning plan. Pretending to be clients of illegal lets, they will make bookings for ads on websites using credit cards. Once they have the details, off they will go to the properties in question, no longer pretending to be clients and more than willing to initiate proceedings which can result in fines of between 40,000 and 400,000 euros.

At various town halls on the island, they’ve been grappling with the problems posed by buggies, quads and 4x4 vehicles that head off into natural areas, generate noise and cause environmental damage. Alcudia, as reported elsewhere in this issue, is one of these town halls. Others to have passed relevant bylaws are Arta, Felanitx, Manacor and Santa Margalida, while more town halls will be lining up amendments to local ordinance.

Jobs rather than illegal selling

The Balearic government has come up with a scheme to get illegal sellers off the streets. A common sight in the island’s resorts each summer, the social affairs ministry and charities have devised a programme of training and assimilation. This will assist the majority of illegal sellers, those from overseas, having their status in Spain regularised, while it is hoped that all the trainees will obtain jobs. They are being paid 31 euros per day during the course of the programme and have agreed not to engage in any more illegal selling.

As well as its pretend holiday let clients, the Council of Mallorca is taking a longer-term view of seeking to reduce tourist saturation by having decided not to grant any new additional tourist accommodation places (as also reported elsewhere in this issue). The Council responded to a Balearic Environment Commission demand that the Council ensures that there are no more places in specific “saturated resorts” - Magalluf, Palmanova, Playa de Palma, Santa Ponsa - by letting it be known that there won’t ever be any additional places anywhere in Mallorca.

Prices for affordable homes

Illegal holiday lets are a reason for the pressures on residential accommodation, but there are others, such as a general lack of affordable homes. An agreement reached between the Balearic government and property developers will help to at least partially address this lack.

The developers undertake the building of VPO protected homes, ones that are sold or rented out at prices set by the government. But the developers have consistently been pointing out that what they get out of this is insufficient.

The appraised values of these properties have remained unaltered since 2008. The government has finally accepted, especially because of the increased cost of materials, that these values have needed to be revised upwards. Under the agreement that reflects the increases, 14,000 properties are to be built and they will still be up to as much as 50% less expensive than ones on the open market to buy or rent.

Finding somewhere to rent and capping rents

Seasonal workers coming to the islands are only interested in finding somewhere to rent. But they are being deterred from coming this year because of the cost to rent, assuming that accommodation can be found.

The unions were saying earlier this week that salaries aren’t really the issue, as pay for many job categories in the Balearic hospitality industry is higher than anywhere else in the country; compared with some regions, it is considerably higher. However, even with this pay, way too much has to go on rent.

An aim of the Balearic government has been to introduce a system of rent caps for what are described as “stressed” areas. In general terms, the definition of stressed is based on average incomes in given areas and the average percentage of incomes spent on rent. A problem for the government is that it cannot act unilaterally on this. It is a matter for national housing legislation, a point made clear when the recent proposal to Congress for rent capping by Balearic parliament representatives was knocked back. The government accepts that any system of limiting rents will now have to wait until after the May election and until parties in Congress (supportive of the Spanish government) can agree the precise definitions and terms for rent caps in new housing legislation. The thing is, though, that there may be changes of government, both regionally and - later this year - nationally.

Living from tourism

Returning to illegal holiday lets, tougher action on these is supported by the official tour guides in Palma, but a spokesperson for the guides, Miguel Ángel Beltrán, has been making clear that he isn’t in favour of all initiatives to tackle tourist saturation. Arguing that there is a certain sector of the political class that doesn’t understand that “we all live off and from tourism”, he is critical of measures which appear to weaken and burden tourism. Cruise ships limits in Palma are top of his complaint list. “Cruise tourists are the perfect tourists. They arrive, spend a few hours, spend money - which means creating jobs - and leave.”

Miguel Ángel is also highly critical of the graffiti in Palma, dirty streets, LED lighting that has taken away old town charm, the number of shops that are closed and “the smell of pee”. His wasn’t exactly a glowing reference and nor was information from the Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Peace Index. This gave a crime rate in Palma of 62.5 per 1,000 inhabitants. Noting that Spain is among the safest countries in the world, the crime rate in Palma (for theft at any rate) is nevertheless one of the highest.

Water for free

Coming back to tourism inspectors, might they also be turning their attention to what’s on offer in bars and restaurants - water in particular? The Consubal consumers association has claimed that 99% of establishments are breaking the law by not offering free tap water to customers. Consubal points out that most customers are unaware of their right to this free water. Yes, but even if they were aware, would they want it? Also, and here’s a hypothetical situation - Four people go into a bar, occupy a table for an hour and only consume free tap water. At the very least, an establishment should be able to make some charge.

It isn’t free by any stretch of the imagination, as the water that is the product of hydrogen power has required significant investment in hydrogen technology. This much has been recognised by the CEO of TUI, Sebastian Ebel, who has been talking about the tour operator’s plan to introduce hydrogen-powered minibuses for holidaymaker transfers this summer. This plan will make Mallorca the first place in the world to have transport powered by hydrogen for this purpose; it comes from the Lloseta hydrogen plant.

The next step will be hydrogen-powered coaches, Ebel stressing TUI’s support for Balearic government targets for green energy and sustainability but noting that “this technology is not cheap”.