Absent from the presentation at Palma Auditorium were the Balearic tourism minister, Jaume Bauzá, the government's director of tourism, Josep Aloy, and the director of the AETIB tourism strategy agency, Pere Joan Planas. The reason given for their absence was that they had other engagements. It now appears, however, that they shunned the presentation.
AETIB is responsible for the strategic tourism positioning of the Balearic Islands. Planas says that during the twelve months when the brand was being created, the Council of Mallorca didn't coordinate the process or ask the government for its opinion. "The island council has responsibilities for promotion and we fully respect its autonomy, but they did not explain their strategy to us or coordinate it with us."
Planas feels that the new brand is "inappropriate". "I do not believe that it is the most appropriate time to create a new brand when we are working on the sustainability pact and when we are just two months away from deciding what kind of tourism we want and what measures we will apply."
The new image will appear for the first time at the Fitur tourism fair in Madrid in January. It will be alongside the logo that the government uses to promote the Balearics as a whole.
Planas argues that there should continue to be a common brand. For Europeans, he accepts that the individual islands represent "very powerful brands". "But travellers from further afield, especially from America, see us as a whole and identify us as the Balearic Islands between Gibraltar and the Gulf of Genoa. As a government we will continue to promote a uniform brand."
He stresses the need for the Council and the government to agree on promotion and be more synchronised. "Every new brand requires a powerful investment in advertising to launch it and position it."
5 comments
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About right for here. Mallorca is doomed with such incompetent mugs in charge. Too busy being important and scoring points over each other, as always.
OMG. What joke these politicians are. We need to toss them all out and start again. I cannot even imagine how much of our tax money this has cost us.
tranq tranquerThey did, two weeks ago.
Great to see ours leaders working together in harmony to promote the island whilst planning out sustainable methods of keeping overcrowding under control. Well done chaps, way to go. I suggest you give yourselves a pay rise, you know you deserve it. Un f******believable.
I wonder what the new Council of Formentera will surprise us with.