As of next year, Pollensa will no longer have the right to use the ‘The Most Beautiful Villages of Spain’ brand in its tourism promotion, advertising and any other area. The municipality will no longer benefit from access to key technological data and analyses that have contributed to the optimisation and management of its tourist activity, and will no longer form part of the agreements established by the Association with entities such as Endesa X, ONCE and other organisations, which have promoted initiatives related to sustainability, accessibility and modernisation of infrastructures.
As in France, Pollensa will no longer appear on the exclusive Michelin Map of member municipalities and will leave the International Federation of the World's Most Beautiful Villages, as well as losing its presence on key tourism promotion platforms, such as the web at tourism fairs like FITUR and the Turespaña portal.
The association says that it regrets the decision taken by Pollensa Town Hall and has made it clear that it will continue working to certify more villages in the Balearics in the coming months, to value architectural heritage, beauty and intangible heritage.
According to its website, the criteria for the admission of a new village are set out in the association's quality charter. In order to join the association, the village must first seek the agreement of the municipal authorities or local governing body. Once the request has been received by the association, the application process is set in motion, taking into account the following criteria:
– Villages must have a population of less than 15,000 inhabitants (villages with a population greater than 5,000 inhabitants, will only be considered if their historic centre is in perfect condition)
– They must also have a certified architectural or natural heritage.
If these two criteria are fulfilled, the village is inspected by the association's quality commission to assess the various aspects specified in the Quality Charter. It will be necessary to exceed the minimum quality criteria for cleanliness, conservation of the facades, traffic circulation, parking arrangements, flowers and green areas, presentation of advertising and posters, etc.
The inspection results in a verdict which may be positive, positive conditional on improvements to certain important aspects, or negative. If the verdict is positive, the village will be labelled at its corresponding entry points as "One of the Most Beautiful in Spain" together with the association logo, and from that moment on it will have the right to use the seal "The Most Beautiful Villages in Spain" in accordance with the values of the association.
A village may be re-inspected in the years following its accession so as to verify that it continues to honour values such as the preservation and promotion of its heritage and refurbishment of facades, etc. A village can lose the "One of the Most Beautiful Villages in Spain" label if it stops complying with the initial values of the association or its quality charter.
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This is a decision by the Council to stop paying 4500€ per year demanded by the company running the scheme. This article makes it sound like a protection racket. "If want your town to stay beautiful, pay up"
Never was!
I like Pollença but there’s no way it’s a village despite the what the population criteria says. It’s a town.
PSOE hard at work to flush whatever they can