Mallorca and the PR battleground

Oh no. In the 1960s she joined the Majorica pearls company. If the company was clearly her priority, her public relations nous also projected the island internationally. In a 2002 interview she was referred to as the ‘dean’ of tourism promotion, but this was a promotion that abided by a true meaning of public relations - the management of a favourable image, supported by how information is disseminated to the public.

Intriguingly in that interview, she alluded to an abandonment of Mallorca. The island, in her view, had become overcrowded. This was 23 years ago. And the overcrowding, in terms of image, wasn’t being helped by a political bickering being played out in public. This was a time of the introduction of the ecotax, of the arguments regarding the tax between political parties (with the hoteliers also involved), and of negative comments by certain politicians which had done “a lot of damage”. Among these were aspersions cast on the quality of German tourism. These were a key reason, more than the ecotax, more than 9/11, why tourist numbers slumped in 2002; the decline was mostly German.

Mallorca had of course acquired a cheap and cheerful reputation that made some potential holidaymakers look down their noses at the island. But for the most part a grip was kept on the public relations by the private Mallorca Tourist Board until the advent of autonomous government in 1983 and then by a conservative political regime. It was the politicking that changed things. The turn of the millennium was when Mallorca’s tourism - and by extension, Mallorca itself - started to veer on occasion towards PR disaster. And the British and German media were more than happy to aggravate this.

Montse Ferrer said in 2002 that there had to be “a wake-up call”, thus reinforcing the impression that the start of the century represented something of a before-and-after turning point. If anyone was waking up, it wasn’t always evident, despite or perhaps because of ever-growing complications. If the island was overcrowded in 2002, the saturation was nothing like it was to become. Climate change started to hit Mallorca with storm force and with more boiling summers. Responses were needed, as indeed a response was required to a phenomenon that had always existed but which has ultimately been seen to be out of control - holiday letting.

The international projection of Mallorca and indeed the PR for a local audience are intrinsically conditioned by the island’s tourism. The challenges that have arisen haven’t rewritten the PR manual, but they have made the principle of positive image that much more difficult to apply. This isn’t only because of politics, as an internationalisation has been projected back on to Mallorca. There is arguably no more significant manifestation of this than the business of holiday letting, for it is in the hands of multinationals constantly poring over the detail of Spanish and European competition law and directives for the likes of intermediary services.

This is a business that now finds itself more and more on the back foot, as regulators - some would argue very belatedly - themselves wake up to the calls from the streets about access to housing and coexistence between tourists and residents. Hence there has been a report from Oxford Economics on behalf of Airbnb, which provides staggering numbers in taking issue with Spanish regulations on short-term rentals: 30,000 million euros at risk, two per cent of GDP, and 400,000 jobs.

The PR of all this is vital. On the one hand there is the movement critical of mass tourism that is rarely out of the news. On the other there are business models, highly profitable models whose stock in trade is living space as much as it is technological applications. It is a world away from what Montse Ferrer knew in 2002, but her warning about overtourism has been magnified many times over.

The politicians periodically announce their triumphs. The Council of Mallorca’s latest is an 800,000 euro fine for ten illegal holiday lets in one Palma building. In itself one might consider this fortuitous against a background of alleged conflict in the Council’s tourism inspection department. Regardless of this, it is but one triumph, although it is perhaps an example of what Airbnb have themselves spoken about. They have come up with their own proposed regulatory model, one principle of which is the clear distinction between business activities through tourist rentals dedicated solely to short-term rentals and occasional accommodation in the homes of families. So, what are they saying? They would deny these business activities web space?

Both sides of the argument are characterised by much the same language. Airbnb have acknowledged that some Spanish destinations face enormous challenges because of overtourism and the concentration of tourist activity. They wish to align themselves with governments in alleviating the housing challenge, while at the same time insisting that rental activity is being made a scapegoat for this challenge.

Perceived as the villain of the piece more so than the likes of Booking, they are on a PR offensive, the words of Mallorca’s leading hotelier, Gabriel Escarrer of Meliá, perhaps ringing in their ears: Airbnb host 90% of unlicensed lets, he told a Madrid audience last week. Coincidentally in Madrid, there was an Airbnb presentation specific to Mallorca. Loaded with current-day newspeak of social sustainability, responsible tourism et al, this was concerned with tourist-resident coexistence; not that regarding the housing challenge, but one of noise and anti-social behaviour.

So was unveiled a tie-up with a Barcelona-based company Roomonitor, whose website explains that the initiative in Mallorca, ‘weRespect’, “is a new pilot project for tourist coexistence in Mallorca”. “This innovative initiative aims to promote sustainability and foster harmonious relationships in the vacation rental sector.” Maybe it will. How? By providing residents with a phone number to report possible disturbances caused by tourists staying in Airbnb properties.

Among other things, this presupposes that residents are actually aware that a property is Airbnb. Then there is a mediation service that has, according to the website, a five-step process including the role of a “professional mediator” who will meet the involved parties in order to gather information. Even if there are mediators, if a matter is that serious are the police not the necessary mediators?

With respect for ‘weRespect’, it all comes across as a PR effort to address an issue of less importance than that of the housing challenge. That it is of some importance is because of the sheer preponderance of holiday lets (Airbnb or otherwise). This in turn has given rise to a company that specialises in ‘room monitoring’ for short-term rentals. One might ask why there isn’t such a service for the far greater problem of residents’ noise and anti-social behaviour. Ah yes, but then that is a police matter, as is tourist behaviour.

It is a PR battle for a twenty-first century that has moved on apace from 2002. Unrecognisable from what it was, it is as corporate as it is political, the different parties all claiming to be seeking to project a positive image for Mallorca. If only one could truly believe it.