The Alcudia crisis: Hoteliers add their voice

So much for a bit of history. In the present, Pablo Riera-Marsá is CEO of Sea Club, located bang in what was that sixties project. Since 2022 he has been president of the Alcudia-Can Picafort Hoteliers Association, a somewhat peculiar grouping given that Playa de Muro sits in between Alcudia and Can Picafort. Peculiar or not, the alliance was one based on strength in numbers. The more representation, the more powerful the voice, and in recent times the association has become ever more vocal.

Whether by coincidence or by design, the hoteliers have had their say with regard to the balneario beach bars in Alcudia and the old power station. They have now also weighed into what has been going on at the town hall - the dismissal of the tourism councillor, Juan Mateu Gual, and the revelation that a payment of 254,000 euros hasn't been made to the organisers of the Ironman 70.3 triathlon held in Puerto Alcudia in May.

In 2023, the hoteliers were far from happy with the lack of progress with the beach bars, and they let the new mayor, Fina Linares, know this in no uncertain terms. One has to assume they let Gual know as well. But what was the relationship like between the hoteliers and the councillor? I ask this because of a point Linares made in explaining his dismissal. The mayor referred to a "poor relationship" with certain entities in the tourism sector. Was the hoteliers association one of these entities? Locally, it, the restaurants association and Alcudiamar are probably the three most important; the ports authority might be another. Linares suggested that the development of tourism projects had been "seriously hindered" by this poor relationship.

One can only guess as to these entities. Meanwhile, there is no guessing as to the 254,000 euros, the invoice for which was submitted to the town hall in July 2024. Normal procedure should have been payment within 90 days. The invoice wasn't signed off by the councillor until January 12 this year, by which time there was no credit (or sufficient credit) in the tourism department's budget to pay it. Was this a mere oversight? An invoice of that amount and one related to a highly prestigious event is not, one would have thought, something that would be overlooked.

Linares has spoken of evidence of "clear incompetence" in the management of the payment of this invoice. However, a question to have been asked concerns when she became aware of the non-payment. The chief sponsors of Ironman are Zafiro, a hotel company with strong Alcudia links. Was there no contact with the town hall after the 90 days had expired? If there was, was this just with Gual?

Pablo Riera-Marsá has expressed his confidence (hope) that "any obstacles" will quickly be resolved and that the fourteenth Ironman in Alcudia will proceed as planned in May and "with the same or greater success than the previous ones". He has emphasised the fact that this is one of the most established triathlons in Spain and Europe. In 2024 there were 3,800 participants from 70 countries. The event, according to his estimate, generated more than ten million euros.

There are local people who consider Ironman to be a pain in the neck, but there is no doubting its beneficial impact. This doesn't only come from the participants. There are the participants' families, their friends. There are all the individuals involved with the logistics. It is a huge event, one that brings great kudos. The hoteliers obviously benefit greatly, but they aren't the only ones. They have every right to be furious if, for whatever reason, the non-payment of an invoice jeopardises the staging of Ironman in Alcudia.

So, Riera-Marsá will trust that the town hall can perform some accounting manoeuvre in order to get the invoice paid pronto. Means of doing this include finding funds from other departments or a stand-by often deployed by town halls, that of a credit modification. The money will be found. But in the meantime, damage has been done.

Also in the meantime, the town hall is conducting an internal investigation into alleged irregularities. In a nutshell these refer to claims made by Gual for spending that was apparently without "proper justification". These amount to some six thousand euros for taxis and 18,000 euros for restaurants. Of the latter, it has been revealed that one bill was for 250 euros at Celler La Parra in Puerto Pollensa. This related, so it is claimed, to a lunch for employees at Alcudia Town Hall.

Gual, for his part, has flatly denied accusations of improper use of municipal funds. Following his dismissal, he said invoices for expenses for attending events related to the promotion of Alcudia. These were "appropriately audited and approved by the competent bodies". The mayor, he stated, accompanied him at all events that correspond to these expenses. "The activities always had the participation of the mayor. Therefore, she was not only aware of the expenses but was also the generator of the expenses onto which suspicions have been cast."

Linares insists she only shared six out of twelve trips made by the councillor and that she was never with him in taxis or restaurants. The mayor's defence aside, she and the Partido Popular find themselves in something of a political bind. Gual is from Vox, and Vox maintain the accusations are "unfounded". But while this support from fellow party members is said to have come from Vox at the town hall, it would appear that it was in fact from the Vox leadership in the Balearics.

The matter has apparently attracted the attention of the Vox national leadership, which is said to be angry with Linares for having dismissed Gual and made an issue of the allegedly irregular payments. So, the whole business has already become messy at a political level and it may get messier if town hall investigations indicate there may be grounds to involve the Prosecutor's Office. The hoteliers will be among those who just hope the affair dies down, that the invoice is paid and that Ironman is unaffected. If not, their voice will be ever stronger. And they won't be alone.