The big Facebook debate: tourism, residencias, tourism

By Andrew Ede
A round-up of what is being said on the Majorca Daily Bulletin’s Facebook page.
Those of you who exist in Facebook land and who have “liked” the Bulletin’s Facebook page will be aware that the paper, kicking and screaming, has well and truly emerged into the light of social networks and created a healthy (or unhealthy, depending on your point of view) amount of kicking and screaming in return. Having a pop is pretty much a given in the world of Facebook, so be they brickbats (or now and then bouquets), opinions of whatever sort are welcome. Well, more or less.
What has generated most heat in the past couple of days has been Jason’s viewpoint in which he referred to a complaint he made about noise from a nearby hotel. The responses to this were, when they weren’t being highly critical of his complaint, overwhelmingly in favour of the need for holidaymakers to be able to enjoy themselves, an aspect of this being enjoyment which comes from noise that they (holidaymakers) or others might make up to and beyond midnight.
A not untypical opinion was that if people live in resorts and, in particular, they live close to hotels and centres of tourist concentration, they have to accept that there will be noise and that it is part and parcel of the holiday experience.
The debate, as is usually the case, wandered off into areas not directly related to Jason’s complaint about noise on a hotel balcony, and so a follow-up viewpoint asked whether anything goes in Majorca’s resorts. The responses to this were rather more measured, some people observing that there are resorts, such as those in the island’s north and along the east coast, which do not tend to attract the types of problems associated with Magalluf.
Perhaps inevitably, the discussion did rather centre on Magalluf and on how the resort has changed over the years. Though Magalluf has long been - how can one put it - a livelier resort than others, issues to do with crime and poor behaviour have come to the fore in recent years. Positively though, there was also some acceptance that Magalluf is Magalluf and that Majorca has something for everyone.
Calvia town hall’s drive to attempt to have the residence identity card reinstated provoked a high level of “liking” for the idea that the certificate (now in credit-card size) should be scrapped once and for all. A thumbs-up, therefore, for the return of the ID card. There were, though, mentions of alternative forms of ID - Spanish driving licence and the health card, which is now available with chip and photo. There were also criticisms expressed as to the time-consuming procedure for obtaining the current certificate.
The teachers’ strike has been another topic that has attracted a good deal of discussion, and it has been one marked by a high level of knowledge of the issues and by respect for differing views. While opinion is that children should be back in school, there has been criticism of the way in which TIL (”tratamiento de lenguas”) is being implemented. There have also been observations as to the standards of English of some teachers, among them being an English teacher. The motives for the strike have also been queried - is it to protect Catalan and so more of a political strike than one over an educational matter?