These are the stories that you may have missed last week.
Indian summers and tourism records
On the twenty-fifth of October last year, the highest temperature in Mallorca was 33.2C in Muro. We weren't talking about Indian summers then, as the time for an Indian summer, according to popular tradition, had been and gone. It was just a case of having been very hot for the last week of October.
In Llucmajor last weekend, a record October temperature was set at the weather station; it was much like Muro last year. One or two other weather stations registered new record highs. Still in the orbit of an Indian summer that was lasting at least one week longer than Indian summers are supposed to, this sort of temperature has been playing its part in the island's tourism. Just as last year there was fine weather into November, so the expectation is that the fourth quarter will result in tourist numbers every bit as good as the final three months of 2022.
The weather does of course have the habit of disappointing us, and so the met agency was suggesting that it might go belly-up in time for next week's public holiday (October 12). Nevertheless, the last-minute bookings prompted by summertime temperatures in autumn are contributing to what looks as if it will turn out to be a record year for tourism in Mallorca and the Balearics - not just by a little bit, but by a huge margin.
Tourist numbers have risen every month this year. The latest to be released (August's) showed that not only were there way more tourists than last August, the increase was in the order of quarter of a million. For the first eight months of 2023, the Balearics attracted 13.1 million tourists. In 2018, currently the record year for tourism on the islands, there were 12.2 million by the end of August. The difference is massive.
The mayor asks Prohens to redo the map of zones of the 'law of excesses.'
In the midst of this seemingly bright news (depending on one's view), there is always some part of Mallorca's tourism world that is unhappy. This week, therefore, we were back in familiar territory - Magalluf. The mayor, Juan Antonio Amengual, had a chinwag with President Prohens, and top of his agenda was the tourism of excesses law. And what was the outcome of this tête a tête? It was hard to say. The mayor wanted the current zoning of Magalluf to be eliminated. This is the red zone to which the law applies, and it does so, as the mayor pointed out, in such a way that one side of a street can be covered and the other isn't.
Fair enough, but the vagueness that appeared to emanate from the meeting led at least one Bulletin reader to believe that the whole of Mallorca will now be subject to the law. This wasn't what the mayor was getting at. He was only talking about Magalluf. Or maybe he was talking about Calvia. Surely not; tourism of excesses in Es Capdellà? Whatever next.
Anyway, nothing concrete emerged, and nothing concrete regarding this law will emerge until some time next year, which is when the tourism minister reckons he'll have the revised version of the excesses law ready under its new title of responsible tourism law.
Gathering for an assessment of summer 2023.
Not quite zero balconing
The mayor has been a busy tourism bee. On Tuesday, he gathered with fellow council members and the police to offer Calvia hotel associations an assessment of summer 2023. This primarily appeared to be an announcement of arrests and fines. The new plainclothes unit, according to the deputy mayor for citizen security, had made possible a 40% increase in arrests and greater intervention against the sale of alcohol out of hours, party boats and balconing.
The mayor was proud to state that no one had died or had suffered injuries as a result of balconing this year. It wasn't quite 'zero balconing', as some idiot tourists still do decide to climb from one balcony to another. But if they do and are caught (presumably by plainclothes officers), they can cop a fine of up to 36,000 euros.
The government hopes that getting ever tougher on illegal lets.
A decree that won't solve the housing problem
A different decree was signed, sealed and delivered. This was the government's emergency housing decree, President Prohens having pledged that she would indeed deliver it before the first one hundred days in office were up. She baited the opposition in parliament by saying that she had done more for housing in three months than they had in eight years.
Perhaps so, but the proof of the housing pudding, as they say, will be in the eating of building licences. The president of the builders association, for one, wasn't anticipating an "avalanche" of projects and was quite clear that the decree "isn't going to solve the housing problem".
Where there are projects, interested parties will be given two years to apply for licences to, for example, convert properties into smaller apartments and convert obsolete hotels and commercial premises into accommodation. These conversions will then go on sale at prices established by the decree - limited-price housing, as the government is calling it. Properties for rent will also have these limited prices.
The decree had been due to be approved last Friday, but there was a delay as a provision regarding illegal holiday lets hadn't been included in the text. By Monday it had been, and this established the possibility that these lets could be sealed off. The government hopes that getting ever tougher on illegal lets will persuade owners to make them available for residential renting. One real-estate source reckoned that this might actually work, as owners will be so terrified by potential sanctions.
T Golf Calvia is threatened with being closed.
A harsh sanction for a golf course
Back in Calvia, where the mayor has made much of promoting all-year tourism, he was grappling with a sanctioning procedure that certainly won't help with this tourism. T Golf Calvia is threatened with being closed because of a planning infringement. This relates to the modification of one of 15 lakes on the golf course. The club's management accepts that there was a modification but says that "small deficiencies" can be corrected. It hopes to escape with no more than a fine.
One has to say that closing a golf course down, and with the loss of fifty jobs, would be a wholly disproportionate response to changes made to one lake.
Off-duty lifeguard rescue's German tourist in Paguera.
Boosting lifeguard services
At one of Calvia's beaches, Torà in Paguera, an off-duty lifeguard went to the rescue of a German tourist who almost drowned. The lifeguard was on his way home after the lifeguard service had ended for the day. He heard shouts for help and it was he who managed to restore the tourist's pulse before medics arrived. He saved the man's life.
In mid-September, there was a similar incident at Can Pere Antoni beach in Palma. On that occasion, three lifeguards had arrived early - before the service started for the day. A woman was in difficulty and they rescued her. Both incidents highlight the great work that lifeguards do and also a need for longer hours of service and surveillance.
Green sea in Paguera.
Tackling Mallorca's green sea
Paguera, it was noted, is somewhere that has been affected by green sea. The green colour of the water does appear from time to time at different beaches. It is caused by an accumulation of algae, which is itself the result of increased water temperature combined with nutrients in wastewater. These can come from different sources, e.g. outfalls or what boats deposit into the sea. The algae are rarely harmful.
Hydraulic pumps are used to deal with the algae, but environmentalists GOB say that not enough is known about the effectiveness of these pumps. GOB suggest that the pumps merely spread the algae elsewhere. The ultimate solution is better control of wastewater.
The town hall says that it will be drafting a bylaw and marking out terrace spaces.
Coming back to the rise in tourist numbers, this will only fuel the debate about tourist saturation. The tourism minister has said that this saturation doesn't occur in the inland villages, but residents of Porreres may beg to differ.
Increased occupation of the public way by bar and restaurant terraces can't solely be blamed on the presence of more tourists, but they will be a factor, as is the odd fact that the town hall hasn't been levying a terrace tax. The space occupied has therefore just grown. Residents complain that the main square is barely passable. The town hall says that it will be drafting a bylaw and marking out terrace spaces.
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