Mallorca companies protecting themselves against 'Big Brother' traveller registration system failures

The online system is itself a source of criticism. It crashed when it first became operational and there continue to be network failures. Because of the repeated problems, employers such as the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation have issued express recommendations to log all issues. Maria Gibert of the Habtur holiday rentals association describes the system as "a complete mess". "When you're able to get into the system, it collapses. But the main problem is that you can't get in unless it's five in the morning."

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As well as the operational failures, there is the inconvenience the system causes for companies and above all their customers. The time to check in at a hotel has increased, while some customers simply don't understand why they have to supply certain information. There have been cases of customers refusing to give it. The Balearic tourism ministry is firmly on the side of the hotels and others, having expressed its concern about, for example, potential violation of data protection law.

Travel agencies are among those to have referred the system to the European Commission and to have called for its precautionary suspension. The request is being considered. Pedro Fiol, president of the Aviba association of travel agencies, says: "It shouldn't have been put into operation without having been sorted out first."

Spain's interior ministry, Fiol adds, is not responding to complaints about the malfunctioning of the system, arguing that in the first stage of implementation, "they should at least provide us with information, attention and also financing, as there is an astronomical extra cost for companies". "These seem to be anti-tourism measures designed to scare away visitors and divert them to competing countries."