The years of fat cows, when the number of foreigners increased without stopping, have not been to lay the foundation for a sustainable medium and long term. It was the time of the systematic devastation of the Spanish coast, especially in provinces such as bleeding or Alicante Almería.
The urban-tropelías the philosopher Raphael Argullol summarized in a few days ago this newspaper as the “great plunder” – have shot to the heart of a sector which contributes nearly 11% of gross domestic product (GDP) and employment in the country. This is very important that the weight makes the bad news bad news for tourism in the whole Spain. Especially in a time when the traditional engine of the economy, the building was damaged and there is no tools that can fix it.
Lola Gonzalez now have the conjunction of two evils: the crisis and the lack of institutional support in order to maintain the Valencia business differently. Nine years ago set up a rural tourism house devoted to health in the mountains of Alicante. Fleeing the model of the lounger and the sandwich, Gonzalez offers spa, whirlpool, health care and a cuisine. But the collection had not been so bad since he opened the business. “Our results have been improving year by year until the last. We started at the time of the boom Terra Mitica, when it seemed he was going to be the panacea, but it has been a bluff. Last year, the reserves fell by around 35%, “he says.
And is that a strategic errors committed by the sector joins the global crisis, firing directly at the middle classes of countries of origin. Jose Luis Zoreda, vice president of Exceltur, the lobby of big businesses, spoke from a very different perspective of which are every day at the foot of the canyon, as Lola Gonzalez. But both the diagnosis does not differ much: it is necessary to change the paradigm. And for this change we have lost precious few years.
The aim is to provide an individualized experience for each visitor. The couple who wants to go to a beach no mass and dine in fine restaurants, a group of friends looking for sports; risk families interested in pursuing a cultural tour with sleeping accommodations in history … Being able to offer all this and more is what a competitive model.
Because the changes are not only side of the competitors. The lawsuit does not have anything to do with 15 years ago. The trips are now shorter, more urban, more food and more variety. “We have finished about the family that was a month at the beach,” summarizes Josep Oliver, professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
And all this without destroying the landscape, as has been done in recent years. “The commitment-intensive brick represents a single generation that has consumed a resource that should last for hundreds or thousands of years,” says Oliver. “It’s gibberish to say that a model of the sun and the beach is over. It is obvious that they will remain the key drivers. But it is true that it is no longer valid ways of approaching those who want to lie down in front of the sea” adds Zoreda.
Sun and sand is what we were looking at the Swedish pursued Alfredo Landa in his films of the sixties. But with the difference that in the years of Franco’s economic miracle, and six of the best in Eurovision, Spain did not have much competition. Tourism in the south of the Pyrenees to Italy and France ousted with the same arguments with which today makes the Eastern Mediterranean. “In the nineties came timidly new destinations such as Tunisia, Morocco or the Caribbean. We have to reinvent the product and satisfy a more demanding customer, the representative of Exceltur ditch.
The loss of competitiveness is evident for some time, but the urgency of change has been attenuated because camouflaged with positive indicators such as the arrival of tourists, who in 2007 broke a record at more than 59 million. The following year the figure dropped by almost two million, and experts predict that trend will continue. As in the first quarter, when they reached a 12% less foreign than in the same period of 2008. The sangria was especially intense among the British, with a fall of 18%.
The Government’s hand casts “anthropological optimism” that shows the president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to discuss the situation. “While 2009 has been very difficult start to have signs that the end of the year will open a better period for the sector to come out strengthened and more competitive,” said the minister, Miguel Sebastian, last month. And as evidence of their involvement, the Government has more than doubled this year the budget for tourism, to 778 million. “The largest increase ever,” said the ministry.
The problem is that the data do not help sustain optimism. U.S. oust Spain just as the second destination of the world, where he had held since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Tourists who come to Spain and not opt for other destinations in lower-middle range, like those in Eastern Europe. “We do not have to fix these competitors, but in some regions of Italy or France. We have to import both the absolute number of visitors, but spending half of each,” said Josep Oliver.
The professor says the Costa Brava as a case of successful transformation of the model. “A few years ago you could have breakfast and sleep there for six euros. It is clear that prices are not going to be able to compete, so many of these towns now only grant work permits to high-quality tourist facilities,” he adds. “The geopolitical problems in the Eastern Mediterranean have helped us in previous years. Every time there was a bombing in Istanbul or Egypt, the whole world wanted to return to Spain. But the truth is that we stayed on our laurels,” he adds Zoreda.
Precisely for this fight rest on laurels, to reverse the model of mass tourism and sandwich and litronas born on proposed reform of Playa de Palma. This plan, which was presented in society a few days ago, searching for “a revaluation of the area, able to unleash a new wave of innovation, prosperity and sustainability visionary.” That’s nothing.
To achieve this ambitious goal has agreed the public-private initiative with the idea of reforming an area of 1,000 hectares, with 40,000 tourist beds and 1.5 million visitors a year. “On behalf of the Council of Ministers is to revive a 2020 or 2030 target that is dying. It is not just a hotel project, but that the 30,000 people who live here all year to improve their quality of life,” says Margaret Najera, director of the consortium that carried out the reform, and former Mayor of Calvia Balearic former government spokesman of the PSOE.
The idea includes demolishing half of the 40,000 tourist beds in the area, two thirds of those with less than three stars. The question is who is going to compensate the hotel that’s knocked down half of your business? “Money will not be a problem in this project played in the Champions League. The total cost between 2,000 and 3,000 million euros, of which 70% will come from private initiative. In the next two years will spend 300 million in rehabilitation, sanitation and treatment of urban spaces. look for the money in Madrid, in Brussels where necessary … “he replied convinced Nájera.
However, so far only budgeted for eight million euros cash jangling, which will come from the Ministry of Industry for works which will start bidding in the coming weeks. The streets of this area of Palma and Llucmajor have not seen either one of the cranes that carry out the works. Therefore, critics are accusing the draft have not clear where the money is going to leave and embark on the eternal city in a reform that will leave the area without a trace of his former industry.
This project is part of the Horizon 2020 plan, which also includes reforming the Costa del Sol and the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana in Gran Canaria. Is this the “contagion effect” to other destinations to which the manager spoke Majorcan consortium.
“It’s an interesting effort, but other similar attempts have been then almost nothing. Calvià and Lanzarote in the nineties tried to leave the mass tourism, which was then obsolete. The surprise is that after years and suffered all the fury of construction, abandoning the idea of sustainability and reducing the number of tourists. The PP won the elections there and stopped these projects. But now I do not think it happens the same. It has come to believe that tourism is the main engine in this country. It has become a state affair, “said the professor Esade Francesc Valls. Has draft of this message to the entire industry? “I think that in Catalonia, yeah. Outside, I am not so clear,” answered Oliver.
Valls is not only negative points. Also detects progress of recent years: “The five or six large businesses are betting on strong internationalization; groups that are only dealing with the sun and sand have been spread to the cities. Moreover, cultural tourism and business has experienced a significant rise. ”
The duties no facts, Valls says, like all respondents, the loss of competitiveness. “At this point nothing has been done,” he concludes.
In the short term, the Government wants to encourage productive investment by firms, especially SMEs, through the Tourism Plan Renove. Initially endowed with a budget of 400 million for 2009, was sold out within a month of its launch. Industry decided to expand to 600 million additional. This is a necessary investment in the coming years, as the hotel is very old. But not enough. “It’s basic training. It makes no sense to a five star hotel where the waiters do not know language,” Professor Oliver qualifies.
Despite the criticism raining outside, the hotels are good note on research and development. “We’ve come a long way. 75% of the hotels from one to five stars now have website, just five years ago when it was 25%,” says Juan Molas, president of the Confederation of Hotels.
The expectations of these entrepreneurs are not very encouraging. Employers were asked how they thought they would develop in the first four points as the number of overnight stays in places, stay and average price per room, and profitability. All the answers pointed to a horizon far worse than in 2008. There were only two with better prospects, the promotional efforts undertaken by public administrations and the chances of finding people willing to work.
Benidorm seem the paradigm of the model to be run. However, every week put on TV nine million Britons to see a series with the name of this town of Alicante starring an elderly English smoking without stopping. The success was such that the private channel ITV is filming the fourth season. While exotic, it is perhaps a way of encouraging the downcast British interest in visiting Spain.
