Praise Where Praise Is Due

I wanted to follow up on last weeks blog as a lot of you commented and sent me messages. Also it didn’t escape the PP opposition party either who were demanding tourist tax explanations this week. In case you missed it, I wrote about the Government sponsoring an event from the Spanish radio station Los40 to the tune of 580,000€. The money was allegedly to have come from the Tourist Tax, which was denied this week rather vaguely by the Tourism Minister. I’ve spoken mainly to Spanish friends this week to find out more and all were aghast at what had been spent and none of them knew the event was happening. One commented that the tickets were upwards of 300€ each and as he’s learning English he said in capital letters THEY COULDN’T ORGANISE A P… UP IN A BREWERY! He’s picking it up well I see. The awards have been going since 2006 and every year they’ve been held in Madrid apart from in 2016 when it was held in Barcelona. So why after two years of pandemic was this money spent on something that could have quite easily been held in the mainland? Another told me that 27 trailers and 80 technicians came from Madrid for the set up and that the PP were alleging that the Palma Arena venue as actually given for free. A PR nightmare for the Government in my opinion and a total waste of money.Now to balance this out and give praise where praise is due and in total contrast to the fiasco above. Congratulations to Palma City Council for their Christmas lights this year. Apparently 1.5 million Euros has been spent this year, which some may see as excessive. But you can’t deny it’s been very well done and if we want to attract tourism to our capital city in winter then this is a step forward. Add in the Christmas markets, the shops, bars, cafes and restaurants, museums, art galleries and the cathedral, then why wouldn’t people consider coming here for a long weekend away? Well there’s that flight problem of course from the Uk. So how about using that mis-spent 580,000€ to help lower winter landing fees at the airport or incentivising airlines to come here? Too late now of course but plan for next year now! Good to see Palma port so busy on a Thursday, upwards of 8,500 people arriving by various means. Regardless of whether you think the guests spend money whilst being here, think about the docking fees, the fuel, the provisioners to mention a few. Their brief visit may well be a catalyst for them to visit again in the future if they like what they see. Another council to earn praise is Calvia. This week, Calvià Town Hall launched, for the second consecutive year, a discount voucher campaign with the aim of boosting local business activity and encouraging local consumption, with the new slogan Abona’t a Calvià. Vouchers may be purchased as of Monday the 22nd of November by any resident over the age of 16 years old living in the municipality. 12.500 vouchers will be made available with the value of 20 euros each. You will only have to pay 10 euros, while the other 10 euros will be provided by the Town Hall for which an investment of 125.000 euros is being made.It’s a great way to encourage people to shop locally and an incentive for businesses to reman open. My only criticism is that very few people know about it. I mentioned it to two businesses who are eligible this week and neither had heard of it. Once again a good idea is being let down by marketing. Hopefully writing about it and you sharing it amongst your friends helps. I wanted to go back to my column about winter tourism from a couple of weeks ago. It’s been mentioned on more than one occasion that our weather isn’t as good as some other winter destinations especially after the deluge of rain in the last couple of weeks. We apparently struggle for things to do especially when it’s raining. It made me think of what we could do if we were here on holiday and the weather wasn’t great. Well there’s the normal things like shopping, not only is there Palma but three good shopping centers in FAN, Mallorca Outlets and Porto Pi. There’s also cinemas, theatres, museums, sporting facilities, sporting events, Palma Aquarium, Marineland and Palma Jump. That was a quick brain dump but I’m sure there’s loads more. Way back in 2014 I wrote about Center Parcs and how popular it was in the UK even when the weather was so bad. I mentioned it again in 2016. Here’s what I wrote in 2014.“Our final 3 days were spent at the Centre Parcs site at Elveden Forest. If you’ve never been I would thoroughly recommend it for families. “The Center Parcs concept is to provide short breaks in the forest, bringing families together and back to nature with high quality accommodation, a range of outstanding leisure facilities and over 200 activities, all set within a protected and enhanced woodland environment.Now we didn’t go for the weather as you can imagine but it led me to think why couldn’t this concept work in Mallorca? On average 3,500 people a week surely that’s worth exploring?”That was seven years ago and I still think it could work here. Remember that 580,000€? Take care everyone and enjoy your Weekend! Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com