The Hindu Business Line : Island tourism, Spanish style

There is something special about Mallorca and one can experience the magic of this island any time of the year. Mallorca belongs to the leading holiday regions of Europe, and sees about 10 million tourists per year. The tourism industry accounts for 12 per cent of Spain’s GDP and supports over two million jobs.

Mohan Murti

Have you ever wondered what movie stars Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones; the King and the Queen of Spain; Polish composer, Frederic Chopin; poet Robert Graves and super model Claudia Schiffer have in common? Well, they happen to be just a few of the several celebrities who had their vacation getaways in Spain’s Balearic Islands of Mallorca.

Mallorca has long attracted the rich and the famous. Frederic Chopin came seeking the Mediterranean climate to cure his ailing lungs in 1838. Chopin was followed by Agatha Christie, Sir Winston Churchill — where he used to pursue his hobby of painting — Sir Charlie Chaplin, Ava Gardner, the Hemingways, Diana, Princess of Wales; Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; and Sir Peter Ustinov.

Escape the Winter

As long as weather and the climate remain the same in Northern Europe, there will always be many who wish to escape and grab some sunshine in the depths of winter. That is exactly what I did for the Christmas break.

I flew from Cologne, Germany, straight to Palma de Mallorca — about a two-hour flight — and indulged in cruising the spectacular coast roads of Mallorca behind the wheels of a Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT and its powerful 400 bhp engine.

Armed with a map, I set off toward the south-west coast, exploring the lush interior. The farms with acres of olive, almond, apple, orange and lemon orchards steeped in poppies, daisies and buttercups. The crystal clear, warm water was one of the most amazing experiences I encountered.

Magic of Mallorca

Mallorca is an island at roughly 39 degrees north latitude. It is decidedly not tropical, but the warm Mediterranean moderates its winters, the Alps keep the Russian Arctic air masses at bay, and the resulting mild climate is ideal for citrus fruits, almonds, olives ... and tourists.

There is something so special about Mallorca and one can experience the magic of this island any time of the year. It is as though God takes out his palette and splashes the surroundings with reds, purples, pinks, yellows, whites, verdant greens and he uses various shades of just one colour for the background: Cyan blue. Having more than 50 million overnights per annum, Mallorca belongs to the leading holiday regions of Europe.

A place in the sun

Spain has benefited greatly due to its early participation in the tourism trade. The recognition that the small fishing towns of Spain could be transformed into lively resorts for Northern Europeans was a piece of outstanding entrepreneurship.

It has turned Spain from a relatively poor country with little exports, but olives and wine, into a nation with a full of go tourism trade.

Spanish economy

The Spanish economy has managed to grow above the EU average in the last three years of the review period, including growth of 8 per cent in 2007 in current terms. The tourism industry accounts for 12 per cent of Spain’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or total economic output and supports over two million jobs.

The Island Economy

Mass tourism to the region and to Mallorca really started to kick off in the 1950s. More recently, Mallorca sees about 10 million tourists per year. The island economy is booming with locals and residents among the most well off in Spain.

The tertiary sector concentrates almost 60 per cent of the active population. Tourism is its principal engine and all the other activities of this sector, trade, banking, etc, are totally related to it.

Golf and Sailing

Mallorca has more than 20 golf courses and is chosen by more than 1,20000 golfers per year as their “most preferred destination”.

As for sailing, Mallorca has become a major Mediterranean centre for competitive and leisure sailing. The Spanish Royal family have greatly increased the profile of Mallorca in the sailing world.

Population

The emergence of mass tourism as the island’s core economic activity from the 1960s brought a striking demographic response. Job opportunities in tourism and ancillary businesses encouraged immigration from other parts of Spain.

Today, over one million people reside on Mallorca. Approximately 20 per cent of them are European nationals and a further 20 per cent are non-Spanish or non-European.

The infrastructure is superb throughout the island and the modern international airport at Palma can cope with half a million passengers per day.

A passion for property

Property sales in The Balearics amounted to over 5 billion euros in 2006-07, and the regional government ministry of housing calculates that 16-20 per cent of these sales were to non-Spanish buyers, despite increases of up to 300 per cent in the previous five years Much of the growth has been fuelled by excellent infrastructure. Life in Spain is relaxed and operates at a different tempo to Germany or, the rest of West Europe. Purchasing a villa in this wondrous country allows you to slow down to this pace of life.

The increase in the number of tourists to Majorca makes fascinating reading. In 1950, Majorca and her sister islands of Menorca and Ibiza received under 1,00,000 tourists. By 1973 this had grown to over 7 million for Majorca alone, and had risen to over 10 million this year.

The Indian Archipelago

While Mallorca received 10 million tourists in 2007, Thailand’s Phuket island received about five million. I was curious to know how our own Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands were doing. Lakshadweep confirms that no more than 25,000 visited the island last year.

According to the reliable information, no more than 1,25,000 people visited the Andamans in 2006. Obviously, there’s something basically wrong in our approach to tourism.

The Indian government will have to focus greater attention on the infrastructure front if it wishes to exploit the tourist potential for economic development.

In this context, Spain’s Balearic Islands can definitely edify a few lessons on profitably promoting island tourism.

(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany. Feedback may be sent to <mailto: mohan.murti@t-online.de> mohan.murti@t-online.de)