Dear Islander,
The front page story is one very dear to my heart as I, along with a number of other people, have put some time and effort into trying to form and consolidate a promotional package for the local marine business.
The last meeting disbanded when we were told that a marvellous website was going to be constructed, supported by none other than the local Chamber of Commerce and with money from an EU fund.
We left the meeting shaking our heads and unfortunately our worst expectations have come to fruition.
As expected, the locals have gone off at a tangent without, apparently any consultation, and have produced a website that gives the impression (in English) that Mallorca is a backwater where they don´t speak English too well and are only interested in the smaller end of the yachting scene.
I despair!
I´m afraid it isn´t any better at national level.
Have you seen the ´SPAIN MARKS´ tourist ad. campaign in the press and TV?
It makes no sense in English and I would suggest that the way the tourist market is locally going down the pan it should be ´SKID MARKS´.
Why won´t these people get outside, qualified advice?
Are they too proud or too thick?
Significantly it has just been announced that ´Exponautica´ is being re-named as ´The Madrid Boat Show´- the xenophobe chip seems to have fallen off this organisation´s shoulder!
Security is one of the major worries of a yacht owner and as you can see from the story on page 9 a spate of robberies from yachts based in Puerto Portals is not good news. (see news)
I would have thought that the most expensive marina on the island would have better security measures but a stroll round the other day confirmed that there are CCTV cameras only on the two quays with barriers with the cameras facing the barriers and not up the quay, scanning the moored yachts.(They, in the ivory tower will probably claim that this is effective surveillance; no-one has stolen a barrier!)
Also, it appears that there is no recording which I would have thought would be a basic necessity.
I fear that nothing will be done until a number of berth owners and renters get together and demand better security- how many more of you need convincing by being robbed?
Looking around the marinas it´s pretty obvious that there are plenty of empty berths; it seems to be the same throughout the Balearics- see news
Keep cool, until next month,
John Rule