Air Berlin and Ryanair are both angry at the lack of support from the Murcian Regional Government.

2010-07-27

Another slap in the face for tourism today.

Air Berlin have just sent out a press release saying that they may possibly suspend their international connections with the airport of San Javier from summer 2011. 

They give the reasons for their press release as being the "reduction in reservations and the lack of aid from the government of Murcia."

 Air Berlin has been operating out of Murcia for the last 4 years. It says that it will continue to operate flights between Murcia and Palma de Mallorca, it's most important connection outside of it's German flights,  between the 1^st November of this year and the 14^th April 2011 but would not comment on the future of the service after that date.

At the moment services between 16 German cities and Austrian and Swiss hubs will continue, but the airline is experiencing similar problems with the regional government to those discussed by Ryanair last week, during their announcement that they were closing down 7 major routes with the UK.

 The Director General of Air Berlin for Spain and Portugal, Alvaro Middelmann, said that he found the stance of the Consejeria de Cultura y Turismo de Murcia  "incomprehensible",  and that he could not understand why " they have not been able to understand the importance of this aerial connection for the Region of Murcia."

 Middelmann said he himself was pushing for the development of combined publicity campaigns, such as those which are undertaken in conjunction with other regional administrations, with the aim of "stimulating" demand for flights in a manageable and sustainable fashion and to "increase the number of air connections."

 

 Comment

This week, we've received many emails from readers angry at the suggestion that British tourists don't spend any money in the region, and that spanish tourists are better than British because they spend more. Our readers were quick to point out that whilst they love to see their family and friends, that these visits practically bankrupt them, as so much money is spent going to restaurants, visiting tourist attractions, buying vast quantities of luxury foods which we wouldn't normally buy, paying for petrol to pick people up, drop them off, run a free taxi service for a week, purchase bedding and luxury goods which are only needed for this one visit, and all for the price of a thank you bottle of wine from Lidls at the end of the week!

We love to see them come, we love to see them go!

They were also keen to point out that their visitors arrive throughout the year, not just for one summer month, and that local restaurants and businesses benefit from the money we all spend 52 weeks of the year.

There seems to be no value put on our contribution to the local economy, no regard given for the billions we have contributed to the wallets of this regions businesses following the purchase of 100,000 second homes, most of which have been fully fitted out with new goods purchased in murcian stores, and no value placed on the money that flows into the coffers of local businesses by our very presence.

( These are your comments, which were fairly numerous and all along the same lines.)

It was interesting talking to a young journalist at the Mark Knopfler concert on Saturday, a great British export which must have generated good revenue for murcian businesses that evening judging from the thousands who packed the Plaza de Toros.

She was from Alicante, and was astonished that Ryanair were cutting so many routes. " Great for us, " she said, " tourism is our blood. Without it we are nothing. If people come to Alicante and not Murcia it can only be good for us. "

She'll be busy, as Ryanair start spending money promoting Alicante instead of promoting Murcia and switch their operations to Alicantes' new terminal, Alicante chasing their projected airport traffic of 20 million visitors next year.

 

The Region of Murcia wishes to attract 1.5 million a year once Corvea Airport opens, but if they keep losing airlines like this, they'll be lucky if there are enough incoming flights to even open it in the first place.

 

The Concejal for Tourism and Culture, Pedro Cruz, has come under fire this week for his policies and the direction in which he is leading the Culture of tourism in the region.

He was heavily criticized by the PSOE spokesman, Antonio Martinez Bernal ( this regional government is PP) who said that the campaigns of Pedro Cruz, who is the nephew of the President of the region, Ramon Luis Valcarcel, were not only " damaging to the ear, but were threatening regional tourism."

He continued, " the experiments of the concejal are eroding the weak foundations of the regional tourism sector, " and he continued to speak of the destruction of the good works done by his predecessors, complaining that the concejal was destroying the brand of Spain and the identity of the region, and that by changing the marketing of the region at a whim, he was ignoring the demands of the tourism sector.

Pedro Cruz is actually a professor of Modern Art History at the Region of Murcia, and his passion for modernity, design and determination to convert Murcia into a centre for modern art and culture have been well documented.

His campaign focuses on the logo" Murcia, Not Typical, " and his marketing has been anything but typical; whilst his predecessors focused on bronzed bodies spreadeagled across sandy beaches, Cruz adopts a stark, simplistic presentation with black backgrounds and bold coloured text. The regions stand at the Madrid tourism fair attracted a great deal of attention with violent pink sailshades and lime green panels, but many felt that beaches, sun, sea, The Mar Menor, the beauty of the region is what draws the visitors and there were as many who didn't understand what the presentation was about, as did.

Cruz is focusing on bringing the eyes of the world to rest on this region, so has embarked on bold plans such as sponsoring the tailfin of a Formula 1 car ( well a little strip of it, you don't get much tailfin for 9 million euros over 3 years. ) This has attracted good publicity from the Spanish press, particularly as Carabante , who owns the team, still hasn't managed to bully the region into paying him to come here, so his "will he take the team to Germany or won't he " vacillations have done quite well for Murcia, but then , is seeing a name on a tailfin the incentive needed to make you book a holiday there, or is a bronzed buttock on a beach more  likely to press the right buttons.

He's also brought the MTV Music night concerts to the region, beamed live worldwide to an audience of millions, promoting the name of the region, Murcia, Not Typical, Cool-tura, great stuff, except the websites' in Spanish which isn't a lot of good to a worldwide audience, most of whom speak English. Sadly, and I mean sadly  because it was a cracking concert , hardly anybody went to it, and we were able to amble up to the front and lean nonchalantly on the railings a couple of minutes before world superstar Mika hit the stage.

Although the concert may have raised the profile of the region worldwide, it caused a little friction amongst the religious element of Caravaca . The religious brotherhood failed to appreciate the subtleties of using a controversial young pop star, who is renown for his suggestive posturings and sexually potent stage act, and who has managed to fend off the media who are desperate to talk about his " is he gay" sexuality by saying he sleeps with who he wants to. Their point of view is that Caravaca is one of the 5 Holy Cities of the World, and this year is celebrating it's Holy, or Jubilee Year, with millions streaming in to venerate the cross on which Christ perished, so couldn't they have chosen a popstar who's a little more ........virginal or something.

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Let's just say , his harmonies caused a little disharmony locally.

Great concert though, and it certainly did attract a lot of eyes to the region, but will it bring in the tourists.

 

Cruz is increasingly coming under fire from those who say he is more interested in art, than tourists, whilst he would maintain that culture attracts tourists.

 Whilst he my have managed to dismiss the British tourist as being inconsequential, he may face a few more harsh words from the Spanish press tomorrow once the columnists have had time to digest this one, and the germans and the british together represent nearly 70% of the total overseas visitors to the region. There seems little point in promoting the region worldwide if there are no airlines left flying to it.

All he needs now is for Paramount Studios to pull a rabbit out of the hat for him

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Watch this space.

 

 

 

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