The Balearics are in for 230 million euros of EU Next Generation funds for “tourism recovery”. Twenty per cent of this funding has so far been delivered, with 30 million having landed in Mallorca. This will assist in propelling the island, as the president of the Council of Mallorca, Catalina Cladera, has said, towards tourism leadership and a model that is more sustainable socially and economically and in terms of the environment, circularity and quality.
Assisting the Council is the Balearic government, which has its own ministry for European funds. Such a ministry, Spain’s first deputy prime minister observed recently, will ensure using resources where there is a priority. Which will be the Cladera model, one takes it.
Behind all the constant talk of sustainability, circularity and a new model (powered by EU funds), there is some action. Like upwards of two million euros for promoting a “gastronomic tourist triangle” involving Palma, Barcelona and Valencia. This triangle will, naturally enough, address seasonality, as sustainability demands that it is.
How this triangle will function I can’t honestly say. Nor can I be certain how three million euros are required for a regatta channel on Alcudia’s big lake; the idea seems sound, but three million? However, as there’s a ministry prioritising the spending, the five million in all must be money well spent.
Priorities? We can probably all point to what we believe these should be. But then we don’t have windfalls from Brussels to play with. Here would be mine - bringing the decaying areas of some of our tourist resorts into the twenty-first century.