Ministry launches inspection campaign

by Staff Reporter
THE Balearic Ministry of Tourism has started making inroads into cracking down on illegal tourist “residences” and into controlling and verifying the quality of offers known as “all inclusive”, to which some hotels lay claim. Ministry sources have confirmed that one angle of the campaign will involve technical officials and tourism inspectors visiting the principal tourist residence areas of the island in order to “locate and destroy” any offers being advertised that are illegal. It is an aim of the inspectors to check and control methods of marketing the accommodation centres. Investigations will be made to see if each establishment complies with the level of quality expected from its services. Another approach of the campaign will commit the Ministry of Tourism to ensuring certain standards in establishments that offer an “all inclusive” package. The director general of Town and Country Planning, Josep Aloy, reported that in order to achieve this, a selection of 30 hotels or accommodation centres which advertise this facility will be made. They will then be inspected to check whether the quality of services that they offer is commensurate with the prices that the tourists are paying. “A questionnaire will be handed to the hotels' proprietors to fill in. If irregularities are detected, action will be taken” confirmed Aloy.
The Ministry doesn't want to stop the expansion of this new form of all-inclusive offer. “The only thing we aim to do is keep the level of quality at a certain level so that the client goes away happy. It's clear that this kind of offer is on the upward trend and is in demand in the tourist market. We can't do anything to alter its popularity but we can control the quality of the product because the image of tourism in Majorca is at stake”. The inspection campaign will go on until mid September this year, the same period of time as another control which aims to inspect offers in residential tourism. Aloy simultaneously announced that the Ministry has begun checks through the main areas of the Island where residential tourism is on offer, principally in the enclaves of Alcúdia, Pollensa and Calviá. This form of tourism allows holiday makers to rent private accommodation on the island. Such properties are often in highly desirable residential areas.
Inspectors will check on marketing of the offers, if there is periodic rotation of people and what quality of services are on offer (restaurant facilities, room cleaning, etc). “It's important that the Ministry verifies whether these establishments are functioning according to the Law, or not” furthered the Town and Country Planning director. A key aspect of checking whether or not the means of marketing these residences fall in line with Ministry guidelines is to check tourist websites on the Internet which give details of such holidays. Also, property magazines at a local level and national and foreign publications available on Majorca are a source of advertising residencial tourism.