Pedro Marín is the new president of the Playa de Palma hoteliers association. A co-founder of the Palma Beach brand, an initiative to promote quality in Playa de Palma that was set up six years ago, he is very clear that tourism of excess is incompatible with quality. As president, his priorities will be an end to bad behaviour and an improvement of Playa de Palma's image.
The hoteliers have long had their disagreements with Palma town hall, which has been criticised for neglecting Playa de Palma in various respects - maintenance of infrastructure, cleanliness and security. A new mayor in position, Marín will be telling Jaime Martínez that the principal concerns among the hotel and business community are an increase in antisocial tourism and the drinking of alcohol on the streets and on the beach.
"We are going to advise the mayor to apply the same municipal regulations that exist in Amsterdam, where heavy fines are imposed on those who consume alcohol on the streets. That city has managed to eradicate the problem. We believe that this can be done here, but there has been a lack of political will. There is a lot of permissiveness on the streets and this has to end.
"The only language that antisocial tourists understand is fines. It is the legal way to eradicate a type of tourism that nobody wants. The town hall must amend municipal ordinance so that it can act forcefully. If the fines are applied and collected immediately, this will have a direct impact on the German and British press, and the type of tourism that nobody wants will no longer come in order to get drunk and create a bad image. In two years this problem could be eliminated."
In terms of security, Marín would like the Palma police to have a permanent police station in Playa de Palma. More police are needed. On cleanliness, he wants the Emaya municipal services agency to do more.
With regard to the new administration at the town hall, Marín hopes that everything will change for the better. A meeting with Martínez has been scheduled. "We have high hopes because he knows our problems. For the past 25 years, we have invested in improvements in order to be more competitive. It is logical that the town hall takes a qualitative leap to complement this business commitment to quality and to improving the image of the main mature tourist area in Mallorca. We want to be a first-class resort."