The Mallorca association for organic agricultural production has criticised the island's hospitality industry for having snubbed it by not attending the first conference for tourism, food and wine and local products. A key objective of the conference was to promote local products to hotels and restaurants.
Organised by the Balearic ministry of agriculture, a reason for the two-day conference was legislation that requires hotels to have minimum percentages of local products on their menus - typically three per cent.
The association's president, Miquel Coll, who thanked the ministry for a well-organised event, regretted the fact that attendees were mostly all from the agricultural sector. There were notable exceptions. One was Garden Hotels, who have received many plaudits for a strategy committed to sustainability and local products. Garden, for example, have their own composting facilities and direct arrangements with producers. The company's strategy predates the legislation by several years.
Coll says: "There's constant talk about sustainability and circularity, and that means buying local products. If this isn't happening, then what's the point? In the end, it's just greenwashing. There are campaigns and speeches about social and environmental responsibility that don't materialise in practice.
"If you create a space like that for us to get to know each other and the other side doesn't show up, it's pointless. It's very unprofessional. The absence demonstrates a lack of real commitment to local products and, ultimately, to territory that sustains tourism."