The other day, I was interviewed on Spanish radio about the “over-the-top reporting” in the London media about the possibility of a hotel strike in Mallorca. I replied that what appeared in the UK press was exactly the same as what had appeared in the local press. There are already early reports that this summer season will not be as good as everyone had at first imagined, with the anti-tourism protests of last year having an impact. Who will be blamed? The international media. They scared tourists away from the island.
Don’t blame the messenger, blame the people who organised the anti-tourism protests and the local government who failed to react and allowed the protests to go ahead only saying that “they didn’t agree with them but they respected the opinions of the people who took part”.
It’s a long way from a tourist, a friend. The local authorities have been busy meeting with the tourist industry to underline the fact that tourists are more than welcome, but it would have been better if they had used the messenger.
A campaign online in the local media (Spanish, German and English) underlining the fact that tourism was Mallorca’s life-blood would have been cost-effective and useful. But no. The bad guys are the media for doing their job, a shame that others don’t do theirs.