Humphrey Carter says “Honour your pledge Mr. Balearic President”
President Jose Ramon Bauza was full of praise for the nautical industry yesterday, but we’ve heard it before. The 30th Palma Boat Show was opened by the Balearic President Yesterday while over 2,500 people marched through Palma calling for him to resign. And, in his opening speech he championed the nautical industry and the importance it has in the Balearic islands as a creator of jobs and wealth. Yes, we, and the nautical industry in particular is well aware of that, it has been for years considering the Palma‘s boatyards and it’s professional staff are considered some of the best in the Mediterranean. What the local nautical industry wants, and Bauza knows having made a great effort to show a deep interest in the industry’s problems, is more marinas, less legislation and the scrapping of the matriculation tax which has all but crippled the charter industry and costs the Balearic islands an estimated 600 million euros in lost business every year. So, if Bauza is as proud of the local nautical industry as he claims to be, he knows what to do, honor his words. There is no point in trying to appease the nautical industry because much of it is run by foreign professional who have worked all over the world and have an international clientele. With all due respects, President Bauza may think he can kid the local closed shop business community in which everyone knows each other, but he would be best advised not to mess with the nautical word. Yacht owners contribute valuable income for Mallorca in particular and even the Mallorca real estate industry enjoys the benefits.
