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ARCHIVED - Murcian and Spanish weekly news round-up, w/e 24th January 2016
Venice-style taxis for La Manga and a buyer for the hotel in La Torre Golf Resort as Murcia shows off its wares in Madrid
In the week of the huge FITUR tourism fair in Madrid it is appropriate and unsurprising that various plans to boost visitor numbers to the Region of Murcia have been in the news this week, their wide diversity reflecting the variety of attractions which the Costa Cálida offers.
Top of the bill at Murcia’s stand at Fitur is the Jubilee Year which will be celebrated in the holy city of Caravaca de la Cruz in 2017, but the regional delegation is also keen to present as many aspects of the Region as possible alongside each other. Sports tourism is among them, with the equestrian Winter Cup in Altorreal being promoted as an example of how the climate of Murcia is favourable for sporting activities even in January, while of course the beaches are always likely to remain the strongest attraction for those coming here from the rest of Spain and abroad, and here too there are constant improvements being made. These range from the new staircases and ramps being installed to improve access to two of the beaches of Mazarrón to the Venice-style boat taxi service which has been announced by the regional government in La Manga as part of the 45-million euro project to revitalize the Mar Menor area and stimulate year-round tourism. A ferry route around the lagoon is also planned, as is the completion of an unbroken promenade along the full length of the Mediterranean shore of La Manga.
However, another ambitious scheme to cater for tourists has been shelved by the Town Hall of Lorca, where plans to drill a lift shaft and access corridor into the mountainside in order to make access to the castle easier from the town centre have been abandoned in favour of a new underpass which will ease traffic congestion in the south-west of the city. The castle and the views from it are highly impressive, but unfortunately the route up to it can be something of a deterrent for visitors.
The pleasures of the Murcia countryside are also being promoted at Fitur – and what better way to explore them than on the walks included in the Sendalhama program organized by the Town Hall of Alhama de Murcia, details of which were announced this week for the rest of the year – and of course many visitors are also attracted by the monuments and cultural heritage of the main cities. In this respect Cartagena is perhaps best known for its Roman theatre, but in some ways equally majestic is the Modernist architecture in the city centre which dates from the prosperous years of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and to coincide with the centenary of the Gran Hotel, one of the finest examples, the Town Hall has announced that 2016 will be designated the “Year of Modernism”.
That there is scope for tourism to become an even more important part of the regional economy is demonstrated by the continued growth in cruise ship visitor numbers at the port of Cartagena, where in the first eleven months of last year over 140,000 passengers disembarked – by no means comparable with figures in Barcelona and the Balearics, but still a significant boost to local businesses – and also by reports during the week that a buyer has been found for the five-star Intercontinental hotel on La Torre Golf Resort, which closed to guests in 2013.
This, coupled with expansion at La Manga Club and other recent investor interest, shows that there is considerable faith in the potential for growth in Murcia, and partly for this reason there are at least seven companies ready to bid for the new management contract at the airport in Corvera. Surprising news this week is that an eighth bidder could be none other than Sacyr, the leader of the Aeromur consortium whose original management contract was rescinded by the regional government on the grounds that the company had failed to open the airport by the stipulated date.
Of course most of those who visit Murcia are aware that they are coming to an area with a warm climate, but last weekend winter suddenly arrived with a vengeance after an unusually warm spell and temperatures plummeted to as low as -6ºC in the north-west of the Region. In the countryside nearer the coast the drop in temperatures was less drastic and is good news for farmers whose crops were growing ahead of schedule, particularly if a little rain could be added into the mix, and while naturally beachgoers will have been disappointed it should be remembered that farmers are desperate for “normal” weather conditions to return, and will go to great lengths to protect their produce. Witness, for example, the fifteen anti-hailstorm rockets which were found in an abandoned country property in Yecla and had to be disposed of by the bomb squad!
Despite the cooler weather, though, dog owners are warned that the annual arrival of processionary pine caterpillars is still likely to occur earlier than usual this year, and in various municipalities such as Blanca spraying and nest removals are under way.
It feels to many of us like only yesterday that the prolonged Spanish Christmas festivities ended with the visit of the Three Kings, but in the Region of Murcia there is always room for more fiestas and traditional celebrations. Preparations for Carnival in early February have already begun in Águilas and Mazarrón, and last weekend the feast day of San Antón provided an opportunity for many people to have their pets blessed by parish priests (and for photographers to capture shots of churchmen posing with animals!). In Totana, meanwhile, the town was invaded by zombies on Saturday night – another good photo opportunity – while in the city of Murcia local and regional government officials were among those taking advantage of a free breakfast provided by the Bishop of Cartagena in a ceremony which was reinstated in 1986 to mark the feast day of San Fulgencio.
Of course there has been a good deal of more serious news this week, particularly in relation to the Acuamed corruption case (see national news below) and its ramifications in Murcia, and as usual crime stories have been plentiful. However, many of these concern offenders who have been arrested, such as two serial burglars in Totana, or whose activities have been curtailed, such as the illegal “top manta” street vendors at the Cabo de Palos market. A spate of burglaries in the Campo de Cartagena is unfortunately still ongoing, prompting the Town Hall to call for more police resources to be deployed in the countryside, but it is hoped that an end is in sight to this episode.
Two policemen who made the news for different reasons this week were the officers of the Policía Local in Alcantarilla who were suspended from duty for three days for taking “comfort breaks” while on motorcycle patrol duty in 2014. That may sound a little harsh – indeed, one of the men appealed against the punishment in court – but they were observed by senior officers to have left their bikes unattended in order to enter bars twice within the space of an hour: presumably this is not the kind of extra policing that the Town Hall of Cartagena has in mind!
Lastly, an eye-catching approach to infant education in the Santiago de la Ribera area of San Javier. Many might view infant education as a matter of toilet training and using wax crayons, but in Santiago a group of 2-year-olds from the local nursery school this week visited the Ecopark to take part in a number of recycling activities designed to breed eco-friendly habits. It could be argued that the children are far too young to learn about environmentally-friendly behaviour, but on the other hand the ability of toddlers to learn should not be underestimated. If children aged two can learn two languages simultaneously (and they can), why should they not be able to tell the difference between plastic, cardboard and glass?
What's on Murcia
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Murcia property news
In a quiet week for news on the property market the most significant data published provided further evidence that the slump in prices is practically at an end. One prominent property portal reported that second-hand residential prices in the Region of Murcia fell by only 1% last year, and in fact were stable for the last few months of 2015, while at the same time another portal concluded that rental prices in the region rose by 4.5%.
In the light of these findings, 2016 still looks like being the year when the main indicators all reflect the turnaround of the market into positive territory and real estate begins to increase in value again.
It's important to keep an eye on the exchange rate if buying a property or transferring your pension
Anyone exchanging their pension from Pound Sterling to Euros or buying a property will be aware of just how much difference the rate can make to the amount they will have to spend and for major purchases, such as a property, transferring cash at the right moment can make a difference of several thousand Euros.
Spanish News Today round-up w/e 24th January 2015
Three weeks into the new year and over a month after the general election, much of the attention in the Spanish news media is still focused on the negotiations between the four main political parties to form a new government, and as the deadline for doing so begins to near, the uncertainty over who will govern the country for the next four years is beginning to cause a certain degree of nervousness among economists and foreign investors.
As the week comes to an end King Felipe VI is completing a round of meetings with the leaders of all four of the political parties with most representation in the new parliament, and there is still some doubt over who will be asked by the monarch to attempt to form a government. In some quarters there is speculation that he could depart from the norm and nominate Pedro Sánchez of the PSOE party, despite the fact that the ruling PP have more seats in parliament, but there can be little doubt that the main thrust of his interviews with all four men will be that there is a need for stability and governability above all. What kind of agreement can be forged among them is difficult to envisage, but what is clear is that what both Felipe VI and the general public want is a pact, rather than another general election.
One definite result of the election on 20th December, though, is that the face of Spanish politics has been revolutionized. MPs, particularly those representing Podemos, are attending parliament in unconventional attire, wearing dreadlocks and scruffy jeans, perhaps reflecting a closer affinity to most of those who voted for them than has been the case in the past, and as a result the be-suited representatives of the “old” PP and PSOE parties are obliged to take the opinions of men in ponytails and informal garments more seriously. At the moment the revolution in parliament is merely cosmetic, but if an alliance with the newer parties comes to power it may be that some of the policies introduced in the next few years could be equally revolutionary.
One of the reasons for the emergence of the new Podemos and Ciudadanos parties is the general disillusionment with the PP and the PSOE, particularly their constant involvement in corruption cases. Another of these emerged this week when 13 people were arrested on Monday as part of investigations into Acuamed, the State-owned company which awards contracts for infrastructures concerned with the water supply in Spain, such as desalination and wastewater treatment plants. Five of those detained are still being held in prison without bail as investigations continue.
The degree to which many Spaniards, including the newer political parties, are no longer prepared to tolerate any suggestion of corruption can also be seen in the attitude which is being shown in many areas to the Nóos Case, where Princess Cristina is among the accused. Last week Torrevieja in Alicante re-named its sports complex to remove the Princess’s name from it, and this week the city council of Barcelona voted to withdraw from the King’s sister the Gold Medal which was awarded to her in 1997: the rejection of corrupt practices is one thing, but there may be a danger that the presumption of innocence until proven guilty is being waived in cases like this.
Another feature of the newer parties is that they give far greater priority to animal rights, and are generally far more prepared to outlaw traditions such as bullfighting, and a couple of cases this week illustrate areas where they would be likely to take immediate action. One was the shocking case of a pig farm employee in Almería who jumped on 72 piglets, breaking their backs, before spreading a video of his exploits on WhatsApp, while similar outrage among animal lovers was caused by the holding of the “Las Luminarias” celebration in the province of Ávila. This ceremony consists of horses being ridden over a bonfire as a symbol of purification, but there are growing demands for the animals to be required to pass around the flames rather than through them.
More acceptable to the animal rights activists might be the pre-carnival fiestas of Xinzo de Limia in Galicia, where rival bands of people pelt each other with flour: huge fun, not very dangerous and very rarely do any participants or animals get hurt.
For the time being the political uncertainty is not having any discernible effect on the economy, apart from jitters on the stock exchange, and this week the IMF revised its forecast for Spain’s economic growth in 2016 upwards for the seventh time, to 2.7%. However, the organization headed by Christine Lagarde also warned that the ability of the country to meet this expectation could be seriously harmed by any failure to resolve the issue of who will form the next government and how.
One of the strongest sectors of the Spanish economy last year was without any doubt tourism, and data published this week reinforces the fact that more people are visiting Spain and spending more money while doing so than at any point in the past. Within this overall picture the latest figures show that low-cost airlines are thriving (although traditional airlines’ passenger numbers are also still growing) and now account for almost half of all visitors arriving by air in this country, and at the same time cruise ship ports are also benefitting from the increased attractiveness of Spain as a tourist destination: last year passenger numbers rose at almost all of the major ports, and the total of close to 8 million cruise visitors in the first eleven months of last year represents an increase of 10% over 2014.
Retail is another area of the economy which is now recovering from the crisis, as Amancio Ortega will testify. Sr Ortega is the president of the Inditex group which owns chain stores such as Zara and Stradivarius, and his personal fortune is currently estimated to be 64.5 billion US dollars, making him by far the wealthiest individual in Spain, ahead of his daughter who lies in second place.
If tourism and retail are growth areas for Spain, though, then tobacco production most certainly isn’t. This week Altadis announced that its last cigarette factory in this country in La Rioja will shut down in June due to falling demand, and the tobacco industry in this country is now on its knees due to health concerns, anti-smoking legislation, high taxation and competition from contraband cigarettes. The workers made redundant will be offered early retirement or relocation packages, but the future for the sector looks increasingly grim.
Immigration is never far away from the news in Spain, and this week the main stories concerned those attempting to make their way illegally into this country across the Mediterranean. Last year it is estimated that around 4,000 people attempted to gain entry to the EU via Spain in this way – a very low figure compared to over 800,000 in Greece – and the flow continued this week with another 34 intercepted during their perilous crossing from Morocco on Monday. Another two were caught in the water of the marina in the north African enclave of Ceuta, where one of them, aged 17, was in danger of losing his life to hypothermia after almost drowning.
In most of Spain, as we near the end of January, the weather is at last showing signs of becoming more wintry, and last week there was some much-needed snow in the ski resorts of the north. Too much, in fact, for one skier who lost his life in La Rioja in an avalanche which he is thought to have started himself, but with more pistes now open both in the north and in the Sierra Nevada this is another part of the Spanish tourist industry which will be hoping for a bumper mini-season between now and April.
More mountain deaths were registered during the week in Ávila, where two climbers have died in the Sierra de Gredos this month, and Cuenca, where a family of four lost their lives when their private plane crashed on its way back to León from Alicante.
Finally, two petrol-related stories. The first is good news for motorists, with forecourt prices in Spain now having fallen to the lowest in seven years, while the second concerns one of the most poorly planned and executed robberies it has yet been our pleasure to report.
A robber in Almoradí, in the province of Alicante, successfully made off with the contents of the till at a local petrol station but then ran out of petrol as he made his getaway and decided, having removed his balaclava, that he would not be recognized if he walked back to the filling station to buy a canister suing some of the proceeds of his heist. However, he was wrong, as the attendant on duty recognized his voice and indicated by series of nods and winks to the Guardia Civil officers who had arrived in the meantime that the man patiently waiting to buy petrol was in fact the guilty party.
As he awaits trial the robber will no doubt be wondering just how his meticulous planning went wrong, having already succeeded in making off with a rewarding haul of one mincemeat pastry from a robbery at a bakery earlier the same night!
Spanish Property news round-up
There is a sense in the Spanish property market that 2016 could be a momentous year, with the slump in prices finally ending once and for all and prosperity returning to the sector after eight years, but for the time being it seems that there is still room for only cautious optimism, particularly in the light of the uncertainty over the formation of the new national government.
The data published this week reflects to a certain extent the fragility of the recovery. The most optimistic figures were released by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, reporting that residential property prices in Spain rose by 4.5% in the twelve months ending on September 30th last year. This finding is more optimistic than those produced within this country, and is therefore welcomed, but unfortunately other real estate market analyses also have to be taken into account.
One leading second-hand property portal published its summary of 2015 this week, concluding that according to the advertisements placed online prices actually fell by 0.8% during last year. At the same time, though, this is the best result since 2006, and in five of the country’s seventeen regions (the Balearics, Madrid, La Rioja, Andalucía and Galicia) the average price per square metre is reported to have risen. In many others the fall was minimal, and the trend, if it is maintained, indicates that in the year just started property could begin to appreciate in value in almost all areas of Spain.
Another indication of buoyancy was published by a different portal, where it was reported this week that real estate rental prices rose by 3.3% last year. Again this increase was far from universal throughout Spain, underlining the fact that recovery will be quicker in some areas than in others, but in some major cities spectacular price increases were observed, particularly Barcelona (23%), Tarragona (14%), Málaga (13.5%) and Madrid (9%).
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