¿QUÉ PASA? T H E C A N E L A P U B L I C R E L AT I O N S N E W S L E T T E R
SEPTEMBER 06
Bienvenido, Benvinguts, Welcome to Canela’s fifth edition of ¿Qué Pasa?. Welcome back after the summer. We hope you enjoyed the summer break and are now ready to get on with some real work. As ever we have packed ¿Qué Pasa? with information about the media, industry sectors and the Spanish way of life.
ALL COMMENTS, QUERIES, FEEDBACK, PRAISE AND QUESTIONS PLEASE EMAIL US HOLA@CANELAPR.COM
INSIGHT INTO MEDIA INSIGHT INTO INDUSTRY
Travel & Tourism Spain is now the world’s third most important tourist destination after France and the USA. As anybody with a photo of themselves aged 8 riding a donkey knows Spain was the first mass-market holiday destination in Europe and the industry expanded rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s. This boom was followed by a bust in the 1980s as prices rose, consumer tastes changed and competition from other destinations intensified. However, following the peseta devaluation in the 1990s tourists flocked back to Spain in record numbers encouraged by efforts to revitalise run-down resorts, contain environmental damage and exploit the country’s inland resources. However since 2003 the tourism industry has again suffered a downturn. This is as a result of a combination of factors including the economic stagnation of Germany, a shift of preference among Europeans to long haul destinations e.g.: the Americas and Asia and a wider variety of short haul destinations being on offer in Europe e.g. Bulgaria, Croatia, Maghreb and Turkey. Over the past four years prices in tourism and catering services have moved far ahead of Spain’s headline rate of inflation, itself already above the EU average. As yet no plan has emerged at a national level to try to turn this situation around.
WHAT’S BEEN IN THE HEADLINES? >>>> EASYJET HUB IS MOVING TO MADRID easyJet has recently announced that it will locate its second southern-Europe hub in Madrid and by doing so will step up the challenge to Spain’s traditional carriers. After a summer of strikes by Iberia staff which crippled and ruined many a holiday this is seen as a welcome move by all Spanish residents. EasyJet is the second biggest carrier to Spain after Iberia and wants to take a chunk of the domestic and European travel by Spaniards. The new hub will be based in Madrid’s Barajas Airport and is aiming to break into the market for Spanish business and holiday travel to both domestic
and foreign destinations. EasyJet shuttled 7.5 million people to and from Spain last year but still sees plenty of room for expansion. Currently a third of inbound visitors to Spain are transported by budget airlines. EasyJet will begin operating out of Barajas in February 2007 following an investment of ¤100 million spent on new planes, pilots and cabin crew.
>>>> BARCELONA HAS A NEW MAYOR Joan Clos, the Mayor of Barcelona, has now made the leap to national government where he will be the Minister of Industry and Tourism. Clos, a Doctor and a member of PSC (Socialist Party of Catalonia) has been Alcalde (Mayor) of Barcelona for nine years and during his
Cinco Días is Spain’s equivalent of the FT in that it too is printed on an off-salmon shade of paper. Its content includes market and business coverage, opinion pages, news, and financial analysis. Cinco Días hails from Grupo PRISA, Spain’s largest publishing house, which also publishes El País. With 69.000 readers Cinco Días has recently experienced a downturn in readers in favour of its rival Expansión and is struggling to retain market share as one of the most important daily financial publications against its rivals Expansión and La Gaceta de los Negocios. Fortunately CincoDías.com enjoys a prized place on the Internet. Since its Web debut in 1998 CincoDías.com has become the leader in the economic online press sector with over 10.7 million pages viewed in July alone and is now considered one of the most valuable tools available for financial analysis.
tenure has been feted with all manner of public building works. The most famous and controversial of his legacies is the Forum which is Barcelona’s equivalent to the Millennium Dome area. The Forum, to the north of the city, was constructed in 2004 and required a major renovation of a disused part of the city which promised much, to house the number one luxury yacht marina in the Mediterranean, and has yet to deliver, currently housing a couple of rubber dinghies. Clos’ successor Jordi Hereu will hopefully enjoy a bit more popularity amongst Barcelonians, 66% of the readers polled in the local free daily 20 Minutos believe Clos has been a “mal Alcalde” (Bad Mayor) but this may could well be attributed to his administration’s efficiency with parking fines rather than any deep ideological objections to his policymaking.
¿QUÉ PASA?
T H E C A N E L A P U B L I C R E L AT I O N S N E W S L E T T E R
SEPTEMBER 06
WHAT’S COMING UP ETRE BARCELONA, 8 – 11 OCTOBER 2006 Barcelona is getting ready to host between the 8 and 11 of October a unique invitation-only event called ETRE. ETRE, which stands for European Technology Roundtable Exhibition, will gather CEOs, entrepreneurs, financiers and other leaders from the Information Technology and Communications industry. Confirmed speakers this year include: Jean Philippe Courtois, President, Microsoft International; John Thompson, Chairman and CEO, Symantec; Niklas Zennstrom, Co-Founder and CEO, Skype. For more information please visit the event’s website — www.etre06.com SIMO MADRID, 7 – 12 NOVEMBER 2006 SIMO, the International Data Processing, Multimedia and Communications Show takes place in Madrid from 7 – 12 November.The show attracts 250,000 visitors including trade and general public and is the numero uno event in Spain for the IT industry. For more information, please visit the event’s website — http://www.ifema.es/ferias/simo/default.html
SPANISH PR SPEAK FOR BEGINNERS REVISION ON QUESTIONS
How do you say the following in Spanish? I hate tourists Bad Mayor NEW VOCABULARY Work interview – Entrevista de trabajo Working hours – Horario laboral Work experience person – Becaria Long weekend (when a bank holiday falls either on Thursday, everybody takes Friday off as well) – Puente
Freelance – Trabajador por cuenta propia/autónomo
‘the boss is in a meeting’ – la jefa está reunida
I BET YOU WISH THIS HAPPENED WHERE YOU LIVE
LA MERCÈ
Unlike those of you in the UK who have no bank holidays left between now and Christmas, Canela is delighted to report that we will shortly be having a long weekend (Puente) to celebrate the Festes de La Mercè taking place this year from September 22nd to 25th. La Mercè, Our Lady of Mercy, is the Patron saint of Barcelona and as those of you who have visited the city may remember she occupies a prominent place on the Barcelona skyline. The celebrations in her honour include live bands, dancing, fireworks and human castles (wedding cake arrangements of human beings that are anywhere between 5-10 layers high), the metro goes uninterrupted from Friday night to Monday morning. If you need us on Tuesday the 26th please be gentle with us.
SHAMELESS PLUGGING OF CLIENTS EnGrande, Canela’s client who offers budget accommodation in Barcelona, Paris and Madrid, is expanding. EnGrande like EasyJet is rolling out all over Europe and from November 2006 will be taking its Urban 30s concept, no more than 30¤ per person per night, to Seville, London, Amsterdam, Rome, Berlin, Mallorca and Dublin. Congratulations EnGrande!!