The name change of the stadium where Real Mallorca plays has caused an unexpected controversy that contains political, economic and tourist elements that have left the left-wing pact in the Consell de Mallorca on the ropes. The institution, at the request of the PSOE, will pay 1.8 million euros for the stadium to be called Visit Mallorca and not Son Moix, as is its traditional place name.
The proposal does not have the support of its partners, Més and Pdemos, so the sponsorship agreement has gone ahead with the votes of the PSOE, the PP, Cs and Vox and Proposta per les Illes (PI). The partners of Catalina Cladera, president of the Consell de Mallorca, consider that the socialists have broken the agreements that were signed four years ago by approving a proposal with the opposition that is not agreed upon,
In fact, the Son Moix stadium has been called Visit Mallorca for two years. When the pandemic broke out, those responsible for the club offered this name change to the institutions for free to promote the island in the midst of the pandemic.
Circumstances have changed and Mallorca is overflowing with tourists this year in a season that is close to pre-pandemic data. Més and Podemos consider that this type of tourist promotion of the Island, which is already overcrowded, should not be carried out. The leader of Més, Lluís Apesteguia, believes that the tourism policy should be the opposite of the one that promotes the change of name since it is necessary to bet on the decrease in tourism.
The leader of Podemos on the islands, Antònia Jover, assures that there are many priorities in which the money that will go to Real Mallorca as sponsorship is spent. "Spending 1.8 million to change the name of a stadium to attract more tourists is surely not one of them," she says.
The partners had asked the president of the Consell de Mallorca not to withdraw this point from the agenda of the board meeting in which the sponsorship was approved this Wednesday. The PSOE refused, arguing that it is a good agreement for the Island that will help deseasonalize the arrival of tourists and promote quality tourism, according to the person in charge of Tourism of the Consell, Andreu Serra.
