{"id":23063,"date":"2020-12-18T14:41:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T13:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mallorcaglobalmag.es\/?p=23063"},"modified":"2020-12-18T15:57:39","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T14:57:39","slug":"antoni-riera-economist-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mallorcaglobalmag.es\/en\/antoni-riera-economist-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Antoni Riera, economist: \u201dIt is not about running away from tourism but about sophistication of tourism\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professor of Economics at the UIB\u00a0and director of the Impulsa Balears\u00a0Foundation, Antoni Riera refers\u00a0to three key levers to improve the\u00a0competitiveness of the Balearic\u00a0Islands at this time: efficiency,\u00a0innovation and sustainability.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Text: Virginia Servera. Palma<\/em>
\nPhotos: A. Costa \/ Servei comunicaci\u00f3 UIB<\/em><\/p>\n

In one of your most recent articles, you\u00a0affirms that we are facing \u201ca systemic\u00a0crisis that affects the entire regional\u00a0system\u201d. Tell us what we are facing.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The truth is that it is a clearly\u00a0different crisis. The last crisis was\u00a0fundamentally a demand crisis, but\u00a0in this case we have a very important\u00a0supply component. In addition,\u00a0there is the risk that it could have a\u00a0third derivative in financial terms.\u00a0Therefore, we can say that we are\u00a0facing a very exceptional situation,\u00a0which never appears in economics\u00a0books and for which it is difficult to
\nfind a recipe.<\/p>\n

Do you think we will recover the\u00a02019 tourism activity? When?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Verbs like \u201crecover\u201d or \u201crebuild\u201d\u00a0seem to me not very ambitious\u00a0and very reactive. Instead of going\u00a0back to 2019, what we have\u00a0 to do is move forward and accelerate what we want to be in 2030. Without a doubt, the Balearic Islands will continue to live off tourism but it\u00a0will be a higher value tourism, much\u00a0more sophisticated; we will stop\u00a0providing services and start selling\u00a0experiences.<\/p>\n

The coronavirus has exposed\u00a0the weaknesses of the Balearic\u00a0economy. Is it an opportunity to find\u00a0alternatives to monoculture tourism?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVID has caused something that\u00a0other crises have not been able to\u00a0provoke: breaking with the flywheel\u00a0that tourism in the Balearic Islands\u00a0represents. In the other crises,\u00a0tourism has always been the sector\u00a0that has brought the archipelago\u00a0out of the crisis before the rest of\u00a0the regions, but not in this case. And\u00a0that leads us to face a reformulation\u00a0exercise. It is not about\u00a0 running\u00a0away from tourism but about\u00a0sophistication of tourism. That is, to\u00a0move from volume to value.<\/p>\n

\"Antoni<\/p>\n

“I would never have imagined falls in GDP of more than 20%”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Are we ready to face this challenge?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have no doubt. At this moment,\u00a0what we need is to add to the\u00a0adaptability that the Balearic\u00a0tourism ecosystem has, the\u00a0capacity to anticipate what the\u00a0next tourism will be like. And that\u00a0is where very disruptive factors\u00a0come into play, such as all issues\u00a0related to digitalisation, circularity,\u00a0sustainability, robotization…<\/p>\n

When will we see the GDP recovery?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As an economist, I would never\u00a0have imagined GDP falls of more\u00a0than 20% like those that will have\u00a0occurred in the Balearic Islands this\u00a0year. It will depend on two things:\u00a0the vaccine and the ability we have\u00a0to live with the virus. The vaccine will\u00a0give a relevant but not full solution.\u00a0Therefore, the adaptation of both\u00a0the production and consumption\u00a0processes to situations such as\u00a0the one we have experienced will\u00a0determine the time period for\u00a0recovery. I hope that in 2022 we can\u00a0start down the road.<\/p>\n

Many small and medium-sized\u00a0businesses are closing…\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As quickly as the uncertainty that\u00a0weighs on business disappears, new\u00a0opportunities will appear and there\u00a0will be a\u00a0 regeneration of that business\u00a0fabric. I am not so concerned with\u00a0quantitative substitution, which I am\u00a0convinced that it will happen, but\u00a0with qualitative substitution. May the\u00a0good, the differential and the unique\u00a0be lost in this process.<\/p>\n

\"El<\/p>\n

Unlike 2008 crisis, the government\u00a0strategy to overcome the crisis\u00a0seems to involve greater public\u00a0investment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Investment is welcome from a growth\u00a0counter perspective -if you invest\u00a0today, you get growth tomorrow- but\u00a0we would have to ensure that that\u00a0investment had a double payoff:\u00a0growth and productivity gains.\u00a0COVID is very demanding. It is not\u00a0enough to speed up the growth\u00a0counter, it is necessary to improve\u00a0the efficiency of the production\u00a0processes. The Balearic Islands need\u00a0to gain competitiveness.<\/p>\n

What made us think that we had the\u00a0best healthcare system in the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our measurement system, not\u00a0only in the health field but also in\u00a0others, was based and is based on\u00a0aspects of a quantitative nature. We\u00a0understood that we had a good\u00a0health system because the ratio of\u00a0doctors, operating rooms or beds\u00a0was higher.\u00a0 COVID has shown that\u00a0as important as the physical and\u00a0human capital that you treasure is\u00a0also the man\u00a0agement capacity and\u00a0the flexibility of these processes. And\u00a0there, it is true that we have found\u00a0some weakness.<\/p>\n

During crises, the middle class tends\u00a0to shrink and the highest incomes\u00a0to grow. Is this pattern repeating\u00a0itself? Are we going towards a more\u00a0unequal society?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Crises always generate, at least in\u00a0the most primary stages, an increase\u00a0in inequality. The most vulnerable\u00a0groups tend to bear the impact of the\u00a0crises more and, logically, the middle\u00a0class becomes also poorer.<\/p>\n

How will this thinning\u00a0of the middle class affect us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we remember the scene of the\u00a0Great Depression, after the year\u00a029, there was a reorganization\u00a0of the capitalist system itself\u00a0 and\u00a0the key was in the middle class\u00a0consolidation. The definitive answer\u00a0to COVID lies precisely in this too,\u00a0in a reformulation of the capitalist\u00a0system and relocation of the middle\u00a0class to the place where it belongs.\u00a0Otherwise, we would be subject\u00a0to many tensions of a social nature\u00a0that would end up also impacting\u00a0the economy\u2019s ability to generate\u00a0business.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor of Economics at the UIB\u00a0and director of the Impulsa […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":23056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-en"],"yoast_head":"\nInterview with Antoni Riera, economist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Professor of Economics at the UIB\u00a0and director of the Impulsa Balears\u00a0Foundation, Antoni Riera refers\u00a0to three key levers to improve the\u00a0competitiveness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mallorcaglobalmag.es\/entrevista-antoni-riera\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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