Tourism cash

TOURISM is vital for the Balearic economy; thousands of jobs depend on it. If we have a bad season, we have  bad weather. So yesterday I was astounded to see that the budget for the local ministry for tourism for next year is just 74 million euros, out of a total budget of almost 4,000 million euros. Now, out of that 74 million euros, staff must be paid and also it covers the day-to-day running of the local ministry for tourism. So how much is left in the coffers for promotion?  Not alot. At a time when private businesses are crying out for help and want to open this Winter, the local ministry for tourism has no budget. It is rather sad. You must also remember that the Ministry for tourism also has a responsibility to sport as well, so the tourism budget is even smaller. When is the Balearic government going to wake-up and realise that it needs to spend some money supporting our principal industry? Other areas of Spain have lavish tourism budgets and it shows. They can spend on advertising and promotion. The Balearic government´s tourism budget would probably stretch to a small number of campaigns in the foreign media but that is it.  So where is this 4,000 million euros going? Obviously, there is health and education but  also almost 1,000  million euros goes to pay for government debt.  This money will pay interest on major loans which were taken out by previous governments and spent on many things but not tourism promotion which is vital.