Dear Sir,
Sadness and astonishment is what I feel, as a Majorcan citizen, on reading the Viewpoint by Jason Moore about the spending and some points of view of the Bulletin’s readers regarding the eco-tax. I don’t understand this obsession to attack the public sector as though it was the root of all problems in our society. Believe it or not, today, in these times of massive turnover and visitor records in the hotel chains and travel agencies still there is a great number of people who depend on the councils to have, at least, a worthy livelihood. Merging the councils into one as Moore suggested not only doesn’t solve this shameful problem but it would be worse. Such measures which a lot of Governments have enforced in Europe are planned, designed and enforced to turn a blind eye to people's problems, so simple. I also don’t understand this unreasonable fear to this hideous eco-tax that our hoteliers show. It is always the same history and the same goal; to belittle and look down on the public sector. Hoteliers should have stood for election if they wanted to thwart the leftist coalition Government’s plans to introduce a tourist tax. The eco-tax not only should have been already introduced by former Governments but trying to overlook all the ecological consequences that a massive influx of tourists have on a piece of land like an island is the major mistake that any Government could make in these times of turnover, revenues and visitor records. Hoteliers, travel agencies..., are fiercely opposed to a tourist tax because it sounds like a public sector idea. An honest Goverment knows how to deliver the revenues that a tourist tax provides for a country. And at this point it’s when we can discover the real face of the hoteliers. They constantly threaten us that if a tourist tax is introduced bookings to Majorca will plunge drastically. A Government also has the obligation to invest the revenue to improve public services such as healthcare, schools and others sectors that need a public "bail out", not only the banks. The eco-tax has also to empower a major Government strategy to draw quality tourism all the year round. Year after year the extreme climatic conditions will be more extreme. Future generations will be constantly shunning these extreme conditions. This heatwave that we have undergone in Europe is only a portion of something worse to come, and I repeat. Ignoring or overlooking the circumstances is the major mistake that any Government could make nowadays in these times of records.
Miquel Estelrich Bestard
Cala Ratjada