In 30 days time tourists will be charged for the pleasure of coming to the Balearics on holiday. The tourist tax will be introduced on 1 July and, according to the Balearic government, all tourists will have to pay. So what is the Balearic government doing to spread the word across Europe? Surely it should be mounting a massive publicity drive to inform holidaymakers that they will have to pay a surcharge for their holiday.
We are not talking about a lot of money - more pennies than pounds - but some tourists will quite rightly make a fuss. No one likes paying taxes. The local ministry for tourism should be distributing leaflets at Palma airport telling tourists about the tax, when it will be introduced and how the money will be spent.
The majority of tourists will just pay it and no problem. At the end of the day other holiday destinations have similar taxes. But some won't. They will complain that the cost of their holiday and the amount of money that they will spend on holiday should be enough for the local authorities. And they are not wrong. The Balearic government claims that the tourist tax will raise in excess of 50 million euros which will be spent on improving tourist resorts. This is good news. But at the same time I believe that the local ministry for tourism should do its best to keep tourists informed. The tourist tax may have been approved locally with some support but so far tourists have not had their say.