If it were not for foreign tourism, Spain, including the Balearics, would have a massive blackhole in its economy and if the forecast is to believed, the country is going to make even more money with a further increase in visitors this year.
But while tourists may well be friends, for the majority at least, they are also becoming a cash cow. Never mind the tourist taxes and, compared to other European countries, inflated entrance fees for museums and monuments, it appears that there is a growing desire to charge for everything and anything.
The latest being tourists visiting Seville who may soon have to pay a fee to explore the wide, ornate Plaza de España square as part of plans to control tourist overload in a public open space. I’ve seen it, it is amazing, but it is a public space: public get it?
Now, the elephant in the room appears to be “tourism overload”. Why not start at the grassroots before continuing to allow unlimited numbers of foreign tourists to spend heavily to come to Spain and then clobber them for more cash once they are here? Visitors are not made of money.
hcarter@majorcadailybulletin.es