The Majorca Hoteliers Federation has reacted with alarm and concern at the announcement by Balearic tourism minister, Biel Barceló, that the tourist tax is to be applied next year. The federation, in addition to claiming that the tax will lead to the loss of “millions” for the businesses and economy of the Balearics, says that the announcement has come despite the fact that it still hasn’t been made clear how it will actually be applied.
Its president, Inma Benito, has described the announcement as “precipitous” and has accused the government of a “failure in consensus,” adding that tourism policy should not be focused solely on the design of a tourist tax. Benito has also said that she is surprised at the prospect of the tax coming in next year, given that contracts, not taking account of a tax, have been finalised with hotels for 2016.
She had trusted that the implementation of the tax was to be made with consensus and not through “imposition” and not taking into account economic criteria and so therefore the competitiveness of the Balearics and the islands’ businesses.
She has pointed out that the tax has always been linked to inadequate financing by the state but is critical of the fact that the “only solution and only proposal regarding this lack of financing is to increase the tax burden on businesses without considering the consequences that this may have on the Balearic economy as a whole.”