The Association of British Travel Agents is to write to the Balearic government in order to express its concerns regarding the introduction of the tourist tax and to argue that it could have the opposite effect to that which is intended.
ABTA understands the need for conserving the environment and that this should be a priority, but it does not believe that the tax is the right way to pursue this. British tourists, the association says, will be driven away from the Balearics, just as they were when the eco-tax was introduced in 2002 and that resulted in a significant reduction in tourist numbers.
In the Balearic parliament, meanwhile, President Armengol has said that there will be dialogue regarding the introduction of the tax and that it will not come about through “imposition”. She was responding to points raised by the leader of El Pi, Jaume Font, who warned her against making a “TIL of tourism” (a reference to the controversy surrounding trilingual teaching that proved to be an unpopular measure introduced by the previous government).
Armengol said that tourism minister and vice-president, Biel Barceló, was engaged in discussions with the tourism industry in order to hear their proposals and to consider how to invest revenue collected from the tax.
This revenue, said the president, should be to create a tourist destination of greater quality and added that the government was planning a “supportive and generous” tax on the part of the 13.5 million tourists who come to the islands each year. In commenting on Font’s point that the previous eco-tax had been a failure, she denied that it had been, saying that it was repealed by a “highly irresponsible” former president, i.e. Jaume Matas, whose decision was influenced by the tourism industry.