The consultative council, the legal body that checks on regional government legislation, has been looking at the text of the law for the sustainable tourism tax. The council broadly accepts the law's content but has pointed to certain caveats that need to be addressed before the government's cabinet can definitively ratify the law on 23 June prior to the tax being introduced on 1 July.
The finance minister, Catalina Cladera, says that the government is satisfied that the council has validated the regulation and that it will abide by a ruling of the council in respect of "collaborative" accommodation. By this, she means properties being marketed via websites such as Airbnb. The council has told the government that this type of accommodation, which is not regulated, is beyond the scope of the law and so therefore is not liable for the tax to be charged.
Cladera adds that the government will be amending the tourism law as soon as possible in order that there is regulation of accommodation of all types. This is the legislation on holiday rentals that the government plans on introducing next year.
The various "collaborative" websites - Airbnb, Homeaway and others - currently offer some 80,000 properties in the Balearics: 20,000 more than was the case in 2015. The complexity of bringing this type of accommodation within the ambit of legislation is one reason why it is taking the government rather longer than it might have hoped in introducing its new regulations.