Tourism minister Biel Barceló has explained to parliament that eighty all-inclusive hotels have been inspected this year and that action has been taken in sixteen cases for unspecified infractions (fines have been issued).
The inspections during the summer focused on hotels that were not registered with the tourism ministry as providing all-inclusive. The hotels were identified by a simple search on the internet. Barceló pointed out that there had been no such inspections in either 2014 or 2015.
He said that it will be necessary to change regulations governing all-inclusives. These are currently inadequate when it comes to addressing issues of quality, such as the consumption of alcohol. The reform of the tourism law will include measures related to quality, he noted.
The law as it stands makes very little mention of all-inclusive. A subsequent decree linked to the 2012 law introduced the requirement for registration of the all-inclusive offer; this was issued shortly before the Partido Popular government came to an end in spring last year. The issue of alcohol consumption was highlighted in summer 2015 when a councillor in Calvia drew attention to the self-service of alcohol in certain hotels and to the level of drunkenness.
On another matter, holiday rentals, Barceló observed that it is the market which has changed the rules and brought about exponential growth in the number of tourist places that are outside the law. He pointed to the need to correct this in order to avoid negative consequences, such as those which have been highlighted in Palma.
When it comes to regulation, he said that each island and municipality has its own needs and that powers of the island councils will be respected. These powers, however, are dependent on the approval of the new tourism law, which is due to be introduced next year. "We are close to having a concrete proposal for these powers," he added.
Responsibilities that the island councils have for different tourism matters vary at present. The Council of Ibiza, for instance, has already acquired more than the Council of Majorca. This year it has acted independently of the regional tourism ministry in taking action against illegal holiday rentals and opening some one hundred proceedings related to 500 apartments deemed to have been in an "irregular" situation.