Tourism minister Bel Busquets stated in parliament yesterday that it is a lie to suggest that the government has stopped hotels undertaking renovation work. "If a hotel doesn't want to increase the number of places, it can go to the town hall and seek permission (for renovation). Hotels can continue to renovate without having to ask the tourism ministry." (Authorisation for new places would have to come from the ministry.)
Busquets was responding to points raised by Marga Prohens of the Partido Popular, who described Busquets as "the best anti-tourism minister the Balearics have had". The minister insisted that she was not going to repeat that the government has stopped renovation or that prices are very expensive because of the tourist tax. The government's model, she said, is based on addressing seasonality, "massification in the summer" and job insecurity.
Prohens criticised the government for not having extended the 2012 tourism law, which had enabled the redevelopment of hotel stock. The PP, she said, will correct this "within one hundred days" (if the party returns to government).