PSOE, one of the three parties of the Balearic government, have presented an amendment to the recent tourism decree law. This applies to the decree's four-year freeze on new tourist accommodation places.
The decree, which is in force, is now being processed as a bill by parliament. One of its key aspects is this freeze on places. PSOE are seeking an exemption where hotel establishments are listed buildings or assets in the cultural interest. The party maintains that this would benefit small-scale projects while at the same time preserving cultural heritage. PSOE would place limits on the number of new places - 200 in Mallorca, 100 in both Minorca and Ibiza and 50 in Formentera. As the decree stands at present, over 18,000 places are frozen.
This amendment would apparently save two projects that were already being prepared in Mallorca, but it doesn't have the backing of PSOE's partners in government - Més and Podemos. Support would therefore be needed from opposition parties. The Partido Popular, the main opposition party, have announced that they will present their own bill. The contents of this alternative bill are as yet unknown.
Meanwhile, Més are preparing amendments related to all-inclusive accommodation and both they and Podemos want to limit the amount of expansion that hotels can have in their own grounds. This has been set at 15% of the existing built area. Més and Podemos want this reduced to ten per cent. This expansion would not be for accommodation but for new facilities.