Left-wing nationalist party Més per Mallorca is calling for an increase in the tourist tax of at least 60% and an abolition of all tourism promotion by the Government and the Council of Mallorca as part of a plan of measures to reduce the weight of tourism on the economy.
“It is not intelligent to have all our eggs in the same basket, we cannot afford an economic model that links the welfare of the people with circumstances that we have no control over,” said the Nationalist candidate for the presidency of the Govern, Lluís Apesteguia, at the presentation of his plan.
According to a press release by Més per Mallorca, its project contemplates “totally abandoning” the Government’s promotion of tourism and that the Council will carry out awareness campaigns instead of promoting visits to the island. For the nationalists, the decrease in tourism will be favoured if the amount of the sustainable tourism tax is increased “drastically”. If it were to rise by 60%, it would increase revenue by around 80 million euros.
With these funds, the party argues, hotels could be bought to be decommissioned and converted into social housing or facilities. In addition, Apesteguia also promises that, if Més has the capacity to govern, it will promote the regulation of all-inclusives, eliminate the vacancies in the property stock market now paralysed by the moratorium and add a minimum of 30 tourism inspectors to the current staff of the Council of Mallorca, which has 20. It also proposes to “pressure the State” to restrict operating permits at Palma airport in high season.
However, there are calls from the centre and right wing parties to not only leave the tax alone, but rather use it for what it was designed for, while scrapping it for local residents who already pay some of the highest taxes in Spain.