Marga Prohens, the president of the Balearics, said on Friday that her government's tourism policies will not be made on the assumption that everything the previous government had introduced was wrong. "If there are things that are working and are being well received, such as the commitment to a circular economy, these must continue."
Her comments can be seen as a response to the CEO of Meliá Hotels International, Gabriel Escarrer. Earlier this week, he stressed that he was in favour of maintaining "positive aspects" of the last government's tourism legislation, while adding that there are things which can be improved.
Escarrer, who has a powerful voice as boss of Mallorca's biggest hotel group and president of the Exceltur alliance of leading tourism/travel businesses, observed some weeks before the regional election at the end of May that he felt "comfortable" with both former president, Francina Armengol, and the ex-tourism minister, Iago Negueruela. There were elements of tourism legislation that he was fully in agreement with.
The new government will be drafting its own law, aspects of which, as Prohens has noted, will update certain provisions of the 2012 tourism law adopted when the Partido Popular were last in power. One policy that the government will definitely be scrapping is the moratorium on new tourist accommodation places. This will be in line with a PP insistence that their policies will not imply a decrease in tourist numbers. Prohens stated on Friday that those who advocate such a decrease "don't know what the consequences will be".
As it is, there is no evidence to indicate that there is a decrease in tourist numbers. The most recent figures for foreign tourism in the Balearics (June's) showed a five per cent increase.