At a meeting in Madrid to discuss the future of sun and beach tourism, the president of the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation (FEHM), Javier Vich, launched a stinging attack on politicians and called for an end to the "endless diagnosis" of problems associated with tourism.
Critical of a lack of political planning, Vich was clear that the most pressing problems facing the Balearics Islands are those of housing and mobility.
"Tourism is paying the consequences of two decades of public inaction. We have gone 20 years without decisions. We continue to have the same infrastructure as 50 years ago and with a population growth of 400,000 people since 2000 and the largest car fleet (per head of population) in Europe."
In a thinly veiled reference to the phases of "diagnosis" that have characterised the Balearic Government's sustainability pact, Vich stated: "We know what needs to be done. The private sector has invested 3.5 billion euros in hotel modernisation in the Balearic Islands. Now it's the public sector's turn to assume its responsibility and begin to manage."
He was especially critical of the tourist tax, lamenting the fact that 480 million euros of revenue collected since 2017 have not been spent. "We have charged tourists, explaining that this was to preserve the destination, but that money is sitting in a drawer. It's not a financing problem, but a management problem."