President Prohens will go to Brussels next month for what is expected to be approval of a document calling for various measures regarding tourism, including specific funding.
The European Committee of the Regions will meet from December 9 to 11. The president will be seeking a European action plan with resources, a timeline, and evaluation mechanisms to "support territories in their transition" towards a more sustainable and resilient tourism system. Regions affected by "seasonality, intensive specialization, and asset degradation", as is the case in the Balearics, should have access to specific funds to support this transformation.
The Balearics have been the driving force in seeking technological innovation and "flexible solutions" dependent on regional characteristics. Among the proposals are smart systems to distribute visitor traffic and for regulating access to vulnerable spaces through advance booking, capacity limits and variable rates.
There will also be a call for addressing the market power of large accommodation websites, "guaranteeing transparency, fair prices, and information sharing with the authorities", and for measures to address the growth of illegal holiday letting.
No figure as to funding has been mentioned as yet, this latest request for EU investment following on from the provision of EU Next Generation Funds under what was the pandemic-inspired recovery and resilience plan. In terms of Next Generation Funds for tourism, the general principles for investment were sustainability, circularity, the improvement of tourism products and innovation and digitalisation of the tourism sector.
There are questions as to how much spending there has actually been. In June last year, the Next Generation Funds for tourism in the Balearics were put at 260 million euros. But there have been certain examples of allocated spending not being used - the Alcudia canoeing regatta course is a case in point. A reason, and this has also applied to projects meant to have been funded with tourist tax revenue, has been the lack of a clearly thought-through and presented plan.