“We want your help. We want your help to improve Majorca and also to protect the environment and the beauty of these islands...” This is what the Balearic m,inister for tourism, Biel Barcelo, said yesterday when I asked him to make an appeal to tourists regarding the now infamous tourist tax his government wants to introduce for next summer. Barcelo admitted that the funding dispute with Madrid was one of the reasons that they had been forced to introduce the tax but he also said that the “carbon footprint” from tourism was starting to take its toll on the island and money was needed to protect the environment after years of tourism. He said that the tax would represent just 1.7 per cent of the cost of a holiday to Majorca. I must admit I was impressed with our minister for tourism. He made a good case for the tourist tax, and while I still disagree that holidaymakers should pay a surcharge just to come on holiday here, I do agree that the additional funds that the tax will raise will mean better resorts and also a better environment. Barcelo also said that children would not pay the surcharge. Now, there are already warnings from the tour operators and the hoteliers about how the tax will impact on the tourist industry. I would urge them to work together with the local ministry for tourism. Barcelo made it very clear: the tourist tax will be going ahead and therefore everyone must sing from the same hym sheet for the good of the Balearics.
The tax again!
25/09/2015 00:00
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couldn't have put it better.what a turn coat Jason Moore is.
Big on rhetoric, small on idea. Jason has been sweet-talked but given no plan to discuss. Tourists arrive by air, sometimes by sea, and they therefore arrive with a massive carbon footprint. Do they now have to cycle from the airport to a hotel where the power is shut off at 10pm, you are allowed just one shower a week, and all food is locally produced? Shall we now bulldoze all carbon-footprint-creating attractions - Son Amar, the casino, Pirates, the Palma Aquarium, Western Waterpark, the House of Katmandu etc? They can all be replaced by olive groves, and everyone can have a plot of land and a donkey instead. Will Barcelo never travel by car? Don't get me wrong. My apartment uses only low energy lighting, I am never longer under a shower than one minute, I eat and shop locally, I try to use efficient transport, and support everything local that I am able. Come on Barcelo - where is the magic plan to be funded by this stupid tourist tax? You will deplete tourism not encourage it. 70% of the island's wealth comes from it. Get real.