Jason MoorePalma02/09/2017 00:00
TW
1

A tourist tax appears to be a very nice way to offload a few pennies from visiting tourists. It is a trend which is spreading, not just in Spain but in Greece and other holiday destinations. I do not agree with this form of levy because I feel that tourists have already paid enough; they have paid for their holiday, in which airport taxes are included, and of course they spend heavily while they are in resort. And now they have to pay for the pleasure of actually going on holiday. Doesn't seem very fair to me. Take German tourists. A sizable proportion of their taxes go to the European Union which in turn has provided generous aid packages to countries such as Spain.

So German tourists are being charged an extra levy even though their tax money helped to build Palma airport. The same could be said for the British but on a smaller scale. The European Union has given Spain in excess of 80 billion euros over the years which has been spent on improving infrastructure across the country. If I were a German tourist I would be doing a Margaret Thatcher, who famously asked the European Union for a return of "her money".

The Balearic government expects to raise arounds 120 million euros through the increased rate of the tourist tax; it is not really a large sum and you could probably raise more money asking tourists to make a voluntary contribution. I know the Balearic government is short of cash but there must be other ways.