OAPs to be exempt from the tourist tax...

The Balearic government came under pressure from the Farmers Union and the Environmental group GOB over the tourist tax. GOB want the tax, currently set at one Euro per day per tourist, to be increased in a bid to control the number of tourists coming to the Balearics and the farmers want to see some of the money raised to help the region's agricultural industry, which is already after money from central government and Brussels, to stay afloat. Representatives from the Farmers Union met the Ministers for Tourism and Agriculture in Palma yesterday, not only to study the current tourist tax proposal, but to also submit a request that part of the money raised from taxing tourists, will be set aside for the agricultural sector. Farmers Union representative Joan Mas stressed upon the two ministers the severity of the situation facing various farming communities and urged the government to be “hard and aggressive” and “bring in the tourist tax.” But Mas said “a large part of the money raised by the levy should be invested in the rural areas of the island” to help improve the infrastructure of the agricultural sector and the producers to be more competitive. Mas believes that the tourist industry could be developed into a massive market for local agricultural products in Majorca and the tourist tax can play a very important part. In turn, Mas pledged the full support and assistance of the farming community in helping persuade Majorcan hoteliers, who are adamantly against the tax, to accept the levy.