Tourist tax money for Minorca

Minorca will receive nearly 14 million euros of tourist tax cash over the next two years, president of the island's Insular Council, Joana Barcelo, accompanied by the Balearic Minister for Tourism Celesti Alomar, announced in Mahon yesterday. Alomar was in Minorca on a fact-finding mission and visited a number of sites which are going to benefit from the tourist funds. Minorca's share is the equivalent of 15 per cent of the total money expected to be raised annually by the new tax, slightly greater than its 12 per cent share of the Balearic tourist industry. The money is to be spent on a wide range of projects, including the restoration of historic buildings, the creation of cultural information centres, the improvement of old dry stone walls and paths. Alomar pointed out to the Minorcan tourist industry, sections of which are still sceptical about the extra charge, that the tax has been well received in Germany and the United Kingdom and that the levy is now at the forefront of the region's publicity campaigns.