Matas to call tourist industry together to “save” the season

Staff Reporter PRESIDENT elect, Jaume Matas will be calling the tourist industry together next month to “save the summer season” and plan for the future. In an interview on Spanish television, Matas, who won by a landslide, said that he would scrap the tourist tax and this would broadcast a clear message to the tour operators. Matas said: “I am calling everyone together from tour operators to hoteliers and employees of the tourist industry so that we can look at what is wrong with the industry.” He continued: “people's jobs are at stake and for this reason it is vital that we start work right away.” The President elect said that he was confident that the decline in tourism, of recent years, could be reversed. Matas, who will be sworn in as the new President next month, said “the opinion polls had suggested that we wouldn't win a majority. They were wrong. People voted us into power because the last government was a failure.” Matas said that the last four years had been marked by the important divisions and tensions which existed between the government and many key industries, tourism included. “Once we were the leading community in Spain as regards wealth and job creation. Now we are at the bottom of the list,” he said. “The socialists wanted the coalition government to be a model for the rest of Spain but the people of these islands have had their say and our victory is a clear sign that the coalition was unsuccessful. Matas' majority means that he doesn't need to pact although he does need the support of two of the three insular councils to pass through key legislation. Presently only one of the councils, the Council of Ibiza is in PP hands. Although the conservatives were the most voted party in Majorca and Minorca they did not secure a majority. There is a strong possibility that he will pact with the Majorcan Unionist Maria Antonia Munar and she will preside over the Council of Majorca. This pact will also lead the way clear for coalitions involving the two parties on various municipal councils, such as Calvia. Matas will be entering negotiations with Munar over the next few days. Once again Munar is the match-maker.