Balearic Government facing legal action over tourist tax

Today is the day the tourist industry and the hotel sector have been fighting to prevent, the preliminary parliamentary approval of the tourist tax, and last night all the warring political, social and commercial factions were setting the scene for a heated debate this morning. While the alarm bells started ringing in the British travel industry yesterday, the Balearic hotel sector is going ahead with legal action and intends to ask central government in Madrid to appeal against the tourist tax, which will cost visitors an average of a Euro per day (about 160 pesetas). The hoteliers feel they have been “cheated” by the local government and yesterday President of the Majorcan Hotel Federation, Pere Cañellas, accompanied by representatives from the tourist industry expressed their “unanimous rejection” of the “unfair” tax.