MAJORCAN HOTELIERS ACCUSED PM OF FAILING THEM WITH VAT HIKE

PALMA
THE President of Majorcan Hoteliers Association, Antoni Horrach, yesterday claimed that Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's proposal to put VAT up by two percent next year, contravenes what the Prime Minister said to him during a meeting held to discuss the repercussions of the recession on the tourist industry in Palma this summer.

The proposed increase in VAT has been met by widespread indignation in the Spanish tourist industry and even the President of the Balearics, Francesc Antich, who was also present at the meeting, has pledged to lobby central government for a series of measures that will ease the financial burden on the travel sector caused by the increase in VAT.

Yesterday, Horrach explained that he presented Zapatero with a list of recommendations and measures that would help the tourist industry through the current financial crisis. One of them was to not put VAT up.