The monastery at Lluc.

The monastery at Lluc. | CA

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma10/11/2015 00:00
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Anyone who stays in one of the old monks' cells at Lluc monastery or at any other Balearic monastery which has rooms for visitors will be obliged to pay a euro per night. This is confirmed in the draft for the tourist tax law and the consequent "sustainable tourism tax". This type of accommodation will, according to the tourism ministry, be classified as being equivalent to a hostel, and so both tourists and residents will be liable to the payment of the tax.

The draft is also contemplating that the tax is paid at the end of a stay. This will not, therefore, affect tour operator contracts, as it will be an added tax, which is the case in other holiday destinations which charge a tax similar to the one envisaged by the regional government.

Although the government has released the draft to all sectors of the tourism industry which are implicated by the tax, it has also - since the middle of October - been working on the various articles in the law, with 21 articles and four provisions, which are as yet unknown to the tourism industry: it only has the basic draft at present.

One of the more controversial elements, the charging of the tax to cruise ships, is being negotiated with shipping companies with the aim of arriving at a system of tax collection as exists in Barcelona, where it is payable according to the number of hours that a ship is in port. This has not, stresses the government, had any effect in reducing the number of stopovers; indeed, business has increased.