The first meeting of the Commission for the Promotion of Sustainable Tourism has been held. This is the body that will decide how the revenue from the tourist tax is to be spent and is made up by representatives of the Balearic government and other parts of the public sector, the private sector, unions and various associations.
The aim is that the initial projects to be funded by the tax will be approved this November. The president of the commission, the tourism minister Biel Barceló, said of these projects that there is a commitment towards prioritising actions directed towards the environment and towards the improvement of products for sustainable tourism. There is to also be an emphasis on tackling seasonality and the protection of, among other things, the natural landscape. "Investment will be for specific purposes and the first projects will be undertaken during the first quarter of 2017."
Even before the commission's inaugural meeting, there have been disagreements as to the distribution of revenue from the fund for sustainable tourism, with the islands' councils seeking as much of this as possible. For Majorca there is to be a minimum of 68.14%, for Minorca 10.68%, for Ibiza it will be 12.85%, while Formentera is allocated 1.36%.
Inma Benito, the president of the Majorca Hoteliers Federation, said that she is satisfied at the constitution of the commission and is looking forward to there being maximum collaboration. (The hoteliers have of course opposed the introduction of the tax.) "There needs to be an optimisation of public-private collaboration with the aim of improving competitiveness and offsetting the loss of effectiveness stemming from the charging of the tax. We are still studying whether or not to bring a challenge to the tax, and this will be decided by our legal services."
Benito emphasised that the hoteliers are complying with the law on the collection of the tax and that this is being done in a totally normal fashion.
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I am not optimistic that this tax money will make much difference. There won't be anything like the amounts they are predicting once the snouts are in the trough. Most will be spent on those meetings as every area represented wants some of it. Money will be spent on more jollys abroad etc. trying to bring more tourists after the slump which we all predicted for next year, or more imposition of catalan. And we musn't forget that the tourism minister's original ideas for the tax included the building of care homes for the mallorcans !
Not a fan of this kind of tax. Could be one reason not to book when you see the price and then + whatever the cost of tax on top. The locals need help against the all inclusives but this money will spent elsewhere so cannot see it proving very popular. I would rather see one price and if you want a breakdown of the holiday costs,ask for it.
It's amusing they are now holding meetings to decide how to spend a tax that was imposed before an agreed reason for it was thought up. Cart before horse.
Spend the money improving the areas where the money has been collected, tourists aren't interested in work in the mountains or countryside. Let's have the bus stops removed in Palma Nova that are on zebra crossings, solid white lines, or in front of roundabouts. This is crap town planning, and will cause a bad accident or a death at any time. Let's have park attendants present to fine dog-litterers in our parks. Palma Nova is where a lot of this tax is collecteed, and if tourists don't see improvements they'll feel cheated, and we know where that will lead.
I hope some of these taxes will be used to clear up the massive amount of dog fowling all over mallorca. Although it is NOT caused by tourists I am sure the tourists would appreciate it if i was cleared up.
Start a campaign to clean up this Island. Mallorca has a surfeit of Litter all over the Island. Using the Tourist Tax revenue to clean up Mallorca. Many areas are not only in a disgraceful littered state, but there is a major health and disease consideration .