Legislation to regulate the offer of all-inclusive in Balearic hotels is still up in the air. Asked about this in parliament by the Podemos spokesperson, Alberto Jarabo, President Armengol was unable to verify that there will definitely be legislation before the election in May next year.
It has been understood that pressure to deal with the whole of the government's legislative agenda might mean that all-inclusives are left out. But there have been mixed messages from different sources, with one having been that all-inclusives would form part of a wider tourism law. It would seem that there will not be such a law, so legislation for all-inclusives and other tourism issues, such as the "tourism of excesses" (noise, drunkenness, "balconing"), will be handled separately.
Armengol, who therefore avoided giving any specific timeframe for all-inclusive legislation, added that there would be the need for "consensus and dialogue" with the tourism industry, island councils, town halls and other authorities.
Some of the strongest opposition to the proposal that freely available alcohol be limited to meal times has come from the hoteliers federation in Ibiza. It has indicated that it would consider taking the government to court over this.
If all-inclusive legislation were to be passed before the end of the current parliament, it would not come into effect until 2020.
Tourism minister Bel Busquets has meanwhile been able to inform parliament that ministry inspectors have so far this year carried out 176 inspections. She contrasted this number with 29 in 2014. The principal targets have been holiday rentals and over-occupancy of hotel rooms.
