President Armengol yesterday restated a commitment to introduce legislation that regulates all-inclusive offer in hotels but told the Balearic parliament that gaining an agreement is "complicated".
Armengol was referring to the differing demands and responsibilities of hoteliers, unions, island councils and town halls. The tourism ministry, she assured the leader of El Pi, Jaume Font, is working on the legislation, Font having reminded the president that all-inclusive legislation had first been promised in June 2016 and then again at the end of last year.
Font said that Armengol had failed in moving ahead with this legislation. As a consequence, this adds to the harm caused to all workers in the complementary, non-hotel sector. He stressed that his party was fully in agreement with there being "quality all-inclusive" but that it seemed as if the government had decided not to regulate "cut-price all-inclusive".
The president said that there are ongoing discussions with stakeholders, adding that "not all the responsibility for anti-social tourism can be attached to all-inclusive, as there is also a high-quality all-inclusive offer".
The tourism minister, Bel Busquets, meantime stated that legislation will be presented, implying that this will be before the elections next May. "Time and dialogue" are required, she said, in arriving at a "lasting" agreement that takes account of the realities of all-inclusive.
The Partido Popular's Miquel Jerez suggested that Busquets "will not be presenting any law". There are differences between her party (Més) and the president's (PSOE) on this issue. If she, Busquets, fails to meet her promise to introduce legislation, "she will pass into history as a minister who did nothing".
* As has been mentioned previously in the Bulletin, the most contentious aspect of proposed legislation is a restriction on free alcohol. This would only be available at meal times and not all day, as is currently the case.
