Balearic tourist tax: Not conceived to regulate tourist demand

Paying the tourist tax at a Mallorca hotel

A guest paying the tourist tax at a Palma hotel. | Jaume Morey

Andrew EdePalma15/11/2022 07:58

At the first Europa Press Tourism Conference in Madrid on Monday, the Balearic tourism minister, Iago Negueruela, insisted that the Balearic tourist tax was not conceived "as a mechanism to regulate demand". Because of this, there will be no attempt to address growth in demand by raising the tax.

He added that the tax has a "neutral impact" on tourists, as they "keep coming" to the Balearic Islands, and he said that raising the tax will not be considered as a response to an increase in high-season tourism.

The minister made his remarks against the background of calls from two of the three parties that make up the coalition government - Més and Podemos - for an increase specifically to tackle the numbers of tourists in high summer. The government's 2023 budget doesn't have provision for an increase, but this will still come up when the budget bill is debated in parliament. An amendment to raise the rate would be voted down by a combination of Negueruela's PSOE party and opposition parties.

There was also a report in the local media at the weekend which pressed the case for an increase precisely in order to regulate demand. Those quoted in the report were from the University of the Balearic Islands and Celesti Alomar, the former PSOE tourism minister who was responsible for the original and short-lived ecotax of 2002 to 2003.