Jaume Bauzà (left) is the new Balearic tourism minister

Jaume Bauzà (left) and Iago Negueruela on Tuesday. | MDB

Andrew EdePalma12/07/2023 08:49
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The new Balearic government in place and it is time for outgoing ministers to hand over official briefcases and documents to their successors. On Tuesday, Iago Negueruela made the transfer to Jaume Bauzà, who will be minister for sport and culture as well as for tourism. It was an encounter during which Negueruela was said to have been distant and somewhat frosty.

The new tourism minister, a one-time mayor of Montuïri, said that he will need some time to settle in, to meet his officials and to start the Partido Popular's programme.

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Without going into detail, Bauzà explained: "We are going to follow the roadmap marked out in the electoral campaign by President Marga Prohens. One of the priorities will be to change and modify the tourism law. We are going to recover the best of past laws, to which changes should not have been made. This will be done with maximum consensus."

On the tourist tax (aka sustainable tourism tax), the new minister acknowledged that after it was introduced in 2016, the spending of revenue was in line with purposes that had been set out in the relevant legislation. "But later it became a mixed bag to finance all kinds of initiative that had nothing to do with tourism." One of his first measures will be to ensure that funds are used for improving tourist infrastructures and the "conversion" of mature resorts. "These funds must not be wasted."

While the PP have pledged to keep the tourist tax, there is speculation that rates between November and April may be lowered (they are currently a quarter of the rates from May to October) or even scrapped.

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