Humiliation for Majorca tourist-haters as £3.40 tax has ‘no effect whatsoever’

The Balearic Islands’ current tourist tax – and any potential future increase to the cost – will have no effect on reducing the number of visitors to the archipelago, the Balearic Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Jaume Bauzá, has claimed. This came in response to a question posed by Lluís Apesteguia, the spokesperson for the opposition party MÉS per Mallorca, who called for alternative measures to curb tourism.

According to MÉS, other measures, such as a tax on car hire companies or an increase in water charges for large consumers, could be more effective. However, the eco-sovereignist stated that these are measures that the President of the Balearic government, Marga Prohens, committed to two years ago but that have never been implemented. “In the year ahead, will we see them, or are they being abandoned for good? I think it is important to know whether you are definitively abandoning the ITS increase,” Mr Apesteguia asked.

Mr Bauzá, who has spoken in favour of the measure – which was not included in the austerity decree due to demands from Vox – criticised Mr Apesteguia of “focusing entirely on the increase in the ITS [sustainable tourism tax] as if it were going to stop the tourists who come here”.

“We are all aware that the mere introduction of the tax has had no effect whatsoever on tourist arrivals, and its increase would have no effect either. It’s as if the ITS were the reason tourists would stop visiting us and we were heading towards a decline, which we do not agree with,” he added, reported the Majorca Daily Bulletin.

The fact that the archipelago’s economy hugely depends on the tourism sector, and the possibility of diversifying the economy so that the sector does not account for such a high percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), were also raised, with the tourism minister concluding that this is a matter for business.

“It is always the tourism sector that drives the process,” he said.

Mr Bauzá agreed with the MÉS spokesperson on the need to “have a say at the gateway” – the Balearic airports, managed by Aena – and assured that, to a large extent, hospitality establishments comply with the obligation to offer a percentage of local produce.

Mr Apesteguia has been critical of the tourism policies the government has implemented throughout this term of office, arguing that they have failed to curb overcrowding and has advocated for degrowth rather than containment: “Listening to him is always interesting, not because he enlightens me on tourism, but because I always end up learning a lot about apocalyptic literature. Every time he speaks, it seems as though he is describing the final chapters of the Apocalypse to us.”

The tourism minister has fiercely defended his record, taking aim at the “inactivity” of the previous left-wing government. He slammed the former coalition for green-lighting thousands of tourist accommodation units before approving an eleventh-hour moratorium. Mr Bauzá claimed his three years in charge have successfully driven a new policy of “restraint and limits” to clean up the previous administration’s mess.

Majorca’s tourist tax, or Ecotax, is a mandatory fee of between £0.85 and £3.40 per person, per night, depending on your accommodation and the season. Five-star hotel guests and cruise passengers must pay £3.40 during the high season (May 1 – October 31) and £0.85 in the low season, while those staying in one- to three-star hotels and rental guests must pay £1.70 or £0.45, respectively. Children aged 15 and under are completely exempt from paying the tax.