The Balearics are on course for a record summer season: the Balearic government says so, the hoteliers say so and so do the tour operators. A record summer season ... so does that mean that all those who are forecasting doom and gloom when the tourist tax is introduced later this year are wrong? And that the Balearic government, which claims that the surcharge will not hit holiday sales, are right? It is an interesting question. The opposition Partido Popular have said that the tourist tax would hit the industry hard: not according to the booking figures at the moment. Of course, there is a strong possibility that the majority of tourists who will be heading to our shores this summer have no idea that a tourist tax is being introduced. They might get a shock when they arrive at their hotel and find they have an outstanding bill from the ministry of tourism. The last time a tourist tax was introduced the tourist industry fought long and hard to get it scrapped. They succeeded in the end because the coalition government was voted out of office. The surcharge made banner headlines across Europe but on this occasion everyone appears to be rather relaxed about the whole thing. In fact, the Balearic government might just get lucky and find that they can introduce their tax without much controversy. It could backfire on them, though. By keeping tourists in the dark, it could mean that there will be problems once the tax has been introduced rather than before.
A taxing issue
14/01/2016 00:00
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The effects of any financial disincentive such as the tourist tax will probably be masked by the global situation where fewer and few destinations are perceived as safe - therefore it is a nailed on certainty that tourism to Mallorca will increase significantly, and as long as the Sterling/Euro exchange rate doesn't drop much further for Brits, then this is where they'll come. That doesn't make the tourist tax in any way correct, it'll just have less effect this time around in making people go elsewhere. We all need to realise that a planeload of Brits or Germans makes a juicy target for the likes of ISIS, therefore we all need to be doubly vigilant. Never rest on your laurels in that respect. One successful terrorist act will kill the tourist business dead.
I will take that as a no then . I do . oh but then again I live in england
as we are on the subject of tax Jason , do people in Majorca have to pay tax to receive bbc tv ? only asking