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Songs of Praise proves to be a major success in Puerto Pollensa » Balearics » News » Majorca Daily Bulletin

Songs of Praise proves to be a major success in Puerto Pollensa



When Vicky Pacey, the Lay Reader in Training with the St. Andrews Anglican Congregation in Puerto Pollensa, welcomed people to the Songs of Praise on the beach on Sunday, she spoke of the beauty of the location. With the bay of Pollensa in the background, the beach at Bar Tamarells proved an ideal location. Holidaymakers joined local residents, with their children and even their dogs, for this celebration. Members of the congregation had chosen favourite hymns, readings and poems, and Liz West and Sharon Cooper delighted people with their solos and a duet.

About 150 people took part in the Songs of Praise on the beach. As the event progressed, more people joined in as they were walking along the seafront. There was some quality singing from the people on the beach. Three ladies admitted that they were the alto section from a church in the North of England. There were occasions when the congregation were really moved by music, readings and poems. It was a very happy and successful event.

Events like this don’t just happen, and Vicky Pacey should be thanked for her planning and organisation. As people went off to have a drink or a meal, another group went into action. The Songs of Praise relies on decent sound equipment, and as the beach emptied John, the oldest “roadie” on the island, also known as Cooperman took over, clearing equipment. Events like this rely on so many people. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making the Songs of Praise such a success.
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ABTA to write to Balearic government over tourist tax » Balearics » News » Majorca Daily Bulletin

ABTA to write to Balearic government over tourist tax

The Association of British Travel Agents is to write to the Balearic government in order to express its concerns regarding the introduction of the tourist tax and to argue that it could have the opposite effect to that which is intended.

ABTA understands the need for conserving the environment and that this should be a priority, but it does not believe that the tax is the right way to pursue this. British tourists, the association says, will be driven away from the Balearics, just as they were when the eco-tax was introduced in 2002 and that resulted in a significant reduction in tourist numbers.

In the Balearic parliament, meanwhile, President Armengol has said that there will be dialogue regarding the introduction of the tax and that it will not come about through “imposition”. She was responding to points raised by the leader of El Pi, Jaume Font, who warned her against making a “TIL of tourism” (a reference to the controversy surrounding trilingual teaching that proved to be an unpopular measure introduced by the previous government).

Armengol said that tourism minister and vice-president, Biel Barceló, was engaged in discussions with the tourism industry in order to hear their proposals and to consider how to invest revenue collected from the tax.

This revenue, said the president, should be to create a tourist destination of greater quality and added that the government was planning a “supportive and generous” tax on the part of the 13.5 million tourists who come to the islands each year. In commenting on Font’s point that the previous eco-tax had been a failure, she denied that it had been, saying that it was repealed by a “highly irresponsible” former president, i.e. Jaume Matas, whose decision was influenced by the tourism industry.
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Tourist tax:

Tourist tax: “It is a small price to pay for a better Majorca...”

These are busy times at the Balearic Ministry for Tourism. This department will be responsible for introducing the Balearic government’s flagship policy; the highly controversial tourist tax. It has been tried before and was scrapped because of the outcry.

Tourist Tax Mark 2 has already been slammed by the travel industry and hoteliers. But there is no going back, says the Balearic government.

This week we spoke to the Balearic Minister for Tourism, Biel Barcelo, who is also the Vice President of the Balearic government and leader of the left-wing Majorcan Nationalist Party, Mes.


Bulletin: Minister, why a tourist tax?
Barcelo: “the revenue which is raised through the tax will be used to improve local resorts and also help ease the environmental footprint left by tourism. We believe that it is a small price to pay, about 1.7 percent, of the total cost of a holiday to the Balearics. It is a small price but the benefits will be enormous....”

Bulletin: is the tourist tax being introduced because of the major funding dispute with the central administration?
Barcelo: “the lack of funding from the Madrid government for the Balearics is scandalous, and yes this is one of the reasons we are introducing the tax but at the same the money which is raised will help ease the environmental footprint left by tourism over the decades.”

Bulletin: the travel industry are not impressed?
Barcelo: “Therefore it is our job to make them see the benefits of this small charge which will change Majorca for the better.”

Bulletin: many of our readers are tourists and are not impressed, what would you say to them?
Barcelo: “help us make the islands that they love a better place and at the same time guarantee that the natural beauty of the Balearics is safeguarded.”

Bulletin: “The British newspapers have been suggested that the tourist tax could add another 100 euros to the cost of a Balearic holiday.
Barcelo: “as I said earlier it is a small charge; (1.7 percent of the cost of a holiday), children will not pay and also it will not be charged on a daily basis so that long-stay tourists do not pay more.”

Bulletin: yet another tax for people to pay...?
Barcelo: “We understand that no-one likes paying additional taxes. But also they can see that similar types of surcharges are being introduced in resorts across the European Union. Take Catalonia. Catalonia has introduced a similar sort of tax which has proved successful; there has not been a drop in tourism and the revenue which is being raised is making a big difference.”

Bulletin: do you fear a drop in tourism like some people are suggesting?
Barcelo: “No, I do not. I believe that if we explain what we are doing the large majority of tourists will accept it and support us.”

Bulletin: where will the tax be paid and who will pay it?
Barcelo: “everyone (including local residents who stay in hotels or in tourist accommodation) will pay the tax. Initially we pondered the possibility that tourists would pay the tax at the airport but this would open up a wide range of problems so at the moment the best option is for tourists to pay it in their tourist accommodation”

Bulletin: when you say tourist accommodation if it obviously legal holiday accommodation; what about people staying in the so-called illegal holiday apartments and homes?
Barcelo: “obviously we are going to have to crackdown on illegal holiday homes. What we can’t have is tourists staying in homes and apartments which are not legally controlled and their owners do not pay the necessary taxes. We are not too concerned about a single property owner renting out their home what we will be tackling is the illegal renting out of homes and villas on a large scale.”

Bulletin: while our readership is concerned about the tourist tax their chief complaint is the lack of flights during the winter....?
Barcelo: “we are aware of the important lack of flights to the islands during the winter months. We are working with the airlines and the travel companies to try and revive winter tourism. Just last week we held talks with a British travel f irm which is planning to introduce flights to the island from February. We are aware that during the low season there is plenty to do on Majorca; we have all the local fiestas, our food, our culture etc. We are convinced that the island is an excellent all year around holiday destination. We just need to work together with all sides and make winter tourism happen.”

Bulletin: another concern is all-inclusive package holidays?
Barcelo: “we understand that they offer great value for tourists but it is not exactly the type of holiday that we want because it encourages tourists to stay in their hotels when they could be out exploring Majorca and spending with local businesses.”

Bulletin: the Calvia council appears to be one of the main players in the curb on all inclusive holidays?
Barcelo: “Yes, what Calvia wants and what we all want; to see an end to the important alcohol element of all inclusive packages. This leads to a variety of problems. We do not want tourists being offered self-service alcohol, for two important reasons. Firstly that there is always the danger of tourists drinking to excess and secondly we also believe that there should be staff on duty serving not self-service.”

Bulletin: Minister, do you think that Palma is becoming too international and that it is easier to get a slice of pizza than a traditional Majorcan bread roll?
Barcelo: “to some extent yes. We have a fantastic local cuisine and we have the ensaimada. I do not understand why local bars offer a croissant when we have the ensaimada. The same can be said about shops; of course we need all the international high street brands but at the same time we need our local shops offering articles from the island. We must make an effort to sell our local brands.”

Bulletin: the whole Balearic tourism promotion campaign is centred around bucket and spade tourism. Don’t you think the time has come to show other parts of the island, such as the joys of enjoying a frito mallorquin on market days in Sineu?
Barcelo: “I think you are exactly right and for this reason we will be going to the more specialised trade shows. Obviously beach tourism is of vital importance to the islands but at the same time we must show that there is more to these islands, much more.”

Bulletin: Magalluf appears to be heading in the right direction....?
Barcelo: “yes this appears to be the case. The private investment which is being made in hotels and tourists attractions along with the new laws tackling bad behaviour and excessive drinking are making Magalluf a much better place. We are concerned about the Playa de Palma, also. The difference between the two is that in Magalluf we are just talking about one street in the Playa de Palma we are talking about a large area. We are very aware of the need to control noise pollution and general lawlessness so that tourists and residents can live and enjoy the island side-by-side.”

Bulletin: thank you minister, I wish you success but already you are under fire from the industry?
Barcelo: “we must all work together and I mean everyone; from tourists to the travel industry and the local authorities and local people. Work together to improve Majorcan for the benefit of all...”
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Some clarity on the tourist tax, but not enough » Balearics » News » Majorca Daily Bulletin

Some clarity on the tourist tax, but not enough

There is now some clarity with the tourist tax, though by no means total clarity. It’s encouraging to learn that children will be exempt and that there is to be a maximum number of nights to which the tax will be applied, but in neither of these instances do we have certainty. By children, does the minister mean under-16s (as is the case in Catalonia) or younger? What will the maximum number of nights be? I understand it could be as few as five, which would be two lower than in Catalonia.

The actual tariff is also unknown, but the minister must have an idea in order to be able to throw out an undefined percentage of 1.7. This is presumably based on the average cost of a holiday, but how has this been arrived at? To quote 1.7% is largely meaningless.

Barceló is right in identifying the existence of tourist taxes elsewhere, and the reference to Catalonia is the most meaningful in this regard. The tax there has been working well enough and significant revenue is raised, but it is important to appreciate the experience that Catalonia has had. Initially, its tariff would have been of a level to bring in approximately 100 million euros tax per annum. The tariff was revised downward because the Catalonian government, responding to criticisms, was persuaded that it would be too onerous.

The revised tax is what now applies, a variable one depending on accommodation and location. A typical rate is 0.90 euros per night (for seven nights) for a four-star hotel in a tourist resort; it is twenty cents higher in Barcelona.

The consequence of this revision is that Catalonia receives some 40 million euros a year, and this is raised from a substantially greater number of tourists than come to the Balearics annually: at least a third more. It is also raised from the private apartments that Catalonia has regulated. As Barceló appears to be scaling back the scope of the tourist tax, what might the annual revenue for the Balearics be? More than Catalonia’s 40 or so million? It seems doubtful, and so it raises an issue regarding the funding shortfall that is part of the justification for the tax. While, say, 30 million will come in handy, it isn’t a huge amount in the scheme of things, and the uncertainty as to how it will be used makes one fear that it will be spread too thinly. Catalonia has never been in any doubt as to why it has its tax. It is to pay for tourism promotion and some infrastructure.

Barceló also doesn’t address the issue of private accommodation regulation satisfactorily. He has said in the past that this regulation would need to be in place before the tourist tax was introduced. In order to avoid the hoteliers being able to claim discrimination, as they did with the old eco-tax, the government has to ensure that the tax will be as widely applied as is possible. But there is no evidence, as yet, of their moving to adopt rigorous regulation.

While Barceló refers, justifiably, to cracking down on large-scale illegal rentals, he appears to be handing carte blanche to the owner with a single property who also pays no tax. This is pragmatic in that the resources simply don’t exist to pursue everyone, and these resources are better deployed in rooting out large-scale fraudsters, but Barceló himself has acknowledged that the major increase in private lets has contributed to what he has described as tourism “saturation.” There is, therefore, an inconsistency here, and it is one that opponents of the tax, such as the hoteliers, will exploit.

On all-inclusives, the business with self-service alcohol is frankly a red herring, except when it comes to employment, but all-inclusives - those at the lower end of the market in particular - have long sought to minimise staffing levels in order to extract maximum returns from what (all-inclusive) is not a particularly profitable business model. Underlying the minister’s answer is, one suspects, the wider issue of job creation, though he hasn’t addressed the issue of creating jobs of greater “quality” or those which aren’t short-term and temporary. Fundamentally, if there is to be all-inclusive regulation it needs to be on the basis of very strictly applied levels of service and quality.

But coming back to the tourist tax, Barceló seems to have a romantic idea that all tourists are so in love with the Balearics that they will gladly part with some cash, even if, in the end, the tax demand is relatively minor. Unfortunately, not all tourists are in love. They look for value for money, not to reversing the negativity of their environmental footprint or assisting with Madrid’s underfunding. He wants everyone to work together. He’s got a hell of a job convincing them.
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The City Council will hire a company to manage the Gola.

The institution will invest 121,000 euros until 2019 in order to maintain the environmental park on conditions for public visits.

The new administration of the municipality of Pollença, composed Junts Avançam and UMP, wants to accelerate the reopening of the urban park of the Gola in the Port de Pollença, so that it can be operational before the end of the fall season ornithological one of the busiest of the year together with the spring.

The 'pollencí' session is about to hold a public competition to hire a specialist during the next four years to manage the reception center and take charge of the maintenance of wetland company. The budget that the municipal institution wants to spend on outsourced management Gola amounts to 121,000 euros for the four years ending June 30, 2019, shortly after the elections that are shaping a new legislature
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Translated by Google, you can read the full story here :- El Ayuntamiento contratará a una empresa para que gestione la Gola - Diario de Mallorca
 
The most interesting point is where will they collect this tax.
 
And the most disheartening point is that they are charging it atall.
I assume that they will be obliged to publish somewhere exactly where the collected taxes have been spent?
 
Yes i agree but the new Balearic Government are determined to bring this tax in and argue that many other countries do the same :mad:.
 
Some counties charge a departure tax. This used to be paid at the Airport years ago and in some smaller countries still is. But with most Countries now it is added to the cost of the flight and the Airlines/Travel agents then have to make a return to the Various Governments. A little bit like V.A.T. Departure Tax, Tourist Tax, same meat different gravy.
Look at the Tax we pay on flights from the UK you will see it is way more than flights from Spain and many other countries. I think they have sold this wrong and as usual stirred up a hornets nest for nothing. If they just did as others have done and added it to airline tickets no body would have kicked up a fuss. Except of course the residents of Spain who already get a huge discount on air fairs within Spain so to ask them to pay more well you can imagine. So they took what they see as the line of least resistance and are calling it a tourist Tax. So all non Spanish residents will pay a tax on airline tickets that is how I think you will find it will work. They keep the voters happy and they get the extra revenue they are looking.
 
Mark my words. If this goes through it will come back to bite them hard.
As for " some will be spent on promoting tourism ", don't make me laugh. Palma can hardly cope with the millions that pass through it now. Be honest with the people and don't insult our intelligence. It will be put in the government pot to make up the shortfall. Simple !!

I know I've said it before but if you bite the hand that feeds you, then very soon that hand will stop offering you food. That my friends is common sense, but when was that a commodity ever found in any government.
 
Small change ...

Barceló confirms that tourist tax will come into force on 1 May next year » Balearics » News » Majorca Daily Bulletin

...
The tourist tax was obviously a matter of huge interest at the fair, and speaking to The Bulletin, the minister announced that it will come into effect on 1 May next year, subject to all approval having been obtained through the parliamentary process.
...
Barceló said that he was not too concerned about the effects of the tourist tax on the UK tourism market. Given the strength of the pound, the amounts that will need to be paid will not seem great: almost like small change, he said, in so many words.
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Full article see MDB website ...
 
More tax

As tourists we already pay IVA on everything we buy, we create jobs in the port giving locals work and not just in tourism, boat builders, construction, banking and many more. But as someone else said, if you bit the hand that feeds you that hand my go somewhere else. Politicians around the World can spend all the tax they take in on one hair brained scheme or an other. this is just away for them to get more to spend more.:confused:
 
Don't forget that this tax will also apply to residents should they stay in a hotel on the island.
 
Alcudia to undergo a major facelift » Balearics » News » Majorca Daily Bulletin

...

Mir was able to say that there is to be a four-year project, in four phases, that will transform the whole of Bellevue into four-star accommodation and that, as part of the strategy for the complex, its all-inclusive element is set to be reduced to roughly 40%.
...

Bellevue can, at current maximum occupancy, house over 5,000 guests in its seventeen blocks.
...

[see full story on MDB website]
 
D-Day for tourist tax » Balearics » News » Majorca Daily Bulletin

The regional government has now published the draft of its sustainable tourism tax law in the Official Bulletin, something designed to conserve the land and the landscape and to be invested in a better tourism based on quality and sustainability.

The tax will be of a purpose-oriented character and be applied to tourist accommodation, to properties that are commercialised for tourist resasons and to cruise ships.

The draft will be up for public consideration for 15 days, during which time any citizen or organisation can have their say and can present observations.

...


A distinction is to be made between high and low season. During the latter, there will be a 50% reduction in order to promote a lengthening of the tourism season.

...


As an example, a family of two adults and two children under the age of 14 which stays in a 3-star hotel for eight nights (an average stay) during high season will pay a total 16 euros.

...
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[see full article on MDB website]
 
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From the http://majorcadailybulletin.com/new...idering-cap-the-maximum-number-hire-cars.html

'Parliament’s tourism committee has approved a motion raised by the El Pi party for a study to be made into whether or not to apply a ceiling to the number of hire cars there are in the Balearics. The proposal, presented by Josep Meliá of El Pi, was accepted with the support of PSOE, Més and Podemos, with the Partido Popular and Ciudadanos opposing.

Under this motion, the government would be called on to look at the feasibility of establishing a maximum number of hire cars that can be marketed in the Balearics.'[/I][/I]
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First the tourist tax, now this. Don't they want us?
 
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