Eco tax ‘damaged image’, says Spanish minister

Wednesday, 17 Jul, 2003 0

Joan Flaquer, Minister of Tourism for the Balearic Islands, has claimed that the controversial eco tax introduced last year has had a negative effect on tourism to the islands and put them at a competitive disadvantage to other island destinations.

Speaking yesterday at a press event organised by the Spanish Tourist Office in London, he said that the eco tax, due to be abolished later this year, has contributed to a decline in the number of tourists to the islands.

Mr Flaquer said that in a ‘normal’ year, he would expect over 10 million tourists to the islands, but in the last three years they have lost two million tourists. He said the reason for this was in part due to “international problems”, but that other destinations, such as the Canary Islands, had not suffered as much as the Balearics. He blamed this on the eco-tax, which “damaged the image of the destination.”

Eduardo Gamero, Director General of Tourism, told TravelMole that the number of German tourists to the islands was significantly down. In 1999, 4.1 million Germans tourists visited the islands, last year there were only 2.7 million.

He explained that it wasn’t the idea of an eco tax that was the problem, it was the way it was set up and administered. He said the new government was “committed to both tourism and the environment”, and that “going forward, the government will be seeking to raise funds from the public and private sectors to help protect the environment”. The government has already agreed 24 million Euros to plant new trees on the islands.

Mr Falquer annonced that the eco tax will cease to exist from 1 November. He said the money raised from the tax will still go towards those initiatives that have already been agreed upon and that contracts would be honoured. However, he pointed out that they had raised only 35 million Euros from the tax; they had expected to collect 60 million Euros.

Read our previous stories:
9-Jun-2003 Balearics eco-tax to be dumped
19-Feb-2002 Tourism Concern criticises industry reaction to Balearics eco-tax
19-Apr-2001 Spain’s Balearics approve tourist eco-tax