Tourist taxes in the Balearic Islands will rise to a maximum of €6 (£5) a night
MADRID – Spain’s Balearic Islands are to increase their tourism tax and put a new levy on hire cars as the archipelago tries to contain overtourism.
The islands’ regional government announced on Friday that the tourist tax would rise from €4 (£3.30) per night to a maximum of €6 (£5) a night per person in the high season in summer.
The tax hike, which needs to be approved by the regional parliament, will apply at four different rates from March to December, with January and February being exempt.
Cruise passengers visiting the Balearic Islands between June and August, will see their tourist tax tripled from €2 (£1.70) to €6 (£5) for each night they stay.
The planned levy on hire cars will be for vehicles arriving on the islands from elsewhere, affecting tourists and hire car companies who ship in vehicles for the summer months.
The Balearic Islands, one of the most popular holiday destinations for British tourists, includes Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera. It is the latest region to hike tourist taxes after Catalonia said last week it would do the same.
Tourists sunbath at Cala Comte (Comte beach) in Sant Josep de sa Talaia, on the Balearic island of Ibiza, on May 16, 2024. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)
Ibiza has fought back against the unregulated supply of tourist accommodation (Photo: Thomas Coex/AFP)
Spain is struggling to promote its successful tourism industry, which promotes economic growth, at the same time as dealing with a housing crisis which critics claim is caused by the rising price of tourist lets.
Jaume Bauzá, the Balearic Islands tourism minister, “The islands have reached their limit.”
Under these proposals, holiday platforms will see fines for advertising unlicensed properties rise to a maximum of €500,000 (£419,500).
New holiday rental flats will also be banned within residential apartment buildings.
The raft of tax rises comes after a series of protests last year by demonstrators who claimed tourism was making it impossible for residents to afford to rent homes in the islands.
The average monthly rent in the Balearics has risen from €562 (£471) to €1,451 (£1,217) in a decade, according to a study by Fotocasa, a housing platform.
Hoteliers and rental car companies criticised the move to raise taxes which they said would harm the tourism industry, which accounts for nearly half the islands’ GDP.
Majorca’s hotel federation (FEHM) said the tourist tax rise would harm tourists’ spending capacity, affecting shops, restaurants and the leisure sector.
However, the federation welcomed the crackdown on unlicensed tourist rentals.
The proposed new tax on tourist vehicles was described as “discriminatory and revenue-seeking” by the islands’ Baleval car rental association, which warned that it would not succeed in de-congesting the archipelago’s jammed roads in the summertime.