'False promises' accusations fly over Mallorca tourist tax

ECO group GOB are encouraging the regional government to use the tourist tax revenue as a bonus rather than a substitute for a smaller environment budget. The activist organisation, which has fought for Mallorcan nature and wildlife for decades, accused the government of exploiting the tourist tax to ‘compensate’ for a low increase in the budget.

Some €33 million was raised by the tourist tax, which was expressly put forward to compensate for the environmental damage inflicted by mass tourism. Yet the annual allocation to eco causes across the islands is up by a meagre €25,000 this year. 

Millions have been set aside to different agencies involved in environmental affairs such as water and wildlife bodies, but GOB are adamant that, without the tax, the environmental budget would effectively have declined. 

This would suggest the government’s commitment to the natural world is ‘fraudulent’ they claim. The issue of environmental damage is quickly gaining prominence as the presence of millions of tourists, and the industry associated with them, makes itself felt across Mallorca’s mountains, beaches, air and water.