COSTA DEL SOL NEWS: Malaga to discuss imposing a tourism tax

MALAGA City Council on the Costa del Sol in Spain is to look at the possibility of raising a ‘tourism tax’ despite the opposition of the hotel sector.

Councillor for Tourism, María Rosa Sánchez, has announced that the matter will be discussed at the next Tourism Forum on January 15.

She said that an expert from the University of Malaga will be there ro give an indication of how it might work and what potential benefits and drawbacks it would have.

She added that the council is always willing to consider the issue, something that has draewn controversy every time the matter has been raised in the past few years.

Taking other parts of Spain as an example, such as Barcelona and the Balearics, the measure could be in the form of a surcharge on hotel rooms. This has not gone down well with local hoteliers. The president of the Association of Hotel Entrepreneurs of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos) Luis Callejón has sent a letter to the council. In it he asked for a meeting with the council about the matter.

He pointed out that “we already pay more than the rest, we have a higher IBI than any other activity, we pay other taxes that others do not pay.”

He added: “Why do hotel businessmen always have to collect, why not the bus company, why not the bars?”