The Government of the Balearic Islands is presenting the new regional tourism law, which will involve a public investment of 55 million euros and a substantial change towards the tourism model of the future: environmentally and labour responsible.

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President Francina Armengol detailed the main points of this pioneering legislation in Spain at an event in Madrid attended by around one hundred people, including the Second Vice-President of the Spanish Government and Minister of Employment and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, the state leaders of the CCOO and UGT trade unions, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez, as well as the main representatives of the tourism sector on the islands.

The new legal framework has been developed with the aim of enabling the Balearic Islands to continue to lead the way in tourism thanks to a series of transformations that will lead the destination to become fully sustainable and circular.

As Armengol pointed out, the regulation will allow the Islands to lead this process based on sustainability understood in three aspects: social, economic and environmental. To this end, the new legal framework includes a series of measures that will allow for more inclusive and sustainable economic growth, improved coexistence between workers, residents and tourists, more efficient use of resources, as well as a new boost to public-private collaboration, in line with the management of European funds. All of this is to ensure that the Balearic Islands become a destination designed not only for tourists but also for residents and workers in the sector.

Armengol defended this “ambitious strategy” to “turn the tourism sector into a driving force for positive impacts on society as a whole”, which will enable the islands to be “more sustainable in social and ecological terms”. The president explained that the collaboration with the sector, which is primarily interested in continuing at the forefront of world innovation in tourism, will allow progress to be made in “a transformation that has been underway for some time” and which will mean “not returning to 2019, but reaching a better point in all aspects: in quality of employment, in salaries, in opportunities for entrepreneurs, in business, in environmental and social sustainability, in competitiveness, inequality and rights”.

According to the President, this law considers tourism “as a tool that must have a positive impact on society as a whole”, an approach that will generate solutions “capable of improving both the tourist experience, the quality of life of residents and the working conditions of workers” and which will allow “the tourism that made us a world reference for business and a dream paradise for leisure, to lead us now to lead environmental regeneration and social progress”.

In this sense, the regulation contemplates increasing protection for chambermaids, a group that is very much affected by accidents in the workplace. Thus, from 2023, hotels on the islands will have to install elevating beds (mechanical or electric) to facilitate their work, a measure that involves renewing 300,000 beds and from which more than 20,000 chambermaids will benefit. It should be remembered that 35% of accidents at work suffered by this group are related to overexertion.

At the same time, the regulation is committed to a circular economy in the sector, so that all companies will be required to have a circularity plan, which will make the Balearic Islands a pioneering destination when it comes to regulating this issue, and at the same time adapting tourism regulations to the objectives of two regional laws, the Climate Change and Waste laws.

In this line, circularity will cover aspects such as food, the use and care of water, waste and clean energy. Among the guidelines it will establish on these issues, in the area of food, the use of species classified in endangered categories will be prohibited and the traceability of fish and seafood of Balearic origin will be made compulsory.

With regard to energy, tourist establishments will be obliged to replace fuel oil boilers with natural gas or electric boilers, emitting 57,600 fewer kilos of CO2 per establishment per year.

In the area of water, the regulation establishes the obligatory installation of double push-button systems in hotel WC cisterns, as well as the installation of water-saving devices on taps in washbasins, bathtubs and showers. The use of rainwater will also be promoted, which will be a factor to be taken into account in the improvement of the establishment’s classification, and tourist accommodation will have to measure water consumption.

Finally, in terms of waste, the regulation will prohibit the use of single-use bathroom amenities. At the same time, hotels will have to replace the use of paper with QR codes and will also be obliged to measure waste consumption. In addition, establishments will have to control building temperatures in a comprehensive manner, including in areas reserved for staff, especially in kitchens.

The regulation also includes other measures such as a complete modification of the scales that will be used to establish the hotel classification, including increases in the score for circularity measures, such as the use of renewable energies or consumption optimisation systems.