The Balearic Islands manages more than 200 improvement projects with a budget of 470 million euros from the Sustainable Tourism Tax.
Minister Bauzà applauded the consolidation of the strategy focused on cultural and sports tourism as the cornerstone of deseasonalisation.
At the World Travel Market in London, the Government of the Balearic Islands presented the overall figures for investments made in the archipelago thanks to more than 700 million euros from the Next Generation EU funds and the Sustainable Tourism Tax (ITS). European aid totals 260 million euros, while thanks to the ITS more than 200 projects are being developed in the Balearic Islands with 470 million euros in subsidies.
The Councillor for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Jaume Bauzà, pointed out the importance of ‘explaining to our visitors transparently what we are using the money collected from the Sustainable Tourism Tax they pay when they stay on our islands’. In this regard, Bauzà pointed out that this money ‘is used for the protection of the natural environment, the management of the water cycle, the recovery of our historical and cultural heritage, training, research and innovation, improvements in tourism infrastructure, the promotion of responsible tourism and safety, or the depersonalisation through culture and sport’.
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The Government manages more than 700 million euros in aid for the improvement of the destination thanks to the Next Generation Funds and the Sustainable Tourism Tax
To ensure that the information reaches all visitors, Bauzà announced that the Government of the Balearic Islands is working on a system to provide tourist accommodation with detailed, up-to-date and transparent information in a simple and accessible way on all the projects in which the proceeds of the Sustainable Tourism Tax are invested.
The transformation of the current model
Bauzà also referred to the Social and Political Pact for the Sustainability of the Balearic Islands, explaining that it is a participatory process for the transformation of the current model in which more than a hundred institutions and entities are participating, rowing in the same direction to become an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable destination’.
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport also mentioned the seasonal nature of tourism, assuring that it is being consolidated thanks to the Balearic Islands Government’s strategy of associating culture and sport with tourism. Bauzà pointed out that tourism in the Balearic Islands has grown by 5% over the last year, and a large part of this increase has been concentrated in the low-season months. ‘It should be noted that this strategy also means that we are growing more in value than in volume: today the increase in tourist spending on our islands is double the increase in the number of visitors,’ he stressed.
Finally, Minister Bauzà thanked the British Embassy and Consulate for their collaboration in the application of the Responsible Tourism Decree. He also stated that ‘the British who visit our islands are always, and always will be, welcome’ and asked for the complicity of tourism agents in the United Kingdom so that ‘they can participate in the changes we are facing and the courageous measures we must take’.