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The Chief Executive Officer of the UK’s largest package holiday provider has said that increasing tourist tax in the popular Balearic Islands“sends out the wrong message” to prospective travellers.
Jet2 CEO Steve Heapy told the Mallorca Daily Bulletin at the World Travel Market that raising tourist fees in Mallorca “comes with a lot of risk”.
He said: “Tourism is such a huge part of the economy, so to tax it sends out the wrong message to customers. If you give the impression that you do not want holidaymakers or that you want to hit them in the pocket, the risk is that you drive them to visit somewhere else instead.”
Heapy added that reduced tourism on the Balearic island would mean less income, GDP and economic productivity.
He advised the government to be transparent about “exactly what these taxes are being spent on”.
Jet2 Holidays was the first UK tour operator to sign Mallorca’s Responsible Tourism pledge to support efforts to protect the island and its environment, said Heapy.
The Jet2 executive also urged local governments to “stamp down on the unlicensed tourism market” and promote Mallorca as a destination to visit in winter in response to the wave of overtourism protests across Spain this summer.
In July, thousands protested in Palma de Mallorca in a demonstration against overtourism.
Carrying makeshift models of planes and cruise ships, around 10,000 protesters walked through the streets of the capital of Mallorca with posters reading ‘no to mass tourism’ and ‘stop private jets’.
Tourism generates 45 per cent of the Balearic Islands’ gross domestic product, according to data from Exceltur, an industry organisation.
Heapy said that the demonstrations have had “no impact” on Jet2 Holidays bookings and Mallorca “continues to enjoy the same popularity as always”.
He added that holidays to Mallorca, his favourite holiday destination, make an “enormous contribution” to the local economy but need to also look after “the needs of the island”.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
