Homage To Catalonia

A tourist tax and the regularisation of holiday lets. Both, for different reasons and with different groups, are unpopular, but both make eminent sense. Catalonia is presenting itself as the centre of tourism sense in Spain, the centre of pragmatism that is too often missing elsewhere, such as in the Balearics.

Catalonia is taking the lead in making holiday lets legal and open to commercialisation and also stripping their offer of bureaucratic obstacles. The Catalonian Government should be congratulated. In its words, Catalonia is the "first autonomous community that is taking on a challenge with these characteristics", by which it means that some 1.7 million places that are available as holiday lets (of any type) will be regularised; that owners will not have to seek a licence as such, just simply communicate the fact that a property is for holiday rental; that owners will not have to form a business in order to make a property available; that these owners will need to guarantee, as a minimum, a telephone number for assistance to occupants; that properties will be inspected regularly; and that tourist occupants will be liable to pay the tourist tax that will apply to other accommodation in Catalonia as from the start of November.

The pragmatism of the Catalonian approach comes with a clear benefit in terms of revenue. By extending the tourist tax to holiday apartments, homes and what have you, the government can hope to add to the 100million euros a year it is already scheduled to receive from the tax's introduction. Moreover, town halls, will also have an incentive to make sure these properties are easily registered, as they will get 30% of the tax.

Everyone's a winner under the Catalonian scheme, except tourists who have to pay the tax, but as I have said before, I happen to believe it is right to tax tourists. But what of Catalonia's hoteliers? As it is the hotels which are the main opponents of holiday lets in the Balearics, how would hotels in Catalonia fare by legalising all this property? The answer is that regularising holiday apartments won't make any difference, as they already exist, just that they are outside the established legal framework. And just as in the Balearics, where I have proved that in the height of summer hotels cannot possibly be threatened by holiday lets because they can't meet anything like total tourism demand, so Catalonia's hotels cannot meet tourism demand. Catalonia's tourism numbers are higher than those in the Balearics, but the number of hotel places is in fact lower. A key difference with the Balearics is camping tourism; the number of camping places is only 50,000 lower than the 287,000 hotel places (as of 2010).

Though the accommodation mix is different in Catalonia, holiday lets are essential in meeting total tourism demand, just as they are in the Balearics. The Catalonian Government appears to accept this, which isn't of course the case in the Balearics. It is easier for the Catalonian Government to regularise holiday lets because the hotels are not as dominant, but if you were to put Catalonia's hotels and its camping sites together then they form a powerful lobby against holiday lets. The government, though, is not swayed by such a lobby.

One can interpret the Catalonian move on holiday lets as purely a revenue generator, but the Catalonian Government insists that it is making the move in recognition of the importance of "residential tourism" in Spain as a whole. I made reference to this very issue the other day when discussing the national tourism plan in which residential tourism (and its increase) is recognised as a strength. Catalonia can spin the move as being in line with this national plan - and if it wants to, then let it - but the revenue is probably the main influence.

The Balearic Government, committed to stamping out what it constantly refers to as the "oferta illegal" and having as yet dismissed the possibility of a tourist tax, must, however, be eyeing up what's going on in Catalonia with more than just passing interest. If it were to come up with a tax for all types of tourism accommodation, including that which is currently deemed illegal, then it would be looking at some serious revenue. Though the tourism law is most unlikely to include a total U-turn on holiday lets, there is pressure on the Balearic Government, such as that which has come from Menorca, to permit regularisation rather along the lines of that in Catalonia. As things stand, the new law would enable some further commercialisation of properties (not apartments), but whereas Catalonia is making life simple, the Balearics want to make life difficult, as in insisting that property owners declare themselves businesses.

The contrast between the two governments is marked. Sure there are differences in the accommodation mix, but Catalonia is acting pragmatically and the Balearics aren't. Oh that one could offer homage to Carlos Delgado and the Balearic Government for their pragmatism and not have to reserve it for Marián Muro (Catalonia's tourism director-general) and the Catalonian Government.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.


Index for June 2012

Antoni Pastor suspension from PP - 15 June 2012
Balearic election in 2015 - 8 June 2012
Balearic Government: a year on - 19 June 2012
Circuses and wild animals - 5 June 2012
Corruption accusation against former health minister - 10 June 2012
Croatia's competition to Mallorca - 6 June 2012
Entertainment and hotels - 28 June 2012
Estrella Damm's video - 2 June 2012
Football commentary: Euros - 25 June 2012
Holiday lets - 13 June 2012, 30 June 2012
Hotels for sale - 12 June 2012
Hotels in the Llevant - 17 June 2012
Mabel Cabrer: Artà and Santa Margalida - 29 June 2012
Mallorca's tourism leadership - 1 June 2012
Music festivals - 27 June 2012
National tourism plan - 24 June 2012
Petty crime - 20 June 2012
Playa de Muro's tourist train - 22 June 2012
Pollensa and bolshiness - 23 June 2012
Pollensa festival - 7 June 2012
President Bauzá and Partido Popular congress - 4 June 2012
Puerto Alcúdia's restaurants - 9 June 2012
Queen's Diamond Jubilee - 3 June 2012
Ritch Miller - 18 June 2012
Seasonality in Mallorca - 16 June 2012
Social responsibility: hotels - 26 June 2012
Spain's bank rescue - 11 June 2012
Tourist tax or lottery - 14 June 2012
Winter in Mallorca programme - 21 June 2012