The Minister of Tourism and Foreign Andalusia of the Council, Arturo Bernalrecommended to proceed “calmly” to a “rigorous” analysis of the negative impact of tourism in Andalusian cities before arriving at the “generalized conclusion” that this economic activity “harms us”, while emphasizing the “consensus” of the Commission and the municipal councils with the objective of a Government reform of the Local Finance Law as a formula for the implementation of a tourism tax.
In this regard, the advisor stressed, in an interview with Europa Press, that the tourist taxa, understood as a tax that municipalities can pay directly, must be established by the State, through the Local Treasury Law, since the autonomous communities “can establish taxes, but they are autonomous and do not affect the town halls.”
Bernal indicated that the PSOE “is aware of this”, since its current secretary general, Juan Espadaswhen he was mayor of the capital Seville, “had already asked for it.”
“The only way What we need to do to have a local tax on tourist stays is to encourage the government to do it through this regulation, which is what we are defending and what the mayors are also doing,” so “there is a great consensus on this issue,” he stressed.
In the interview, Bernal mentionedThe Observatory for the sustainability of local tourism in Andalusia created by consensus between the Council, the Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FAMP) and the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Andalusia (CEA) within the framework of the debate on the establishment of the tourist tax. “The working groups are already being set up and, during the autumn, the first lines of action will be announced to respond to the issues previously identified,” he stressed.
In an interview with Europa Press, Bernal stressed the importance of solving the problem “financial insufficiency” of municipalities, as well as the problems related to the concentrations of people in search of new flows and to tourist housing “from its original reason, and without assuming that tourism is the cause of the problem.”
“It’s a structural debate,” added the adviser, emphasizing, regarding the Financial deficit of Andalusian town hallsthat “with decentralization, they have never had sufficient participation in the general budgets of the State to ensure the necessary financing of their public services.” This problem, he continued, “must be resolved by a modification of the local financing model.
Compared to the accommodation, Bernal indicated that it is urgent to address again “the law on the right to housing, a failed law that has failed to solve the deficit by not making land available for the construction of housing”, making the law “the great obstacle” in the development of the market, because “it has not favored the construction of new housing and has removed from the market what already existed.” “turn the owner into an enemy to be defeated.”
“Tourismophobia”
As for the saturation in some cities, The head of Tourism stressed that “none of the countries or cities where the tourist tax has been introduced has solved this problem.” Thus, he added that in the case of Spain, Catalonia and the Balearic IslandsThe two communities that have introduced this tax “have the cities with the highest levels of tourist saturation.”
About the movement of “tourism phobia” appeared in Andalusia that sparked protests in major cities this summer, the councilor stressed that “any economic activity always generates an impact”, while setting as an objective the Andalusian Government “anticipate and be able to provide solutions to these problems which, in this case, fall to the local population.
In this regard, Bernal affirmed that “understanding the “Tourism, the source of all evil, is not fair treatment,” stressing that this is a statement that is made “without sufficient foundation or justification.”
Thus, he stressed that tourism “has been and is the key, the activity that contributes the most to Andalusia, generating more 26,000 million each season and almost 275,000 direct jobs, meaning “one in four Andalusian families lives directly from tourism”.
“Tourism is a great activity that supports a large part of the economy and, of course, generates impacts, some positive and others negative “that we are trying to face with calm and responsibility,” added the adviser, concluding by describing as “irresponsible” the fact that some political parties “catalyse the disadvantages of tourism that society puts forward to make itself known and obtain income.” “political.”
