The former senior official of the PSOE of the Balearic Islands who ran an illegal agrotourism in the municipality of Algaida while he was director general of the Government’s Tourism Coordination, Jaume Garau and Salasnow he is convinced activist against tourist overpopulation and gentrification of the archipelago.
The one who was a socialist leader for many years, occupying various positions within the Consell of Mallorca and the Government, is currently dedicating himself to denounce the consequences of a tourism model from which he himself benefited being the owner of the agritourism “Binicomprat”, an establishment that did not have any type of definitive opening license for its operation.
Currently, Jaume Garau is one of the main representatives of the Civil Society Forum for the Reconstruction of the Balearic Islands, an entity created to “rethink the tourism model before it is too late” and which proposes certain measures such as: reduction in the supply of tourist sitesthe application of a new star model for hotels with sustainability criteria or the creation of a tourist saturation index to define the island’s reception capacity.
In addition, Garau also writes opinion pieces in the Balearic press, all focused on criticize mass tourism or the arrival of cruise ships in the city of Palma. In fact, the former senior official of the PSOE assures in some of his texts that the current tourist model of the Balearic Islands is “A serious public health problem“.
The former general director of the Tourism Coordination considers it necessary to eradicate a tourist model “This gives many advantages to a few“, as he says. A most hypocritical statement, since it was he himself who profited from his illegal agrotourism to get an economic return.
As if that were not enough, Jaume Garau is the President of the Mediterranean Initiatives Foundationa platform that defines itself on its website as a “Balearic Islands civil society movement to defend the interests of citizens in their territoryanalyzing reality from a global perspective and promoting proposals towards development models respectful of heritage, cultural, social and natural valuesto be able to enjoy them and preserve them for future generations.
One of the objectives of this entity chaired by the former senior official of the PSOE of the Balearic Islands is to “promote initiatives in favour of the conservation of the socio-cultural and natural heritage of the Balearic Islands”, which directly conflicts with the tourist establishment that Garau, which It did not have a certificate of occupancy and did not comply with fire regulations..
Jaume Garau was also one of the founders of ARCA, the Association for the Defense of the Heritage of Mallorca. In fact, he was the first secretary of the organization until 1991. Later, in 2010, he was named an honorary member of the entity.
Garau agrotourism continued to operate despite its irregular nature
As reported by OKDIARIO this Wednesday, Garau, which was part of the Tourism Department of the Balearic Government of the socialist Francesc Antich, has inaugurated its agrotourism “Binicomprat”. without having the final opening permit corresponding to being able to legally start a tourist activity in the Balearic Islands.
However, despite the scandal, Garau justified the irregularities of his company, assuring that “the majority of agrotourism establishments in the Balearic Islands do not have a definitive authorization from the Department of Tourism.”
The Ministry of Tourism, then headed by the socialist Celestí Alomar, warned Jaume Garau that his agrotourism was not appropriate, but that the establishment continued to operate without any problems even though I don’t have permission. Finally, the former general director of the Tourism Coordination sold the shares of Mongartur, a company that operated agrotourism, to his wife.
Despite these scandals, Garau was able to continue to hold high positions such as that of executive advisor of Social Protection of a Town Hall of Majorca whose president was Francine Armengol (2007-2011 legislature). In addition, he was spokesperson for the PSOE in the same institution between 2011 and 2015. Garau ended his political career as a socialist deputy in the Balearic Parliament between 2015 and 2019.
