Jet2 chief fears Spain tourist taxes could rise

Jet2 chief Steve Heapy fears tourist taxes could rise in response to overtourism protests in Spain.

During a roundtable event at the Spanish embassy in London, Heapy said he was opposed to tourist taxes and he feared rises would prove “irresistible”. 

“It worries me greatly that it will constantly creep up in response to overtourism protests,” he said.

Pere Granados, mayor of Salou, said he originally opposed the introduction of a tourist tax in Catalonia, but he now defended it.

He said the levy is set at €1 per person per day for a maximum of seven days, with children under 16 exempt.

Outlining the rationale for his support of the taxes, he said: “The tourists pay tax in the same way as the residents pay taxes. If I come to London, I generate waste.”

Benidorm mayor Antonio Perez said: “We have to pay taxes, but things have to be reasonable.”

He added: “I’m against a tourist tax because it’s stigmatising the visitors as the ones who are preventing me from having a better city or better services. We need to be the best place to live.”

In an earlier roundtable session, Calvià mayor Juan Antonio Amengual said money generated by the tourist tax in Majorca was used to boost the area’s sustainability.

Heapy described tourist taxes as “a form of demand management”, adding: “The golden rule you have to follow if you’re putting a tax in place is you’ve got to ringfence it for what you say you’re going to do and then provide total transparency on what it’s going to be spent on.”

When a tax is introduced, he said, it is very rarely removed.