The PPCV launches the initiative “Stop the Tourist Tax”

Monday 11th April 2022 – Mike Smith
Source: original article – Xàbia AL DÍA

The Partido Popular of the Comunidad Valenciana (PPCV) has launched a campaign to bring a halt to the proposal to introduce a tourist tax across the autonomous region which PPCV leader Carlos Mazón says “we will all pay when we enjoy visits in our region, when we want to stay in one of our own hotels or rural houses, we will have to pay 1.50 euros more per person”, adding that “instead of lowering taxes, the government of Puig is asking us to pay more”.

Mazón said that it is “inconceivable” that with the approach of the Easter and summer campaigns, the message being launched by the region is that the doors are open to a new rate that “penalizes the Valencian people as much as the tourist who comes to the Comunidad Valenciana”.

He made these comments on the launch of the Stop Tasa Turística initiative across social networks to show the PPCV’s rejection of the implement of the new tax across the Comunidad Valenciana.

He said that the tax is “ideological” and that tourism doesn’t need more tax burdens or punishments but rather it needs measures and actions that help it overcome the difficult situation that it has been experiencing for the past two years. “We must invest in tourism and the best way to attract tourists is not through imposing taxes at a particularly delicate time for the recovery of the sector.”

Mazón added that “measures cannot be approved without listening to the sector or those affected. The tourism sector needs all the support of the administrations and incentives to continue working, not to put even more sticks in the wheels”.

Thus, the president of the PPCV has indicated that “it does not help or improve the sector. Quite the contrary, it worsens our attractions to the international markets and tourists that we have to encourage back to our region. It’s incongruous and doesn’t make any sense. It is one more demonstration of a government adrift, paralyzed that only pulls more sectarianism and ideology”.

The proposal made by the regional government provides for a tax ranging from 0.5 to 2 euros, depending on the category of the establishment, with an average of one and a half euros. This would have a direct impact on the income of a sector that accounts for 15% of the Comunidad Valenciana’s GDP.

In 2019, the last tourist year in which travel was normal, half of the national tourists to the region came from one of the three provinces of the region itself, which would also mean a new tax burden for Valencians. “Instead of incentivizing and cutting taxes, they discourage and tax more. It’s amazing,” he added.

The “Stop the tourist tax” campaign, open to all of society, includes the presentation of motions in town halls and institutions and the dissemination of images on social networks against the new tax. This action is added to other similar ones such as the collection of signatures launched a month ago by the hoteliers of the Comunidad Valenciana through HOSBEC and which has the support of regional and national employers.