The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, and the councilor Nuria Montes have staged the repeal of the tourist tax in London, the main tourist market for the Valencian Community. Both have stamped their signature on a tablet to send the repeal order to Valencia, a symbolic exercise of the process that begins today and will continue next Friday with its transfer to the Corts Valencianes for subsequent approval.
At the event, in which Mazón and Montes were accompanied by the president of Hosbec, Fede Fuster, and the president of the Alicante Provincial Council and mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, the head of the Consell declared that "we have started the process from here, telling 2.2 million British tourists that they do not bother us, that we change the message in which we say that they are welcome and that this absurd law has only been a shadow, a threat.
The Valencian president has continued to describe the rule, approved by the Botànic although without application until 2024, as "a burden, a putting a spanner in the works, which could make operators take their fare elsewhere." Therefore, for Mazón, today "those who have a cafeteria, a hotel, a tourist apartment, a campsite should be in luck, because all the British agencies are now carrying this message saying goodbye to the tourist tax throughout the United Kingdom."
The rule, which generated quite a few tensions between the partners of the Botànic government (PSPV-Compromís-Unides Podem), was to come into force this December and its application was to be decided voluntarily by each town council. The tax was established on a municipal and voluntary basis, it ranged between 0.5 and 2 euros per day depending on the category of each accommodation and was 100% subsidized. In addition, each city council could decide whether to establish a surcharge and charge more.
At this morning's event held within the framework of the World Travel Market, Mazón explained that "The Canary Islands considered it and did not approve it, the Dominican Republic. I understand that there are specific points that, analyzing their market, approve a rate, but we have analyzed ours and with competitors like Turkey. 55% of British tourists come to Benidorm, and to be successful in that competitive world you have to be the best at everything. Beyond money, those few euros that will go to the museums or businesses, it is about conveying the message that there is no rejection of tourism, on the contrary, that they are always welcome.
