The Balearic Islands increase the collection of the Ecotax in 2018 by 87%

Since the Ecotax was first introduced in June 2016, a total of €234.48 million have been paid to date.

Last year, the Balearic Islands has collected with the Sustainable Tourism Tax (ITS), also known as the Ecotax more than €122.78 million, up 87.5% from the previous year.

According to the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, the taxes collected from holidaymakers visiting the islands is exclusively destined to endow the Sustainable Tourism Impulse Fund (Fondo de Impulso al Turismo Sostenible).  Since the introduction of the Ecotax a total of €234.48 million have been collected.

Tax is collected by the holiday accommodation establishment i.e. hotel, rental property, campsite, etc. with the rate varying according to accommodation type, date and length of stay which can be calculated in the Touristm Tax Calculator below.

2018 has represented the second year of full taxation, after the Sustainable Tourism Tax was launched in July 2016.

The breakdown of the tax payments per island is as follows:

·         Mallorca €89.9 million (73.2%) have been obtained
·         Ibiza €18.7 million (15.3%)
·         Menorca €10.2 million (8.3%)
·         Formentera €1.6 million (1.3%)
·       While the collection corresponding to cruises has exceeded €2 million (1.7%).

In comparison with the collection of 2017, the percentages are similar in all the islands, with a slight general increase in the number of establishments that have been taxed. It also highlights the increase in the collection of cruise ships, which has gone from €0.31 million in 2017 (0.48% of the total collected) to €2.08 million in 2018, an increase of €1.77 million, which represents a 563% increase. This fact is explained by the legislative change that implies that all cruise ships arriving in the Balearic Islands have to pay taxes, whereas the original tax requirement was only applicable to visitors staying more than 12-hours on the island.

In terms of geographic location, a total of 6,361 tourist accommodation establishments collected Ecotax from its guests. The breakdown is as follows:

·         4,128 establishments in Mallorca (64.9%)
·         989 are located in Ibiza (15.5%)
·         588 in Menorca (9.24%)
·         256 in Formentera (4%)
·         400 cruises ships (6.2%)

Regarding the type of accommodation, of the 6.361 total establishments, the two biggest contributors to the Ecotax are as follows:

Holiday rental

The Balearic Government explains that this liquidation of the Ecotax (ITS) in 2018 does not include the result of tax contribution collected via holiday rental accommodation establishments, given that the voluntary period for the stays in 2018 has not yet been collected.  This is due between 1 May- 30 June 2019. The Ecotax collected via holiday rental accommodation in 2017 accounts for €3.29 million, corresponding to 10,251 properties.

Three years of collection

So far, the tax has generated an income of €234.48 million, distributed over three years:

·         €42.9 million in 2016
·         €68.77 in 2017, between the collection of tourism activity in general and that of vacation rentals and campsites, and
·         €122.78 million in 2018, not yet taking into account tax collected via holiday rental accommodation and campsites

The Minister of Finance and Public Administration, Catalina Cladera, has ensured that "the collection obtained through the Ecotax (ITS) is intended exclusively to endow the Sustainable Tourism Impulse Fund" (Fondo de Impulso al Turismo Sostenible).  There are already 156 projects of actions funded totally or partially by the funds obtained through the ITS. The 2018 Plan, endowed with 110.5 million, has incorporated 48 new projects and also finances 33 multi-year projects from previous requests for funding. The 2016 and 2017 annual plans supported a total of 108 projects.