As Spain’s Balearic Islands, which incorporates the favored port of Majorca, brace for an anticipated inflow of almost 1.8 million cruise passengers in 2025, the regional authorities is rolling out a set of measures particularly aimed toward managing that ever-growing quantity.
On March 7, 2025, the Balearic authorities, led by President Marga Prohens, determined to drastically enhance the Sustainable Tourism Tax for guests.
Throughout the high-season months of June, July, and August, the present tax for cruise passengers on standard islands comparable to Mallorca and Ibiza will enhance from €2 per particular person to €6 per day.
Exterior the height season, between March and December, passengers will proceed to pay €2, with solely January and February – the off-season within the islands – tax-free.
This implies the greater than 1.8 million passengers scheduled to reach through 541 cruises in 2025 can herald hundreds of thousands.
In line with Prohens, the tax hike is critical to cut back the environmental footprint of tourism with monies raised used on sustainability initiatives, infrastructure enhancements, and cultural heritage safety.
The decision for these stringent measures has been fueled by warnings from native officers and environmental advocates in regards to the unsustainable progress of tourism, notably cruise vessels.
Miquel Angel Contreras, a councilor from MÉS per Palma, has been vocal in regards to the earlier administration’s “failures” to control the cruise business.
“The PP has determined to go away free method to the cruise business,” he stated.
“We can not proceed accepting the collapse of our streets, the contamination of our metropolis, and the endangerment of our pure assets whereas the one beneficiaries are the bigger cruise liners,” stated Contreras.
He highlighted the impression of cruises on the islands, stating the adverse carbon footprint and water consumption.
Contreras says these negatives far outweigh the monetary contributions of cruise ship passengers, which he cites is as little as 35 euros per particular person.
A Surge in Guests and Laws
The 2024 cruise season within the Balearic Islands noticed an uptick in each cruise ship arrivals and passenger numbers, setting the stage for the brand new laws.
Over the course of the yr, the picturesque archipelago within the Mediterranean Sea welcomed almost 1,500 cruise ships and 1.7 million friends – a 20 p.c enhance in comparison with 2023.
MÉS per Palma is pushing for the federal government to restrict the variety of cruise ships allowed to dock in Palma de Mallorca and to ban mega cruise ships.
In Might 2024, Mayor Jaime Martinez of Palma de Mallorca echoed the decision for a partial ban on cruise ships. His plan is to both restrict the variety of ships allowed to name or to solely permit those that house port in Mallorca’s capital metropolis.
Per a 2021 settlement, Palma permits solely three vessels to dock inside a 24-hour interval. Ibiza permits simply two. As banning cruise ships is a more durable battle for native governments, elevating taxes on passengers is a rising development.
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Within the Greek Isles, officers dealing with comparable challenges to the Balearic Islands launched a €20 payment for friends arriving by cruise ship in the course of the peak season of 2025 to locations like Santorini and Mykonos.
Its smaller, less-visited islands will cost a €5 payment.
Final summer time’s tourism tax for peak season day visits to Venice, Italy, – €5 – was so profitable in elevating funds, the UNESCO World Heritage Website plans to elevate it to €10 in 2025.
The tax was carried out on 29 of the island’s busiest days, raking in €2.4 million ($2.61 million).
The Balearic Islands’ cruise season sometimes runs from April by way of October, however increasingly cruise strains have been arriving even earlier.
In Palma, for instance, its first name – Windstar Cruises’ Star Legend – shall be March 10, 2025. Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Breakaway will arrive in Ibiza on March 26.
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