The Association of Tourist Apartments of the Valencian Community has released a statement in which it is in total disagreement with Mónica Oltra's proposal on launching a Tourist Tax included in the 2022 Budgets. The vice president of the Consell dropped this idea again and added which would be destined to be invested in social policies for access to housing for young people or in rental assistance.
However, the vision of the tourist associations APTUR CV, VIUTUR, AEA, ALOGA and ABATUR is quite different. In their statement they affirm that they are in no way against policies in favor of young people, "but these must be paid with the taxes that all Valencians pay, not charge the same on the tourism sector," they point out.
The reasons against the rate
His vision is based on the fact that the tourism sector has had "practically unaffordable income losses" after more than 18 months of pandemic. So, they see "unacceptable" that, without the sector being recovered, the so-called Tourist Tax is applied. And even more so without having received any help yet, which they consider to be "lost."
For this reason, they accuse Compromís of using the tourism sector as a "scapegoat to raise money" and, ultimately, to attract a young vote "at the expense of tourists and legal tourism companies in the Valencian Community." In this way, they believe that the rate would overload Valencian tourism and show it less competitive compared to others.
They also highlight that the percentage of vacation rental homes is only 6% and many of them are only seasonal. So, they also reprimand the hotel sector for accusing them of "hotelization of homes", since in tourist homes there is no type of hotel service.
Finally, they directly ask President Ximo Puig to deny the possible application of the measure proposed by his colleagues. All this with the intention of launching a message of tranquility to the possible markets that book their vacations next year in the Valencian Community.
