AMT Sol y Playa expands the characteristics of the Tourist Municipalities to access better financing

In this way, and after commissioning an external consulting firm to carry out an exhaustive study and a comparison with more than 40 countries in which tourism adds value to their economy, a proposal is made to align the diversity of definitions that Currently, in the Spanish legal system, they can be found in what is considered a Tourist Municipality.

The work carried out has the final objective of delimiting those localities to which particular financing measures are allocated to compensate for the exceptional conditions to which they are exposed for being Tourist Municipalities. However, despite their large tourist influx, current legislation does not consider municipalities with a long history of tourism in Spain (Benidorm, Lloret, Calviá, Torremolinos, Adeje, etc.) as Tourist Municipalities, with the consequences that this generates. , taking into account that the population imbalance they sustain due to their tourist activity can sometimes even triple.

With the desire to seek alternatives and solutions that allow their town councils to ensure both providing quality public services to the entire population and contributing to improving the economic competitiveness of their municipalities, the AMT promotes this analysis on the definition of the concept of tourist municipality and its financing model.

The study carried out analyzes the existing legislation on tourism, not only in each of the Autonomous Communities but also at a national and international level (in more than 40 countries), as well as the particularities on financing established for tourist municipalities, with the objective of understanding in depth and proposing improvements in terms of tourism and public services.

This study is a living document that allows us to have a definition of a tourist municipality and the necessary financing scales for these territories that host many visitors throughout the year.

The study document on the 'Definition of a tourist municipality, its implications and possible financing alternatives' shows that the current definition falls short, since only 14 Spanish localities meet the current requirements, while among the eight pioneer tourism municipalities of the AMT Sol y Playa, leaders of the sector's recovery process, only one is within the current parameters.

Thus, starting from a critical approach, the methodology used in the study has been prepared with the objective of responding to this definition and the financing estimate. The conclusion is that it is essential to make changes, both in redefining each municipality's characteristics and financing.

In this way, the proposal outlined by the AMT Sol y Playa contains that, to be considered a tourist municipality, the candidate localities will not be capitals of a province or an autonomous community, they will have a population that will be between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants and must meet at least one of the following three requirements:

-    That second homes exceed the number of first homes.
-    That they have more than four million overnight stays annually.
-    That the number of accommodation places is greater than 50% of the census population in each municipality.

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, detailed that "from the outset, Benidorm more than meets the requirement for overnight stays, since in a year of normal activity the destination reaches 19 million, and also the percentage of accommodation places over the census population in the municipality, which would be above the minimum 50% that marks the proposed definition.”

But, in addition, "we are convinced that today, and based on the urban development that the city has experienced in the last five years and what it will have in the next five years, Benidorm would also meet the requirement for second homes." However, “this parameter is calculated every two decades, so we will have to wait for the next review by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) to be able to verify that Benidorm effectively more than complies with all the requirements set out in the document. proposed by the AMT.”

Regarding financing, the study includes the need for town councils to be able to support a reduced rate of 3% VAT in their purchases in the mainland and the Balearic Islands and 1% of the IGIC in the Canary Islands.

Furthermore, for those municipalities that meet the criteria to be considered tourist municipalities, an additional modification of the financing system is proposed consisting of inclusion in the 'Transition Model' enjoyed by those municipalities that are capitals of the Province or Autonomous Community. This model represents 2.1% of the net income tax quota, 2.32% of the VAT, and 2.92% of the net collection of Taxes on Beer, Wine and Fermented Beverages, on Intermediate Products, Alcohol and Derived Beverages, Hydrocarbons, and Tobacco Products.

In this way, the proposal sponsored by the AMT follows the line that the mayor of Benidorm has been constantly demanding for more than six years: that tourist municipalities can participate in a percentage of the VAT linked to consumption that is generated in their terms. A demand that “is now confirmed as correct, fair and equitable to resolve the problem of financing tourist municipalities, which has been entrenched for years and requires immediate and definitive solutions to guarantee the quality of life of residents, tourists and services.” 

About the AMT Sol y Playa

The Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities (AMT) was born in 2017 with the initiative of eight pioneering tourist destinations in Spain, such as Adeje, Arona, Benidorm, Calviá, Lloret de Mar, Salou, San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Torremolinos. The key objectives are the treatment of problems that affect the financing of tourist municipalities and the commitment to the digitalization of the sector, sustainability, accessibility, and cooperation between destinations.
Adeje, Arona, Benidorm, Calviá, Lloret de Mar, Salou, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, and Torremolinos are pioneer municipalities and leaders in the national tourism sector and fully consolidated as an offer of guarantees at an international level.

Destinations with a long history, are the basis of the development of the tourism industry in Spain, but without the necessary and adequate financing for the services, job creation, and territorial pressure they support.