Benidorm proposes that the financing of tourist municipalities be developed on the VAT generated

The Mayor of Benidorm Toni Pérez, together with the Mayor of Alicante, Luís Barcala and the Councilor for Tourism of Elche, Carles Molina, has participated today in an act of the Association of Economists in Alicante, after the presentation of the report "The Municipalities in times of Covid : The territory of cooperation ”of which the professors Luís Caramés and Amelia Díaz are authors. The debate, moderated by the president of Alicante Association of Economists, Francisco Menargues, was led by the president of the General Council of Economists of Spain, Valentín Pich.

The report has highlighted the scarce, incomplete and inadequate attention of the state legislation towards tourist municipalities, asking the authors that it should be less doctrinal and more operative to help overcome the difficulties of an extraordinary expense estimated at 17% in the document and that mayors have raised to more than 20% since the effects of Covid have further stressed local finances.

Professor Díaz has highlighted the interest that the Local Finance Law aroused and the disappointment it caused for tourist municipalities since the law eludes, she said, the reality of the population in fact and through income only focuses on the resident population, ignoring the tourist VAT even knowing the added value of tourist municipalities in a country to which Tourism contributes 176,000 million euros, contributing 14.6% to GDP, generating 2.8 million jobs (14'7 %). The authors of the study asked a question - Can Spain be allowed to abandon the tourist municipalities? - answering themselves with a resounding no.

After that a table was opened to analyze the study and some questions posed by the economists. The issues of the necessary financing made up the central axis of this webinar where the mayor of Benidorm pointed out the three communities that coexist in Benidorm and on which the provision of services must be developed: “registered residents, residents registered elsewhere and visitors and tourists ”, with Toni Pérez having an impact on the second group because“ the State's contributions go to the municipality where it is registered and the services are provided by Benidorm ”.

He stressed that "in Benidorm we are 70,000 registered people and not even in the pandemic have we dropped below 130,000 neighbors", noting that "State funding comes online to registered residents." He pointed out that in summer we can reach 450,000 people.

This is one of the basic issues of the need for extraordinary financing of tourist municipalities, "the basis of an industry that does not relocate and distributes wealth very well."

Pérez took the opportunity to point out that the Local Finance Law, in its article 125, proposes compensation based on hydrocarbon and tobacco taxes, "two matters that now collide with the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda." Then he recalled that "Benidorm and the Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities, for fairer financing, we have the impact of VAT, which we pay where we consume." Pérez concluded by saying that "whatever municipality you are, you will have a quantifiable tourist activity" from which to point out the contribution. Along these lines, the mayor of Alicante and the Elche Councilor for Tourism also showed.

On the particular of cooperation between municipalities for the provision of services, the mayor of Benidorm expressed his support "when it is to increase the quality and efficiency of services and save costs" and gave the example of water management through the Consortium Comarcal de la Marina Baixa "of effective cooperation between municipalities, the Provincial Council and the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation" as an example "of what is now called co-governance" and over six decades. Perez pointed out, “a cooperation that arose out of a collective need” emerged.

And at the same time, Pérez pointed to an example that collides with the regional plan, such as through EDUSI. The willingness to cooperate must effectively reach larger projects: joint and consortium.

And in line with the line of collaboration between administrations, public-public, Toni Pérez pointed out the effectiveness of public-private collaboration exemplified in the Benidorm Tourism Foundation "an example for everyone, because there are few examples of success in the world" .

The representatives of Alicante and Elche also discussed this issue on consortiums and associations, affecting the Alicante-Elche axis.

The SDGs and the 2030 Agenda formed the third round of interventions, highlighting the mayor of Benidorm that these developments "put in value many of the actions already developed by Benidorm, the first certified DTI in the world." After her, Benidorm highlighted its sustainability initiatives in aspects such as the Municipal Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change and the Sustainable and Integrative Urban Development Strategy as a great social initiative that sews the city urbanistically and reduces the digital divide. The Destination Sustainable Tourism Plans to put the city's heritage and attractions ”and the confidence of accessing Next Generation EU funds in a city that is still active pending initiatives such as the Cultural Center and very attentive to the development of the initiative private with development of partial plans with investments of more than 200 million euros.

Pérez concluded by pointing out the importance of “putting in value the work of the City Councils” and the need to “keep doing things well”, “combining well the verb to ask”.

Finally, Pérez encouraged economists to take advantage of the occasion and analyze the impact that the latest government decisions will have on accessibility and communications.