According to the
GOB, the demolition last Monday of a hotel in Cala Mesquida (Capdepera) demonstrates the trap of the
General Law for Tourism of the Balearics.
This law demands as a requisite to obtain the permission to create new tourist places, that old tourist places have to be
eliminated. However, the present Law permits in certain situations that the number of beds to be authorised be more than the
eliminated ones. In fact, when small hotels are eliminated (up to 300 beds) the number to be built can be doubled, or even
more if the old plot is left as a Free Public Area. In other situations it is not even necessary to eliminate old tourist places to
create new ones, as the Law states.
The ecological organisation denounces what has happened in Cala Mesquida to knock down a hotel of 220 beds and
permitting the construction of two hotels that will have a total of 570 beds (in Can Picafort and in Cala Mesquida). For this
reason, they demand a rapid reform to the General Law for Tourism to eliminate the exceptions to the Law and to stop the
growth of tourist places, as promissed by the
Pacte de Progrés.
Meanwhile, the GOB has created a report on the Energy Plan for the Balearics. This report is available on:
http://www.gobmallorca.com/energia/InformePlaEnergetic.html
Photo © CAIB: demolition of the hotel in Cala Mesquida (18/12/2000)