Promoted by Celestí Alomar, Minister of Tourism of the first Pacte de Progrés (1999-2003), a tax on tourist stays, immediately known as the ‘ecotax’, was approved on April 10, 2001, twenty-five years ago. It levied, approximately one euro per night, the stay of tourists. With the revenue, some negative externalities of mass tourism in the Balearic Islands were to be corrected. It did not come into effect until May 2002 due to an appeal to the Constitutional Court, filed by the Aznar government. When the People's Party won the following elections in 2003, it repealed the tax, considering it a brake on tourist competitiveness. Those who defended the repeal of the tax said that it could not be classified as ecological or environmental, and that it was not even a tax, arguing: “It was nothing more than a symbol of a policy of negative messages towards what tourism represented”. And they related the application of the ecotax to the decrease in tourist arrivals and the problems the hotel sector had experienced. The Government of Jaume Matas wanted to replace it with so-called green cards or ‘sustainable’ foundations that only collected a pittance.

The Minister of Tourism, Jaume Bauzá, defended on Tuesday a "moderate" increase in the Sustainable Tourism Tax (ITS, known as the ecotax), similar to the one proposed by the Government last March: Raise it between 1.5 and 3 euros in high season and lower it in winterAt that time, he was unable to push the initiative through due to a lack of support from Vox, which opposes tax increases. "It wouldn't affect competitiveness at all," the regional minister insisted. Bauzá made these remarks in response to a question from Vox's deputy spokesperson, Sergio Rodríguez, about whether the regional government had studied the impact of this tax increase. Bauzá admitted that it hadn't, but insisted that "no extensive studies are needed" to know that this increase would be harmless. Rodríguez, for his part, responded that the government's sole objective with this proposal was to raise more revenue, not to discourage lower-income tourists, as Bauzá argued. In this regard, he urged the regional government to "stop bleeding" tourists and residents dry with taxes and instead focus on offerings that attract "higher-quality" tourists. For example, in his view: golf courses and beach clubs.

Cross-referencing data between the Government and the island councils has identified 1,475 establishments with tourist licenses that were not listed in the Sustainable Tourism Tax (ITS) registry, and to which requests have been sent, according to a statement from the Ministry of Economy.