Tourism and environmental taxes. With special reference to the Balearic ecotax

During the last few decades, tourism has undergone rapid growth. However, it seems clear that this growth is not exempt from certain costs. Economists' attention is increasingly directed at the economic, social, cultural and environmental repercussions of tourism, regarded as externalities. Focusing on the aforementioned repercussions, the aim of this study is to confirm both the existence of external environmental costs and the need to internalise them, with the aid of appropriate economic instruments. In this respect, an outline is given of the recent proposal by the Government of the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands to introduce a tourist tax on visitors, presented to public opinion in the form of an environmental tax, and a critical review is made of the proposal, in the light of a number of criteria regarded as relevant in the description, design and implementation of these taxes. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.