Far from staging the rivalries that separate them, Seville and Malaga have shown this Thursday through their respective mayors unity to force the Junta de Andalucía to support the implementation of the tourist tax, an issue that causes disruption between the different axes of the Popular Party that govern in Andalusia. While the municipal governments of the main tourist cities of the community – all governed by the popular party – have been advocating for this compensation for some time, the regional Executive is reluctant. “We need to raise our voices and not enter into sterile discussions,” said the mayor of the Andalusian capital, José Luis Sanz, who presented a talk by his counterpart from Malaga, Francisco de la Torre in the city of Seville.
Both have staged this alliance in front of the Councillor for Tourism of the Junta, Arturo Bernal, who this week again rejected the implementation of the tourist tax, arguing that it did not solve either the problem of financing or the concentration of foreign visitors. De la Torre is confident that if the measure is agreed with the tourism sector, the autonomous government will also support it. “It would be to promote quality tourism: more five-star hotels and more quality tourism,” he said, after his colloquium organised by the Chamber of Commerce of Seville. The mayor of Malaga also added that the money raised could be used to subsidise rents for families with fewer resources.
Sanz has also been defending the tax as an additional source of income for some time. In the midst of a debate on regional financing, the mayor of Seville has spoken of the need for municipalities to have an “extraordinary financing instrument”. The popular leader has emphasised the problems for coexistence that arise from mass tourism. “We have to see what measures we can take because there are problems among the residents of our cities, without forgetting that tourism represents 25% of the GDP and employs 30,000 Sevillians”, he said, after highlighting that Seville receives more than five million visitors a year.
Tourism and gentrification are one of the causes that aggravate housing problems in both cities. Malaga has become the Andalusian capital where it is not only more expensive to buy a home, the square meter on the Costa del Sol is double the average for the rest of the community, located at 1,700 euros per square meter, but where it costs the most to rent, 900 euros for 70 square meters, according to the Andalusian Residential Market Barometer, prepared by the real estate consultancy Gloval. De la Torre has attacked the central government for the current housing law. “The supply has been reduced by the state law,” he said while pointing out that it is essential to end the problem of housing prices. As a solution, he has proposed building more public and private housing and has highlighted the “good public housing stock” that Málaga has.
Mourning over international flights
In their efforts to show their unity, both mayors have tiptoed around the issues that generate the greatest rivalry between the two cities, the capital law that Seville is demanding and which Malaga is opposed to. Another thorny issue is the possibility of Malaga taking the direct flight with China, a possibility that is not at all popular in the city of Seville, after the direct connection with New York, which was almost closed with the airport of the Andalusian capital in 2022.
The municipal team, led by the PSOE, then accused the Junta of “dynamiting” the agreement. Now, the socialists warn that they have been working for many years so that “now they will opt for Malaga again” and the attraction of international flights. De la Torre has used diplomacy and has pointed out “whatever China decides will be good for Andalusia”, regardless of which airport is chosen.
