are a common practice in this sector and so a new tax cannot be added to the prices paid
by tourists, without resulting in a reduction of hotel profit margins.
Furthermore, specific tourism taxes generate negative attitudes in
tourists and businesses against what is perceived as discriminatory
policies (fiscally predatory governments) that also encourage bad
practices (tax evasion through black markets). This is probably the
main reason behind the sudden demise of theecotasatourism tax
in the Spanish Balearic Islands (approved in April 2001, repealed in
October 2003).
Similar lobbying activities are currently in place in
the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico, among other countries,
against municipal hotel room taxes