Madrid - The millions of visitors who flock annually to Spain's Balearic Islands will now pay one euro per day "ecotax", a surcharge local authorities hope will help offset environmental damage from mass tourism.
Officials on the islands of Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza - favorite destinations for young ravers and sun-seeking retirees - hope the tax will generate at least 30-million euros a year in revenues.
But its application comes after three years of intense legal wrangling against foreign tour operators, the local tourism industry and even central government in Madrid.
In April, a German tourism federation, the DRV, accused the islands' authorities of discrimination, and going against freedom of movement in the European Union.
Earlier this year hoteliers warned that the tax, which will apply to most adults but not children or senior citizens on subsidised holidays, could deprive the archipelago's economy of 600-million euros ($528-million) a year.
The islands, which depend on tourism for 84 percent of their gross domestic product, receive around 11 million tourists every year, including four million from Germany and three million from Britain.
The tax will raise the price of a trip by around one euro per person, per day. Children under 12 are exempt.
But with the proceeds, regional authorities hope to fund projects including agriculture, recovery of natural spaces, litter clean-ups and revival of cultural attractions.
"In the Balearics, the industry is the landscape. Our policy is to control growth and have sustainable development," said the islands' socialist leader, Francesc Antich.
"The World Tourism Organisation had warned that the islands could be a victim of their own success and suggested taxes."
Greenpeace Spain have also voiced its "unconditional support" for the tax.
"It is an exemplary measure that should be heard in the rest of the country," Mario Rodriguez of Greenpeace told AFP, dismissing opponents as being from a generation responsible for the eyesores that now line Spain's Mediterranean coast. - Sapa-AFP