The Association of Tourist Apartments and Homes of the Valencian Community (APTURCV) and a broad representation of companies and operators in Calpe have demanded that the City Council reverse its amendment to the Tax Ordinance on waste collection fees. The changes specifically penalise tourist accommodation with a surcharge of 40 euro per bed, in addition to the standard fee. This sector generated an economic impact of more than 135 million euro in 2025 and 1,400 direct and indirect jobs in Calpe.
The measure, initially approved in the May plenary session, entails an 18% reduction for residential properties and a 5% increase for commercial activities, but introduces a new surcharge for tourist accommodation, calculated “per bed” and added to the existing rate based on the cadastral zone. APTURCV considers this surcharge an unjustified penalty for tourist accommodation, lacking a solid technical, economic, and legal basis, and creating a clear disparity compared to other types of urban use that also generate waste.
The association points out that, according to the legal framework for fees, any such tax must be linked to the actual or foreseeable cost of the service provided. It denounces that, to date, the City Council has not publicly demonstrated the actual cost of the waste collection and treatment service specifically attributable to tourist accommodation, what methodology has been used for its calculation, or what objective criteria have been used to allocate said cost to this specific use.
APTURCV warns that all properties are already subject to an ordinary waste tax and that the introduction of an additional surcharge linked to tourist use, without a detailed and verifiable technical justification, places the sector in a scenario of possible double taxation and tax overload.
Among the most questioned aspects, the association focuses on the theoretical criterion per person per year proposed by the council to calculate the surcharge on tourist accommodation, a model that, in the opinion of the entity, presents serious weaknesses because it does not distinguish the actual duration of stays, does not take into account seasonality or effective occupancy and is not based on the actual generation of waste.
In a letter sent to the mayor of Calpe, Ana Sala, APTURCV and the signatory companies and operators, including tourist accommodation managers and representatives of the municipality’s tourism value chain, request full and immediate access to the administrative file for the modification of the fee, the full publication of the supporting economic and financial report, a detailed technical report on waste generation by type of use, the express justification of the criteria applied for calculating the surcharge on tourist accommodation places, and an evaluation of the real economic impact of the measure on the sector.
The association demands that, until this information is available and sufficiently verified, the proposal be reviewed and suspended to prevent the success of an ordinance based on insufficient and potentially contestable grounds due to a lack of proportionality, transparency, and technical rigor.
The president of APTURCV, Silvia Blasco, emphasises that the sector is not refusing to contribute to the actual cost of waste management services, but rejects being used as an “easy taxpayer” to balance the municipal budget. According to Blasco, tourist accommodations are willing to responsibly assume their share, provided there is clear technical support, an equitable distribution of the burden, and genuine dialogue with the sector. “What we cannot accept is a surcharge of 40 euro per bed added to the regular fee without supporting data, without a transparent financial report, and without a rigorous analysis of actual waste generation. This measure arbitrarily penalises a strategic sector for Calpe and opens the door to double taxation, which is difficult to justify,” states the president of APTURCV.
Despite its firm stance, APTURCV reiterates in the same letter its willingness to collaborate with the Calpe City Council and with representatives of the municipality’s tourism value chain. The organisation offers to provide real data on occupancy and usage of tourist accommodations in Calpe, to participate in the design of waste management financing models that reflect the actual amount of waste generated and the seasonality of the activity, and to contribute to improving the efficiency of tourism-related waste management.
APTURCV requests an urgent meeting with the Calpe City Council and with representatives of the sector in the municipality to reconsider the measure and move towards a tax framework that does not arbitrarily penalise tourist accommodation, which is key to employment, investment and the national and international projection of Calpe as a destination.
