The Association of Tourist Apartments and Housing of the Valencian Community (APTURCV), along with companies and operators in the sector in Calp, have urged the City Council to reverse the modification of the Fiscal Ordinance for the waste collection fee. The measure specifically penalizes tourist homes with a surcharge of 40 euros per bed, in addition to the ordinary fee, impacting a sector that generated over 135 million euros and 1,400 direct and indirect jobs in Calp in 2025.
The modification, initially approved in the May plenary session, involves an 18% reduction for residential homes and a 5% increase for commercial activities, but introduces a new additional charge for tourist accommodations, calculated per bed and cumulative to the existing fee based on cadastral zone. APTURCV considers this surcharge an unjustified penalty, lacking a solid technical, economic, and legal basis, and creating clear comparative disadvantage compared to other urban uses that also generate waste.
The association recalls that any such tax must be linked to the actual cost of the service provided. They denounce that the City Council has not publicly substantiated the effective cost of waste collection and treatment specifically attributable to tourist homes, nor the methodology or objective criteria used to allocate this cost. They warn that the introduction of an additional surcharge without detailed and verifiable technical justification could lead to double taxation and fiscal overload.
Among the most questioned aspects is the theoretical per-person, per-year criterion proposed by the council, which the entity considers flawed because it does not distinguish the actual duration of stays, account for seasonality or effective occupancy, nor is it based on actual waste generation.
In a letter sent to the mayor of Calp, Ana Sala, APTURCV and the signatory companies request full and immediate access to the administrative file for the fee modification, the complete publication of the justifying economic-financial report, a detailed technical report on waste generation by usage type, express justification of the calculation criteria for the surcharge on tourist beds, and an assessment of the real economic impact of the measure on the sector. They request that, until this information is available and sufficiently verified, the proposal be reviewed and suspended to prevent an ordinance based on insufficient and potentially challengeable grounds due to lack of proportionality, transparency, and technical rigor from proceeding.
The president of APTURCV, Silvia Blasco, emphasizes that the sector does not refuse to contribute to the real cost of the waste service but rejects being used as an "easy contributor" to balance municipal accounts. According to Blasco, tourist homes are willing to assume their share responsibly as long as there is clear technical support, equitable distribution of effort, and real dialogue with the sector. "We cannot accept a surcharge of 40 euros per bed that is added to the ordinary fee without supporting data, without a transparent economic-financial report, and without rigorous analysis of actual waste generation. This measure arbitrarily penalizes a strategic sector for Calp," she states.
Despite their firm stance, APTURCV reiterates in the same letter its willingness to collaborate with the City Council of Calp and with representatives of the tourism value chain in the municipality. The entity offers to provide real data on occupancy and use of tourist homes in Calp, to participate in designing waste service financing models that reflect actual waste generation and activity seasonality, and to contribute to improving efficiency in waste management linked to tourism. APTURCV requests an urgent meeting with the City Council of Calp and sector representatives to reconsider the measure and move towards a fiscal framework that does not arbitrarily penalize tourist accommodation, which is key to employment, investment, and the national and international projection of Calp as a destination.
