Silvia Moreno Sevilla

Seville

Updated Monday, February 26, 2024-12:28

  • Tourism Seville will charge to enter the Plaza de España to finance its conservation

The project of the mayor of Seville, the

popular

José

Luis Sanz

, to charge tourists to enter the

Plaza de España

in order to finance its conservation and a 24-hour surveillance service is encountering intense opposition from of various left-wing parties and also with that of the central Government itself, chaired by the socialist

Pedro Sánchez

.

The Andalusian Federation of Travel Agencies (FAAV) has also positioned itself against the plans of the Seville council.

The delegate of the Government in Andalusia, the socialist

Pedro Fernández

, has shown himself this Monday against the "closure" of the Plaza de España and has warned the Seville City Council that any project of this type "cannot be carried out without counting "with the approval of the central Executive, since State Heritage is the owner of the gallery and the building that houses various public offices.

"Neither in the Government Delegation nor in the Government Subdelegation do we have official knowledge of the decision of the Seville City Council to close the Plaza de España," said Fernández, who has criticized the "disloyalty" of the council and the "

arbitrary"

decision. which it intends to adopt to charge for access to a monumental complex that was conceived as an "embrace to Ibero-America", in the context of the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.

The vice president of the Congress of Deputies, the socialist Alfonso Gómez de Celis

, has expressed himself in similar terms,

who

has announced, through his account

in Spain".

"Access through the buildings that surround it is the responsibility of the State and will always be free," he highlighted on social networks.

As EL MUNDO has been reporting, the Seville City Council will propose a collaboration agreement to the General Directorate of State Heritage of the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations, directed by

María Jesús Montero

, to create a "management unit" for the maintenance and conservation of the Plaza de España which would mean, among other measures, closing the monumental complex and charging tourists an entrance fee.

Those

registered

in Seville and those born in the capital and the province would be

exempt from paying

to access the monumental complex designed by architect Aníbal González.

Cry from the left

Meanwhile, the PSOE and several parties to its left - Adelante Andalucía, Por Andalucía, Sumar and Más País Andalucía - have also launched a storm against the mayoral plans of the PP of Seville on the Plaza de España.

The general secretary of the PSOE of Andalusia and former mayor of Seville,

Juan Espadas

, and the president of the Provincial Council and general secretary of the PSOE in the province of Seville,

Javier Fernández

, have agreed to ask Mayor Sanz to "rectify" and resign his idea of ​​closing the monumental complex of the Plaza de España in Seville and charging tourists an entrance fee, given the "rejection" and "outcry" that has been generated against that proposal.

The leader of the Andalusian socialists wants a tourist tax

to be implemented

, instead of charging to enter the Plaza de España.

Until now, the Andalusian Government, chaired by the

popular

Juanma

Moreno

, has rejected this tax.

If Seville needs "additional income" due to the increase in stable tourism, "it would be more logical to resolve it, as all cities do internationally, being able to establish the tourist tax in this city once and for all," Espadas added.

The Andalusian PSOE proposes that

Parliament

approve "an Andalusian law" that "enables the municipalities of Andalusia that want to impose this tourist tax", so that it would not be "obligatory for everyone", but "absolutely

voluntary

", and would be " depending on the decision of the corresponding municipal corporation.

"What problem does the Popular Party have in letting the mayors in each city council decide if the circumstances exist, as they could occur in Seville, that they do, to seek stable financing?" he asked. Swords.

For his part, the general secretary of the PSOE of Seville and president of the Provincial Council, Javier Fernández, has considered that the proposal on the Plaza de España is "a new invention and a new

improvisation

on the part of the mayor of Seville", which has received "an outcry" of requests to "

rectify

" that proposal, "stop improvisations and truly put on the table a serious and rigorous plan for tourism, in this case, of the capital" of Seville.

Meanwhile, the leader of Más País Andalucía,

Esperanza Gómez

, has criticized the "privatization of public space" as a way of "regulating the negative impacts of tourism."

"No more walking freely through the Plaza de España. Those of us from Seville by birth will only be able to do so after queuing and showing our DNI," she noted in her X account.

The representative of Por Andalucía in the Andalusian Parliament

José Manuel Gómez Jurado

has also been in favor of implementing a tourist tax and has accused the PP municipal government of wanting to turn cities "into amusement parks."

Travel agency

Outside of politics, there are also voices that have been against the fee for accessing the Plaza de España.

Thus, the president of the Andalusian Federation of Travel Agencies (FAAV),

Luis Arroyo

, has highlighted that "charging for entry" to the monumental complex "will have a

negative

impact " on the destination, since "anything that is confiscatory, the tourist will not sees it positively."

However, he has recognized that this is "a very local issue" and it will be the Seville town council that will decide on this issue.

"If the city council decides to do it, as is already paid for the Alcázar or the Cathedral or other tourist resources in any other city, then they decide," he added.