by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Majorca and the other Balearic Islands are going to demand an accommodation tax from July 2016. Would this be a reason to avoid holidaying in those Islands? I would say yes, it would.
Most people who go on holiday abroad often have not even seen the sights and places of interest of their own local area or their own country as a whole. They are predominately sun-seekers who also demand that where they are going their language is being spoken and everything is about like home, only more sun and warmth, warmth as in temperatures, that is. And this is equally true for Germans or Brits who travel to the Costas, the Balearic Islands, or the Canaries.
Therefore I would have a great advice for them to avoid any such taxes. Go on staycation. Stay at home, or vacation in your own country. Staycation, however, is, in my opinion, a great opinion. You spend your money in the local shops and attractions, live at home in your own surroundings where you do not have to pay for things through your nose, know that the water is drinkable and the place as clean as you like it, and much more.
While going to other places in one's own country, and staying there in guesthouses or even hotels, to see and experience the sights and whatever else on offer, the best place to start from is as the base is home, and to explore the local and slightly farther afield area.
This is especially true when money is tight, as it is for many in the still ongoing – and probably n ever ending – Great Recession (yes, we are being told it is over, but is it?).
There once, in Britain, was a time when you could easily take day trips – with an entire family – to explore quite a distance away from home for little money. That, alas, ever since the privatization of the railways has become a thing of the past an using the train in the country, nowadays, is far more expensive than flying to destinations on the European mainland, such as the South of France, Spain, and even the not necessarily sun-seeker destinations.
Nevertheless, staycation has become the thing already over the last couple of years in Britain and, in my opinion, a good thing this is too. Let's keep the money at home rather than carrying it to foreign destinations.
And while it is true that we cannot guarantee the weather during British summers as to sun and warmth, there are many things that can make a staycation much better for us and our wallet than jetting off to to the Costa del somewhere and going through all the rigmarole of security checks at the airports on both sides and all that. You get stressed flying out and stressed coming back and you'll end up needing a holiday to get over the one you just came back from. Much better to book a staycation.
© 2016
