At a conference in Palma on Wednesday, the CEO of Meliá Hotels International, Gabriel Escarrer, spoke about changes of government in the Balearics and elsewhere.
Calling for further public-private collaboration, of the type pursued in recent years, he was concerned that change will undo things that have been "done well", such as the Balearic tourism law that was passed in 2022. As reported by Hosteltur magazine, he feared that there will be "a lack of a long-term vision", arguing that laws need to endure in their essence and with only small modifications.
With Spain assuming the presidency of the European Union, Escarrer believed that this will represent an opportunity to regulate the "chaos" in respect of holiday rentals. Recognising that these are an important element in the tourism mix, he nevertheless insisted that there needs to be control in order to prevent "saturation" and threats to the identity of historic city centres. "Visitors no longer interact with residents, but with other tourists in an environment that risks becoming a theme park. This loss of identity will take its toll because it does not represent sustainable development of the tourism model."