Welcome to La La Land! The Balearic government is pushing ahead with its plan to ease “tourist saturation,” in other words trying to control tourist numbers. This all came about as a result of the anti-tourism protests during the summer and the Balearic government announced plans to change the “tourist model” in other words end mass tourism. The problem is that all is not well within our principal industry and the Balearic government has been rather overtaken by events. Business leaders have said that the local economy is showing fatigue and growth stalled in the all important second quarter. Bars and restaurants are reporting a 20 percent fall in takings.
Yes, the island has been visited by a record number of tourists with a big rise in German visitors counterbalancing the fall in British tourism in July (10 percent) and mainland tourism (13 percent). Taking all this into account, is this the right time to introduce ground-breaking legislation which could add to the general feeling of unease within the industry? I think not. There is an overall feeling (misinformed) that all is well within the tourist industry and that big-spending holidaymakers are queuing up to come here on holiday.
This misinformation is propelled by talk of record seasons like a broken record. A drop in takings will hit the 50,000 people who work in bars and restaurants, that is what the government should be concerned about.