This week, while the Balearic parliament argued on about curing the ills of tourism, the Balearic Minister for Economy, Finance and Innovation, Antoni Costa, described the idea that tourism can be replaced by another industry or sector as the main economic activity in the Balearic as ‘naive and demagogic’.
The idea was the brain wave of a member of the far-left Podemos, many members of which will no doubt be taking part in the Sunday anti-tourism policy protest. As far as the current centre-right PP government is concerned, it was the left-wing coalition’s fault Mallorca and the Balearics at large have a “tourism problem”.
However while Costa’s point is valid, one has to wonder what would Mallorca do without tourism?
Domestic tourism has crashed this year, as has been pointed out, it’s cheaper to go long haul than pop over to Mallorca from the mainland and that can also be said for many northern Europeans - not to mention local residents.
Mallorca’s millions, if not billions, have come from tourism, but many people appear to have either forgotten that or refuse to admit it. This year, the industry is already complaining of a downturn in takings; well thank the locals.