According to ecologists Terraferida, there are 158,000 more tourist accommodation places in the Balearics than four years ago, an increase of 37%. Their figures are based on information from the tourism ministry.
The number of places has risen from 424,112 in 2015 to 582,281 this year. Of these, Majorca has 397,000. Terraferida say that there is an increased number away from coastal areas, attributing this to an extension of the tourism season to twelve months a year.
One of the organisation's spokespeople, Jaume Adrover, said yesterday that Majorca now has almost the same number of places as existed in the whole of the Balearics four years ago. The increase is due to a lack of forecasting by the relevant authorities.
He called for there to be limits to permissions for legal accommodation places, which in Majorca will soon rise to 430,000, almost a quarter of which will be holiday rentals. There were 32,000 legal rental places in 2015; this year the number will go up to 96,000.
Terraferida are advocating "sustainable growth and a limitation to the number of places". They want a freeze on the number in Majorca and the other islands, a reform of tourism legislation and the establishment of the two-for-one principle. For each new accommodation place, two should be eliminated.