While World Tourism Day on Tuesday prompted a Palma demonstration against "tourism intensification", it was also the context for the Balearic government's sixth Night of Tourism and awards that were handed out at La Misericordia in Palma.
Speaking at the event, President Armengol said that "we all know" that an increase in the number of tourist accommodation places is "not the way to continue progressing". "There is a consensus that quality should be the basis of our tourism model and can no longer be quantity."
For the government and the Council of Mallorca, it was an occasion to emphasise policies aimed at tourism sustainability and circularity. Armengol stressed that the government's general aim is that "we must commit to a tourism sector with circularity policies, to increasing the quality of our establishments with water-saving measures and stop depending on global markets to put what is on hotel tables". Making the case for products that are the "best from our countryside and our sea", she was sending out a message to the Spanish government, which is challenging the constitutionality of Balearic legislation that has set percentages of local products to be used for hotel menus.
About the awards, the president said: "This is your night and that of the 200,000 people who, with effort and work, are the face, eyes and soul of the tourism sector."
Catalina Cladera, the president of the Council of Mallorca, praised the work of the entire sector, "because thanks to this, Mallorca is a benchmark leader in tourism" She stressed the need to move towards a model that protects "natural and heritage resources and accelerates the transition of the sector towards activity without CO2 emissions but with energy efficiency and the circular economy". Moreover, "we must continue promoting the digital transformation of the sector and its businesses".
The tourism minister, Iago Negueruela, said that the Balearics will maintain the commitment to increasing quality from a sustainable perspective: "We must promote the principles of the circular economy and focus on business models based on differentiation, innovation and the environment."