Appearing before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday to discuss his budgets for 2024, the Balearic minister for tourism, culture and sport, Jaume Bauzá, stated that left-wing parties have to take "some responsibility" for tourist saturation and the economic dependence on tourism. Over the past 25 years, he observed, the left have governed for 16 of these.
He made this remark in response to opposition points on the need for economic diversification and alternatives to tourism.
Josep Castells of Més in Menorca said that the minister was not addressing problems such as tourist overcrowding, the degradation of natural resources and overpopulation. "Not only is there no intention to fight against it, but it is accepted as an evil that cannot be fought. We depend on tourism, well what are we going to do about it?" he asked ironically.
Lluís Apesteguia, spokesperson for Més in Mallorca, warned that the Balearics have exceeded their carrying capacity from the point of view of both residents and visitors. He therefore questioned why funds for tourism promotion were being increased. Cristina Gómez of Unidas Podemos called for a tourism decrease and for a reduction in tourism promotion spending with funds invested in social measures instead.
Bauzá was also questioned about the ministerial combination of tourism, culture and sport. For PSOE, who combined tourism with employment and the economic model from 2019 to 2023, "they are simply an adding-up of different budgets". And moreover, these are budgets "focused on tourism promotion and little else, without ideas, without a project". Bauzá argued that there are "positive synergies".