Tourism is driving the growth of the Balearic Islands' labour market on the way to what is expected to be another record employment season. The annual increase in registrations with social security in the tourism sector is higher than in any other Spanish region - up five per cent. The national average is 2.9%, and no other region has achieved four per cent.
Figures from Spain's tourism institute Turespaña show there were 152,178 registered workers in the Balearic tourism sector in April, over 7,000 more than in April 2024. The sector comprises hospitality, travel agencies and tour operators. In all there were 587,353 registered workers; 26% were in tourism. The number of workers in the sector will rise this month and again in June.
Forecasts suggest that further records will be set in 2025 in terms of tourist numbers and tourist spending; in 2024 these were 18.7 million and 22.38 billion euros. At a forum in Palma on Friday, the president of the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation, Javier Vich, emphasised the sector's role as a job generator and its significant contribution to regional GDP, which accounts for around 45%. "Sometimes we lose sight of the importance of tourism in this region."
He pointed to the federation's role. It brings together a total of 23 associations, 871 establishments, and 201,000 beds, 15% of the national total. In this regard, the president of the employers' association made a veiled reference to the holiday rental sector. "We don't know who other accommodation associations represent or how many people."
At another conference on Friday, the director of the Fundació Impulsa for Balearic competitiveness, Professor Antoni Riera, pointed to the futility of continuing to base economic growth on "exhausted" and "excessive" patterns. The architect of the government's sustainability pact stressed that Balearic growth based on volume - more tourists, more workers, more working hours, more resources - "is not a pattern of sustainable growth".
"It does not create value, but rather consumes resources - natural, human and social - at an accelerated pace. Economic growth is only legitimate if it translates into greater shared well-being and respects ecological limits. This is no longer the case in the Balearic Islands."