The Balearic Government is redoubling efforts to calm tourism markets in the face of renewed actions protesting against overtourism. Contacts with consuls, tour operators and travel associations have intensified with the aim of conveying a message of security and hospitality and countering what are seen as hostile media interpretations of the social and political context in the Balearics.
Against the backdrop of the planned demonstrations in southern European cities on June 15, the recent campaigns with AI images in a few Mallorcan municipalities have been latched onto by the foreign press, especially the British. Reports have mixed images of protests held last year, while these have spread confusion by, for example, links to an increase in Catalonia's tourist tax, an increase which has in fact been postponed because the regional parliament rejected it.
The government will have had an eye on events in the Canaries at the weekend and the reporting of protests there. The British media's approach was typified by inflammatory language, e.g. holidaymakers having been too scared to leave their rooms. To be fair, however, social issues in the Canaries were also reported, as they have been in the Balearics. But it is the headlines that command the attention.
On Monday, there was a meeting between representatives of the tourism strategy agency (AETIB) and the British Consul, Lloyd Milen. This emphasised how welcome tourists are, while recognising that there is overcrowding because of tourist numbers in certain places and at certain times of the year.
In this regard, tour operators are being asked to facilitate as much as possible a transition towards a more balanced distribution of tourist arrivals throughout the year, the AETIB director, Pere Joan Planas, saying "it is clear we have to evolve".
The agency attributes a fall in British tourism to prices and not to protests. There was an overall decrease of 3.2% in 2024, while for the first quarter of this year there was a decrease of around 20%. This contrasts with, for example, the German market, which showed an increase of ten per cent in 2024 and is continuing to rise at a similar level in 2025.