The so-called Balearic Balconing Federation started out as a Facebook account, Balconing Mallorca, in 2019. Cases of 'balconing' were treated as if they were like an Olympic competition. After a classification system was posted on Twitter in 2022 and received thousands of likes, a website was created.
The scoring system, they say, is as simple as possible. "Cases that end in death add two points, and those that end in injury add one point. We have two classifications: one based on nationalities and the other based on the municipalities where cases occur. We try to keep it up-to-date, both on X and on our website, updating it every time we verify a case. On average, we have to do this once every ten days during peak season, which is quite fast."
They rely exclusively on information in the press. There are no contacts with the emergency services, the health service, or public institutions.
Despite the satirical tone of the posts, the group insists on drawing a very clear line between the event and the person. "In cases of deaths, we are very careful that our posts are not interpreted as an attack on the victim. We focus on the classification, on the phenomenon, not on the life of the person."
They seek to highlight the seriousness of these types of accidents, which they consider preventable and associated with a drunken tourism that degrades coexistence in resort areas under stress from overtourism. "We believe that dark humour can make people think. Official campaigns have had no effect. We point out the act, not the person."
"One objective is to expose these incidents using humour, which helps us cope a little better with what our home has become thanks to this tourism model. A second objective is to raise awareness that this tourism model is savagery. Only one in every million tourists who come to the Balearics will be a case of balconing. From a statistical point of view, these are merely anecdotal cases, but they are also the glaring tip of an iceberg that hides many other miseries of the current tourism model. We believe we have helped people get an idea of the magnitude of the problem by providing figures."
They have no fear of having their website shut down. "We will continue to keep track, whether in public or private. With or without a website, cases of balconing still occur. We had a major controversy last summer when a Scottish minister called for the page to be shut down, but it came to nothing; we never received any warning. We believe that 'shooting the messenger' won't solve the problem."