The Balearic government does not believe that anti-tourism protests have influenced the German market, which has been decreasing since May and is forecast to continue falling over the winter low season.
On Tuesday, the tourism minister Jaume Bauzá downplayed a report from Spain's tourism institute Turespaña which suggested that anti-tourism protests were a reason for the slump. The minister pointed out that there had been "much larger" demonstrations in the Canary Islands, and yet demand there has not decreased; quite the opposite in fact. He added that a demonstration in Palma which had been called for September didn't take place. "We don't attach much importance to this issue," he concluded.
Bauzá did agree with Turespaña's conclusions regarding the impact of prices, which are benefiting less expensive destinations. But he observed that the decline in the German market and the British market was being offset by other markets such as the French, Italian and Swiss. He accepted that "it's always worrying when some markets decline", but argued that market diversification is "a plus for tourism in the Balearics".
In the Balearic Parliament, Llorenç Pou of the opposition PSOE accused the government of being "out of touch with reality" and criticised it for not having taken "a single bold measure to reverse the saturation". "They're shaking in their boots because they don't know how to get out of this mess."
The minister responded by blaming the left for overcrowding and saturation - "a result of their policies" - and pointed to the "change in trend" in terms of human pressure in the Balearics this summer.