Will the anti-tourism lobby lock onto the latest findings and fire up again when the season eventually starts on the back of new research findings? The Observatory of Transitions of the Civil Society Forum warned this week of the progressive growth of human pressure in Mallorca, which suffers from one of the highest tourist-resident ratios in the world, with 29 tourists per inhabitant in 2024, compared to 11 per inhabitant in 1980.
The organisation presented the report “Key Indicators of Transitions”, which points out that housing is becoming one of the main problems for society on the island, ‘in a scenario of increasing vulnerability if the current trend is not corrected’, it said in a statement. Based on data analysis, the forum warns that the ‘necessary transition to a more balanced, equitable, resilient and sustainable model’ is ‘practically non-existent’.
The report notes the growing human pressure due to the combination of an increase in passenger numbers and population growth. They point out that both the number of passengers arriving at Palma airport has increased, from 29,721,142 in 2019 to 33,298,164 in 2024, and the resident population, from 896,038 in Mallorca in 2019 to 957,726 in 2024.
The Human Pressure Index (the maximum total number of people in Mallorca in a month) stood at 1,490,489 in 2024, in addition to the ratio of 29 tourists per resident, which translates into a greater burden on resources, services, infrastructure and the sustainability of the territory. The report warns that if ‘decisive action is not taken on the island’s tourism and economic system’, Mallorca could reach 56 million passengers in 2050 and more than 1.5 million residents, with summer peaks of 2 million people by the middle of the century.
Housing is one of the main obstacles to social transition, according to the report, with monthly household expenditure on housing at €1,192 per month, up from €862 in 2019, and an increase in the average purchase price of a home from €2,360/m² in 2019 to €3,167 in 2024. Seven per cent of households are in extreme poverty, a percentage that rises to 8.1% in households with children.
When analysing the environmental transition, despite the increase in the use of public transport and renewable energy generation, mobility continues to be dominated by private vehicles, the water crisis is worsening and waste generation is not decoupled from economic growth. Mallorca ranks second in Spain in terms of time lost in traffic congestion (in 2023 it was first and now ranks behind Barcelona), with an average of 17 minutes per day in traffic jams for journeys of 10 kilometres, although public transport passengers have increased by more than 2 million between 2023 and 2024.
The total amount of water supplied annually to Mallorca between 2019 and 2024 has increased from 78.34 to 85.49 hm³; while waste generation is increasing, with 540.2 kilograms per person (including tourism), exceeding the Spanish average of 488.15. The energy transition is progressing slowly: the percentage of local renewable energy production in the Balearics as a whole has risen from 6.2% in 2019 to 14.6% in 2024. Self-consumption stands at 160.23 MW installed in 2024, compared to 12.96 in 2019.
In economic terms, the report warns that the production model remains anchored in tourism, with 70% of companies in the service sector. The Civil Society Forum report concludes that the climate crisis, political and economic instability at local, national and international levels, and dependence on tourism as a single industry place Mallorca in a vulnerable position, highlighting the urgent need for ecological, economic and social transformation.