It became increasingly clear over the course of 2025 that the Balearics were heading for yet another record year in terms of tourist numbers, and the final official statistics for 2025 now confirm this. Released on Tuesday, they indicate there were 19,053,592 tourists, an increase of 1.73% compared with the previous record - 18,730,440 in 2024.
The growth in numbers has slowed - it was up almost five per cent in 2024 - which might give some support to a Balearic Government objective of 'containment'. Or it could be a reflection of what certain commentators have said is the ending of a cycle of major growth since the pandemic. Either way, it is still growth and will therefore lend further weight to criticisms of tourism policy and to charges of tourist saturation.
The figures show that while Spanish tourism in the Balearics fell by more than two per cent, foreign tourism was up by 2.6% to 15,708,921. Both the two main foreign markets - Germany and the UK - recorded decreases. In the case of the UK, this was by only 0.5%. There were 3,556,804 UK tourists. The German fall was under two per cent to 4,927,029.
In December, Spanish tourism slumped by more than 20%, which was probably a reflection of the Imserso programme for senior citizens. German tourism suffered a fall of more than three per cent, while the UK increased by almost 25%, admittedly to only 21,430 out of a total of 284,000.
Mallorca's 13,557,606 tourists in 2025 represented an annual increase of 1.4%. Both German and UK tourism registered slight falls - Germany down 1.7% to 4,573,834 and the UK by 0.7% to 2,280,511.