The Balearic Government's tourism policy is one of no growth or limited growth in high summer but of growth in the lower months of the year. 'Containment' is the keyword for the summer. Tackling seasonality is the theme for the winter months, as it has been for governments for years.
For the winter of 2024/2025 there was evidence of growth, the winter being defined in terms of airlines' schedules; it runs from November to March. In all five months, tourist numbers increased. For the winter of 2025/2026, the opposite has been happening.
The latest monthly tourism figures relate to January. Numbers for the whole of the Balearics fell by 11.7%; for Mallorca specifically by 12.9%. January is always the quietest month of the year, and in 2026 there were 244,000 or so tourists in the Balearics, of whom 205,000 were in Mallorca.
The two main winter markets are Germany and Spain. Both registered decreases. Spain was down 17%, Germany by just under two per cent. The UK, which registered a total of 12,815 tourists in the Balearics, was up over 17%.
There were reverses in both November and December (Mallorca itself did record a slight rise in December), lower than that for January. But the winter in the Balearics has registered three consecutive months with decreases. And for January, the weather may just have been a factor. Visitors don't expect to be lying on beaches in January, but they would hope for pleasant conditions. This January there were storms.