Spain and the Balearics: protests in Mallorca spotlight sustainable tourism
Protests took place in the streets of Palma de Mallorca on 21-Jul-2024, when local residents called for limits on tourist numbers.
The organisers of the protest in the largest city in Spain's Balearic Islands, 'Menys Turisme, Mas Vida' (Less Tourism, More Life), claimed that around 50,000 people took part, while police figures were more like 12,000.
The core of the demonstrators' position is that tourism is impoverishing workers and enriching only a few people. They argue that mass tourism has increased the cost of housing, and limited its availability; also that it has weighed on public services and harmed the natural environment.
Other complaints raised by residents, both in the Balearic Islands and elsewhere in Spain, include unattractive new resorts, obnoxious behaviour by tourists, and too much use of water.
Spain ranks second in the world both for tourist arrivals and the value of tourism receipts. Its economy depends more on tourism than the European and global average - especially in the Balearics.
However, the future of tourism will depend increasingly on integrating the different strands of sustainable tourism: economic, environmental, cultural and social sustainability.
- Spain is number two globally by tourist arrivals and by receipts.
- Spain tourism has outpaced the global average since the COVID pandemic, and is at record highs.
- Spain's economy depends more on tourism than the European and global average, especially in the Balearics, whose airports had record traffic in 2023.
- Inbound tourism to Spain continues to grow in 2024, but Spain wants to focus on quality not quantity, and improve the impact on local communities.
Spain is number two globally by tourist arrivals…
Spain was the world's number two nation ranked by tourist arrivals in 2023, according to data from UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
It had 85.2 million inbound tourists in 2023, second only to France, which had 100.0 million.
Spain was comfortably ahead of the USA, where tourist arrivals amounted to 66.5 million.
Top 10 countries by tourist arrivals (million), 2023
…and by receipts
However, the USA ranked first by the value of tourist receipts in 2023 (USD175.9 billion). Spain was again in second place on this measure, with receipts of USD92.0 billion.
The UK was third, with USD73.9 billion, and France was fourth, with 68.6 billion.
Spain's tourism has outpaced the global average since the COVID-19 pandemic, and is at record highs
Global tourist arrivals of 1.3 billion in 2023 were up by 33% versus 2022. However, this figure was still 11% below 2019's peak of almost 1.5 billion arrivals, according to UNWTO.
Nevertheless, at USD1.5 trillion, 2023's global tourist receipts were 1% above 2019 levels (and up 34% year-on-year).
Spain's 2023 tourist arrivals were 2% ahead of their 2019 level, and up by 19% year-on-year. The nation's 2023 tourist receipts were up by 15% from their 2019 level, and by 26% year-on-year.
Spain's 2023 level of inbound tourism and receipts were its highest ever.
Spain also had record airport passenger numbers in 2023
Spain's two largest airports, Madrid and Barcelona, remained slightly below their 2019 levels of traffic, but the country overall experienced a record number of airport passengers in 2023.
Its 283 million passengers were 3% more than in 2019.
Spain: airport passenger numbers/growth, 2003 to 1H2024
Spain's economy depends more on tourism than the European and global average
Tourism's direct contribution to Spain's GDP was 5.4% in 2020, which was the latest year for which UNWTO data are available on this measure.
However, that was during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when levels of tourism were depressed.
In the four previous years tourism's direct contribution was between 6.5% and 6.8% of Spain's GDP.
This was higher than the range of 4.1% to 4.3% for Europe as a whole, and the range of 3.9% to 4.0% globally.
The overall contribution of tourism to Spain's economy has been estimated at 13%-14%, compared with 9% for Europe overall (source: World Travel & Tourism Council).
Tourism accounts for a similar share of all jobs in Spain, at 13.6% in Jun-2024 (source: Spain's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism).
Tourism contributes 45% of the economy of the Balearic Islands…
The Balearic Islands form an archipelago, whose largest islands are Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
Tourism is a huge part of the Balearic economy. Here, tourism's overall share of GDP is as high as 45% (source: Exceltur, cited by Reuters).
Spain's National Statistics Institute reported 14.7 million tourist arrivals to the Balearic Islands in the 12 months to May-2024.
…whose airports handled record passenger numbers in 2023
The Balearics' biggest airport, Palma de Mallorca, handled 31.1 million passengers in 2023 and is Spain's third largest by passenger numbers, behind only Madrid and Barcelona.
Ibiza Airport handled 8.9 million passengers in 2023, and Menorca handled 4.0 million.
All three Balearics airports recorded their highest ever traffic numbers in 2023.
Nevertheless, the growth of the tourism sector in the Balearics, and in Spain more broadly, is creating growing tensions with local interests.
Inbound tourism to Spain continues to grow in 2024…
Following 2023's record numbers for Spain, this year (2024) looks like setting yet greater all-time highs for both tourist arrivals and airport passengers.
Visitor arrivals to the country rose by 13.8% year-on-year in the first five months of 2024, and airport passenger numbers were up by 11.4% in 1H2024.
Spain: visitor arrivals, 2003 to 2024*
…but Spain wants to focus on quality not quantity…
However, as volumes continue to grow, Spain's minister of tourism, Jordi Hereu, is aiming to refocus the sector on quality rather than quantity.
This translates as a model of tourism that is sustainable economically, environmentally and socially.
Together with Spain's national tourist office, Turespaña, the minister is developing new metrics by which to gauge the success of tourism, beyond visitor numbers.
…and improve the impact on local communities
Of course, there is the widely adopted aim to achieve net zero by 2050, but an aim now gaining momentum is to ensure that growth in tourism benefits local communities.
Part of this involves adopting new measures of the quality of life for communities in tourist areas and the quality of jobs in the sector.
Turespaña is surveying more than 25,000 people in communities across Spain in order to assess and understand tourism's impact. It also surveys international visitors on all aspects of their experience, including sustainability at destinations.
Mallorca and the Balearics are moving to improve tourism's impact on local communities
In the Balearic Islands, whose economy is so geared to tourism, the sector's impact on local people is particularly acute.
The government of Mallorca is reducing the island's tourist bed capacity by 4%, while the Balearics have clamped down on excessive drinking.
More broadly, the island of Mallorca has introduced a responsible tourism pledge for tour operators.
It contains commitments in eight areas, including: the appreciation and protection of nature, respect for local communities, making a positive cultural impact, buying locally, and recycling.
Tourism in the Balearics is highly seasonal, even more so than for Spain as a whole. Peak monthly visitors in the Balearics are 17.5 times the trough month, compared with a national average peak to trough multiple of 2.1 times.
One of the challenges of this extreme seasonality is that sustaining jobs in tourism year-round. As a result, Turespaña is aiming to promote year-round tourist activities, such as cycling, for the benefit of local jobs and businesses.
Sustainability in all forms will be critical to tourism's future
Sustainable tourism in all its forms - economic, environmental and social - is gaining momentum.
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) has developed standards for policy makers and destination managers, for hotels and tour operators, and for venues and events.
The standards, known as the GSTC Criteria, are arranged around sustainable management, socioeconomic impacts, cultural impacts and environmental impacts.
The example of Spain and the Balearic Islands demonstrates that these factors will be critical to tourism's continued and important role in the economy, and also in local communities.