Ibiza & Majorca want fewer tourists this summer – how it affects your holiday

ANOTHE holiday hotspot in Spain has said they would be limiting the number of tourists.

The Balearic Islands, which include Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza, have become the latest holiday destination in Spain to say this, following similar measures in Lanzarote.

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The local government says 16,475,579 holidaymakers arrived in 2022 and this will be the “absolute ceiling” for future years.

The intention will be to decrease this figure and introduce new control measures, such as spreading out the seasons and encouraging tourists to stay in new areas to alleviate those already saturated.

The 16,475,579 mark achieved in 2022 is just 397 fewer than 2019, pre-Covid, and just 76,000 less than in 2018, the year which marked the all-time high.

According to Spanish newspaper Ultimahora.es: “The strategy now goes through other battlefronts that have been repeated like a mantra in recent years: increase quality, services or the occupancy rate and, in any case, try to reduce the number of arrivals at least in the months of middle of the year, when the feeling of saturation has become suffocating for both residents and tourists.

“A reality that not even the sector itself denies.”

The new way ahead for the Balearics follows the trend of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

Last week it said the island was “saturated” amid plans to limit tourists and get away from dependency on the Brits who currently represent 50 per cent of the market.

The island wants to attract less tourists who spend more, putting “quality before quantity.”

Despite the Covid and the war in Ukraine, the Balearic Islands attracted enough tourists to make the top 20 in a ranking of the most visited countries in 2022, coming in 16th place.

Minister of Tourism, Iago Negueruela said: “We believe that it is feasible to have more occupancy with fewer tourists.

“The number of visits reached this year is a maximum that should not be exceeded but should tend to decrease.

“There must be a clear trend towards the reduction of tourist places.”

As with Lanzarote, however, precise details of how numbers will be controlled or limited have not yet been revealed.

The Balearic strategy will include decongesting saturated areas by promoting new quieter areas and to expand the low season.

Tourist bed numbers are also likely to be cut and it has previously been suggested that lower standard hotels of one or two stars might be closed down.

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