Views: 127
Less Fitur, More Future
This slogan resonated last Saturday at Plaza Conquesta in Maó, the scene of a new protest from the Via Menorca campaign. This time, the focus was on the economic inconsistency represented by the rampant tourism overcrowding in the Balearic Islands. Hundreds of participants formed a large human graph illustrating two alarming trends: the unchecked rise in tourist numbers and the continuous drop in per capita income compared to other Spanish regions.
When excessive tourism no longer contributes to increasing residents’ income, other social and environmental issues become more pressing. Menorca has been heading down this dangerous path for years, prompting calls to return to a model of differentiation.
The protest, held during the Christmas and New Year holidays, was timed to coincide with the one-month countdown to the FITUR tourism fair in Madrid, set for late January.
Today, Menorca once again warned that it will not yield to the misguided policy of promoting the island for ever-increasing numbers of visitors. Read the manifesto heard in the square for the arguments and reasons behind this call to action.
Manifesto: December 28th – Via Menorca
As 2024 comes to a close, Menorca has once again broken its historical record for tourist arrivals. And the peak is not yet in sight: for 2025, the Consell Insular de Menorca has announced the largest tourism promotion investment ever—€6 million of public funds will be spent to market our island to all tourism markets. The main event will take place in January at the FITUR fair in Madrid. Do we really need to keep promoting an island where quality of life is deteriorating?
Headlines suggest that the growing trend is positive, asserting that more tourists benefit the economy since much of it relies on tourism activity. But is it truly beneficial? Official data paints a different picture.
According to the Balearic Institute of Statistics, which operates under the Balearic Government, summers in Menorca now see about 70,000 more people than at the end of the 20th century, when daily human pressure indices began to be recorded.
In 2024, the island hosted more than 200,000 people daily for 43 days. On August 10th, the peak reached 232,000, according to Ibestat.
As we know, more visitors come each summer, largely due to digital platforms facilitating stays in private homes, many of which lack tourist licenses. Turning our homes into tourist accommodations has added 30,000 official tourist beds to Menorca’s capacity. This figure doubles when accounting for unregistered accommodations.
Meanwhile, outdated hotels also fail to reduce their capacities during renovations. Examples include hotels in Cala Galdana or Arenal d’en Castell. Despite being constructed 50 years ago, their landscape impact remains unchanged. Similarly, the two large towers in Son Bou continue to house over 1,000 people, a case currently under judicial review.
This increase in accommodation capacity means more tourists can visit, as they have places to stay. More promotion, more tourist housing, and more people—but what are the effects?
Firstly, we observe palpable consequences in daily life: an entire generation faces halted life projects due to the housing crisis, with 63% of their income spent on shelter. Living costs rise to tourist prices, freshwater reserves are depleted, the unique landscapes that defined Menorca are degraded, and virgin beaches suffer from overuse. The Balearic Islands have the second-highest early school dropout rate in Spain, following Murcia.
It seems, then, that further growth only leads to declining quality of life. Data supports this: numerous studies demonstrate that increasing tourist numbers does not correlate with improved economic outcomes.
One key indicator is the evolution of per capita income. In the mid-1980s, the Balearic Islands boasted the highest or second-highest per capita income in Spain. Since then, tourist numbers have tripled, yet income rankings have plummeted.
At the beginning of this century, the Balearic Islands ranked 46th in Europe for per capita income. By 2023, they had fallen to 148th place—despite hosting far more tourists.
This means that when we received only a third of today’s tourists, our economic outcomes were significantly better. Overcrowding runs counter to the community’s economic viability.
These findings, published by the Balearic Economic and Social Council, are backed by various studies from the University of the Balearic Islands, the Impulsa Foundation (linked to the Confederation of Balearic Business Associations), official economic reports, and most regional and national press outlets. With today’s human graph, we hope this message will reach even more people worldwide.
To those who believe such warnings are anti-tourism, we want to stress that the opposite is true. Tourism that overwhelms and harms local residents is degrading itself. Highlighting the negative effects of unbridled growth supports sustainable tourism—tourism that is well-conceived.
We know where unrestricted tourism growth leads: to Mallorca and Ibiza. This is why our campaign is called Via Menorca—advocating for Menorca to pursue the path of differentiation, the route that led our island to its Biosphere Reserve status. It is the path that restored the Camí de Cavalls instead of building coastal promenades, the strategy that eliminated 60,000 planned tourist beds to preserve the rural landscape.
The people gathered here will not surrender, no matter how intensively our government works in the opposite direction. A government that dismantled the anti-corruption office, abolished the Environmental Commission, and now rewards urban planning violators.
The summer overcrowding we experience stems from winter promotions. The postcard image marketed this January at FITUR portrays a Menorca that visitors can no longer find when they arrive. It is a deceptive image based on the value of conserved landscapes, now exploited to attract crowds that no longer bring prosperity to locals.
This is why we are here: to demand Less Fitur, More Future. To advocate for restoring the dignity Menorca is losing. To raise our voices and join forces, demanding that this island return to the road that makes it unique and beloved.
Follow Via Menorca’s activities on Instagram and the GOB Menorca website. Thank you for not giving up. We will meet again.
