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Today’s tourism announcement highlights one of the problems that has grown the most in the last few years in Menorca: the overcrowding of vehicles. This is an issue requiring urgent institutional attention.

The large increase in visitors from which the island suffers, resulting from the outcrop of many illegal tourist locations, is accompanied by the larger number of private vehicles.

This has happened particularly because of the increase in maritime connections that allow many tourists to arrive in their own cars. A problem that the recently approved Reserve of the Biosphere Law needs to address without delay.

The saturation of the beaches, the difficulty of finding parking in urban centres or the congestion of the roads are the consequences of this overcrowding.

In view of this, there must be more structured public transport (a basic commitment, also, in the context of climate change) but especially decisive policies to curb the number of vehicles must be addressed. That includes effective inspection against illegal rentals, stopping new urban growth and defining a limit on the number of vehicles.

Regarding this last question, which has been applied with success for some years in Formentera, we now have the capacity to do it. The date of when the Law of the Reserve of the Biosphere came into force (19 February 2023), added to the elections in May, make it difficult to put it into practice this summer, which will mean a new season of congestion.

Article 28 of the above mentioned Law gives the plenary session of the Local Governing Island Council the authority to decide each year how many vehicles and motor bikes can be let into the island and how many can circulate and park. Therefore, it will be one of the first jobs that must be dealt with by the newly elected parties at the end of this month.

You can see other announcements for the tourism campaign by clicking here Positive tourism