Tourism controversy: hoteliers in Mallorca deny saturation and the Government tells them that ‘we have to talk about limits’

Vich made this statement to the media on Wednesday at the ITB tourism fair in Berlin after holding meetings with various German tour operators, to whom he explained that Mallorca ‘is not an overcrowded, saturated or overcrowded destination’.

‘Like any destination in the world, we have specific places where we do have an influx of tourists due to the popularity of the place. But we have to send out a message that we cannot generalise when we talk about overcrowding, because that is not the reality, it is categorically false,’ he stressed. Tour operators have not expressed their concern about saturation, which is limited to ‘four, five or six areas that do have a large influx of tourists’.

A little earlier, he pointed out that this sensation of overcrowding is only perceived in ‘certain streets, not to say four streets in Palma’, in the same way that it happens when visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Central Park in New York. ‘We cannot deny this’, he said, and proposed solving these specific problems with «management» and the use of technology, as is already being done in other tourist destinations.

Along these lines, he admitted that hoteliers are ‘fed up’ with the fact that saturation has become part of the political debate. ‘It is important that with our main industry - which last year earned 22,400 million euros, he said - we are very cautious with messages that do not correspond to reality,’ he insisted.

A day after these statements, the Government of Marga Prohens expressed that it respects the opinion of the hotel employers' association, but clarified that «it is necessary to talk about limits». These words were pronounced on Thursday by Antoni Costa, vice-president of the autonomous government and Minister of Economy and Finance, who stressed that he respects ‘very much’ the opinion of the hoteliers, but remarked that the perception of the Balearic government in relation to tourism has not changed and that ‘we must talk about limits’.

The councillor reiterated to the media that the government's position on saturation or congestion has not changed, referring to the fact that ‘it is not possible’ to continue growing with the same pattern and that the islands ‘have reached their limits’.

‘It is necessary to take into account the welfare of residents,’ he said. In this sense, he insisted that it is a problem ‘of the first magnitude’ and that, for this reason, the Govern has set in motion the process of the Pact for Sustainability. He also stated that the Executive will present its proposals imminently.