The Balearic Islands to put a cap on number of tourists per year

In addition, the island of Menorca has gotten the approval to limit the number of visiting cars

It appears that the post-Covid tourism business in Spain has rebounded so well that now parts of the country are resorting to measures on limiting the number of visitors. The latest in that club will be the Balearic Islands whose regional government announced that it plans to put a ceiling on the number of visitors per year – and that number is 16.5 million.

In fact, this was, more or less, the number of tourists that the Mediterranean archipelago welcomed last year. However, the authorities have concluded that anything above that digit would strain the regional resources too much and prove costly in the long term in terms of sustainability.

Rethinking tourism development in Spain

Could this be a pattern of things to come in the future regarding tourists? After all, only days earlier the Canary isle of Lanzarote announced a similar plan, and Venice charges day-trippers to enter its old town area.

The Balearic government previously also made headlines by announcing that it wants to ban foreigners from purchasing new properties in the region because they were driving the housing prices to levels that were out of the reach for local inhabitants.

The regional authorities of the archipelago believe it’s high time to introduce a reorganization of the tourism sector with a view to increasing the quality rather than the quantity of visitors. Especially so in the summer months when the tourist crowds become so large that it feels suffocating for everyone local or not.

Iago Negueruela, Minister of Economic Model, Tourism and Labour of the Balearics said, as quoted by InSpainNews: “We believe it is feasible to have more occupancy with fewer tourists. Despite the theories of those who bet on quantity over quality, we are moving in the right direction.”

How this will be achieved in practical terms is still unclear though.

Menorca frowns on cars

Meanwhile, the Balearic legislature has approved a law that allows the second-largest island in the archipelago, Menorca, to limit the number of visiting cars.

The text passed by the assembly grants the government of the tiny Mediterranean isle the power to limit the entry of “all types of motor vehicles” to prevent it from becoming choked by fumes and overrun during summer months.

What’s more, the local authorities now also have the right to put a cap on the number of vehicles that can circulate on the roads at a “defined period”.

“This is a historical milestone for Menorca,” the head of the island’s government, Susana Mora, said in a statement, according to Macau Business. “It is a tool that should help us boost our sustainability policies.”