Forecasts for the final quarter of 2023 indicate that the total number of tourists in the Balearics this year will pass the 17 million mark. If so, 2023 will shatter the current record year - 2018 with 16,583,654.
Hotel and holiday rentals sources anticipate numbers similar to those for the October-December period last year. There were exceptional numbers of visitors in October and November, aided by some very good weather. The Spanish association that coordinates flight slots is pointing to increased seat and flight availability.
The figures for August, which will be released this week, will provide a further indication as to the annual total. For January to July, the cumulative total was 10.13 million, well above 2018 (9.40 million), 2019 (9.52 million) and 2022 (9.29 million). If that trend is shown to have continued, then surpassing 17 million for the year will look almost inevitable.
In February this year, the then tourism minister, Iago Negueruela, said that 2022's figures (16.5 million) should not be exceeded and that "it will be necessary to analyse how to reduce the arrival of visitors to the Balearic Islands".
Against a background of concerns about tourist overcrowding, there is now a new government which dismisses talk of a decrease in numbers. This said, the tourism minister, Jaume Bauzá, has said that there will not be growth in the number of tourist accommodation places - registered places, as the illegal offer of holiday lets has been a contributory factor to tourist saturation, especially in the summer.
But these concerns will only be heightened if, as seems likely, the 17 million barrier is breached.
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Johnny CAccording to this and other British media outlets, Brits are apparently the overwhelming majority of tourists. Anyone can see this because whenever you go to a British resort, it's entirely dominated by British people. The other 80% apparently don't count, because, well, they aren't British (and nobody goes to those far flung foreign places anyway). The long running threat has been that unless Spain (including Mallorca) offers cheap accommodation, drinks and meals to the largest and most important segment of tourism (Brits), then there will be a mass exodus to cheaper locations. It's not just the MDB, it's all over British tabloid media. And even in mainstream British media. And because Britons are the overwhelmingly dominant tourist, then the whole country will go broke, right? That's been the threat for years now. However, statistically, there appears to be no such exodus (ok, maybe a few Brits went to Greece instead, but nobody noticed), and even more inexplicable, there's consistently increasing demand for quality offerings over whatever is cheapest. Regardless of nationality. As you can see from many narratives here and in other British media, many Brits are repeatedly demanding cheapness, or threatening to leave. Yet, the many upmarket 4 and 5* accommodations not located in the handful of British resorts here seem to be dominated by "foreigners", and more are popping up all the time. And fully booked. Far more by "foreigners" than British tourists. How's that possible? Britons are the defacto dominant (and most important) tourists here, right? Since this 17m number apparently does count (while the other 80% non-british tourism apparently doesn't), then where do these huge numbers of tourists [that matter] come from? Surely they must be British, no? In the end, the industry has constantly been threatened (by Brits) with exodus for not being cheap enough, yet demand is demonstrably still as high as ever (though British demand is actually falling slightly). So I suspect most rational minds can see that there's not much motivation to make any more exceptions for Brits. The actual reality suggests there's plenty of others that will happily fill that gap. And they aren't seeking the cheapest.
Johnny CWell, the MDB publishes this British reassurance stuff regularly. https://www.majorcadailybulletin.com/news/comment/2023/09/28/117483/the-tourism-nightmare-europe.html
Johnny CJohnny, you must forgive Mr Williams. His eyesight is not good, so he gets one of his grand daughters to read the paper for him and as his hearing is even worse, he sometimes misunderstands what she is saying. Not to worry though. They make up for it by giving him lots of lovely positive votes.
Morgan WilliamsI don't see the mention of 'Brits' anywhere in the article. It's about total number of tourists, not just British. There are tourists from many different countries and a large number of Spaniards from the peninsula. Why do people seem to think that the British make up the majority of holidaymakers in the Balearics?
Funny, we've been told for years that there's an imminent mass exodus of Brits because of declining availability of cheapness. So where are all these Brits coming from? And how do they pay for it?