Last summer's mass tourism protest in Palma.

Last summer's mass tourism protest in Palma. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

Humphrey CarterReutersPalma15/01/2025 14:27
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Spain expects even more tourists to flock to the country in 2025 after an estimated record 94 million foreigners visited last year, 10% more than in 2023, Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu said on Wednesday, helping to drive economic growth amid a wider European slowdown, Foreign tourists spent some 126 billion euros ($130 billion) during their stays in 2024, up 16% from the previous year, the minister said.

He predicted they would spend 36 billion euros in the first four months of 2025, also 16% higher than in the same period of 2024, while visitor numbers should rise by 9%. The tourist boom has become a source of tension in many visitor hotspots around the country, with cities like Barcelona planning to shut all short-term rentals by 2028 to protect locals from rising housing costs. Hereu said the Spanish government is working on evening out the tourist influx, citing progress in setting rules and limits on the supply of rental accommodation for tourists.

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"We need to persevere in deconcentrating tourism, but the good thing is that this is happening," he told reporters, adding that environmentally sustainable tourism was gaining strength in Spain. In October last year, the Bank of Spain said in a report that even though most tourism-related indicators were registering consecutive records, their growth was slowing down. It also warned about tourism-related problems of congestion, natural resource degradation and housing, and called for a study on whether tourism fees should be increased.

Palma airport set a new passenger record of almost 33.3 million passengers in 2024, 7% more than in 2023 making it the busiest year in its history. Of the total number of commercial passengers, just over nine million flew on domestic connections - a 5% increase - while the biggest increase was in international flights - 7.8% - with 24.2 million passengers, according to a statement by airport authority AENA.

In terms of operations, more than 243,000 flights were carried out, 6.2% more than in 2023. This figure implies an all-time record in the number of aircraft movements. In the month of December, the airport handled 1.1 million passengers, 4.2% more than in the same month of 2023. In December, the airport handled nearly 9,600 flights, a growth of 2.8%. Of the total number of passengers who travelled through the airport in December, more than 656,000 were domestic (up 1.1%), while more than 426,000 (up 9.4%) flew to or from overseas.