Anti-Balearic government

Balearic leader Francesc Antich said that the figures released by Madrid, indicating the 6.6 per cent fall in summer tourism, were typical of central government's anti-Balearic stance. He said that the method used by the secretary of state for Tourism and Commerce to collate tourist figures, which include those crossing all Spanish borders, including by road, is not compatible with the methods used in the Balearics, which relies on airport figures “as air, and sea, are the only ways of getting here,” he said. Antich said that his government neither “has the same fixation with Balearic tourism figures as central government, considering both Madrid and the Canaries have experienced a decline, nor intends to enter into a war of figures.” “What is true,” Antich said “is that the Balearics still account for 28 per cent of all visitors to Spain and that during the summer, the Balearics were well ahead of their nearest domestic rivals.”