Faced with apparent complaints regarding tourist saturation and "massification", the regional government decided to undertake a survey to find out how much this saturation sensation might influence attitudes towards tourism.
The Balearic Tourism Agency surveyed 1,800 people last October: 60% of them said that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with tourism, thus reflecting its positive benefits. There were, however, almost 27% of respondents who were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. For the government, though, the results go against the apparent rise of "tourismphobia", which became something of a theme last year.
When tourist numbers are at their highest, during the months of high summer, the support for tourism does drop but there is still a majority in favour over those those expressing discontent. In addition, over 60% of those surveyed believe that tourism helps them maintain their quality of life, with under 20% feeling that tourism is harmful to this. As for whether tourism has a negative effect on people's cultural identity, 63% said no. Tourism either helps to maintain this or improve it. Twenty per cent felt that it was negative in this respect.
The agency considers the results to be positive but accepts that there are negative evaluations which need addressing. In this regard, it believes that sustainability criteria are priorities for maintaining and improving quality of life.
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I am sure those stupid surveys are initiated on behalf of the department of research, innovation and development. If so, as usual a complete waste of valuable public money. I was asked to take part in a survey at the airport a few months ago. I was delighted to be asked for my opinions. What a shame - when I said I lived here, the two boys doing the survey didn't want my input.
Did you know that 137 percent of tourism statistics are nonsense?