On 29 July there were 2,018,176 people in the Balearics, the highest number ever for a July day. It exceeded the 2,002,161 on the same day in 2016, which was the first time that the total population of the islands broke the two million barrier in July.
The figure is close to being double the official resident population of the islands, though concluding that the temporary 900,000 or so were all tourists is highly questionable. There are, for instance, temporary workers as well. As there are some 420,000 hotel places in the Balearics, not all of which will of course have been taken, the additional population, were it comprised only of tourists, would have been more than double the hotel places. Not even holiday rentals can explain that (or anything like explain it), so an assumption which is too easily made that they are all tourists has to be queried.
The human pressure index compiled by the Balearic Statistics Institute is brought out each summer and is normally highlighted for the figures in August, when the tourism season reaches its absolute peak. On 9 August last year there were 2,057,244 people, the highest number ever. When the numbers for this August are released, it can be anticipated that there will be a new record.
To give a comparison and to show how much population - both resident and temporary - has grown, twenty years ago there was a maximum of 1,423,380. The resident population over the past two decades has in fact gone up by more than 300,000.
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Next year's figures will be interesting. Tax revenue will be just as interesting for this year vs next year.
If they do the same survey in December,the figures will be far lower.