On Monday (October 30), EU tourism ministers will arrive in Palma for a summit to be held on Tuesday which will address the social sustainability of tourism.
In advance of this summit, a forum on Saturday considered the impact of climate change and what sustainability has thus far meant in practice. Those taking part were not from the tourism industry but were researchers and activists.
Joan Buades, who researches the relationship between tourism and climate change, referred to a famous photo of a forest fire in Washington State while golfers were seemingly oblivious to it. For him, this illustrates the true climate crisis - that of a society oblivious to global warming that has been accelerating for decades. "We are in one of the zero zones for climate change, it has reached us. The sea is warming 20% above the world average." The consequences are many but will above all affect one of the sectors most guilty of this acceleration. "Sun and beach tourism will have a future but in northern countries, for there is a saharisation of the Mediterranean."
Nora Müller, a specialist in human geography, said: "They talk about sustainable tourism, diversification, quality tourism and tackling seasonality, when in practice this has increased the flow of visitors with their ecological footprint." Alternatives that are supposed to reduce the impact of tourism have aggravated it by expanding business with a longer season.
Macià Blázquez, a professor of geography at the University of the Balearic Islands, drew attention to the human pressure index on the islands in high summer having exceeded the two million mark and to the profitability of what he described as an elitist industry in the hands of a few. With specific reference to hoteliers, he observed that in 2019 the Balearics earned 28% more per tourist bed than the state average.
There are now more hotels in the Palma's historic centre, where traditional shops have been replaced by souvenir shops. Ports, airports, desalination plants, water treatment plants, roads - all are being expanded.
Activist Sarah Oppenheimer argued that the tourism industry has taken such advantage of the islands' resources that it should now be a pioneer in facing up to the climate crisis by stop burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases. "The urgency is enormous."
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