On Monday the Forum for Civil Society presented conclusions from a report on the economic, social and environmental transition in the Balearics from 2019 to 2023. One of these is that economic growth based on the current tourism model is worsening social imbalances - there is less wealth for many people.
This is one of the most negative aspects of the "runaway horse that is tourism" and which is ultimately responsible for problems with access to housing and the high rate of early school leaving.
Spokesperson Jaume Garau said: "We are bringing more and more tourists but we have less wealth than we had. The way tourism grows creates these imbalances. Unfortunately we are repeating the same patterns of all previous crises since 1973 (the oil crisis)."
The crisis unleashed by the Covid pandemic "highlighted the need for a change to the tourism model". This change has not occurred and is aggravating the deficiencies of the model. "The tourist load has increased but economic diversification has still not occurred, which makes us weak."
The report establishes a direct relationship between the "excessive weight of the tourism sector" in the Balearic economy and the problems in accessing housing - problems for which it also blames the "non-existent" policies in terms of social housing - and school dropout rates that are "the highest in the state". Andreu Grimalt, director of the anti-poverty observatory in the Balearics, explained that jobs in the tourism industry result in early school leaving, "but this makes young people more vulnerable in the long term".
In general, the forum's analysis isn't that different to the Balearic government's. However, its solutions are different in that there is a demand for degrowth. This is most unlikely to be a conclusion of the social and political pact for sustainability.
No comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Currently there are no comments.