On Thursday, President Marga Prohens explained that the Balearic Government will embrace 247 "transformation factors" identified by the sustainability pact's twelve working parties. Driven by concerns arising from overtourism in Mallorca and the rest of the Balearics, the pact's process has highlighted 59 strategic objectives and 65 development objectives for a transition towards economic, social and environmental sustainability: "We are moving into action," she said.
In summary the main objectives of this transition are: orienting the tourism system towards sustainability; reducing environmental pressure and conserving natural resources; improving the well-being and quality of life of the population; deploying governance and citizen participation; and advancing the adaptation of the Balearics to global challenges.
Prohens presented a 350-page document, the conclusions of nine months' work by the pact's twelve working parties. She said the government will adopt specific short-term measures "focused on containment". These will be "brave and concrete proposals aimed at seeking the greatest consensus and coordinated with the transition agenda and with proposals to be made in the medium and long terms".
"We have a comprehensive, impeccable and excellent document that will be the roadmap for the transformation of the Balearic Islands. For the first time in Europe, there is a document that defines strategies, priorities and objectives and does so from the bottom up, from the work of economic sectors and civil society."
The next phase of the process will now begin. The working groups will be reorganised into five in order to analyse proposals, their viability and impact on the established objectives. All the proposals made will finally be taken to the Balearic Parliament. "We have to move from reflection to action," Prohens stressed.
Government proposals, the president said, will be containment measures aimed at redefining tourism competitiveness with sustainability criteria, abandoning strategies based on high volumes and low prices, and at repositioning the Balearics as a global benchmark in innovative and sustainable tourism. There will be mechanisms for monitoring and controlling what is offered, including illegal tourist supply. The management of tourist flows will be optimised and there will be a redefinition of differentiated tourist rates according to season.
The document, Prohens emphasised, will start "a process of structural change that will profoundly and systematically transform the functioning of the Balearic Islands to adapt it to new economic, social and environmental paradigms". "The final objective is transformation. It is not simply about specific reforms or adjustments, but a comprehensive reconfiguration that involves modifying the rules of the game, the productive dynamics and the relationships to guarantee more resilient, fairer and more sustainable islands. And we must all do it together."
Beyond the general principles outlined by the president, there are the details of what the document contains. These will be pored over in the coming days and weeks. Immediate responses could include the tourist tax, although it is widely believed that an increase to the high-summer rate (June to August) will be delayed until 2026.
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All totally meaningless whilst more and more hotels are being built.
Okay. Good to see there's a plan emerging and working groups are laying down their ideas. So can we stop the crass and amateur protesting in the streets/anti-tourist graffiti which is leading nowhere and only frightening off the "quality" tourists the island does want/need?