Antonio Pérez Navarro: "We must stop growing in number of tourists and grow in well-being"

PalmaThe future of tourism in the Balearic Islands should not imply continuing to increase the number of visitors, but rather improving the well-being of the people who live there. This is the proposal of economist Antonio Pérez Navarro, author of the book The Science of Hospitality (Almuzara, 2026), who will participate this Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in a talk at Espai Buit (Palma) about the need to evolve towards a model that reconciles economic activity, sustainability, and the quality of life of residents.

"Growth, as understood until now, must be redirected towards the well-being of the people who live in a specific place," he argues. For Pérez Navarro, tourist saturation forces a rethink of the model, but also "to take advantage of the strengths of current activity." "The key is to convert the knowledge accumulated by the islands' professionals into a new source of wealth, capable of diversifying the economy beyond the arrival of visitors," he explains.

In the short term, the economist proposes promoting value-added industries linked to tourism, with special attention to innovation and the "development of patents and services" that can be marketed to other countries. "We must invest to concretize the knowledge the islands have into patents," he points out. In this way, he says, "revenues would not depend exclusively on tourism activity, but also on the ability to generate and export knowledge."

At the same time, he considers it necessary to help tourism establishments move towards more sustainable models, with incentives that favor the reduction of energy consumption and emissions. The goal is to maintain profitability with less use of natural resources and without having to depend on a constant increase in the number of tourists.

Another of Pérez Navarro's priorities is to attract talent, both from Balearic professionals who have studied or work abroad and from people from other places who can launch business projects on the islands. He also proposes favoring the implementation of tourist marketplaces (digital platforms for booking tourism services) in the archipelago. These proposals start from a central idea: "Recovering hospitality as the essence of tourism." For the economist, it is not just about welcoming visitors, "but about building an activity that contributes to the development of people and preserves the lifestyle of the communities that make it possible."

In addition to Pérez Navarro, the event will also feature Daniela Freund, professor and researcher at Ramon Llull University; Juan Franch Fluxà, professor of Commercial Law and tourism contracting at the University of the Balearic Islands, and Roque López Paricio, engineer, professor at the UPC and CEO of Ötentik Hospitality.

As a shareholder and executive, Pérez Navarro has participated in the creation and development of brands such as NH Hotels, AC Hotels by Marriott, Hospes, the Lancaster hotel in Paris, and Serawa. He has held management positions at Arthur Andersen (now Deloitte) and Volkswagen Group (SEAT), and has been a member of the advisory boards of Sant Ignasi-ESADE, SII Group, and the Association of Economists of Catalonia. He is the president and founder of Otentik Hospitality and a member of the Tourism Board of Spain.