"We islanders are just as much tourists as the English and Germans."

PalmThe most touristic season in the Balearic Islands is coming to an end. and airlines are choosing to cancel flights related to seasonal demand. From October 26th to approximately March 28th, 2026, airlines are offering approximately 7.5 million seats between arrivals and departures at Palma Airport, a figure that reflects a 1.5% reduction compared to the same period in 2024. At Mahón Airport, the available seats (ALA).

This fact, in addition to harming tourists who take advantage of these offers to offset the costs of accommodation in the Balearic Islands, affects islanders who travel with airlines. low cost and they lose direct connectivity with a good number of destinations. Furthermore, many residents of the islands who work during the season take advantage of the winter to travel. "When I'm done working, if I don't have classes, I look for cheap flights anywhere to go on vacation, but if they cancel direct flights, it's more expensive," explains Marina (not her real name), a UIB student who works in the summer in Menorca.

All of this is taking place in a context where discontent over mass tourism and the effects of climate change are present in the social and political debate in the Balearic Islands. Part of island society points to low-cost airlines as one of the culprits of mass tourism and also of greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, workers at companies subcontracted by Aena to provide logistics and operational services to aircraft, airlines, and passengers at Son Sant Joan Airport are also being targeted. Last August they threatened to cause a "total collapse" of Palma airport. Due to "the precariousness of the sector" and the conditions in which they are forced to work. Low wages, "untimely" hours, and contracts "that go against stable, quality jobs" are some of the problems reported by employees.

The Balearic Islands, who know and experience these problems firsthand, also travel with airlines. low cost Already overcrowded tourist destinations. In fact, Marina, who this year traveled to Valencia, Malaga, Zaragoza, and Madrid for less than twenty euros per trip, says she's against overcrowded tourism on the islands and says she's attended various demonstrations to denounce it. Does this reflect the double standards of island society? Why is travel prioritized? How much of a role do residents play in the tourism and environmental problem?

"We are part of the problem," believes the president of Palma XXI, Jaume Garau, referring to the citizens of the islands. He adds: "We are tourists, like the Germans and the British who visit the Balearic Islands." In fact, the president of the Business Association of Travel Agencies of the Balearic Islands (AVIBA), Pedro Fiol, points out that we islanders have adopted "the argument that the Germans and the English have had for many years." He explains that workers in these countries have been saving up throughout the year to go on vacation for many years, a pattern that is now integrated into the thinking of a portion of island wage earners.

Added to this is the rising cost of housing. Many people in the Balearic Islands, especially young people, find it almost impossible to buy a house on the islands. And quite a few people choose to spend their savings on seeing the world. "Before, people built a corner to buy a washing machine or pay for an apartment, but now they build it to travel," says Fiol. He also notes that the pandemic and lockdown have also had a significant impact on the population's increased desire to travel. Charter flights for residents (which can only be purchased through travel agencies and are included in a package) "have gained significant popularity since the pandemic among families and middle-aged people," he exemplifies.

Furthermore, being islands forces residents to take a plane or boat every time they want to travel. To offset the costs involved, citizens of the Balearic and Canary Islands receive a 75% discount on state flights. According to Ramos, this reduction has "greatly increased the mobility of a portion of the population."

Democratizing travel

The Balearic Islands are the region that has lost the most per capita income in the last 20 years, with 18 points less between 2000 and 2022. Islanders have an average salary of 23,126 euros, a figure that shows a salary gap with Germany, the main tourist market of the Archipelago,8 where they have 8.8% than in the Islands.

This makes residents prioritize price and travel with a company low cost Because "if they only want it, it already costs them 200 euros and they'll be left without a vacation," laments Garau. In this sense, he points out that in the Balearic Islands "there are a huge number of precarious people who can't make ends meet."

It may seem that low-cost airlines "have a democratizing effect on travel because they make it accessible to a portion of the population," explains David Ramos, professor of Geography at the University of Salamanca (USAL). But the effect doesn't apply completely, since "one in three families in the Balearic Islands cannot afford to travel outside even for a week a year," says the professor of Geography at the University of Salamanca (USAL). Professor of Sociology at the UIB, David Abril.

On the other hand, by offering cheap flights, airlines "allow people with a lot of resources to travel more times a year," Ramos believes. In fact, he points out that people who traveled years ago are now doing so even more. Approximately 25 years ago, traveling was something uncommon. low cost They hadn't even arrived in Spain yet—in fact, Ryanair landed in December 2002 with its first flight from Girona to Frankfurt. Andreu (not his real name), who was studying in London, bought his last ticket from a travel agency in September 2003. He learned about low-cost airlines and began traveling around Europe: Paris for 40 euros and Stockholm for 12 euros (round trip). At the time, society still didn't fully understand the new travel trend. "People asked me if I wasn't afraid of buying a plane ticket online and giving my details," he recalls.

"Quality" tourism

The USAL Geography professor warns that the number of private jet flights has increased in recent years. The use of this mode of transportation is attributed to people with ample financial resources. In fact, in the Balearic Islands, this is the tourism currently being sought, with policies such as the ban on the opening of hostels of any kind in Palma, an initiative that the mayor of Ciutat de Palma, Jaime Martínez, wants to implement. Furthermore, he recently announced that he wanted to "reconvert existing ones to a better offering or to housing." According to Ramos, "quality tourism is tourism for the rich." In this regard, he asks: "If only those who spend the most have to come, a fact that has an enormous cost, are we restricting the right of the poorest to travel and go on vacation?"

At the same time, UIB geographer Macià Blàzquez believes that "you can't compare the trip an islander makes to Barcelona taking advantage of the resident discount with that of a tourist going to the Balearic Islands by private jet." In this sense, he refers to the carbon footprint of these means of transport. According to a 2024 study by the European Environment Agency, private jets emit between 5 and 14 times more carbon dioxide per passenger than commercial flights, and up to 50 times more than trains.

According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2023 aviation emitted almost 900 million tons of carbon dioxide, a figure equivalent to approximately 2.5% of global emissions of this gas from fossil fuels. "It seems small, but it will increase very soon and even more so if we continue at this rate," warns Ramos.

Subsidies

Blázquez denounces that "a gross public investment is made in the airlines of low cost". In theory, public funds injected into these airlines are prohibited by the European Community, but "the regional governments hire tourism advertising companies to promote them," explains Ramos. This justifies the photographs of the Balearic Islands' beaches that can be seen on airplanes or the advertisements in magazines in their seats. Blázquez believes that not only do these companies not only provide money through advertising, but they also "make custom-made structures for them." This shows that the citizens of the Balearic Islands and the government must address this contradiction that characterizes a portion of island society "seriously," according to Ramos. "It's not necessary to travel thousands of kilometers to enjoy a vacation," he opines.