And if the Islands limited the tourists to 2.5 million monthly in high season?

For years, the Balearic Islands have been talking about the need to place limits on tourism growth. The debate has intensified as the feeling of saturation has spread among the population and the effects of touristification have increasingly occupied more spaces of daily life. However, despite the proclamations about the need for containment, the Government has not even dared to seriously study what would happen if the arrival of visitors were limited.

A 2024 study by two researchers from the UIB, Maria Sard and Elisabeth Valle, puts a concrete proposal on the table in this regard: establishing a limit of 2.5 million tourists per month during the high season. The conclusions, drawn from 2017 data, challenge some of the arguments that have served to avoid this debate. Applying this limit would mean stopping the arrival of nearly half a million tourists each year and a reduction of approximately 1% of the GDP. An impact that is not very decisive. It is evident that some activities and jobs would suffer, and that some workers would look for other destinations. But it is also true that any economic transformation entails adjustments and that the preservation of every point of growth cannot be turned into a non-negotiable condition.

Furthermore, the 2025 data shows that the situation has changed since the study was conducted: in the Islands, July and August are no longer the only months that exceed 2.5 million visitors, but also June and September. If the current pace is maintained, more and more months would be affected by the cap. It is precisely here that the interest of the proposal lies: setting a monthly maximum allows for action to be taken during the moments of greatest pressure, when the concentration of people most affects the quality of life.

The Balearic Islands are a deeply tourist-oriented society, to the point that private properties are exploited as tourist accommodations and vineyards dedicate as much effort to receiving tourists as they do to producing wine. Therefore, the debate cannot be limited to better managing the consequences of the influx of people. We must dare to intervene in the cause: the volume of arrivals.

The Administration hides behind the fact that it is implementing containment measures. And it can continue installing cameras on beaches to count swimmers and applying specific measures, which are also necessary, but these cannot replace a containment policy. It is not necessary for the limit to be 2.5 million or for the method to be exactly what the researchers propose. What can no longer be postponed is the decision to study it, put figures to it, and establish a system of limits. Because, if we have been saying for years that we cannot continue to grow, it is time to start specifying what it means to degrow and what consequences that would have, in order to then study how to face them.