The cry of Menorca that the other Islands must listen to

Menorca has kicked off this summer's mobilizations against tourist overcrowding and the housing crisis. It has done so with a single, simple, and powerful word, loaded with meaning: ‘Fartes’. Fed up with growing. Fed up with seeing how what was once a model of balance is transforming too quickly. Fed up with realizing that what happened in Ibiza and what Mallorca is experiencing with increasing intensity, to a certain extent and saving differences, could also become its future if action is not taken in time.

In fifteen years, Menorca has gone from receiving one million tourists annually to nearly 1.8 million. Twenty tourists for each resident, a proportion that is difficult to sustain in a limited and fragile territory. Added to this pressure is an illegal tourist rental market which, according to environmental organizations, doubles the official offering: around 6,000 homes marketed outside public control, with tens of thousands more places. The message coming from Menorca is clear: enough is enough.

And it is worth listening to it because Menorca still represents a valuable exception within the Balearic Islands today. Its declaration as a Biosphere Reserve in 1993 and a tradition of rigorous territorial planning, culminating in a pioneering Insular Territorial Plan approved in 2003, consolidated a model that understood that protecting was not about preventing progress, but about making it compatible with the preservation of the territory and social cohesion.

In Menorca, the countryside is not just a postcard for tourists. The primary sector continues to have an economic and cultural weight that the other islands have been losing. This coexistence between agricultural activity, tourism, culture, and community life has been one of Menorca's great assets. This is what many Menorcans feel is under threat.

The massive purchase of properties by foreigners with a much higher purchasing power than locals, the expansion of luxury-oriented businesses, and the gradual expulsion of residents from the villages themselves fuel a discontent that spans the entire society. It is not just the voice of environmental groups. It is also that of artists, musicians, young people who cannot become independent, and workers who cannot find housing.

Ibiza has been speeding for years. Mallorca also shows evident signs of a strained island, even if Marga Prohens' government officially resists acknowledging it. Menorca still has time to avoid it. It is time for all of the Balearic Islands to ease off the accelerator. It is not about stopping the engine, but about idling the machinery before derailing further. It is not Menorca that should imitate Mallorca or Ibiza. They are the ones who should learn from it.