Tourism must be science in the Balearic Islands

A study by the UIB once again sheds light on an essential reality: tourists will not stop coming due to the heat, at least in the coming years. That theory that climate change would help reduce tourist pressure was simply nonsense. And the first thought that comes to my mind is: how is it possible that we haven't reflected on the matter before? And the second is also evident: did the rulers and society in general really expect the climate to do what we are incapable of facing?

The answer to all of this is, above all, to note that we have top-level public scientists, who are capable of portraying reality, putting us in front of the mirror and reminding us, without any arrogance, that if we bet on science, we will always do better.

The big problem we suffer in the Balearics is that we are a first-class tourist power, and research in tourism has many shortcomings. Not for lack of specialists, nor of reality to explore, but because resources are lacking. Fortunately, we do not have rulers like Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who shamelessly cut public universities to favor private ones. But there is a lack of a determined commitment from the Administration to strengthen and involve academia in the tourism debate.

We have a tourist tax, millionaire companies, and a society worried about its future. We want to limit cars, places, and villas, it seems. But we haven't quite done it. Perhaps we would do better if, along the way, we involve, as a society concerned about its future, the pillar of scientific knowledge. Tourism should be science in the Islands. It would help us overcome closed and predictable opinions.