What has Prohens done with mass tourism? Unfulfilled promises and pending tasks

PalmaIt has been more than two years since the Government promised "bold" measures against saturation, but the application of President Marga Prohens' commitments has been uneven. The Executive has deployed measures to regulate tourist rentals, but the fiscal initiatives for containment announced this legislature – such as the Sustainable Tourism Tax, the water levy, and for rental cars – have not materialized. The containment advocated by the Executive is not reflected, at the moment, in the arrival figures: in 2025, a new record was broken with more than 19 million tourists in the Balearic Islands. "We understand the discomfort," said the first vice-president, Antoni Costa, about Sunday's demonstration against saturation: "We can be told that the measures are insufficient (...), but we have taken them." Which of the Executive's promises have been applied, which have been half-done, and which have not been fulfilled?

The non-increase of the ecotax

One of the main announcements to curb tourist saturation that the Government proposed in March 2025 was an increase in the Sustainable Tourism Tax (ITS) during high season. Although Vox opposed it, the left extended a hand to move it forward. But less than a year later, the Executive retracted its own proposal. The first vice-president argued that, since the human pressure index in the summer months had remained below 1% – although it grew in winter –, the measure was no longer “necessary”.

Rental cars, without tax

The Government also proposed taxing rental cars and those registered outside the Balearic Islands with between 30 and 80 euros depending on their emissions. The revenue was to be used to promote public transport and reduce traffic congestion. Finally, the Executive backed down and the tax did not come into effect.

No increase in the water canon

Prohens also announced, during the general policy debate of 2024, an increase in the water fee (sanitation fee). The reform, focused on large consumers and users with excessive consumption, would be approved by decree-law before spring 2025, but this regulatory change has not yet been made.

Beach monitoring

One of the latest announcements by the Government to curb overtourism took place at Fitur last January. Prohens assured that this summer he would launch an application to monitor beach occupancy. The operation, consisting of placing sensors in a hundred locations, only began this Friday. In a statement, the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Innovation explained that the application is in beta format and undergoing internal testing.

Within the framework of the Digital Twin, a data collection infrastructure announced in March, the Government also spoke of establishing intelligent parking systems, which have not been installed this summer either, although Government sources explain that the pilot project was completed and there are already sensors in the parking lots of El Trenc and L'Amarador.

For its part, the Consell de Mallorca also announced the monitoring of road mobility, but for the moment it has not been implemented. When consulted by ARABalears, the island's Roads department has not provided information on when it is expected to start. What has been launched is a pilot plan so that residents with a TIB card can reserve a seat on various buses heading to the Serra de Tramuntana, a measure that aims to reduce the scenes of public transport collapse affecting residents of the area.

Limitation of vehicle entry

The Parliament approved the limitation of vehicle entry to Ibiza in October 2024. Five months later, the president of the Consell de Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, announced that he would present a bill to regulate vehicle entry to Mallorca. After a long tug-of-war with Vox – which opposed it – the PP finally needed the support of the left to move forward with the initiative, which is now being processed in Parliament, with the doubt of whether it will be approved before the end of the legislature (the PP assures that it will). In Menorca, the limitation has also not been applied: the Consell has said that it will not be able to be carried out until the 2027 season.

The Sustainability Pact

The president presented the Pact for Sustainability to open a dialogue process with institutions, economic and social agents and, finally, to make concrete proposals for tourism containment. However, from the beginning numerous civil society entities and left-wing parties expressed discontent with its functioning –they considered, among other issues, that the representation of actors in the meetings was not on a par–, to the point that they ended up refraining from participating. The final document of the Pact offered a general diagnosis of mass tourism, but did not provide concrete data. In the same vein, many of the proposals debated there have not been translated into effective measures. The spokesperson for the Civil Society Forum, Jaume Garau, is critical of the results. “We said we wouldn't play along, because agreements were being made outside the Pact, and the table was not on a par, while the final document and proposals had already been put forward in previous years,” he says. “They invented the concept of ‘containment’ to avoid talking about degrowth,” he continues: “The degree of non-compliance by the Government is so profound that we find ourselves in an unprecedented emergency situation.”

From reduction to ‘containment’

The Government rejects degrowth. Although it criticizes the previous Executive of Francina Armengol for having granted “115,000 new tourist places” – in Costa's words last Thursday – it has not reduced them. The regulations on tourist places have gone from a moratorium and a system of exchanging two places for one (2x1) established in Law 3/2022 to a model based on exchanging one for one (1x1). If initially, for many new registrations or extensions, the regulations stipulated that double the places intended for commercialization had to be provided, the new framework establishes that for each new activated place, one must be permanently canceled, to guarantee zero growth in supply. In fact, in the explanatory statement, Decree-Law 4/2025 is presented as a solution for the “suppression ex lege” (automatic) of places that the 2022 regulations had foreseen for 2026. Through this regulation, two temporary pools of places are also created, which are fed by the cancellations that occur, without increasing the overall ceiling, while the island councils determine the carrying capacity of each island. “They have lifted the moratorium on places, they have removed the 2x1 exchange, which caused progressive degrowth, and now it is 1x1 and, in addition, they have created a new pool of places that includes tourist rentals,” criticizes the former Minister of Tourism and spokesperson for the PSIB in Parliament, Iago Negueruela.

Fight against illegal rentals

Prohens reinforced the island councils' tools to fight illegal tourist rentals with the Law Against Illegal Supply, which significantly toughens sanctions for offenders. The Consell de Mallorca has strengthened inspection and claims progress, such as the removal of nearly 8,000 Airbnb listings. Ibiza has been a leader in this battle and has imposed significant fines on unlicensed properties. Menorca, for its part, has also deployed more inspectors to confront the irregular tourist supply. However, these steps have not provided a definitive solution to the problem. An inspector from the Consell de Mallorca explained to ARA Balears that, in her on-the-ground opinion, eradicating illegal tourist rentals is “impossible”, because owners evade controls and it is very difficult to gather sufficient evidence.

Excessive tourism

The Government changed the name of the decree on excesses to 'responsible tourism' in Decree-Law 2/2024. This text modified the zoning of the previous decree: it reduced the surface area of Calvià and modified the territorial limits of Llucmajor, while those of Palma and Sant Antoni de Portmany remained the same. This delimitation serves to regulate and apply restrictions to 'gatera' tourism in mature areas.

Cruise ship limitation

The Government has maintained the pact that the Armengol Executive signed in 2021 with the shipping companies and has renegotiated it with a reduction in the average passenger limit. The agreement establishes that only three cruise ships can coincide per day in the port of Palma, and only one of these three can be a megacruiser – of more than 5,000 passengers. In addition, a maximum daily average of 7,500 cruise passengers in high season has been set on a weekly basis, whereas before it was 8,500.

Tourist rentals in multi-family homes

Although it does not eliminate legally enabled places, Royal Decree-Law 4/2025 prohibits the creation of new tourist places in multi-family buildings on all the Islands, with the aim of protecting the residential use of housing. This prohibition represents a change of course compared to the previous regulations. Law 6/2017 opened the door to tourist marketing in multi-family buildings for the first time and, now, this option for new registrations is being closed again.