Arrival of degrowth: Artà approves a reduction of tourist places

PalmaThe Artà City Council plenary session approved this Monday the initial Point Modification number 7 of the Subsidiary Norms (NS), which adapts the municipal planning to the Intervention Plan for Tourist Areas of Mallorca (PIAT) and establishes new limits on the municipality's tourist capacity. The proposal went ahead with the favorable votes of the PSIB-PSOE and El Pi and the abstentions of UIA-MÉS per Mallorca and the PP.

The modification aims to halt the growth of new places and initiate a progressive and orderly decrease in those areas where the established maximum capacity is currently exceeded. The proposal is based on a technical study commissioned by the City Council on the distribution of tourist uses, its relationship with the resident population, and the impact on the different centers of the municipality.

In urban land, the modification establishes a maximum density of six tourist places per hectare in the Artà center and seven places per hectare in the rest of the urban centers. This means setting a maximum of 588 places in Artà, 152 in Colònia de Sant Pere, 293 in Montferrutx, 90 in l'Estanyol, 160 in Betlem, and 174 in Sant Pere.

Overall, the new limits represent a theoretical reduction of 661 tourist places in urban land compared to those currently existing.

Rustic land

Regarding rustic land, the change in planning sets a maximum ceiling of 2,000 tourist places, a figure lower than the currently existing places. It also restricts tourist stays in multi-family dwellings and limits the incorporation of new tourist uses in listed buildings and in the old town of Artà.

Finally, the agreement provides for the suspension for two years of processing, authorizations, and licenses that are incompatible with the new regulation while the processing of the modification is completed. 

UIA-MÉS calls for “real degrowth” in Artà

UIA-MÉS per Mallorca has justified its abstention in the initial approval of the modification of the Subsidiary Norms because it considers that the agreement reached by the government team, formed by the PSOE and El Pi, is insufficient. The party asserts that during the negotiations it had demanded that no new tourist licenses be granted, not even in areas that meet the criteria for density of places per inhabitant.

The party considers that limiting new places is a step in the right direction, but maintains that Artà needs more forceful measures to face tourist and demographic saturation and the increase in housing prices. For this reason, it has opted for abstention and demands a "real degrowth," more conventional rental supply, and measures to curb speculation with housing and the territory.