What does 'tourism containment' mean now that everyone is talking about it?

PalmContainment: "The action of preventing something from leaving its limits." This is the dictionary definition of one of the words that is defining the legislature. Everyone is talking about tourism containment. It's the mantra used by institutional representatives, one step behind society, and also a source of confrontation for political parties. There are as many definitions of containment as there are advocates for its application, while reality shows that the Balearic Islands are not islands of limits, but of records, with each passing tourist season.

The airport figures make it clear that, as far as containment is concerned, no action has been taken: between January and August, they recorded an increase of more than half a million passengers compared to last year, as reported this week by Jaume Perelló. 24 million people have passed through Son Sant Joan alone, 400,000 more than in 2023.

The Government argues that the growth in the number of tourists has slowed down during the high season. But growing less does not mean containing. This is emphasized by Guillem López Casasnovas, Professor of Economics at Pompeu Fabra University: "A growth rate lower than the previous year is growth. Constant maintenance implies a rate of 0%," he says, and warns that "we must avoid the euphemism of believing that growing less solves things." Furthermore, López Casasnovas points out that "0% does not imply losing tourist supply, but rather maintaining what exists."

Government sources indicate that the objective is precisely to achieve 0% growth during the peak summer months—July and August—a rate they believe could be achieved next season. "Our objective was to control congestion levels during the high season," they reiterate. But are they being controlled?

"It's all very well to say it, but they're not doing anything, they're not implementing any measures," criticizes José Luis García, general secretary of the CCOO Illes Balears. "They present cosmetic policies, but growth continues. There's no real containment policy," he continues, and goes further: "We should start considering a controlled decline. We don't need a plane every 50 seconds." However, García emphasizes that "reducing supply with the demand we have implies an informal economy."

According to anthropologist Alexandre Miquel, it's important to consider the ambiguity of the concept of "containment." "They use ambiguous, non-constructive terms that can convey whatever each person finds interesting. It's not entirely clear what "containment" means: preventing more tourists from coming? Managing tourism in a more structured way? An unrealizable desideratum? A failed act?" he asks. For the expert, the key is "not to move anything." "They have the results of the survey [by the Tourism Strategy Agency, with 78% of citizens believing there are too many tourists], which are devastating. And they say their policies are correct," he says, in addition to describing the Sustainability Pact as a "parallel setup" to continue doing nothing. Miquel points out that there is a sub-discourse from the Government, which is more credible than its intention to set limits: that "people make a living from this."

One of the obstacles to reaching a shared understanding of what containment should be is the interpretation of visitor figures. "To talk about it, we must first agree on the numbers," says Jaume Garau, spokesperson for the Civil Society Forum. "The real number of tourists is unknown because there is a bias in the number of passengers. How should you contain something you have miscounted?" he continues, asserting that, "if the number of passengers has grown in July and August, it is not being contained."

According to the World Tourism Organization, a tourist is someone who spends the night in the place they visit. Those who do not are called "excursionists." And these are the ones left out of the official counts, like the 800,000 cruise passengers who came to Mallorca in 2024, according to Fòrum data.

Containment, only in high season?

Like the regional government, hoteliers believe that the visitor curve "must be reduced during the central summer months" and point out that they are working to "increase it at the beginning and end of the season," notes María José Aguiló, Executive Vice President of the Hotel Business Federation of Mallorca (FEHM). The employers' association is committed to "eliminating the regulated [tourist rental] offer for multi-family housing," and emphasizes that "supply has experienced exponential growth of 176%" in the last decade.

Controlling the summer months is the lowest common denominator between institutions and companies, but it is a dynamic "very difficult to control," according to Tolo Deyà, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Tourism at the UIB. "There are three million people who say they come to visit family and friends, and there is illegal supply," he adds. Deyà believes the current debate is about "the mid and low seasons." "The question is whether we need to grow there because in the summer we're not able to do so in terms of value," he adds.

Regarding the Government's measures to control visitor numbers during peak season, Deyà points out that many factors are at play beyond the executive's own actions. "It's difficult to claim credit," he says, referring to the number of factors that influence.

For his part, Jaume Garau believes that now is not the time to raise the debate about the off-season. "It would be a third phase." First, "containment is urgently needed," and then "we need to begin to decrease in the summer." Fourth, "diversification" should be put on the table. "Containment, decrease, growth in winter, and diversification form a cocktail to discuss and agree on," says Garau, who regrets that the pandemic was not used to rethink "what kind of recovery we wanted."

In any case, the possibility of opening a debate involving the government and civil society organizations is currently a highly unlikely option, and even more so for social and environmental organizations to abandon the Sustainability Pact—no effective measures have yet been derived from this initiative. "They want growth not to be uncontrolled, but that doesn't mean it won't happen," criticizes GOB spokesperson Margalida Ramis, also pointing out that growth has moderated due to factors such as "prices, emerging destinations, and global situations." "No active policy is being applied beyond the announcements. Now it turns out that the announcements have an impact! There's no investment in the budgets. They're playing with the numbers and misleading people," adds the environmental activist. Ramis also points out that this term "the moratorium on seats has been lifted, new air routes have been opened, and more promotion has been done."

For its part, the Catalan government is demanding explanations from the entities proposing a decrease. "To what extent? What would the consequences be? How many jobs would be sacrificed?" ask government sources, who, however, also point to a "long-term economic transformation." "We cannot continue with this pattern of growth," they add.