Anti-tourism

Visits to the Balearic Islands dropped in January of this year, and restaurant bookings are also down causing concern in the industry. However, plans to cap visitor numbers on one island are going ahead

Tourism bosses in Spain have been left concerned over dropping numbers in the hospitality industry amid a ‘disastrous’ start to the year for the Balearic Islands.

The islands, which include the popular destinations of Majorca, Ibiza, and Menorca, saw a drop in international visitor numbers of 8.83% in January. While restaurants also saw a drop in footfall, attributed to rising prices, across 2025.

Overall, across the Balearic Islands there was a 3% drop in restaurant footfall across 2025. While the amount might sound small, the tight profit margins in hospitality and the islands’ heavy reliance on tourism mean that modest drops can have a substantial impact.

The decline in restaurant customer numbers is being partly attributed to rising prices across the islands, the Majorca Daily News previously reported. Data analysts pointed out that in areas where dining is the most affordable, such as the mainland regions of Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura, customer numbers grew.

The analysis concluded: “This behaviour suggests that consumers have reached a price ceiling, which limits price increases in the most expensive areas and reinforces the idea of a restraint in real spending, even in areas traditionally less price-sensitive.”

The restaurant industry is also concerned about the numbers for 2026. Juanmi Ferrer, president of the CAEB Restaurants Association, representing island outlets, remarked that the year kicked off with a “disastrous January” and predicted it would be “like last year, or at most a little worse”.

He explained: “The last thing a restaurant owner wants is to raise prices, because that means fewer customers. This year we’ll try to absorb those extra three to four percentage points of inflation as much as we can.”

One option being considered is a restaurant voucher scheme, similar to a recent initiative across the island that supported shops. The retail scheme gave all residents aged over 16 four vouchers worth €15 each, which could be used on purchases of €30 or more, to encourage people to shop locally.

During summer 2025, concerns emerged that certain Majorcan resorts had become “completely dead”, with Miguel PérezMarsá, chairman of the nightlife association, saying: “The tourists we’re interested in are being driven away; they don’t feel welcome and are going to other destinations.” His comments came as thousands took to the streets in overtourism protests.

At last year’s World Travel Market (WTM) in London, Ibiza’s Tourism Minister, Jaume Bauza, acknowledged declining visitor numbers, revealing that 20,000 fewer British tourists visited the renowned party destination during the 2025 peak season compared to the previous year. Industry experts have suggested this decline may reflect holidaymakers deliberately shifting their travel dates to October and November to capitalise on more affordable rates.

However, it should be noted that such a dip comes at the end of several record years for tourism on the island chain, with Brits and other Europeans flocking in huge numbers to the Balearics post-Covid.

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Despite the drop in numbers causing alarm, the islands are continuing with measures to tackle overtourism. Plans have been announced to slash the number of daily cruise ship berths from 8,500 to 7,500 between June and September in Palma, Majorca, meaning fewer cruise ship passengers arriving once the change is implemented between 2027 to 2039.

Only three cruise ships would dock in Palma each day, with only one of these vessels allowed to transport more than 5,000 passengers. Opposition party PSOE – a socialist party for the Balearic Islands – also put forward a proposal recently for visitor numbers to be capped across the islands at 17.8 million a year. However, its proposal was rejected.

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The island has seen a number of anti-tourism protests in recent years, with locals demanding caps on visitor numbers, and summer 2026 could potentially see more people taking to the streets

Visitors to a Spanish island that welcomes millions of British tourists each year could be facing disruption over the summer with fresh waves of protests planned.

Menys Turisme Més Vida (Less Tourism, More Life), a group behind protests across the popular island of Majorca, are set to hold an assembly on Friday (February 20) to potentially plan further actions such as protests.

The meeting is planned due to the perceived failure of the Balearic Government’s sustainability pact, and inability to control overcrowding on the islands. A press release stated: “the constant increase in overtourism in Mallorca can only be confronted through grassroots organisation”.

Speaking to Majorca Daily News , Margalida Ramis of environmental group GOB (Grup Balear d’Ornitologia i Defensa de la Naturalesa), claimed that the government “has not done anything and will not do anything” to tackle overtourism.

Visitor numbers to the Balearic Islands have been steadily rising, and are expected to follow the same pattern in 2026. 2024 saw the number of visitors hit 18.7 million, then rising to over 19 million in 2025. In total, the Balearic Islands has a population of just 1.2 million, which includes around 18,000 British expats.

Opposition party PSOE recently took to the Balearic parliament to present a motion arguing that tourist numbers should be capped at 17.8 million a year. However, in a relief for UK travellers, the motion was rejected this week.

Groups such as Menys Turisme Més Vida have been involved in a number of protests in Majorca in recent years, alongside protests against overtourism across Spain. In May 2024, around 10,000 protestors took to the streets of Palma, while in July 2025, numbers reported as high as 50,000 people joined the protests. The 2025 protest was timed to coincide with the start of the school holidays in England and Wales, when many families would be arriving on the island.

Menys Turisme Més Vida’s Instagram account sets out a manifesto with their demands including a ban on tourist rentals across Majorca, a 50% reduction in rental prices for locals, and more stable jobs in what has become a precarious labour market.

However, in recent weeks there has been concern across the hospitality industry over a reduction in customer numbers, with a discount voucher scheme being considered to get more people to eat at local restaurants.

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In 2025, Jet2 CEO Steve Heapy warned that “anti-tourism protests and derogatory comments from local administrations make tourists feel unwelcome” amidst rising tensions in the Canary Islands, which included a number of protests, and signs appearing in some hotspots asking tourists to stay away.

At the time he added: “People don’t come to the Canaries to be mistreated or to witness protests. Such incidents tarnish the region’s image, pushing tourists toward destinations like Turkey and Morocco, where they feel valued.”

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