Mallorca tourism warning: 50 million visitors could leave

Mallorca and the Balearic Islands are being held up as a tourism example — but hotel chief Simón Pedro Barceló says Spain would lose out if it cut international visitor numbers from around 100 million to 50 million. Speaking at the Forbes Economic Summit in Madrid on 24 September, the Grupo Barceló president said those 50 million travellers would simply choose other destinations.

He said tourism’s future rests on what Spanish society wants, and urged Spaniards to elect political representatives who see the industry as positive, while accepting it can be improved. Tourism is a tool Spain should not give up, he said.

Mallorca held up as a tourism model

Barceló said countries from around the world come to Spain, the Balearic Islands and Mallorca to study its experience. He credited Mallorca and the islands’ tourism success to a society that saw the sector as a route to development in the 1930s and 1940s.

Spain expects about 100 million international tourists this year. Around the world, 1,600 million international trips were recorded last year, Barceló said.

Hotels barely expand on the islands

The old sun-and-beach model has widened into holidays built around history, culture, food, cities, inland areas and religious tourism, according to Barceló.

Yet hotel capacity in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands has barely grown over the past 10 or 15 years, he said. Urban and inland destinations, by contrast, have added capacity.

Topics: Tourism · Food & dining · Economy

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com