Tourism spending in the Balearic Islands continues to grow at a faster rate than the number of visitors themselves. This trend reflects the general rise in prices in recent times, but also the archipelago’s growing commitment to prioritizing quality over quantity in order to derive greater economic benefit from the millions of visitors it receives each year. In July, there were just over 3 million visitors, bringing the cumulative total since January to 11.2 million people. This represents a 1.8% increase over the number of visitors recorded during the same period in 2025. This year, however, revenue has surpassed 13.7 billion euros, equivalent to a 5.6% increase. In other words, spending is growing at three times the rate of visitor arrivals.
This is evident from the data published on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and the Balearic Islands Institute of Statistics (IBESTAT). The latter incorporates the INE’s data on tourists from other autonomous communities—that is, domestic visitors—into its own figures. As usual, Germany and the United Kingdom were the main source markets in July (nearly 1.2 million visits between the two countries), although this does not mean that the figures for these markets are on the rise: visits from Germany fell by 4%. Other nationalities, such as the French and Belgians, also saw a decline compared to last year, although the rest of the major markets—including the Dutch, Italians, Swiss, and Spaniards themselves—rebounded, as did visits categorized under “rest of the world.”
The gap between the increase in visitor arrivals and the increase in tourism spending becomes more evident during the high season: revenue grew by 8% in July (reaching 4.6 billion euros), while visitor arrivals rose by only 0.2% compared to last year. Prices on the islands—especially for lodging—reach particularly high peaks during the middle months of the year, while the number of visitors has stabilized at a peak of close to 3 million. The rising cost of travel has not deterred demand: visitors remain loyal to the destination and are adjusting to the new prices by tightening their budgets and slightly shortening the length of their stays.
Leader in tourism spending in Spain
In fact, the Balearic Islands led the way in international tourism spending in Spain in July, ahead of Catalonia (3.7 billion euros, 445 million less), whereas, when looking at the year-to-date total, the Balearic Islands rank fourth, behind Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Canary Islands. This clearly reflects the Balearic Islands’ still markedly seasonal nature, despite the undeniable progress made in the process of deseasonalization and in the growth of activity during the off-season, especially in Palma.
On the other hand, retailers and restaurant owners have been insisting this summer on the need to conduct a study to determine in which areas and to what extent tourist spending is concentrated, given that their sectors—and practically all those grouped under the umbrella of the so-called “complementary offerings”—are not seeing rising sales, but rather are holding steady at the levels of a couple of seasons ago, with prices frozen in many cases to stimulate consumer spending.
According to IBESTAT, based on year-to-date figures, one-quarter (25.3%) of tourist spending went toward paying for a package tour; slightly more than one-third (36%) went toward expenses related to lodging or meals, while the remainder (38.68%) consisted of transportation, activities, and other expenses.
Thus, tourism spending per person in July approached 1,500 euros, while spending per person per day was nearly 240 euros. This trend suggests that the regional government’s forecasts made at the beginning of the year will hold true. At the Madrid International Tourism Fair (Fitur), the government had indicated that by 2026, the barrier of 200 euros per person per day for the entire year would be broken (in 2025, it reached an all-time high of 197 euros). “The Balearic Islands have already begun the process of economic transformation and are growing more rapidly in value than in volume,” said Antoni Costa, the regional government’s vice president and minister of the economy, at the time.
