The Confederation of Business Associations of the Balearic Islands (CAEB) has questioned the notion that “less tourism automatically means a better quality of life” and has called for the debate on the archipelago’s economic model to be conducted “without extremism.”
The president of the employers’ association, Carmen Planas, accompanied by her vice presidents and representatives from the islands’ main business associations, presented the confederation’s position on this Sunday’s demonstration on Wednesday. The protest, organized by the “Menys Turisme, Més Vida” platform, aims to highlight—among many other issues—the need to commit to reducing tourism.
For their part, business leaders have argued that residents of the Balearic Islands live “off everything that tourism brings” and have refuted the claim that this economic activity is the cause of numerous social problems. Nevertheless, the employers’ association has stated that it is “fully aware” that the archipelago is going through a period of “enormous complexity” due to the difficulty in accessing housing, pressure on infrastructure, mobility issues, the protection of natural resources, and the feeling that building a life here is becoming increasingly difficult.
Their proposal to address these issues is to transform the Balearic Islands’ economic model so that economic growth and progress go hand in hand with improvements in residents’ quality of life. None of these problems are “isolated,” they have argued, and all of them are interrelated, which should require that the debate on the present and future of the Balearic Islands be “rigorous, honest, and free of extremism.”
Business leaders affiliated with CAEB have acknowledged that tourism influences issues such as access to housing and mobility, but they have argued that “it does not, on its own, explain the crisis.” In the case of housing, they have emphasized, other factors also play a decisive role, including decades of insufficient public housing development, population growth, second homes, international real estate investment, the existence of vacant homes, bureaucratic delays, a shortage of available land, and urban planning and tax decisions that have accumulated over the years.
Traffic jams and mobility issues
When it comes to mobility, although they have acknowledged that the situation becomes “strained” during the high season, they have emphasized that traffic jams, difficulties accessing Palma, and public transportation problems “do not disappear in January.” This, they argued, suggests that there is a “structural issue that goes beyond the influx of visitors,” such as insufficient infrastructure, heavy reliance on private vehicles, and planning that does not keep pace with the actual growth of the population and the economy.
For business leaders, this same assessment extends to basic services such as healthcare, education, water, energy, and waste management. Although tourism “increases pressure at certain times,” it cannot be analyzed in isolation from public investment, the efficiency of infrastructure networks, demographic planning, the quality of management, and the institutions’ ability to anticipate future needs.
In addition to resolving all these problems, they noted, the Balearic Islands also need to improve productivity, promote innovation, raise wages, and create stable year-round opportunities. “Nothing will be achieved simply by reducing the number of visitors or denying the need to manage tourist flows. It will be achieved through planning, investment, evaluation, transparency, dialogue, and decisions that are sustained over time,” they emphasized.
In his view, when people talk about reducing tourism “as if it were a piece that can be removed without affecting the rest of the system,” they are ignoring how the Balearic economy works. Therefore, the debate should not be “tourism yes or no, more or less tourism,” but rather how to distribute the value generated by this economic activity to make the archipelago a “more prosperous, livable, and sustainable” place—something that “should not always fall on others.”
The Housing Problem
Before concluding that “less tourism automatically means more life”—a statement that plays on the name of the organization behind Sunday’s demonstration—CAEB believes it is necessary to ask a few questions.
“If some of the tourists stopped coming, would thousands of affordable homes automatically appear? Would the January traffic jams disappear? Would healthcare waiting lists shrink? Would public transportation improve? Would wages automatically rise? Would more school spots or water infrastructure be created? What would happen to the thousands of small businesses that depend, either entirely or partially, on spending by our visitors? How many jobs would be lost, and what alternatives would we have to replace them?” the employers’ association asked.
The business leaders concluded that the Balearic Islands should not have to choose between economic progress and quality of life, but rather demand both and strive to manage a sector that “has helped build a dynamic economy, thousands of businesses, jobs, public services, and a welfare state that many regions would envy.”
