Spanish beach destinations including Majorca have been warned not to crack down on “sun and beach” tourism as it accounts for the vast majority of spending in the summer months.
Last month, thousands of protesters took their frustration to the streets of Palma, on the popular Bealaric island, lamenting the huge issues created by overtourism – overcrowding, higher cost of living and a major strain on the local infrastructure.
The island has a high concentration of British visitors, but many locals oppose the huge number of visitors that flock to their communites.
However, a new report by Braintrust has warned of the high seasonality of Spanish sun and beach destinations, as they account for 69.8 percent of spending in the summer months between July and September.
This puts the beach holiday trade way above other forms tourism such as culture, shopping, sport and gastronomy, the consultancy firm found.
Braintrust notes that this model, “without ceasing to be important because of its weight”, makes activity precarious and prevents the deseasonalisation which is “so detrimental to some mature destinations, not only in Spain, but worldwide”.
Its director, Ángel García Butragueño, said: “In Spain we continue to exploit the sun and beach model, when we have excellent other markets to promote, other niches are increasingly important, such as culture, sport, shopping and nature”.
He stressed that demonstrations against high levels of tourism call for the model to be “much more sustainable”, and tourism that is “much more diversified, deseasonalised, respectful, and that returns greater benefits to the destination”.
Tourism accounts for around 45 percent of the Balearic Islands’ gross domestic product, according to data from industry organisation Exceltur, but the trade has become a growing source of anger in the region.
It comes after a small group protesters headed to Majorca‘s beaches on June 1 to “occupy” them and claim them back from tourists.
A week later, large protests took place in Majorca and Menorca. Spanish national police said around 10,000 protesters gathered in Majorca, while a few hundred marched in Menorca.
Many locals have insisted they welcome “sustainable tourism” but have grown fustrated with being priced out of their homes as high demands for short-term lets make mortgages and rents unaffordable.
The Balearics aren’t the only Spanish holiday hotspot to have seen demonstrations over what they see as excessive numbers of tourists.
In April, tens of thousands flooded the streets of Tenerife’s capital to vent their anger at uncontrolled tourism.
The Council of Majorca has been approached for comment.