Majorca plans to ‘ditch British tourists’ – but will it work?

In a new 350-page “sustainability pact” document, the Balearic government has outlined plans to “reduce dependence on traditional tourist markets, specifically Germany and the UK”.

The government of Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera has also announced plans to increase the Sustainable Tourism Tax on the island to up to €6 (£5) per night in peak months. According to the proposals, holiday vehicles on the islands will be taxed up to €80 depending on the length of stay.

Unveiling the island group’s sustainable tourism strategy, President Marga Prohens said that the island must “abandon strategies based on high volumes and low prices”.

However, the stated desire to reduce a dependence on British holidaymakers has led to concern in the UK. Our favourite holiday islands have now put it in pen and ink that they want fewer British tourists coming through the door. As the Balearic Islands’ second-most loyal visitors (after the Germans), it is important for us to understand: why?

Anti-British snobbishness?

Some have taken this rather personally. A number of British regional news sites and tabloid papers say the islands are planning to “ditch British holidaymakers” and today’s news about rising taxes will only sour things further. Could it be that there is a snobbish undertone behind the idea of “reducing dependence” on British holidaymakers?

I can certainly see how it’s interpreted this way. Central to the Balearic Islands’ plan is to pivot towards a higher-end tourism strategy, focusing on superior standards on a smaller scale. The insinuation, therefore, is that the pervading low-end mass tourism model is intertwined with the desires of the British holidaymaker. Like pie and mash, or sangria and roast beef, the two come as one.

But perhaps this is just a statement of fact. Unchecked tourist development over many decades, and the British public’s insatiable appetite for affordable beach breaks, have indeed created a landscape where cheap and cheerful Britishness is deeply ingrained in some resort towns across the Balearic Islands.

Many of us will have witnessed this while abroad. Vests with “Keep Calm and Drink Lager” written on them, restaurants advertising Premier League football, Union flags adorning “British-owned” bars.

Tourism accounts for nearly half of the island group’s GDP, but now, it appears, they want a different sort of tourism. If they do want their loyal British market to be a part of that, this hasn’t been communicated terribly clearly.

It isn’t the first time that a Spanish island has appeared to call last orders a long relationship with the British public. In 2023, Lucia Escribano, Majorca’s director of tourism, said the island would not be promoting travel for summer 2023 because it was “not interested in having… budget tourists from the UK – and we don’t care if they go [instead] to Greece and Turkey”.

Other Spanish islands have alluded to similar strategies. In 2023, María Dolores Corujo, Lanzarote’s president, said the island must seek “higher-quality holidaymakers who spend more when they’re here” – French, Italian and Dutch tourists were singled out as target markets. Britain, alas, was not.

Recent moves to scrap the “golden visa” scheme that fast-tracked Spanish citizenship for British property owners felt like the final nail in the coffin. The messaging is clear: we are no longer wanted… right?

A need to diversify

Perhaps we ought to move out of the sun, have a tall, icy glass of water and look at the situation with a cooler head. Anna Nicholas, The Telegraph’s Balearics expert, has her ear close to the sand on these sorts of things, and rejects the idea that there’s any sort of targeted anti-British sentiment in the Balearics.

“I think it’s about not putting all their eggs in a few baskets. Majorca relies very much on these two leading markets and frankly, always will, but it wants to diversify too,” she explains. Together, British and German tourists make up around two thirds of all tourists arriving in Majorca per year.

“There is absolutely no snobbish, anti-British tourist sentiment, although yobbish behaviour from a minority is frowned on,” Nicholas adds.

In 2023, the Balearics government unveiled plans to fine holidaymakers €36,000 (£31,000) if they were found guilty of the highly dangerous act of balconing (jumping off a balcony into a pool). Some resorts popular with British visitors have introduced a six-drink daily cap.

“I am in constant touch with those in the tourist industry here and they covet British audiences,” says Nicholas, who lives on the island. “There’s a longstanding relationship between the UK and Majorca. It’s more about upping the quality of visitor and dismissing the pile-’em-high kind of tourism that used to be the case in the likes of Magaluf or Arenal.”

The process of moving away from a reliance on British markets may already be underway. “We have an increasing number of Americans visiting Majorca with direct flights from NYC,” says Nicholas.

“There has been talk for some time of US hubs expanding to incorporate Washington DC, Miami, LA and Chicago, but nothing thus far. Last summer, when I visited hotels island-wide, I noticed an increasing number of American, Canadian and even Australian and Asian visitors.”

An anti-tourist backlash

To understand the latest messaging from the Balearic government, we ought to look at the wider context. The Balearic Islands are among the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, attracting more than 15 million visitors per year. But decades of tourism growth and the relentless rise of self-catering accommodation platforms such as Airbnb have changed the fabric of the islands. As a result, the Balearics have been at the epicentre of a wave of mass tourism protests.

Last year alone, demonstrators occupied multiple beaches in Majorca, prevented tourist access to popular coves, and marched in their thousands in Palma de Majorca to call for more sustainable tourism. Similar protests have occurred across the Canary Islands and on mainland Spain.

Alongside the plans to reduce dependence on British tourists, on March 7 the Balearic government outlined a range of new taxation measures.

The Sustainable Tourism Tax will range from €1-6 per night depending on the time of the year, and a new tax on cruise ships will see passengers paying between €2 and €6 per night. Along with a new vehicle tax, there are plans in the offing to ban tourist cars from driving through certain towns that are particularly affected by traffic congestion.

The Balearic government is also taking measures to ban new tourist accommodation in multi-family residential homes, and aims to clamp down on illegal self-catering rentals by increasing fines of up to €500,000.

Looking ahead to a busy summer season, the Balearic government will hope that this suite of measures will bring about meaningful change across the islands. They will also hope to show demonstrators that they are listening, and taking tangible strides to improve things on the islands. But next time they might want to spell it out that British loyalists do form part of those plans, in some capacity. Like sunburnt shoulders, or a frontal lobe after a night on the town, it turns out we can be rather sensitive about these things.