The government in one of UK tourists’ favourite holiday destinations is considering proposals to tackle overcrowding by introducing a ban on apartment lets.
Proposals to promote sustainability in the Balearic Island group’s tourism sector will be outlined by officials today – with a lack of affordable housing for locals in Majorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentara a driving force in debates on new restrictions.
The archipelago’s governing body is seriously considering bringing in a prohibition of apartment holiday rentals as a way of tackling the housing crisis, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
The local news outlet reported that authorities were “studying legal formulas” to commence such a ban without incurring “compensation demands”.
An “eradication of apartment lets” for non-Balearic tourists is understood to be a “priority objective” of the government – with an archipelago-wide ban extending those currently in place for Ibiza and Majorca’s capital city, Palma.
The Council of Majorca estimates that apartment rentals represent less than 10% of total holiday lets on the island.
After a year that has been dogged by anti-tourism protests from disgruntled locals who believe they’re being priced out of the area, the prospective move is sure to be a popular one, at home if not abroad.
The Majorca Hoteliers Federation criticised the government’s failure to implement such a ban last year, expressing “disappointment” at what they said would be “a golden opportunity to return a huge pool of residential housing to the market”.
Apartment holiday lets were banned in Palma back in 2018, in what then-Mayor Antoni Noguera said would “set the trend for other cities” also struggling with heavy tourist footfall.
The change was described as a reaction to the rise in non-licensed apartments being offered to short-stay visitors through websites and apps.
While largely welcomed, it was met with some concern about a negative impact on the city’s economy, with small retailer organisation Pimeco telling the BBC that such rentals were an “important source of income” for locals.
In the midst of rising anti-visitor sentiment – for reasons to do with a lack of housing and suffering infrastructure – fresh fears could predict a dip in popularity among holidaymakers sparked by the hypothetical Balearic-wide ban.
For now, though, it seems that the islands will be forced to contend with too many rather than too few tourists this year – with charter airline TUI preparing to carry a record-breaking number of passengers to the region in 2025.
The airline announced this week that it expects to bring 2.1 million tourists to the archipelago in 2025 – a 100,000-person increase from 2024, including travellers from the UK, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Ireland.
