British tourists have led a 5.2% rise in holiday bookings to the Balearic Islands over the last week, despite concerns that increasing popularity is causing cost of living expenses to soar. The number of holidaymakers heading to Majorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera rose by 5.2% over the last week compared to the same period last year and by 14.8% week-on-week, according to data from TravelGate. The findings show an unwillingness from international travellers – including a high percentage of Brits – to be deterred from visiting the islands by a growing tide of backlash from residents.
Locals frustrated at a struggling housing market and weakened infrastructure, exacerbated by hordes of foreign visitors, have taken to the streets of Majorca – the archipelago’s biggest land mass – numerous times over the last year, with further demonstrations planned for the remainder of this summer. While the growing tide of UK holidaymakers heading to the Balearics shows no sign of abating, some have noticed the consequences of overtourism themselves – including a spike in food and drink prices.
“What used to cost around €50 per head eating out, and that doesn’t always include alcohol, is now €70 and the staff make me feel as though I’m doing them a huge favour by being here and going to their establishment,” one visitor told the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
“Why is Majorca becoming so expensive when, more often than not, you are not getting value for money?”
While British tourism was up 9% in Majorca in May, with around 310,000 people descending on the western Mediterranean island, Brit tourist Edward Fox sounded the alarm about “drastically increased” prices at the same time – warning that it risked becoming “unaffordable” for one of its main reliable sources of revenue.
“I have been holidaying in Majorca sometimes three times per year, definitely twice per year, for more than 30 years for approximately three weeks every time I come over,” he wrote in the MDB.
“Over the last five or six years … I have noticed a drastic increase in not only hotel and accommodation prices but also the increase in food, drink [and] restaurant prices.”
“[Alongside this,] the increase of the ‘tourist tax’ to approximately €4 per person per night, subject to an additional 10% [proposed] tax, is incredible and unaffordable for most British tourists coming to Majorca,” he added.
“Go ahead Majorca, bite the hand that has [come] to this island, put so much money in your tourism, infrastructure, government, hoteliers’ pockets … for the best part of 40 years. Us tourists do bite back.”
While the “bite” doesn’t seem to have been fully felt yet, new regulations on short-term rentals that came into force on July 1 could further alienate holidaymakers – with tourism bosses warning that some Brits could even see their booked accommodation “disappear” from platforms including Airbnb and Booking.com, perhaps providing even more incentive to spend the summer elsewhere.
