A Spanish holiday hotspot has followed in the footsteps of Italy’s Venice and has slashed tour group numbers in bid to stop massive congestion. Majorca’s famous capital, Palma, has introduced a new rule aimed at reducing mass tourism.
The reduction of groups with a guide in Palma to a maximum of 35 tourists is now in force, despite pleas for a postponement. The use of loudspeakers and megaphones has also been banned. The reduction of tourist groups with a guide, one of the novelties of Palma’s civic ordinance, has been in force since January 1. However, a harsh crackdown of this kind is not a new phenomenon in Europe.
In Venice, one of Europe’s worst-affected cities by overtourism, where visitor numbers outnumber its small resident population by around 21 to one, officials implemented a ban on loudspeakers and tour groups of over 25 people in June 2024.
The rules were aimed at easing pedestrian flow in crowded areas like its iconic bridges and improving the resident quality of life. These rules, which also stop groups from gathering in one spot, apply to the historic centre and islands like Burano, Murano and Torcello, with exceptions for student groups.
Majorca’s city council had explored the possibility of temporarily lifting this limit due to the deficit of professional guides suffered by the sector and consulted the municipal legal services on the viability of this option. However, its opinion advised applying the reduction now and ruling out a further postponement.
Tourist groups with a guide of more than 35 people, previously allowed up to 70, are now prohibited in the city.
The civic ordinance was approved just before last summer, but business associations requested a postponement of the limit’s implementation until 2026 to allow more time to adapt to the new circumstances. As the new year approached, they requested another extension, arguing that there weren’t enough certified guides to manage more groups (they believed that smaller groups would attract more participants).
The city council considered a second postponement to buy time as it planned to offer training courses for new professionals in the first quarter of the year, after a ten-year hiatus. Ultimately, the municipal legal department ruled out this option.
The municipal government proposed reducing the number of guided tours because they cause traffic jams in the narrow, congested streets of Palma’s city centre during the summer months.
In fact, the council’s initial intention was to establish a maximum of 24 per tour, but finally agreed to raise that figure to 35 as a result of protests by the Balearic Association of Tourist Activities (Abactur), the Association of Tourist Guides of Mallorca and the Association of Travel Agencies (Aviba), which warned that this restriction would sink activity.
“When it comes to guided groups for tourism purposes, they will be restricted to a maximum of 35 people, including the guide. The use of loudspeakers or megaphones is not allowed, recommending the use of audio guides,” the council said.
The ordinance includes other articles related to tourism. For example, to reduce waste on public roads, it is stipulated that fixed or mobile establishments offering ‘take-away’ services will be responsible for keeping the space clean within a 25-metre radius around their facilities.
