Climate change: How Mallorca’s mass tourism should become green

The consequences of climate change can no longer be overlooked on Mallorca. Heat and drought are affecting the popular holiday island. Now mass tourism should become sustainable without stalling the island’s economic engine. When it comes to how, opinions differ.

In terms of visitor numbers, Mallorca and the Balearic Islands have been at the top for years, and now the Spanish archipelago in the Mediterranean also wants to be at the forefront when it comes to environmental protection. In the last year before the 2019 pandemic, around 11.8 million tourists came to the Mediterranean island with the infamous Ballermann.

The Balearic Islands, which in addition to Mallorca also include Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera, even welcomed 16.5 million visitors. And this year there could be even more people relaxing on the sunny beaches or going hiking in Mallorca’s Tramuntana mountains.

Even some of the approximately 912,000 locals on Mallorca, whose prosperity depends on tourism, are beginning to feel uncanny. “I walk through the city center of my childhood and don’t know anyone anymore, just tourists, somehow strangers,” complains a woman from Palma. She can no longer live there because the rents are too high due to the demand from foreigners.

The strongest argument for a change of course, however, are the increasingly dramatic effects of climate change. The summer was extremely hot, there was no rain and even in autumn the temperatures were still above 30 degrees. The Balearic Islands therefore want to limit tourism and become exemplary in environmental protection.

The archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, which belongs to Spain, is to become the first holiday region in the world with sustainable mass tourism and a circular economy. This benefits the environment, locals, employees and holidaymakers, says the regional government. And of course holidaymakers, who are increasingly worried about the climate, should be attracted to Mallorca. A street survey of German vacationers shows that many would be willing to pay more for it.

“Distribute visitors better over the year”

“Of course, environmental protection, sustainability, circular economy, of course everyone likes that. But nobody has the faintest idea how to organize renunciation without everything collapsing,” complains Julian Ferrer, who runs a chain of restaurants and co-initiator of the Palma quality offensive Beach against drinking tourism at Ballermann is. After all, tourism contributes around 35 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Balearic Islands.

Despite the criticism, the island government is convinced that it has taken the right direction with a new tourism law. “The new law initially prescribes a moratorium on the number of tourist beds, currently 630,000 for the Balearic Islands,” said the regional Minister for Tourism and Economy, Iago Negueruela, of the German Press Agency. “Most months of the year we don’t have a problem with too many tourists, only in the summer months. That’s why we need to better spread the visitors over the year.”

In the long term, however, the number of overnight accommodations should then be slowly reduced. “We are thinking of a mechanism whereby any hotel owner wishing to offer a new accommodation option for a holidaymaker would have to buy up two existing hotel bed licenses at another property,” explains the socialist. In addition, the state is just starting to buy up old, cheap hotels and then shut them down without replacement.

At the same time, the hotels, restaurants and other parts of the tourism industry on the islands are to be gradually forced to operate in a more environmentally friendly manner. To do this, they first have to present annual reports on how much energy and water they use, what waste they produce and where they get their food from. In five-year plans, they then have to commit to specific steps to reduce energy and water consumption as well as the amount of waste and to buy groceries as locally as possible.

No solar panels on finca roofs

On many country estates that offer rooms, this already works. In the Finca Sa Maniga near Bunyola you can help with the almond harvest, pick lemons or grapes and there are typical dishes of the island for an opulent breakfast. “But we just don’t know where to set up solar panels, because they’re not allowed on the roof here,” says Antonia Llado, who is the second generation to run the historic house in the Tramuntana with her parents Teresa and Miguel. So the oil heater will continue to run for the time being.

The public sector wants to support the development towards more environmental protection with subsidies of 60 million euros. It is about the installation of photovoltaic systems, better insulation of the houses, more economical use of water, the use of exhaust air heat, the switch to electrical devices such as in kitchens and for water heating or electric cars.

But it is also about the health of the staff. The hotels should buy height-adjustable beds to make the work of the women who prepare the rooms easier and to save them back problems. Ferrer is skeptical. “These beds cost eight times as much as a normal bed, are technically fragile, and it’s not clear whether that’s easy on the backs of the staff,” he complains.

Criticism of the environmental group GOB

Environmentalists are also critical of the island government’s legislative initiative, but for different reasons. “We welcome the goals of the law, but they shouldn’t be financed with public money. The tourism industry has enough money itself,” says Margalida Ramis from the environmental group GOB on Mallorca. In addition, the industry is given too much time for environmental measures. Today’s level of tourism is just too big for the island. There is neither enough agricultural land nor enough space for solar systems and wind farms to provide food, water and green energy for millions of holidaymakers and locals.

The head of purchasing at the luxury hotel Son Vida in Palma, Francisco Balcázar, sees the new law positively. “We are pioneers in some areas when it comes to sustainability and the circular economy,” says the manager, who is also responsible for all environmental issues in the company.

And Balcázar has a lot to show for it. The Son Vida and two other Majorca hotels belonging to the German Schörghuber Group are already equipped with solar systems and water-saving technology. The conversion to electrical devices is also underway. “Because we only get electricity from renewable sources, that’s the way to stop releasing carbon dioxide,” he says. The Sheraton Mallorca Arabella Golf Hotel, which also belongs to the group, has been fully electrified since the summer and is therefore no longer releasing any carbon dioxide.

Farmers on the island who replace artificial fertilizers with compost made from the organic waste from the hotel’s kitchen and gardens are paid a higher price for their produce. And the guests can then use a QR code at the breakfast buffet to find out which chicken laid the breakfast egg and which farmer harvested the tomato on the plate, how much biogas was produced and how much carbon dioxide was saved through local and ecological production .

Margalida Ramis

The environmental activist Margalida Ramis calls for a departure from the current model of mass tourism in Mallorca.

© Jan-Uwe Ronneburger / DPA

All environmental investments are not just about how quickly they pay for themselves. “We are aware that Mallorca’s environment is our natural capital. Because holidaymakers only come because of this nature,” says the manager.

What the Balearic Islands, politicians and committed tourism managers like Balcázar have no influence on are the flights that holidaymakers take to the island, which are very harmful to the climate. According to the airport operator Aena, 29.7 million passengers and 217,218 take-offs and landings were registered in Mallorca in the last year before the 2019 pandemic. This year there should be about as many.

Jan-Uwe Ronneburger/DPA

source site-7