Majorca has been at the heart of overtourism protests (Image: Getty)
The Balearic Islands, which include the holiday hotspots of Majorca, Ibiza, and Menorca, could soon be capping the number of yearly visitors in a bit to tackle overtourism.
The islands’ opposition party Partit Socialista de les Illes Balears (PSOE) is expected to present a proposal on February 17) in parliament, asking for a maximum annual limit on tourist numbers. PSOE member Iago Negueruela, formerly the minister of labor, trade and industry for the Balearics, is set to call for a limit of 17.8 million tourists a year – this was the number of visitors across the islands in 2023.
Majorca is particularly popular with Brits (Image: Getty)
In 2024, the islands saw visitor numbers hit 18.7 million and visitor numbers topped 19 million for the first time in 2025. The total population for the islands is just over 1.2 million, including just over 18,000 British expats.
Previously, Iago Negueruela has said that the limit should be 16.5 million visitors, a number that « is a maximum that should not be exceeded but should tend to decrease ». Under the proposed plans, PSOE would also work with each island’s councils to determine a suitable cap on the number of tourists per island, and tighter controls on illegal accommodation.
According to Majorca Daily News, the motion has been seen as a ‘political manoeuvre’, and speculated that the ruling People’s Party (PP) will likely point out that under a PSOE coalition party, there was a huge increase in accommodation places across the islands.
Nearly four million tourists visit Ibiza each year (Image: Getty)
So far, there’s no word on the plan’s practicalities and if approved, how the island’s authorities would enforce the cap or when it would come into force. PSOE are yet to comment on how many visitors each island could potentially be assigned. Majorca is the busiest of the islands, welcoming 13.4 million tourists in 2024, including 3.58 million Brits, although the majority of tourists are from Germany.
Overtourism has long been an issue in the Balearics, and in recent years a number of protests have taken place across the islands Around. 5,000 residents took to the streets in Majorca in June 2025 to complain about issues caused by overcrowding such as a lack of affordable housing for locals. Previous protests have seen locals waving signs with slogans such as “Mallorca not for sale”.
Anti-tourism protests took place on the streets of Palma, Majorca (Image: Getty)
However, earlier this month, hospitality chiefs sounded the alarm over a drop in restaurant customer number across the islands, which was partially blamed on the rising cost of living. President of the CAEB Restaurants Association,Juanmi Ferrer, said that the year had started with a « disastrous January » and predicted it would be « like last year, or at most a little worse ».
Last summer, the chairman of the Balearic Association of Leisure and Entertainment (ABONE), Miguel Pérez‐Marsá, said: « The tourists we’re interested in are being driven away; they don’t feel welcome and are going to other destinations. » He made the comments amid reports that popular resorts were “completely dead” during the summer season.
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