Playa de Palma, Mallorca

Both the high and the low seasons have grown. | Anja Schmidt

Andrew EdePalma02/02/2024 11:07
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It was already known that 2023 was a record year for tourism in the Balearics, as the previous record year - 2018 - was surpassed in terms of tourist numbers by October.

The figures for the whole year have now been published, and they show that there were 17,836,630 tourists in 2023. The total in 2018 was 16,551,595, and so the record has been shattered by getting on for 1.3 million, an astonishing increase.

Tourist numbers rose every single month in 2023. In December, the increase was 19% to 279,000, an indication perhaps of tourism seasonality being lessened. The Balearic government, both present and most recent, wishes to grow the low season and not the high season. But 2023 is proof that both low and high are growing; in July there were over three million tourists, an unprecedented number.

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The eight per cent annual growth will only fuel further the debates about overtourism, overcrowding and the sustainability of the tourism model, with indications already pointing to the possibility that the 2023 figure could be exceeded in 2024.

In 2023, there were 14,405,322 foreign tourists, an increase of 9.1%. Of these, the German market, as ever, was the largest - 4,590,796, a rise of 6.8% compared with 2022. The UK was the second largest with 3,723,976, up 10.7%. The greatest growth was 'rest of the world', which includes the likes of the USA. This market rose by 62.7% to 745,849.

The Spanish market, the third largest overall, went up 3.9% to 3,431,308.