The Forum for Civil Society presented on Monday findings from a report on the economic, social and environmental transition in the Balearic Islands focused on the years 2019 to 2023.
One of these is that economic growth based on the current tourism model is worsening social imbalances.
This has been highlighted as one of the most negative aspects of the “runaway horse that is tourism” and which is ultimately responsible for problems associated with access to housing and a high rate of early school leaving, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
“We are bringing more and more tourists but we have less wealth than we had. The way tourism grows creates these imbalances. Unfortunately, we are repeating the same patterns of all previous crises since 1973 [the oil crisis],” said spokesperson Jaume Garau.
The crisis unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic “highlighted the need for a change to the tourism model”, he said. However, this change has not occurred and is aggravating the deficiencies of the model.
Garau also said: “The tourist load has increased but economic diversification has still not occurred, which makes us weak.”
The report established a direct relationship between the “excessive weight of the tourism sector” in the Balearic Islands and the problems in access to housing, for which it also blames the “non-existent” policies in terms of social housing.
The school dropout rate in the archipelago is also highlighted as being “the highest in the state”.
Andreu Grimalt, director of the anti-poverty observatory in the Balearics, explained that jobs in the tourism industry result in early school leaving, “but this makes young people more vulnerable in the long term”.
Overall, the Forum for Civil Society’s analysis is not that different to the Balearic government’s previous report. However, its solutions do differ, in that there is a demand for degrowth.
Majorca tourism warning issued over ‘kids leaving school early’ | World | News
