A conga line of low-cost European carriers is bringing visitors from all over the continent.
Spain is on track to become the world’s most visited country, surpassing France sometime in the next decade or so.
But are all parts of the country getting the same crowds—and the same blowback from locals—as Barcelona, where city authorities are shutting down cruise terminals in order to stem the tide of visitors and help quell tourism protests?
I visited the island of Mallorca, in Spain’s Balearic Islands, to see for myself what the situation was like on the ground. Mallorca is a popular tourism destination for Europeans that is just now beginning to gain traction with American visitors. United Airlines added nonstop service from the U.S. to the island in 2022 and has since added flights and extended the season—but that’s nothing compared to the conga line of low-cost European carriers bringing visitors from all over the continent.
The crowded airport reminded me of Las Vegas at the beginning of a holiday weekend, with aircraft parked at every gate and wall-to-wall passengers in baggage claim, but I also realized it was the first Saturday in August—a popular changeover time between waves of vacationers from various European countries.
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Much of the complaint about overtourism in many Spanish cities comes from the lack of affordable housing. As we got a guided tour of the oldest part of Palma de Mallorca, our guide noted that a significant number of homes in the area were owned by part-time residents, which had taken a lot of housing inventory off the market.
Part of the reason I’d come to Mallorca was I wanted to check out Marriott’s Club Son Antem. It’s a golf resort about 15 minutes by car from Palma that’s part of the Marriott Vacation Club network. Sitting in my two-bedroom condo unit with a view of the golf course, I felt like this was a good choice for travelers concerned about contributing to the housing shortage.
The resort offers residential-style accommodations, similar to an Airbnb or Vrbo, but without compromising local housing inventory or without the other frustrations that come along with those rental platforms.
And for those visitors who do feel compelled to buy their own little slice of Mallorca, they can buy into the vacation club instead of acquiring a property on the local market.
In spite of tourism booming across Spain, several of the local residents agreed that tourism is actually down slightly this summer on Mallorca. “Last summer was really busy,” shared Nigel, the captain of a sailing yacht charter we took down the coast for sunbathing and sightseeing. “This summer, it’s not as busy, I’m not sure why. It could be economic uncertainty, also the wars. Some people are just not as interested in travel.”
One of the stops was Es Pontàs, a natural limestone arch rising from the bright sapphire and aquamarine waters of the Mediterranean, where some teens had gathered to climb on the rocks and take a rope swing into the ocean. While some other parts of Spain are known to be quite hot in August, the weather during our trip was relatively mild, with highs in the low to mid-80s and a good rush of ocean breeze cooling the coast.
With Nigel’s comments in mind, I noticed few places on the island truly seemed crowded. It felt like a pretty typical “summer busy season,” but one of the benefits of Mallorca is that it’s renowned as a vacation spot, rather than a checklist item. While tourists in Barcelona crowd La Rambla and the Sagrada Familia, there aren’t any particularly “big ticket” hot spots on Mallorca, so the crowds are pretty dispersed.
A particular delight was the scenic train from Palma to Sóller. The 100-year-old wooden train cars have an old-fashioned form of air conditioning: the windows open. We chugged past fields of sheep and goats, through tunnels spanning pine-dotted mountains, before arriving in sleepy Sóller, where plazas half-fill with visitors and locals, and the longest line was perhaps five people deep for fresh-squeezed Mallorcan orange juice topped with vanilla gelato and whipped cream.
Several shopkeepers in town, selling both souvenir items and items of interest to locals, like groceries, fruit, and toys, echoed the sentiments of other residents I’d spoken with—it’s definitely quieter this year—business is slower. There weren’t many other visitors shopping for cork shoes or the distinctive Menorquina slingback-style peep-toe sandal.
If anything, it was easy to avoid crowds where I didn’t want to find them, whether it was in a rooftop seafood restaurant in the old port or cooking breakfast in my villa at the Marriott (the kitchens are fully stocked with everything I might need). The property is dotted with community pools so the villas are never a far walk from a cooling dip; for those who want a more social pool scene, the vibe at the main resort pool is pretty active, but you can always duck into the saunas and relaxation rooms in the spa for some respite from the action.
Wandering around Mallorca’s old town, I poked into some Arab baths dating from the 10th century and bought cookies from a nunnery on a tin carousel that allows the nuns to sell their wares without face-to-face contact with the outside world (it’s also a local tradition for newlyweds to donate eggs to the convent for their baked goods). I also saw some graffiti more than once that read “tourist go home” (although it wasn’t clear how long it had been there).
So, is Mallorca struggling with the effects of overtourism? Not one of the island residents I chatted with seemed to think so, and they all noted that visitor numbers had in fact slightly fallen off. The island’s tourism officials agree; some of them even going so far as to blame tourism protests for the drop.
From the jacuzzi at the Marriott, with a glass of locally-produced cava in my hand, it made me feel better that I’d contributed without displacing—and I’d had a lovely, sun-baked visit in the meantime.