Tourism chiefs in Spain have sounded the alarm following a “disastrous” beginning to the year.

The Balearic Islands, encompassing beloved getaway destinations such as Majorca, Ibiza, and Menorca, experienced a decline in restaurant footfall in 2025. Data compiled by Delectatech attributed the fall in diners to escalating prices, with a steady trend emerging across 2025.

Whilst regions including the Basque Country and Catalonia registered modest falls of merely 1%, the Balearic Islands bore the brunt with a 3% reduction in patrons throughout 2025. Though these percentages might appear modest, they represent a substantial impact, given the tight profit margins in the sector and the islands’ heavy reliance on tourism.

According to Majorca Daily News, the declining figures are being attributed to rising prices across the islands, particularly as mainland regions where dining remains most affordable, including Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura, recorded the most substantial growth in customer numbers. The analysis states: “This behaviour suggests that consumers have reached a price ceiling, which limits price increases in the most expensive areas and reinforces the idea of a restraint in real spending, even in areas traditionally less price-sensitive.”

Concerns are also mounting within the hospitality sector regarding projections for 2026. Juanmi Ferrer, president of the CAEB Restaurants Association, representing island eateries, remarked that the year kicked off with a “disastrous January” and predicted it would be “like last year, or at most a little worse”.

Juanmi explained: “The last thing a restaurant owner wants is to raise prices, because that means fewer customers. This year we’ll try to absorb those extra three to four percentage points of inflation as much as we can.”

The drop in footfall has prompted the Balearic government to explore a restaurant voucher initiative, mirroring a recent programme designed to support independent retailers. Under the retail scheme, all residents aged 16 and above receive four vouchers worth €15 each, redeemable on purchases of €30 or more, in a bid to encourage local spending.

During last summer’s season, concerns emerged that certain Majorcan resorts had become “completely dead”, with Miguel Pérez‐Marsá, chairman of the nightlife association, warning: “The tourists we’re interested in are being driven away; they don’t feel welcome and are going to other destinations.”

His remarks followed a wave of anti-tourism demonstrations throughout mainland Spain and the Canary and Balearic Islands. In Majorca, approximately 5,000 locals marched through the streets in June 2025, demanding action on overtourism.

At last year’s World Travel Market (WTM) in London, Ibiza’s Tourism Minister, Jaume Bauza, acknowledged declining visitor numbers, revealing that 20,000 fewer British tourists visited the renowned party destination during the 2025 peak season compared to the previous year. Industry experts have suggested this decline may reflect holidaymakers deliberately shifting their travel dates to October and November to capitalise on more affordable rates.

However, it should be noted that such a dip comes at the end of several record years for tourism on the island chain, with Brits and other Europeans flocking in great numbers to the Balearics post-Covid.

The local community in Ibiza has voiced concerns over the surge in luxury tourism, which has escalated living costs and even led to workers residing in makeshift camps. Sofìa Ribas, founder of (Ma) Learning Lab for Sustainable Transformation, previously expressed her dismay to the Mirror, stating: “I’m from Ibiza, born and raised, we live the situation and how it’s getting worse and worse every year.

“There is more and more luxury tourism. It just doesn’t feel fair. Ibiza used to be a place where everyone mixed with everyone. Increasingly, you see VIPs; it is becoming something different from what the essence of the island was.”