Leading tourism experts say that in many hotels, the prices had to be lowered to fill the rooms and also that many bars and restaurants have planned to close early. The Magaluf water park has already closed, one month earlier than it was expected to close. The business community in Magalluf claimed that the tourists spent less than usual this year.

Most of the local hotels might be closing by this month and this would lead to an increase in unemployment. Right now, there are 43’000 unemployed people in the Balearics and this figure is expected to rise after the summer season. The local government would be under great pressure to attract larger number of tourists to the island in this winter.

After the meeting, ministry resources said that in spite of bad economic conditions all over the world, the tourism industry of Spain is doing well. They said that, in general, the number of people visiting Spain had remained stable during the last 7 months showing a slight decline of 0.2%. The ministry assumed that the Spanish tourism industry had been very resilient despite the unfavourable conditions. A research conducted by the National Institute of Statistics indicated that in July, overnight stays by foreign visitors all over the country had increased by 2.9 percent. The research also showed that The Balearics had the highest hotel occupation for July with it being 86.95 % of the total capacity.

In July, 9’176’866 visitors stayed overnight in the Balearics’ hotels – 1,388,557 foreign visitors and 234,233 Spaniards. However, the hotel prices have increased the most in Aragon and Balearics, when compared to last year.

The government Spain is planning to launch its Tourism Overhaul Plan for the year 2020. This will include renovating old and established tourist destinations that are wearing down. This will also be advantageous to the different sectors of industry, other than tourism.