Tourism Growth and Local Concerns
Tourism and travel are industries with significant economic value for various countries, providing employment opportunities, increased foreign investment, and improvements in infrastructure. In 2025, the industry continued to grow and contributed US$11.6 trillion to global GDP, accounting for 9.8% of the world economy (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2026). In recent years, protests against mass tourism have grown in notable Spanish destinations such as Barcelona and the Balearic Islands. For example, 5,500 people participated in a protest against the expansion of the airport in Barcelona in September of 2026 (News Desk, 2026). While Spain has a prominent and growing tourism industry representing 12.6% of its economy in 2024, residents in Spain's tourist hotspots feel tourism is being prioritised over local populations due to issues of housing affordability and overcrowding (Instituto Nacional, 2025). Thus, raising concerns about whether the benefits of tourism such as increased employment opportunities outweigh limitations like rising housing costs and lack of educational development. To what extent does tourism-led growth improve local communities economically and their quality of life in Spain?
Economic Development
Since the 1960s, Spain has been able to grow a substantial tourism industry, leading to notable transformations in business activity and national income, especially in regions such as the Balearic Islands. With more and more foreign visitors each year consuming hotels and leisure activities, the industry remains a lucrative economic driver, incentivising further investments in property, businesses, and employment for the purpose of attracting more visitors. There are approximately 3 million people in Spain who have employment relating to tourist activities; additionally, in the Balearic Islands, tourism currently represents directly and indirectly around 40% of the islands' GDP, highlighting their dependence on tourism compared to other regions in Spain (Instituto Nacional, 2025)(CaixaBank Research, 2026). With this growth, tourism also creates employment opportunities for residents and a source of revenue for governments to invest in infrastructure such as healthcare, improving accessibility for residents. In the Balearic Islands, GDP per capita is 10.6% higher than the Spanish national average, and residents report a higher quality of life and healthcare satisfaction compared to other regions (OECD, 2023). However, it is critical to acknowledge that while GDP per capita is higher in this region, an OECD report mentions that there are issues in employment in the tourism sector such as seasonal contracts, irregular hours, and low salaries (OECD, 2023). These are important to consider when discussing job security.
While a prominent tourism sector brings clear economic benefits, questions remain about whether these benefits are distributed fairly among residents and about tourism's long-term effects on local communities. Firstly, many of the recent protests against mass tourism highlight the issue of housing availability and affordability. Property owners in popular destinations such as Barcelona or the Balearic Islands are converting their homes into vacation accommodation for visitors, as this is more profitable than long-term rentals (Finch, 2025). Not only does this reduce options for obtaining long-term rentals, but this raises housing prices as supply decreases. Moreover, with the rise of online platforms such as Airbnb, they further simplify the process of converting homes into accommodation for tourists (Do Better Team, 2024). With rising costs, it is harder for local families and young residents to remain in their communities. Therefore, local communities feel disadvantaged by the growing tourism industry and that only a certain group of property owners are benefiting from it. Secondly, decreasing education and high-skilled labour are rising concerns for tourist hotspots such as the Balearic Islands. The percentage of people in the Balearic Islands who have completed their tertiary education is lower than the Spanish national average (OECD, 2023). Tourism is an industry that is labour-intensive and does not require numerous qualifications, which can discourage the need for education, especially if wages are high. In the long term, this can create labour shortages in sectors requiring different skills and higher qualifications. Additionally, the Balearic Islands rank low in economic diversity as they heavily rely on the tourist industry, creating long-term vulnerabilities if tourism rates drop and limiting potential growth (OECD, 2023).
Potential Solutions
In 2025, the government of the Balearic Islands proposed policies that aim to monitor holiday homes and keep a certain supply of housing for local communities. To begin with, there is a ban on new tourist accommodations in multi-family dwellings, which allows for local residences and communities to be preserved (Govern de les Illes Balears, 2025). Additionally, penalties have increased up to 500,000 euros for illegal tourist housing offerings if there are multiple infringements. Lastly, a new tourist accommodation can only be activated if another tourist home is deactivated, which aims to control the supply of holiday homes. The proposed policy aims to moderate the expansion of the tourist homes so that housing is available for residents while retaining local communities. However, it is important to consider how these policies may limit the growth of the tourism industry in the Balearic Islands. The OECD has recommended solutions for educational development and economic diversification by investing in universities and tech parks (OECD, 2023). This aims to attract business from different industries and encourage high-skilled talent. All in all, these solutions are not only focused at strengthening Spain's long-term economic goals but to also respond to the frustrations of local communities regarding housing and their quality of life.
Balancing Growth and Well-Being
The tourism and travel industry can be a highly profitable business that countries heavily depend on. In Spain's case, the industry did generate lucrative economic growth and employment opportunities; local communities argued that they are negatively impacted, with limited housing options and increased cost of living. Furthermore, the tourism-driven region, the Balearic Islands, faces a deterioration of educational development as more workers rely on the tourism industry. There are proposed solutions to tackle rising housing prices and further economic diversity; however, it is important to consider potential downsides of decreased growth of the tourism industry. While understanding the effect of tourism on Spain’s economic development and on the quality of life of local communities is valuable for Spanish governments and organisations, it also raises questions for countries with rising tourism industries such as Vietnam and Albania as they consider the advantages and disadvantages of the industry.
Work cited
CaixaBank Research. (2026, April 30). Balearic Islands. https://www.caixabankresearch.com/en/publications/autonomous-community-profiles/balearic-islands
Do Better Team. (2024, August 1). Tourism in Spain: Can the present model continue? DoBetter by Esade. https://dobetter.esade.edu/en/tourism-spain-model
Finch, W. (2025, August 27). The unsurprising reason (€€€) landlords in Spain are switching from long-term to tourist lets – and what can be done to stop it. The Olive Press. https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2025/08/27/landlords-in-spain-earn-more/
Govern de les Illes Balears. (2025, April 15). Contención turística: Todas las claves del decreto del Govern. https://www.caib.es/sites/contencioturistica/es/contenido
Instituto Nacional de Estadística. (2025, December 22). Spanish tourism satellite account: 2021–2024 series. https://ine.es/dyngs/Prensa/en/CSTE2024.htm
OECD. (2023). Rethinking regional attractiveness in the Balearic Islands region of Spain. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2023/05/rethinking-regional-attractiveness-in-the-balearic-islands-region-of-spain_9a726ecf/47bf5ec1-en.pdf
News Desk. (2026, September 21). Thousands march in Barcelona against airport expansion as protests spread to Balearic Islands. Spain in English. https://www.spainenglish.com/2026/09/21/thousands-march-in-barcelona-against-airport-expansion-as-protests-spread-to-balearic-islands/
World Travel & Tourism Council. (2026, April). Travel & tourism economic impact research (EIR). https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact