Magaluf is already undergoing a transformation. It is a difficult task because we are talking about a profound paradigm shift. I come from the tourism sector and I took office in May 2023, as part of a coalition government between the People’s Party and Vox. For us, tourism is not an option; it is our sole industry. We wanted to significantly boost the revitalisation of the Calviá destination.
It is important to understand the scale of Calviá: 54 km of coastline, 19 urban centres and one of the largest hotel capacities in Spain, with over 60,000 beds. However, almost half of this is concentrated in Palmanova-Magaluf. Magaluf is a ‘hot potato’ that everyone has been passing back and forth, an area suffering from severe stigmatisation. Despite the investments already made by the private sector in the hotel industry over the last ten years or so, we were still in the eye of the media storm. It is extremely easy to sensationalise Magaluf: simply adding the name to any incident is enough for the news to go global and overshadow all the renovation efforts.
We are investing heavily to break this stigma and show that Magaluf is now home to a vast beach, top-class beach clubs and restaurants, but above all, a respectful coexistence.
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It was an absolute priority. As soon as we took office, working closely with the British Consulate, we stepped up the ‘Stick with your mates’ campaign. In June 2023, I brought together the entire community: hoteliers, shopkeepers, tour operators, the university and the Balearic Islands government. The objective was clear and shared: to achieve “zero balconing”.
It is important to understand what is at stake: behind these cases lie genuine family and social tragedies, with young people in their twenties losing their lives. Beyond the immense grief this causes families, every accident sets us back in the media regarding all the groundwork we were doing. It undermined our efforts to revitalise the town’s image.
We therefore worked tirelessly on raising awareness and direct prevention. Thanks to this relentless, collective effort – touch wood – we have had no such cases in recent years. The last tragedy now dates back to May 2022.
The philosophy is completely different. The old law punished everyone indiscriminately through a zoning system that was far too broad, covering practically the whole of Magaluf. We wanted to change that. Instead of punishing business owners, entrepreneurs and local residents, the aim is to target the individual who commits an offence. In practical terms, we have reduced the scope of application to just Punta Ballena Street, which is the real hotspot.
This law is backed by significant financial resources. It enables four destinations – Sant Antoni de Portmany in Ibiza, L’Arenal in Llucmajor, Playa de Palma in Palma and Magaluf in Calviá – to receive funding to strengthen security, improve communication and foster harmonious coexistence between tourists and residents.
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The aim was to bring the public space up to the same standard as the massive private investments made by groups such as Meliá, Fergus and Globales. These hotel operators have transformed their establishments, and the council had a duty to follow suit to ensure the destination remains consistent. We are currently completing the second phase of the seafront promenade, which will be inaugurated at the end of June and which, at the request of Meliá’s employees, is named after Gabriel Escarrer Juliá.
This new promenade is accompanied by the renaturalisation of the beaches, including the planting of palm trees. But we are also taking action at sea: we have installed smart buoys that measure the temperature, safety and cleanliness of the water. Furthermore, we have moved the buoys marking the boat access zone back to 200 metres from the shore to protect swimmers and the coastline. Finally, we have purchased two abandoned hotels, in Peguera and Magaluf, with a view to demolishing them.
We have a wastewater treatment plant in Santa Ponsa that collects a huge volume of water. Traditionally, this water was discharged directly back into the sea after treatment. Now, before discharging it, we recover a large proportion of it for use in watering our public gardens. We are now moving towards selling it to large private estates. Following a successful pilot scheme at the Mardavall Hotel in Son Caliu, we have just signed an agreement with the Hotel Del Mar in Illetas. We are currently investing €4 million in new pipework to extend this network.
Over three years, in Magaluf alone, we will have invested between 16 and 18 million euros. This breaks down as follows: around 8 million for the promenade, 3 million for the purchase and demolition of two abandoned hotels in Paguera and Magaluf, and 3 or 4 million for the acquisition of abandoned commercial premises, in addition to the budget for resurfacing the roads. These funds come from the town council, but also from the eco-tax and European Next Generation funds. As Magaluf is a ‘mature area’, we have privileged access to these projects.
Magaluf is no longer just a beach resort; it is a destination for culture and events. We now host major international events such as the Mallorca Live Festival, the Flem literature festival, and the Conecta audiovisual conference. We are also investing in our heritage by converting the Torre Nova, a 15th-century defence tower, into a public cultural and educational space. By offering gastronomy, sport and culture, we’re giving people reasons to visit in March or November. Our strategy is to grow in quality rather than quantity and to extend the season. This is paying off: the number of hotels open all year round has increased by 20%.
We use data to put this debate into perspective. Thanks to our ‘Smart Tourist Destination’ tools, we know that last summer, the average occupancy rate on our beaches was only 50%. Even a beach like Magaluf was actually only at half its capacity (3,000 people). There may be occasional overcrowding, such as on 15 August in Illetas, but our interactive signs—which we have installed throughout the municipality—now direct people towards less crowded areas for their comfort.
The problem stems largely from illegal holiday rentals, which have reduced the supply of housing for local people, particularly young people. It is they who, right now, cannot find a place to live and are forced to live with their parents or in shared accommodation. We are trying to reverse this trend to protect residents’ interests. Through the ‘Build to Rent’ programme, we are transferring public land to developers to build affordable housing (VPO), prioritising young people from Calviá and residents who work here.
In Calviá, 80% of the population lives and works thanks to tourism. People know that it is our economic lifeblood. There have been no major protests against tourism, as we have seen in Palma and Barcelona. My message is clear: there is a nightlife and we want there to be a nightlife. There must be room for everything. What is fundamental is that these different aspects coexist with mutual respect.
