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Travel bosses in Spain have issued a warning after a "disastrous" start to the year.

The Balearic Islands, including the popular holiday hotspots of Majorca, Ibiza, and Menorca, have seen a drop in the number of restaurant customers in 2025. The data from Delectatech linked the drop in customers to price increases, with a consistent pattern throughout 2025. While areas such as the Basque Country and Catalonia saw drops of just 1%, the Balearic Islands were affected the most with a 3% decrease in customers in 2025. The figures may sound small, but they are significant given the narrow margins of the trade.

According to Majorca Daily News, the drops are being blamed on price increases on the islands, as it was pointed out that mainland areas where eating out is cheapest, such as Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura, had seen the largest increases in customers. The report concludes: "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."

There's also pessimism in the hospitality industry over the numbers for 2026. Juanmi Ferrer, president of the CAEB Restaurants Association, who represents restaurantson the islands, said that the year started with a "disastrous January" and will be "like last year, or at most a little worse".

Juanmi added: "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 lack of customers has also led the Balearic government to consider a restaurant discount scheme, similar to one it recently rolled out to help small shops. The retail scheme offers all residents over 16 four vouchers of €15 each, which could be used on purchases of €30 and over, in an attempt to get people shoppinglocally.

Last summer, there were claims that some Majorca resorts were "completely dead", with Miguel Pérez‑Marsá, head of the nightlife association, saying: "The tourists we're interested in are being driven away; they don't feel welcome and are going to other destinations." His statement came amid a summer of over-tourism protests across mainland Spain and the Canary and Balearic Islands. Protests in Majorca saw around 5,000 residents take to the streets in June 2025 to urge the government to tackle overtourism.

Speaking at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London last year, Ibiza's Minister of Tourism, Jaume Bauza confirmed that the number of visitors was down, with 20,000 fewer Brits visiting the party island during peak season in 2025 compared to the year before. Some tourism chiefs have speculated that this could be due to holidaymakers shifting their dates to October and November to take advantage of lower prices.

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Ibiza's local population has also criticised the rise of luxury tourismon the island, which has driven up costs and even forced workers to live in temporary camps. Sofìa Ribas, founder of (Ma) Learning Lab for Sustainable Transformation, previously told the Mirror: "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."

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