Nearly 400,000 vehicles arrived via the island’s ports in 2023 – 108 per cent more than in 2017. Credit: Denis Doronin/Shutterstock
Foreign homeowners in Mallorca will only be allowed one private vehicle on the island, and if they wish to have a second, they will be required to pay an entry fee that will vary depending on the length of their stay.
The measure aims to ease congestion on the island’s roads, which become saturated every summer with the arrival of thousands of hire cars – estimated to be between 90,000 and 100,000 – to meet tourist demand. Added to these are the cars owned by foreign residents and those brought by tourists arriving in Mallorca for their holidays in their own vehicles. Under the new rules, all of these vehicles would be subject to the entry charge, and access to the island would be denied once the daily quota is reached.
Llorenç Galmés, president of the Consell de Mallorca, has announced that a draft bill to regulate vehicle access to the island will be presented in the coming days. It will be made public on 13 June to the Consell groups and later submitted to the Mobility Commission. Speaking during the second general policy debate of the current legislative session, Galmés said the regulation seeks to limit the number of vehicles entering the island without contributing to tax revenue in the Balearics. It also proposes a cap on the number of hire cars circulating in Mallorca. The regional parliament is expected to vote on the legislation in the coming months.
Who is exempt?
With close to a million vehicles on roads that are already overwhelmed. Galmés stressed that this would be the first time such a measure is introduced in Mallorca to tackle the island’s chronic road congestion, following similar initiatives in Ibiza and Formentera. He added that the island’s first ever vehicle capacity study was commissioned last year, revealing that nearly 400,000 vehicles arrived via the island’s ports in 2023 – 108 per cent more than in 2017.
“Far from being imposed unilaterally, we’ve already held discussions with key stakeholders and secured the support of transport operators and the majority of car hire associations. These are decisive and far-reaching measures that we aim to pass through dialogue and broad consensus,” the politician stated.
According to Galmés, the process will work as follows: the Consell will set an annual or biennial cap on the number of vehicles allowed onto the island, with priority given to electric and non-polluting cars.
Exemptions from the restrictions will include vehicles owned by residents, those used by people with reduced mobility, emergency and law enforcement vehicles, and vehicles used for goods transport and commercial distribution. In addition, non-residents who own property on the island will be allowed one vehicle per property, provided it is registered to that address for tax purposes.
Stay tuned with Euro Weekly News for the latest news about Europe and Mallorca.
