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If you've been to Mallorca, Ibiza or Menorca lately and noticed just how many British accents are around, the numbers back up what your ears are telling you. British tourism to the Balearic Islands has finally recovered to its pre-pandemic peak and gone beyond it, hitting a milestone that four previous years of recovery had just fallen short of.

 

In the first six months of 2026, 1,523,092 British tourists visited the islands, surpassing the January to June 2019 total of 1,454,742 for the first time since Covid disrupted everything. The road back has been gradual: 1,285,930 in 2022, rising to 1,432,206 in 2023, then 1,447,326 in 2024, before dipping slightly to 1,413,300 in the first half of 2025. This year's figure is the biggest jump yet.

 

Projections suggest British visitors to the Balearics will exceed the 3.57 million recorded across the whole of 2025, when the UK accounted for 18.7% of all tourists to the islands. That makes Britain the second largest foreign market, behind Germany's 26% share, and well ahead of France with 1.29 million last year. Together, the UK and Germany supply around 45% of all tourists in the Balearics, which gives a sense of just how dominant those two markets are.

 

There's an interesting historical footnote here too. In the early decades of the Balearics' tourism boom, Britain was actually the largest market. Germany only overtook it in the 1980s, and the two have been the twin pillars of island tourism ever since.

 

The broader national picture is equally striking. Official June 2026 figures show around 2.2 million British tourists came to Spain during that month alone, compared to around one million Germans in second place, with British tourism up almost 7% year on year. Germany, by contrast, saw a 5.9% decline in June, which is causing concern particularly in Mallorca, where the German market is especially important. American tourism meanwhile jumped 12% in June nationally, partly driven by new routes including a direct Mallorca to New York connection.

 

The Balearics accounted for around 25% of all foreign visitors to Spain in June. Andalucía saw a strong increase, while the Canary Islands recorded a 4.5% decline.

 

 

Image: AI generated