In the spring the forum presented its vision of the future of tourism in Mallorca. This more or less coincided with the Balearic Government's announcement of its social and political pact for sustainability . Both developments were at a time in early spring when scenes of road congestion appeared to mark a genuine shift in attitude on behalf of the Partido Popular, the party of the government and of the Council of Mallorca.
For the first time, the PP began to admit the potential need for tourism limits. The pact was to offer "spaces for dialogue". The forum, via its component elements, became involved in what promised to be a process for reaching consensus as to the way forward in tackling the negative consequences of overtourism .
On Monday (November 25) the forum will decide whether or not to continue being part of the pact. "It's very difficult to reach a consensus, which is what was theoretically intended," says Jaume Garau. "The number of people and issues to be discussed and the little time we have makes it really cumbersome and very unproductive.
There's very little debate . We all say the same things we're used to saying all the time. There's no creativity.
" It's all supposed to be supervised by a committee of experts . This either doesn't exist or is being kept secret. Emails are being sent but you don't know what people are saying or what proposals are being made in order to be able to debate them.
There are too many groups and issues that make it a very cumbersome.
