Social and economic development processes and mass tourism cause changes in the land cover and land use. Segments of the population migrate from economically disadvantaged rural regions into urban tourist centres. This leads to the abandonment of cultivated areas and an increasing sealing through the expansion of settlement and tourist infrastructure. Consequences are the urban sprawl on the landscape, a fragmentation of ecosystems, and a loss of biodiversity.

So: it's tourism! But why here? Why are over 5 million tourists arriving every year (2006: 5,5 Mio.) on this Spanish island?