The economy of the Balearic Islands has undergone strong growth in recent decades, although not without big contradictions generated by the maturing of what was a pioneering mass tourism economy. This paper reviews the most recent tourist booms in the Balearics, highlighting the crossroads that the islands’ economy has reached in economic and bio-physical terms. It emphasizes the model’s loss of productivity, the reduction in the earning capacity of businesses (in a process that might be qualified as one of falling profits) and the problems that strong negative environmental externalities and a workforce with a low level of training represent in the maintenance of this growth trend. Lastly, it proposes six basic plans of action in the field of economic policy, based on empirical studies.