Economy

SAN LUIS

The economy of San Luis

The emergence of tourism in Menorca, starting in the 20th century, led to a profound social and economic transformation, both at the island and local level. San Luis has gone from being an eminently agricultural town to a tourist municipality, with numerous urbanizations having sprung up around beaches and coves. Tourism has given a great boost to the municipal economy with the consolidation of a parallel and related activity, mainly linked to construction and other auxiliary trades, with an extensive tradition in the municipality. Punta Prima, Alcaufar, s'Algar, and Binibeca are important tourist centers in the municipality, which every year constitute the main destination for thousands of visitors of the most varied origins, although the British market maintains supremacy in quantitative terms. The diversification of the tourist offer, based from its inception on the sun-beach binomial, is one of the objectives that have been pursued for some years, to improve the range of possibilities of the municipality's main source of wealth. Cultural tourism is the exponent of this new conception, and the Town Hall's efforts point to this approach, with the recovery of the ethnological and cultural heritage. At the beginning of the century, agriculture suffered significant cuts due to the destruction of the vineyards by "phylloxera"; the wine produced in San Luis was highly appreciated, as was the creation of new footwear and silver purse industries in the area of Mahón. The progressive decline of traditional agriculture, the main economic activity until the appearance of tourism, has forced the search for new alternatives for agricultural holdings to make the countryside profitable. In this sense, horticulture has experienced a significant boom in recent years, with the introduction of modern techniques that have allowed for the improvement of production. Livestock farming is oriented towards dairy production and the preparation of the renowned Menorcan cheese.