Some 10,000 people took to the streets of Mallorca in the latest protest against mass tourism there.
Locals carried banners that read: “Your paradise, our nightmare” and “Tourism yes – but not this much” as they marched in Palma de Mallorca on Sunday.
An anti-tourism movement has swept the Canary and Balearic Islands – as well as Barcelona – in recent months, with locals claiming housing is in short supply and prices are being pushed up due to the sheer number of visitors.
Mallorca receives around 14 million foreign visitors a year.
There are fewer than a million full-time residents on the island.
Tourism generates roughly 45% of the Spanish island’s GDP, but locals are calling for limits to be imposed.
Pic: Reuters
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Pere Joan Femenia, of Menys Turisme, Mas Vida (Less Tourism, More Life), which organised Sunday’s protest said: “Mass tourism is making it difficult for local people who cannot afford to live on their own island because tourist flats push up prices.
“Tourists fill up beaches and put a strain on public services in the summer.
A banner reads: ‘Let’s change course, let’s put limits on tourism’. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
“We want to cut mass tourism and to ban non-residents from buying houses which are just used for a few months a year or for speculation.”
Similar rallies took place in Mallorca and Menorca in June – and in April.
In Ibiza and Majorca, fines have been introduced for people caught drinking in the street as a way to disincentivize people from visiting.