Residents in Palma de Mallorca in Spain took to the streets on Sunday to protest against mass tourism. There were several placards asking tourists to ‘go back home’, some read ‘Your luxury, our misery‘ and another one with ‘Mallorca is not a theme park’.
They’ve had enough of tourists and they are getting louder about it. The residents of picturesque villages, sandy beaches and clear waters are fed up that their cities are getting unaffordable to live in. And they are accusing tourism of putting their own city centres out of the reach of its original inhabitants.
Alvaro Sanchez told Reuters, “We are not against the tourists as such, we are against the touristic model. We are suffering the consequences of this model because we cannot afford living here. That’s because tourists with a higher standard of living come here and they are pushing up the cost of everything here.”
The protesters have models of private jets and cruise ships and strong words on mass tourism. President of Association of Palmas de Mallorca, Biel Gonzales said, “When tourism began to increase greatly, it began to directly affect the neighbourhoods. And a total gentrification has been created in this city. People can no longer live in the city. There are no flats because they are dedicated to tourist rentals, both legal and illegal.”
These protests are not new, nor are they limited to just one part of the nation. Similar protests have taken place in other cities like Barcelona, Malaga, Alicante over the last few weeks.
Earlier this month, protesters sprayed tourists with water guns in Barcelona to show their anger. In Alicante, where residents protested on July 13, Maria Cueva explained why she had joined the protest.
“The rent has gone up, there are no houses that we can access, and we are serving beers to tourists, so we want to put a limit on this mass tourism. We want another model of tourism that is not based on the exploitation of people or the exploitation of resources,” she said.
Residents are angry that tourism is driving up the cost of housing in their cities, making it unaffordable and out of reach for the locals.
The anger is real. Last year, close to 26 million tourists visited Barcelona. The city’s mayor announced last month that by 2028 the city will bar apartmental rentals to tourists.
In Mallorca, tourism accounts for 45% of the Balearic Islands’ GDP, according to Exceltur, an industry organization.
In the first quarter of this year, 16.1 million people visited Spain, marking an 18% increase from the same period last year. Last year, visitors spent 109 billion euros in Spain, compared to 63.5 billion euros in France.
