Hotels targeted in Majorca as anti-tourist protests hit airport

Anti-tourist activists launched an offensive on the Spanish island of Majorca this weekend, daubing hotels in the capital, Palma, with slogans such as “tourism kills the city”, and holding a protest at the island’s international airport.

Holidaymakers arriving at Palma Airport on Saturday were met by signs reading “a flight every minute is unsustainable”, “mass tourism = precarious work” and “tourism kills Mallorca”.

Tot Inclos, an activist group opposing over-tourism on the Balearic island, claimed responsibility for targeting the hotels in the Old Town, accusing the properties of being “directly responsible for the expulsion of ve?nades [neighbours]… and the destruction of the social fabric”. The group says it is planning a summer of action.

The mayor of Palma, Antoni Noguera, called the actions “reprehensible”, adding: “I don’t think anyone likes… to receive this welcome. I don’t think that the tourist has to be the object of criticism.”

A coalition of entrepreneurs and hoteliers on the island called on the Spanish minister of industry, commerce and tourism to do more to stop "tourismphobia", with Carmen Planas, president of the confederation of business associations of the Balearic islands asking for "more control and more police" to prevent further protests. 

Majorca is the latest part of Spain to be subject to anti-visitor sentiment as Spain’s attitude towards its bustling tourism industry undergoes a stress test. Ibiza has also hosted protests in recent weeks, while in Barcelona similar slogans have been daubed on walls. Last week a sightseeing bus in the Catalan city was stormed by protesters.

Majorca has introduced a tourist tax to mitigate the impact of the arrival of as many as 10,000 people at Palma airport a day in peak season, while in April a ban on short-term flat rentals in Palma was announced.

But protesters believe more needs to be done. Majorca has seen visitor numbers rise dramatically in recent years, in part thanks to instability issues at other popular holiday regions such as Turkey and Egypt. In 2010, six million holidaymakers travelled to Majorca, but that number rose to nine million last year, of which 2.23 million were British.  

During the protest at Palma airport, Ciutat - a group that campaigns for a city “for the person who lives in it” - handed out leaflets in Catalan, English and German denouncing the “human pressure” of tourism on the island, explaining that Majorca is suffering an “extreme environmental crisis” as well as “the commercialisation of the landscape, environment and heritage”.

Ciutat is asking for more residents - both in Majorca and elsewhere in Spain - to join its group. It said: “We want to create a network of mutual support between the different neighbourhoods and collectives and carry out actions that contribute to breaking the social peace around tourism to demonstrate its devastating effects on the territory and the social fabric, generating a community that can put a stop to it and reverse it the situation.”

A timeline of overtourism - key events

Beyond the pressure on Palma’s housing stock and issues of peak season over-crowding blamed on arrival of cruise ships at the city’s port (17,000 visitors a day can arrive in the summer), there are concerns that tourism is straining the island’s infrastructure, with four main roads becoming increasingly congested. The local government said last year it would double its tourist tax to €4 (￡3.50) per person per day, depending on the type of accommodation used, with the proceeds going to ecological projects.

The eco-tax added €30 million (￡2.65m) to the coffers of the local government in the last six months of 2016, with the money going “to support a sustainable model so that tourism to the islands benefits… local communities”.

Escaping overtourism: Unlikely wilderness close to Europe's most crowded cities

At the same time as the island wrestles with overtourism, Majorca’s party resort Magaluf is in the spotlight after a third British holidaymaker this year died after falling from a balcony.

The town has attempted in recent years to clean up its image, with millions of euros invested in attracting young couples and families.