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Thousands protest against mass tourism on Spanish island of Mallorca
- Tourism accounts for 45 per cent of Mallorca’s economic output but most locals are subject to poor pay and housing shortages
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Several thousand locals took to the streets in the Mallorcan capital of Palma on Sunday evening to protest against the millions of tourists that descend on the Spanish Mediterranean island every summer.
According to local observers, the turnout was slightly lower compared with the large demonstration held eight weeks ago, when organisers estimated around 25,000 participants.
During the protest organised by the “Less Tourism, More Life”, demonstrators held signs with messages such as “Your luxury, our misery” and “We don’t want to be the pioneers of rising housing costs”.
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The poster advertising the protest representing the island’s almost 1 million residents showed airliners, private jets, cruise ships and luxury yachts all circling the island like a swarm of flies.
“Let’s change course” was written in Catalan above the photomontage, and in smaller print “Set limits to tourism”.
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The Balearic Islands have a resident population of almost 1.2 million. Last year, 18 million holidaymakers visited, 4.6 million from Germany and 3.4 million from the Britain.
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