Thousands of people protested in Palma de Mallorca against excessive tourism in the Balearic Islands. Behind a banner reading “Mallorca is not for sale,” demonstrators marched through the center of Palma on Saturday.
The organizers of the protest point in particular to the increase in housing costs on the Mediterranean island with fewer than a million inhabitants, which has been caused by mass tourism.
According to official statistics, Spain received 85 million foreign visitors last year. Of those 85 million, 14.4 million landed in the Balearic Islands, the region of Spain with the second highest number of tourists. The archipelago is particularly popular with German, British and Dutch tourists. The demonstration took place two days after the collapse of a beach bar on the seafront promenade in Palma de Mallorca, in which two young German tourists, a Senegalese man and a Spanish employee were killed.
From the Balearic Islands to the Canary Islands to Barcelona and Málaga, there are more and more movements in Spain that are directed against overtourism. Complaints raised by residents include the tight real estate market, the increase in tourist rentals that has forced many residents to flee city centers, and noise and environmental pollution.
