PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (Reuters) – In the most recent protest against a vital business for the Iberian nation, thousands of anti-tourists demonstrated on Sunday in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Protesters carrying improvised aircraft and cruise ship models marched through the streets of Mallorca’s city, holding placards that said, “Stop private jets” and “No to mass tourism.”
This year, anti-tourism protestors have occurred in several cities, including Barcelona and well-known vacation spots like Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, and the Canary Islands. They claim that tourists raise housing costs, making it impossible for locals to pay to live in urban areas.
The Mallorca event on Sunday drew some 10,000 demonstrators, according to the police.
While some tourists seemed uneasy, others appeared to favour the march.
Protesters wanted fewer tourists on the island, according to Pere Joan Femenia of Menys Turisme, Mas Vida (Less Tourism, More Life), the organization that organized Sunday’s demonstration in Mallorca.
Due to the rising cost of tourist apartments, locals are finding it more difficult to live on their island as a result of mass tourism. In the summer, tourists swarm beaches and burden public services,” he remarked.
“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 speculation.”
With 14.4 million visitors last year, the Balearic Islands ranked second in popularity among Spanish tourist destinations after Catalonia, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute.
According to estimates from industry organization Exceltur, the Balearic Islands’ gross domestic product is 45% generated by tourism.
16.1 million tourists visited Spain in the first quarter of this year, up 18% over the same period the previous year.
In contrast to 63.5 billion euros in France, tourists spent 109 billion euros ($118.56 billion) in Spain last year.
One dollar is equivalent to 0.9194 euros.
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