"This Saturday, 1st June, we will meet to organise the big move for Sunday 16th June. You are welcome to contribute your ideas!", they explained in a tweet under the hashtag #OcupemLesNostresPlatges (Let's Occupy our beaches).
The movement has organised the protest in response to statements by hard right party Vox spokeswoman Manuela Cañadas, who said that Mallorcans "cannot expect to go to the beach in July and August like they did years ago". "The problem with giving tourism-phobic messages is that there are other destinations that are more attractive and we can end up starving because there is a lack of work here," she added.
Mallorca Platja Tour has responded by stating on social media; "VOX says that we cannot go to the beach so we are going to fill them" and "we call on all residents near beaches to make a stand, recover our beaches and enjoy them as we did before. Prepare the trampó, pineapple and apricots to spend the day", were some of the messages of this account, which has 500 followers on X (Twitter).
Last Saturday's 10,000 strong protest through the centre of Palma made global headlines, especially in Mallorca's key source markets such as the United Kingdom and Germany and unfortunately the message which has been broadcast is that the island does not want tourists.
The complex politics behind the demonstration, such as lack of affordable housing, high cost of living, traffic congestion, impact on the environment and natural resources have been largely ignored and the headlines could harm this year's tourist season if the protests continue.
27 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
I understand the frustration of locals regarding the tourism sector and unruly visitors to a point but they need to be very careful not to upset the hand that feeds them. I have been coming to Mallorca with my family and have spent many thousands of pounds for over 50 years and stayed in different areas across all the seasons, but this year due to the negative anti tourist views aired by residents I decided to go to Turkey where they are actively trying to persuade us to go and we were welcomed with open arms, I have to say the accommodation, food and value for money was fantastic, everything was better value, I really hate to say it but Mallorca is well down on my list for the next holiday. I hope things work out for Mallorcan people but unless attitude changes I fear the worst. If we are not welcome we will go elsewhere.
Charles Dalrymple-ChumleyI think the main clean clickbait is happening in British media. Today there's a piece in Bild (a German tabloid) but it's not nearly as sensational or misleading as the mirror, sun, express, mail, etc. Besides, the Germans have quietly dominated this island for decades, and I doubt many fear getting booted anytime soon. And aside from the pockets of young German party animals in Arenal, by far the largest number of Germans spend their Mallorca holidays everywhere else on the island, and completely dominate the finca/villa market and spend lots of cash (along with the Swiss and Scandinavians). Brits stay pretty much in the British enclaves. You'll find the other 80% everywhere else. But then there's the rest of Europe, which accounts for even larger piece than the Germans. The Americans - US, Canadians, et al, are also getting all randy about Mallorca too. They too are pretty big spenders too, uncomplicated, easy going, and unproblematic. This is the tourist profile that everybody wants. Even if it means fewer tourists overall. So if British media scares off some Brits, then ok, there's plenty of others...
None of what is happening will get the result that people want. All that will happen is the tourist's will leave and none of us will have jobs anymore! Life is already hard enough to pay the rent and bills and buy food with jobs what will happen to everyone when there are no tourist's and no jobs. If the government won't actually do tier job and actually stop people from renting illegal to tourist's or charging exorbitant rent to locals nothing will get fixed. I've lived here for 20 years and all of that time i have worked with the tourist's making my living from the money they Bring to this island and now with all or the protests that is going away. There have been all or the hotels here and full every year since the 80's and only now there is overcrowding so yeah people are angry at the illegal and legal private holiday let's that don't let normalworking people live in an actual house that is suitable for their family at a price that is not ridiculous
FFBye!
Came to Mallorca this week and stayed in Alcúdia for a few days. I was using the public bus service to travel around, which was generally a pleasant experience but I witnessed a couple of nasty incidents. Firstly, Brits pushing and mouthing off at each other to board the bus to Can Picafort - trashy, impatient and entitled behaviour. Worse, though, on an already packed bus due to head to Palma, older local residents had to beg the driver to get on a bus to attend hospital appointments. It got quite heated. The bus was filled with tourists heading to the capital and there were no seats or standing space left. Of course, for safety reasons, the driver should not overload the bus or have people sitting on the boarding steps (as they were), but if the island population cannot reach hosital appointmetns, this needs to be addressed. Worse still, many of the sat adult tourist holidaymakers didn't bother to offer their seats – just carried on reading their Guide to Palma books. The world we live in!
Mallorca is now on the radar of the European media, for the wrong reasons. The anti-tourism protests have caught their attention and they're looking for other stories. Lead story in the Mail On Line is 'Brits in Mallorca punch-up' which is about eight British tourists involved in a violent brawl on a beach yesterday and who have arrived in court today to face justice after three people were said to have been left with injuries from stag do' clashes. If you were marketing manager for brand Mallorca you'd be tearing your hair out. The Council needs to release, and quickly, some good news stories to counter this negative media offensive as well as warning the protestors that enough is enough and they have to stop now otherwise brand Mallorca as a destination will be in serious trouble.
It is turning into a war of words I suspect. Interesting that the TUI CEO was firmly blaming ‘AirBnB’ and similar platforms for ‘over tourism’. Seriously, the CEO of pack-um and stack-um multi million pound business, who bring millions of tourists to Mallorca, blaming locals and villa owners (many of whom live on the island) for the swaths of tourists. Not the giant, multi thousand occupancy hotels - many all inclusive. Not the mega giant cruise ships. TUI must think Mallorcans and islanders are stupid. What an annoying man :(
Why do you have a Holiday section on this site selling and advertising for tourism?
I would think the answer is to control your tourism and not discourage it completely. All you are doing is promoting potential violence. It's also a bit hypocritical because you also go on vacations. Meanwhile your local shops are earning their living. I bet none of your local shop owners are picketing!
Lisa JuliaAlso Lisa. The British Tourist works towards their Annual Holiday every year. The world is their choice of holiday. The damage that the UK Press are now inflicting on Holiday choices. Will be a major cause of economic decline in Mallorca. Plus the MDB have to report these matters. Good or bad.