Image of traffic in Palma, well before the tourist season started this year.

Image of traffic in Palma, well before the tourist season started this year. | M.A. CAÑELLAS

Jason MoorePalma07/06/2024 10:47
TW
2

I am becoming increasingly angry at the anti-tourism sentiment in Mallorca. Thankfully, it is only a small minority but I feel that I should point out some home truths which are sadly missing from the debate.

The reason why the roads are gridlocked is because there are too many vehicles on the road. Granted that this problem is not helped by hire cars but the fact that the roads are jammed at peak times in January and February clearly underlines the fact that this is a home-grown problem. My advice: build more roads or tackle the four-car families.

The lack of housing has nothing to do with tourists. In fact, all the money which this island has made from tourism should have been spent on cheap, affordable housing. It wasn’t, hence why we have a lack of cheap property.

Too many cruise ships? Well, the Palma business community wants more because it helps fill the tills to tide them over the long winter period when there are no tourists.

Beaches are crowded? Yes, with tourists and local residents because the local population has increased dramatically over the last decade.

Solution: more use of public transport, spend the tourism cash on affordable housing and welcome all tourists with open arms because without them there is no cash. It is not the tourists who should be blamed but the politicians who have allowed home-grown problems to get out of hand.