The May protest was as much to do with housing as it was tourism. | Pere Bota
Palma06/07/2024 13:44
The first major protest against tourist overcrowding and housing problems in Mallorca this year was on May 25. Organised by the Sencelles Banc del Temps collective, around 10,000 people took part in the protest in Palma. Prior to that demonstration, the collective had released a video which highlighted the increase in holiday rental properties in Sencelles and the feeling that residents were being driven out by a process of gentrification not solely due to tourism.
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These protests are happening across southern Spain. Barcelona hit yesterday with water pistol shooting protestors targeting diners on restaurant terraces in the centre. Not dangerous but unpleasant to be soaked and jeered at while trying to enjoy lunch. This is going to have an effect. No one will travel to a place where they are made to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. Palma and Mallorca as a whole could go from hero to zero rapidly. This is not the way to do it. The problem of overcrowding has been identified and acknowledged but locals need to let the tourism specialists enact their plans for attracting less chavvies and more high-enders. That's the way to go.
Hope they’ve checked to see how many cruise ships are in port on that day ;)