The Daily Telegraph has ranked Mallorca as “the most unwelcoming location in Europe for British tourists” which is not going to go down well with the Mallorcan tourist industry, not to mention the authorities as they embark on their ambitious attempt to combat mass tourism next summer.
The paper details all of the anti-mass tourism protests held this summer and also draws attention to the fact that people on the demonstrations were brandishing placards stating “tourists go home". The trouble with the protests is that while they have been aimed at the tourism model and policies of the Balearic government, not, in general at tourists, this is not how the demonstrations have been seen by the international media.
In early August, TUI warned that the Mallorca tourism protests should be taken seriously. In an interview with the German paper Bild am Sonntag, the CEO of TUI, Sebastian Ebel, said he could understand protests against mass tourism in Mallorca. Ebel stressed that the protests should be taken seriously, "because we would feel the same way". He observed that the protests are against "excessive" issues such as the increase in rents, the increase in housing prices and the volume of traffic.
But on the topic of traffic, on Wednesday morning it took an hour to drive from the airport to the centre of Palma and the vast majority of vehicles were not hire cars, it was gridlock all the way and this happens every morning and evening during the rush hours. Ebel added: "It is important to analyse what motivates people, how much tourism they want and how much they don't. Ultimately, it is the people who live there who should decide how much tourism they want." (He made much the same point as this at the start of March this year before the protests.)
So apart from tackling mass tourism, the Balearic government is going to have to also mount a damage limitation operation over the winter to smooth over the cracks opened up by the anti-tourism movement. And it is not just Mallorca, this summer Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera coordinated inter-island protests under the slogan ‘Let’s change course, let’s set limits to tourism’, to jointly confront the social, labour and ecological aspects of “devouring” tourism development, according to the environmental group GOB.
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tranq tranquerCharles and TC are just victims of tabloid sensationalism. Charles thinks there's been "huge damage" (British resorts experiencing a slight downturn?) and TC thinks it's all about xenophobia (anti-British?). Both of those things have been broadly implied by English tabloids, including this one. But there's precious little evidence of either.
Charles and TC want to shoot the messenger. That policy generally does not work well. We are over crowded, as well as being over krauted. There has to be a curtailing of the more more more syndrome which has driven the tourism business since it started. Local Government is critical in this process and needs to be guided or driven by the voters who live here.
As others already commented, the tabloid revelations are blown out of proportions. I was not happy seeing a placard in Alcudia claiming that I am a plague, and "KIll a T/Pourist" graffiti was way too far, BUT... I am yet to experience the negative attitude myself. So far, over all the years, including 2024, that our family visited Mallorca, local people were very friendly to us, neutral at the worst :) I generally go with a general rule of keeping in mind that I am a guest here and I should behave as one with all respect for the local people and their culture. This makes my local experience superior. Still , we decided, that we will look for another destination next year. I know it is nothing, but still - we want to contribute to giving some breathing air to Mallorca people.
The telegraph was at one time, a respectable newspaper. But since about 2016, it's become more and more just another red top like the sun, mail and express. Those 3 tabloids are after all, the most consumed print media in England, my guess is that the Telegraph probably needed to increasingly resort to fury and outrage sensationalism to compete. Having said that, all of the English tabloids have continuously demonised Mallorca over this - along with a few other things - like drinking restrictions in Magaluf, tourist tax, ETIAS, all hugely exaggerated, with precious little substance. I've read that some Brits aren't coming anymore because of this tabloid scaremongering, but that doesn't account for much. And here we are, tourism is still at an all-time high, the winter is set to break another record, and bookings are already coming in for summer next year (normally that doesn't start until around November). So I'm not sure what "huge damage" there is from the English tabloid sensation of the day. At least I'm not sure what evidence you could submit in any lawsuit.
To describe the Telegraph as a top UK Newspaper is a bit of a stretch
The Government should consider suing all the protestors for the multi-millions loss of tourism income and the huge damage to the Mallorca brand and image. The "Kill a Tourist" graffiti has gone viral worldwide and the authors should be made to pay. If you disparage a commercial enterprise this is how the brand owners would react. Why not punish the protestors in the same way? The Government now has to somehow make up the income loss to their budgets so the locals just shot themselves in the foot because infrastructure projects that they have been demanding like new car parks, more buses, remade roads, etc will have to be cancelled. Dumb and dumber.
At Sporting events, racism/ xenophobia is rightly dealt with by a fine and a stadium ban. Should the protesters be charged under the same rules and fined ? Hard on protesters i know, but this is an example of damage caused without any real substance.