RickYou know I think your right. As a 40 years of 25 days split , a couple of time a year visitor to the island I breeze through the airport to a car and arrive on the west coast. Comment on the ever increasing traffic and new roads . Have a good time pack and return. Talking to the locals and they said 20 years ago how expensive the island is , 10 to 20 % was the figure then. Now I have no idea how the young’uns can afford a home on typical wages . As working conditions certainly hasn’t changed that much . Disconnect and discontent build up over time and people lash out for change and protest against a target. In the U.K. it was Brexit. In tourism hotspots it’s tourism. The political classes need to listen, much criticism of people who’s community was changed in the U.K. saying they were parochial and lacked tolerance because they valued family, place and community . I see similarities here .

Chris GPrivate lets are very strictly regulated here. In fact, you can no longer get a licence to operate one. There's some operating illegally, but the estimated numbers of those varies from a few hundred to a few hundred thousand, depending on the political bent of the person offering their opinion. And enforcement is apparently dysfunctional for some reason... In other words, nobody really knows how many are operating illegally (and Airbnb isn't the only platform), but it simply cannot be in the hundreds of thousands that some politicians or media claim, and overall, it's still a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the number of hotel rooms. And in the case of fincas and villas, they attract a more desirable type of tourist anyway. So, if you want to control the pigeon population, trapping frogs isn't going to help much. Maybe more effective to aim first before pulling the trigger?

Chris GBeg to differ, a lot of them actually are. Jumping on the bandwagon and protest because others do and generally things aren’t great in their lives. Tourists visiting are symptoms of the system and infrastructure their own precious local neighbors and municipalities and politicians have created over decades. Barking up the wrong trees I say.

I am very sympathetic to the plight of the locals who are priced out of housing, but this is not only a problem in tourist areas, there is the same issue throughout the UK. As for locals and access to the beaches, I grew up in Torquay in Devon, we didn’t go to the beach during summer, or if we did, we went to the less well known beaches away from the crowds of ‘grockles’. You can’t have the penny and the bun! Either you want the 45% of GDP mass tourism brings or you don’t although proliferation of unregulated accommodation should be curtailed.

Chris GOk you're entitled to your opinion, but it still has nothing to do with overcrowding, and in fact, is precisely the type of tourist that everybody wants, as opposed to the mass tourism of the hotels.

Morgan WilliamsAirbnb may indeed not be the biggest driver to the issues, but it must surely contribute to the overall problem of excessive numbers of tourists in every corner of this island. There are strict rules about all tourist beds on the island, but somehow Airbnb think they are above the law. Nobody wants apartments in their building to become Airbnb lets, with people dragging suitcases up and down the stairs constantly at all hours of day and night. Airbnb should be regulated just as strictly as all other tourist beds. Without strict regulation of all tourist beds the government has zero control over the number of tourists.

John PittsMaybe. But it is about 20 people protesting about overcrowding on an otherwise empty beach. The optics don't really support the narrative. As I've said all along, it's a noisy minority. Noise often is the catalyst for widespread adoption of a cause. But that doesn't make it real. It's just noise. Still, many people will buy it, even if there's little or no evidence to support it, or if the issue is far more complex than stated. Especially If you're British, you should know this consequence by now.

Duncan WattsYou or they may not be aware of it, but Airbnb isn't even remotely the cause of any perceived or actual over-tourism in Mallorca. To do this would be tantamount to banning restaurants because tourists go there. Yeah, ok, let's force rents to be so cheap that anybody anywhere will be clamouring to get one, and owners will take them off the market because It's better to keep them empty. Do these people even think about anything? This is getting absurd.

Morgan Williamsin fairness, aside from the headline, that’s a very informative and well balanced article. MB take note?!

Easy: 1. The the cruise ships visiting, 2. Control the amount of landing slots at the airport. 3. Instead of lying on the beach, why don't they themselves check the records to see who owns more than one apartment. Then click onto Airbnb to see if they are visible with no licence, then snitch on them to the council or set up a Blacklist on FB so that the council can take action.