British holidaymakers heading to Mallorca this summer could be hit by even more anti-tourist protests as a campaign group has threatened to unleash even more chaos.
Popular Spanish holiday destinations were rocked by protests last summer, as tens of thousands of fed up locals filled the streets to protests mass tourism and its effect on local resources.
Anti-tourism campaigners have long been contesting the current tourism model, claiming that many locals have been priced out by holidaymakers, expats and foreign buyers.
With summer holidays looming, the Mallorcan anti-tourism campaign group Banc del Temps Sencells posted a video on Monday hinting that there will be more action taken.
In the clip, locals can be seen marching through Mallorca’s streets holding ‘For Sale’ signs, as they vent about how they are being priced out by tourists.
‘Almost a year ago we were shouting loudly,’ they said in the video. ‘But this has done nothing.
‘Thousands of people in the streets, demanding the right to live in Majorca without having to be rich.
‘And now? We are even worse off. Rents are skyrocketing, people are being expelled, desperation is growing.
British holidaymakers heading to Spain this summer could be hit by even more anti-tourist protests as a campaign group has threatened to unleash even more chaos
Popular Spanish holiday destinations were rocked by protests last summer
People attend an anti tourism protest under the motto ‘Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism’ organized by different civil society groups in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, 06 July 2024
One mother says in the clip: ‘In my son’s class, three families have already moved to the mainland.’
Another local says: ‘The only thing I can do is watch and wait. Wait until it gets me too.’
At the end of the video, the campaigners are heard saying: ‘come back and say enough’ – a possible indication that Spain’s tourist hotspots will be plagued by even more protests.
The video comes as a separate anti-tourism group, Menys Turisms, Mes Vida (which translates to less tourism, more life), has called a meeting next month to ‘generate new and stronger forms of advocacy, agitation and mobilization for the decrease in tourism.’
The movement previously said it was considering intensifying its actions ‘after seeing the Balearic government’s new tourist campaign, the announcements of billion-dollar investments, the boom in property speculation and luxury tourism while the housing problem worsens’.
The group also condemned the failure of previous measures to create sustainable tourism, which they said did little to stem the flow of foreign holidaymakers.
Last year, Spain saw a record-breaking number of tourists, with over 15 million visitors flocking to the island of Mallorca alone.
In response, protestors took to the streets across Spain, leaving countless visitors fuming after paying hundreds of pounds to enjoy their holidays abroad.
Actions included marches on the street with protesters chanting ‘tourists go home’, as well as demonstrations on beaches which saw locals boo and jeer at sun-soaked tourists.
Anti-tourism campaign group Banc del Temps Sencells posted a video on Monday hinting that there will be more action taken
In the clip, locals can be seen marching through Mallorca’s streets holding ‘For Sale’ signs
People take part in a protest against mass tourism and gentrification in the island ahead of summer season in Palma de Mallorca last year
Last year, Spain saw a record-breaking number of tourists, with over 15 million visitors flocking to the island of Mallorca alone
Anti-holidaymaker protests escalate in sinister turn as ‘kill a tourist’ graffiti appears on wall in Mallorca
An anti-tourism protester holds a sign showing a picture of England footballer Kyle Walker with the words ‘the only thing coming home is you’ at a demonstration last summer
In one particular instance, up to 50,000 locals descended onto the streets of the Mallorca capital Palma.
Meanwhile in Barcelona, some 2,800 people marched along a waterfront district of Barcelona to demand a new economic model that would reduce the millions of tourists that visit every year.
Protesters carried signs reading ‘Barcelona is not for sale,’ and, ‘Tourists go home,’ before some used water guns on tourists eating outdoors at restaurants in popular tourist hotspots.
Chants of ‘Tourists out of our neighbourhood’ rang out as some stopped in front of the entrances to hotels.
In the Canary Islands, 50,000 people took to the streets of Tenerife in April to protest against tourism on the island.
Demonstrators were seeing brandishing ‘you enjoy, we suffer’ placards, claiming that the huge influx of tourists to the island is causing major environmental damage, driving down wages and squeezing locals out of cheap affordable housing, forcing dozens to live in tents and cars instead.
Demonstrators hold a sign which reads ‘tourism yes, but not like that’ during the march in Palma
A demonstrator holds a sign which reads ‘it’s not tourismphobia, it’s Mallorcan’ during protest
An anti-tourism placard is seen during an anti-tourism demonstration in Barcelona last year
A more recent protest erupted in October after hundreds of demonstrators stormed Tenerife’s Troya beach, where sun-seeking holidaymakers were stunned to be disrupted by a placard-waving mob yelling slogans such as ‘More tourists, more misery’ and ‘the Canary Islands are not for sale’.
Protesters descended on the beach, one of the most popular in Las Americas (Tenerife), with many beating on drums and blowing whistles as they walked along the shoreline.
Astonishing footage of the incident showed holidaymakers being surrounded and penned in by Spanish locals while they were sunbathing in swim shorts and bikinis.
Source link
