Again great protest in Mallorca – Diepresse.com
Around 8,000 people called for a limitation of the number of visitors, a cruise moratorium and an end to tourist rental.
Thousands of people have again protested against mass tourism in Mallorca. According to police estimation, around 8,000 people moved from Plaça d’Espanya in the center of the island capital Palma to the promenade Passigig del Born. The final rally took place there. The demonstrators, including many pensioners and families with small children, chanted slogans like « Whoever loves Mallorca, does not destroy it! »
The roof initiative « Menys Turisme, Més Vida » (« Less tourism, more life »), which includes numerous organizations and groups, had called for the demonstration on the Spanish holiday island. The spokesman for the initiative, Jaume Pujol, told the regional newspaper « Diario de Mallorca »: « We have to set limits to tourism. » Among other things, a limitation of the number of visitors, a cruise moratorium and an end to tourist rental are requested.
The number of visitors grow incessantly
Almost a year after the great protest from July 2024, nothing happened, Pujol complained. The regional government was completely ignored. « The only thing she did was a few debates on the subject of sustainability that were a decline, » he criticized.
The number of tourists grows from year to year. It is expected that the Balearic Islands with Mallorca, Ibiza & Co. will crack the 20 million visitors for the first time this year. Around 19 million came in 2024, one million or five percent more than 2023.
Tourism fills cash registers
Mallorca, who has not even a million inhabitants, received 13.5 million tourists last year. 22.4 billion euros left tourists from the out and domestic 2024 on the islands – about twelve percent more than 2023. In Mallorca, tourism has a share of over 40 percent in total income. The industry is happy, but displeasure grows among the locals.
Protests against mass tourism also took place in other Spanish cities on Sunday, including in Barcelona. According to police estimation, however, only around 600 people took part. The demonstrators moved through the streets in the Catalan capital, among other things, with water pistols. (APA/dpa)
