Officials in Mallorca have called on demonstrators who are to protest against mass tourism in the island’s capital, Palma, this Sunday to show “respect” to holidaymakers, as there is concern that this Sunday’s new demonstration will be marked by displays of tourist fears.
Regional government leaders have made clear that there should be no repeat of the phenomenon in Barcelona, where protesters threw water at tourists with water cannons earlier this month.
Antoni Costa, a spokesman for the regional government, said “There is no fear because nothing like this has ever happened here and people have always been respectful. “But we saw a certain type of behaviour in Barcelona, which, as you can imagine, we didn’t like. We ask for the utmost respect for those who decided not to demonstrate and we urge those who do demonstrate to do so peacefully and not to harass other citizens and visitors.”
Spain’s tourism minister condemned protesters who sprayed tourists with water guns during a July 6 protest in Barcelona city centre. Jordi Hereu, former mayor of Barcelona, called these actions reprehensible.
He went on to say that they did not represent the country’s culture of hospitality, insisting: “I want to reaffirm the values of Spain’s hospitality and the Spanish tourism model and one of its characteristics, which is safety.”
Hoteliers in Spain have admitted that the anti-mass tourism protests that have taken place in many parts of Spain since April, when thousands of people took to the streets in the Canary Islands, will have given some holidaymakers the impression that they are not welcome.
Gabriel Escarrer, president of the non-profit group Exceltur, which is made up of the presidents of Spain’s top 30 tourism groups, said recently: “It’s the worst thing that could happen.”
For their part, the leaders of this Sunday’s protest in Palma are already predicting that it will be “historic”.
Yesterday, the UGT, CCOO and STEI unions, which had called on the general public to participate in Sunday’s demonstrations, called for an economic model that “does not create job insecurity”.
In a joint press conference, CCOO general secretary José García, UGT Baleares spokeswoman Xisca Garí and STEI general secretary Miquel Gelabert said that the overpopulation of tourists is “unsustainable” as it increases the workload of locals while not improving their quality of life.
Protests against mass tourism have swept through Spain in recent months.
On 6 July, under the slogan “Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism”, some 2,800 people – according to the police – marched along a seaside district in Barcelona to demand a new economic model that would reduce the millions of tourists who visit the city every year.
The rising cost of housing in Barcelona, which has increased by 68 percent in the last decade, is one of the main issues of the movement, along with the impact of tourism on local commerce and working conditions in the city of 1.6 million people.
Meanwhile, tourist saturation has become the biggest issue in Mallorca in recent months. The Balearic Islands received nearly 18 million tourists last year and this year summer bookings have increased by 15%.
In the Canary Islands, on the other hand, 50,000 people took to the streets of Tenerife in April to protest against tourism on the island.
Protesters were seen holding placards with the slogan “You enjoy, we suffer”, claiming that the huge influx of tourists to the island is causing major environmental damage, reducing wages and displacing locals from affordable housing, forcing dozens to live in tents and cars.
