People in Majorca have called on the government to introduce ‘immediate measures’ to tackle its housing emergency and overcrowding from tourists
A normally busy Spanish hotspot which is a favourite among tourists was said to be ‘half empty’ sparking fears for bar and restaurant owners.
Magaluf is usually busy with holiday-makers at the beginning of June. But images taken at the end of May showed rows of sunbeds with no one occupying them on its beaches.
Bar operators in the Majorcan town also reported rows of empty tables outside its normally busy night spots. BirminghamLive reports people have recently marched through Palma, the capital of the island, calling for the government to introduce ‘immediate measures’ to tackle its housing emergency and overcrowding from tourists.
Fears have also been raised about Magaluf being ‘unusually quiet’ on Monday in the Majorca Daily Bulletin which claimed it was ‘half empty if that’. It also reported there were some concerns among business owners about the lack of tourists. But others insisted the bars were still busy at the weekends.
One bar owner suggested anti-tourism protesters’ ‘wishes had been granted’, with the start of the peak holiday season in June now just days away. Thousands of people gathered at the demonstration in Palma in May. Organisers then warned they would continue to take to the streets until the Balearic government takes action.
Javier Barbero, one of the organisers, told the publication: “This has only just begun. If the reality is denied and still no measures are taken, we will take to the streets until they act.” He added that the group was not ‘saying no to tourism’ but added: “We have to rethink the tourism model.”
Protesters have called for the local authority to limit the rise in rental prices in the area – something that the Balearic president, Marga Prohens, has said she will not do. They also want the government to introduce a new rule, stating that anyone buying a property in Majorca must have first lived in the area for at least five years.
Tourism generates 45 per cent of the islands’ income, according to data from Exceltur.
Some British people have decided to boycott the area. One regular visitor wrote online: “They should be careful what they wish for.” Meanwhile, another tourist said not visiting the country would impact the town and urged people not to visit for a year.
He said: “Stop going to Spain for 12 months and they will be begging us to come back.”
In May The Mirror reported tourists were being blamed for inflating property prices and driving up the cost of living.
Protest group Mallorca Platja Tour, called on islanders to occupy beaches in protest at comments from a local politician who said Majorcans could not expect to go to beaches in July and August, as they did in the past, due to tourism.
The group occupied a beach in Sa Rapita in a later protest and in the first one in Palma chanted “Tourists go home” as they passed through the central square.
