- author, Nick Beeck
- role, European Correspondent
- Reported by Mallorca
If you can make it into one of Mallorca’s sunspots this summer, you will witness two unstoppable forces.
First, the same old waves of the Balearic Sea wipe out the sand castles that had been lovingly constructed that day.
The second is a more contemporary phenomenon: the tourism tsunami that threatens to engulf everything in its path.
Every inch of the beach is filled, so finding a parking spot is like striking gold.
If you leave a sunbed for too long your belongings will be unceremoniously removed to make room for a long queue of people trying to occupy it.
These are all signs of big profits that can be seen and heard across the island, especially the incessant beeping of contactless payment machines ringing out from crowded hotels, restaurants and bars.
A lively chorus of business fuelled by record numbers of visitors.
But if this is a story of vast wealth showered upon Spain’s business-savvy community, Sonia Ruiz is certainly not telling any part of it.
We met the 31-year-old mother of one in a park a few hundred metres from the seafront in the capital, Palma.
Her four-year-old son, Luca, rides the various slides at the playground with no qualms.
But Sonia is really struggling: their landlord wants them to move out and says it’s impossible for them to find a new home.
“I’m looking for properties every day, but the rents are getting higher every day,” she says.
“I stop people on the street and ask them if they have anything because the day is coming up where we have to move out of our apartment and we have nothing so me and my son are just homeless.”
Sonia and her partner are separated but are forced to live together because neither of them can afford the rent, despite earning a combined income of 2,400 euros a month.
“They ask for a couple of months’ deposit. Some people say they don’t want kids, they don’t want animals. And there are a lot of people looking.”
Sonia joins thousands of other Mallorcans protesting this weekend against the surge in tourists they blame for a sharp drop in living standards for locals.
Activists say the soaring housing prices are being driven by foreigners buying up large numbers of houses and apartments or renting them out to foreigners, at least for much of the summer.
“This model is impossible to sustain,” explains Pere Joan Femenia, 25, outside the cathedral in Palma, Mallorca’s capital.
He is part of a movement called “Menys Turisme, Més Vida,” or “Less Tourism, More Life.”
He says unprecedented numbers of tourists are not only crowding locals out of the housing market, they are also wasting public spaces, public services and natural resources.
Pele began his campaigning five years ago as part of Greta Thunberg’s climate change movement, but his focus has shifted to the cost of living for islanders.
“Companies are changing from traditional products to multinationals selling ice cream and we are losing our identity. We want to preserve our culture,” he said.
Pointing out to the port beyond, beyond the rows of street vendors and crowds that fill the square, Pele explained that cruise ships disembark up to 12,000 tourists on the island every day.
He says it’s a myth that Mallorca needs tourism expansion to survive, and in reality many locals are preparing to leave for good because they can’t afford to live here anymore.
Pele argues that placing limits on incoming flights and calling cruise ships would immediately relieve pressure on the island.
It’s a demand that will be part of slogans and banners raised across Parma during protests this weekend.
According to the Spanish National Statistics Institute, 14.4 million foreign tourists visited the Balearic Islands last year, with Mallorca by far the most, followed by Menorca and Ibiza.
The institute said the number of international tourists visiting the islands is expected to increase by 9.1% compared to 2022, with spending growing by a further 16.4%.
Taking into account visitors from Spain, activists claim that 20 million tourists could visit the Balearic Islands this year.
As Spain’s tourist destinations have developed over the decades, debate has raged over whether millions of visitors bring more problems than benefits.
Demonstrations have taken place on the mainland as well as in Malaga and the Canary Islands, as Spain’s tourist magnets try to fight off what are now seemingly unstoppable deluges.
Some British newspapers have compiled a list of “dangerous holiday spots” to avoid in the summer of 2024.
The Green family, from Rotherham, are happily paddling a canoe on a crowded beach in Magaluf, a long-standing destination for millions of British holidaymakers.
This is dad Adam’s first trip abroad, although calling it a “vacation” might be a stretch, as he and his wife are busy keeping an eye on their seven children.
“It’s busy but we’re making steady progress. Apart from the heat, it’s been great,” he said.
I asked them if they had heard about the various protests currently taking place and if it had made them reconsider coming to Mallorca.
“I saw a bit about it on the news,” Charlotte says, “but I decided not to look at it because I’d already booked and paid and didn’t want to stress out and put off going.”
But what about the central claim made by local protesters: that booming tourism is having a hugely negative impact?
“Aren’t the tourists the ones that liven up the place and bring in revenue?” Adam asks.
“People travel all over the world and that’s the reality. Without tourists there are no jobs, no wages, nothing. People depend on it, you know?”
Are you a protester, a local resident or a tourist? Get in touch and share your thoughts and experiences.
