Spain warns UK tourists to brace for ‘intense summer’ amid rising tension

Brits in Spain this summer have been warned to expect a “busy summer” in Majorca as locals plot to protest at Palma airport amid a row over “over-tourism”. A group under the slogan “Menys Turisme, Mes Vida” (Less tourism, more life) is plotting a huge protest.

They plan to bring Palma airport into “stature” after a recent meeting in Sineu, where the group discussed strategies to alleviate overcrowding and potential protest action. The Majorca Daily Bulletin reports that they said: “It’s going to be an intense summer.”

It comes after Manacor’s Alejandro Garcia said: “Measures must be taken to oppose unsustainable growth, but making life difficult for tourists is not the way. We saw the unemployment rate go up during the pandemic when nobody came here. People have lost so much. Mallorca has to be careful what it wishes for.”

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Philippa Waldren from Palma said: “Tourists will go elsewhere. Many nationalities are going through a difficult time with the cost of living and unstable political situations. They don’t want to be met at the airport by protesters or not feel welcome. Mallorca will be a very different place if visitors decide they too have had enough.”

“Anti-tourism” protests will take place in Mallorca later this month. The demonstration is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 27, in Palma, the capital of Mallorca, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reports. Organizers were said to have called for the protest “to say ENOUGH to tourist overcrowding”.

The organizers said: “On May 25th we have to take to the streets. Let’s say ENOUGH to tourist overcrowding, let’s say ENOUGH to the destruction of the territory, let’s say ENOUGH to the lack of protection suffered by the people who live on the islands.

“We have to come out and demand responsibility from the institutions, because we want to live in our house, to protect our lives and because we don’t want Mallorca to become a luxury resort. For the right to housing, for the protection of the territory, of our own language and culture.”