ANTI-tourism activists within the Balearics have one message for sunseekers this summer time: don’t come to Mallorca.
Seven environmental organisations have put their signature to an open letter to vacationers blaming them for the island’s issues and urging them to select some place else for his or her summer time getaway.
The letter, printed in Catalan, Spanish, English, and German, identifies overseas guests – specifically British and German – because the supply of the island’s overcrowding drawback.
“It’s time to take a stand. Our leaders don’t hearken to us, so we, the residents, ask you: DO NOT COME,” it thunders.
“We don’t want extra vacationers. In truth you’re the supply of the issue. Mallorca just isn’t the paradise they’re promoting you.”
The letter begins by stating that within the Nineteen Seventies, ‘Mallorca was often known as the island of calm,’ – a scenario that has since modified dramatically.
“The island has been exploited to unimaginable limits, resulting in the collapse we at the moment are struggling,” it says.
“The cash generated by the tourism business has attracted individuals from everywhere in the world who commerce with our island.
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“The greed and avarice of hoteliers, politicians, actual property brokers and all types of ‘parasites’ have introduced us to an emergency scenario.”
These individuals ‘prioritise their financial pursuits over the well-being of residents’, and the teams demand that the political class regulates the issue ‘to stop a serious catastrophe.’
“Nevertheless, surprisingly, as a substitute of listening and taking motion to reverse this disaster, they deny actuality and proceed to advertise tourism in established markets such because the Berlin Honest.”
The letter goes on to put out some examples of how developments in Mallorca have change into unsustainable.
It claims that, over the past 40 years, the inhabitants of Mallorca has grown by 84% – second solely to India globally.
In the meantime, vacationer numbers have grown by 30% over the past 25 years, however the Balearic Islands have fallen within the European per capita revenue rankings from 48 to 148 – ‘extra tourism not generates wealth however poverty’.
In 2024, Palma airport dealt with over 33 million passengers, with the islands as a complete receiving 15.3 million guests – a 6.1% enhance on the earlier yr.
The environmentalists declare that ‘mass tourism has precipitated deterioration of the territory and ecosystem,’ together with saturation of public providers, gentrification, and an extreme enhance in the price of dwelling.
“The native inhabitants is offended and we’re not hospitable as a result of they’re destroying the land we love, and lots of residents must to migrate as a result of the island is uninhabitable,” it warns.
“It’s time to ask you to not come. We don’t want extra vacationers; the truth is, you’re the supply of the issue,” the teams conclude within the letter.
It has been signed by SOS Residents, Menys turisme mes vida, Gob, Gadma, Alternativa per Pollença, Brunzit, and Amics de la Vall de Coanegra.
A summer time of potential discontent in Mallorca is about to kick off with an anti-tourism protest on April 5.
