Laurence Dollimore
FED-UP locals are putting up fake signs declaring beaches and beauty spots in Spain closed in a bid to keep out British tourists, it has emerged.
In the latest “anti-tourism” campaign, posters in Mallorca warn in English that beaches are closed or dangerous due to jellyfish, rock falls and contaminated water.
At the bottom of one of the posters, it reads in Catalan, the local language: “Beach open, there is no jellyfish nor guiris.”
“Guiri” is an often derogatory word used by the Spanish to denote British tourists or expats.
The posters have been seen from Cala Morlanda to Cala Bota in Manacor.
On a poster warning about supposed landslides, it reads in Catalan at the bottom: “Enter, the danger is not from landslides, it is from overcrowding.”
Another sign claims that the route to reach a stunning cove takes three hours, while the text, written in such a way that foreign visitors cannot understand it, conveys a completely different message: “Come in, you know how to get there.”
One Twitter user wrote: “Take off one of the few sources of income you have, you’ll see how well you do… these are the same people who call you racist for wanting to control the borders.”
Another added: “I’m from Mallorca, and this is the consequence of not doing anything to fix the mass tourism, there are beaches and coves that you can’t even see because of the traffic jam and cars, they leave everything full of bottles, plastics, etc.
“It’s incredible that you can’t go to one of the most beautiful coves on your own island because of this and that they do not make any policy to remedy it, the ones who first have to enjoy it are us, because it is our island for a reason and that is why we take care of it, not like tourism that devastates and dirties everything.”
The fake warnings are the work of a local anti-capitalist protest group called Caterva, who have also blasted Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal, who owns a restaurant and tourism business on the island.
The activists said in a statement: “Capitalism uses tourism to the extreme to dry out the territory and extract the maximum surplus value from workers.
“There are culprits and it is necessary to name them, such as the hoteliers or the Rafael Nadals who are as complicit as the Balearic Government.”
