Walter Finch
THE ‘anti-tourism’ movement sweeping across Spain is making its way to Mallorca.
It is the culmination of a wave that started in the Canary Islands and swelled east across the mainland to include protests in Malaga and Granada among others.
Now it has landed in the Balearics, with a cluster of local associations, including environmental, neighbourhood, social, and trade unions, planning to demand a more sustainable model of tourism.
The Balearic activists are hoping to leverage momentum of the ‘anti-tourism’ wave to advocate for changes in tourism on the islands.
The assembly, dubbed ‘Menys Turisme, Més Vida’ (Less Tourism, More Life), wants to curb the excessive tourist presence that they believe exploits the island’s resources and displaces its people.
Residents across Balearic Islands, including in Ibizas, are demanding a say in decisions regarding mass tourism, emphasising that ‘if tourism affects us all, we all have the right to speak up.’
The assembly, open to individuals, community groups, and organisations, is scheduled for Friday, 17 of May at 6:30pm at the Sineu institute.
It will follow on from a huge protest being planned in Malaga by ‘fed-up’ locals on June 29.
A tenant support organisation have complained they are tired of ‘over tourism, s**t salaries and property exploitation.’
Meanwhile, in Granada, locals from the historic neighbourhood below the Alhambra Palace have set up a social media page to blast the ‘tourist invasion’, which they claim has made the area ‘unliveable’.
The spark that lit the fuse was an enormous protest in the Canary Islands in April which saw more than 60,000 take to the streets.
