Alex Trelinski
PALMA has joined mainland cities like Barcelona and Valencia in planning measures to combat tourist saturation.
The City Council will not allow any additional properties dedicated to holiday rentals to be created, under a proposed change to its General Urban Development Plan.
It means up to 4,000 rentals will be banned, which were going to be permitted when the current moratorium on expansion expires.
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Palma has 50,000 properties available for tourist accommodation.
Mayor, Jaime Martinez, says that saturation experienced by the city, especially in the high season, is not acceptable.
He says it is not just tourism to blame, but Palma has experienced a big population rise over the last 20 years.
Martinez said the council is starting to make changes to its urban plan.
“We will have zero newly-created(holiday home) places,” he explained, as well as stressing that existing and legalised properties will be unaffected.
The authority will also propose a limit on the number of cruise ships that use Palma.
It will either be a restriction on ship sizes or a simple flat quota of vessels allowed each year.
The council will also review fees paid by cruise and large yacht passengers, with 1.9 million visitors docking at the port each year.
Another proposal is to limit the number of guided tours of the centre of Palma and to reduce the influx of rental cars which cause problems when bad weather creates major bottlenecks in the main streets.
It is hoped to introduce the restrictions in time for next year’s high season.
More immediately, the council wants a cleaner city with an order that could start this summer which obliges takeaway food businesses to clean their outdoor surroundings within a 50 metre radius.
