Walter Finch
ANTI-tourism activists in the Balearics have one message for sunseekers this summer: do not come to Mallorca.
Seven environmental organisations have put their signature to an open letter to tourists blaming them for the island’s problems and urging them to pick somewhere else for their summer getaway.
The letter, published in Catalan, Spanish, English, and German, identifies foreign visitors – namely British and German – as the source of the island’s overcrowding problem.
“It’s time to take a stand. Our leaders do not listen to us, so we, the residents, ask you: DO NOT COME,” it thunders.
“We do not need more tourists. In fact you are the source of the problem. Mallorca is not the paradise they’re selling you.”
The letter begins by stating that in the 1970s, ‘Mallorca was known as the island of calm,’ – a situation that has since changed dramatically.
“The island has been exploited to unimaginable limits, leading to the collapse we are now suffering,” it says.
“The money generated by the tourism industry has attracted people from all over the world who trade with our island.
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“The greed and avarice of hoteliers, politicians, real estate agents and all kinds of ‘parasites’ have brought us to an emergency situation.”
These people ‘prioritise their economic interests over the well-being of residents’, and the groups demand that the political class regulates the problem ‘to prevent a major disaster.’
“However, surprisingly, instead of listening and taking action to reverse this crisis, they deny reality and continue to promote tourism in established markets such as the Berlin Fair.”
The letter goes on to lay out some examples of how developments in Mallorca have become unsustainable.
It claims that, over the last 40 years, the population of Mallorca has grown by 84% – second only to India globally.
Meanwhile, tourist numbers have grown by 30% over the last 25 years, but the Balearic Islands have fallen in the European per capita income rankings from 48 to 148 – ‘more tourism no longer generates wealth but poverty’.
In 2024, Palma airport handled over 33 million passengers, with the islands as a whole receiving 15.3 million visitors – a 6.1% increase on the previous year.
The environmentalists claim that ‘mass tourism has caused deterioration of the territory and ecosystem,’ along with saturation of public services, gentrification, and an excessive increase in the cost of living.
“The local population is angry and we are no longer hospitable because they are destroying the land we love, and many residents have to emigrate because the island is uninhabitable,” it warns.
“It’s time to ask you not to come. We don’t need more tourists; in fact, you are the source of the problem,” the groups conclude in 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 of potential discontent in Mallorca is set to kick off with an anti-tourism protest on April 5.
