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Thousands of people have protested in Spain’s Balearic islands amid growing anger over mass tourism.
“SOS for residents” and “Enough with mass tourism” were read on posters as protesters marched through Palma de Mallorca, the capital of the Balearic island. A police spokesman said about 10,000 people were taking part.
Hundreds of protesters also took part in protests in Menorca, while around 1,000 protesters took part in demonstrations on Ibiza, one of the Balearic islands’ most popular, on Friday.
Tourism generates 45 percent of the island’s gross domestic product, according to data from industry group Exceltur.
“The authorities want to ban people who haven’t lived here for more than five years from buying property and to tighten regulations on holiday accommodation,” said Carme Reynes, whose group organised the protests in Palma de Mallorca.
Real estate agent Javier Carbonell said more than half the properties were being used for holiday lettings, making them unaffordable for locals.
“We want to reduce mass tourism and increase sustainable tourism,” Carbonell said.
People take part in a protest against mass tourism and gentrification on the island ahead of the summer season (Reuters)
The Balearic Islands were Spain’s second most popular tourist region after Catalonia last year, attracting 14.4 million holidaymakers, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute.
About 18 million tourists visited Catalonia, while 13.9 million visited the Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa.
“We want new tourist restrictions and a further ban on illegal apartments. Fewer apartments on the market means higher prices,” said Rafael Jimenez, spokesman for Pro Ibiza, which organized Friday’s protest.
In April, thousands of people protested in the Canary Islands, calling for a temporary ban on tourists to stem soaring housing costs for locals caused by a surge in short-term vacation rentals and hotel construction.
Two German tourists, a Spanish waitress and a Senegalese man were killed when a two-storey restaurant building collapsed on the coast of the Spanish island of Palma de Mallorca on Thursday.
Tourists take pictures of the Medusa Beach Club building after it collapsed on the Spanish island of Palma de Mallorca (Reuters)
Police said the accident may have been caused by excessive weight being placed on the terrace of Medusa Beach Club.
The victims were two German women aged 20 and 30, the waitress, aged 23, and a Senegalese man, aged 44, the council said in a statement.
All 16 injured people were Dutch tourists.
A spokesman for the German foreign ministry said the German consulate in Mallorca was in close contact with authorities.
“The situation on the ground is still partially unclear,” the spokesman said. “At this stage we unfortunately have to assume that there are German nationals among the dead and injured.”
