British tourists visiting the Balearic Islands have scored a “big victory” after their popular city rejected calls to ban visitors or limit their numbers, with Parma rejecting attempts to push through tough measures that would limit visitor numbers to the holiday destination.
In Mallorca, Mayor Jaime Martinez proposed limiting the size of cruise ships that can dock on the island at a local government meeting on Thursday. “We make our living from tourism. Without tourism, young people would emigrate,” VOX spokesman Ignacio Esteban said.
“But before taking measures, we have to be democratic. If there is no agreement, there could be many repercussions.” The opposition Socialist Workers’ Party, Metz and Podemos have put forward a series of proposals, but Martínez stood by the one he put forward and called for them to be withdrawn.
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The PP and Vox voted against the proposals. Deputy Mayor Javier Bonet attacked the opposition, saying “They must take some responsibility for this situation. Why didn’t they act sooner?” Metz’s Miquel Ángel Contreras said: “He said he wanted to make Palma a world tourist centre.
“It is clear that his measures are a marketing strategy,” Martinez himself said. “We will continue to fight for the interests of our citizens and for the coexistence of residents and tourists. This is a global problem for Spain and we will decide how to solve this problem that you (the left) have created.”
“I want to impose two taxes on cruise ship passengers, one on arrival at the port and one for access to the city,” Martinez said. “Palma has a registered population of 450,000 but we have a lot of tourists. We only have 50,000 tourist sites, but that’s not a problem.”
“Parma is a gateway for millions of tourists and has a large floating population with holiday homes. A study is needed to determine their numbers.”
