Britons boycotting Majorca? The island has never been busier
It's early morning and a tour bus disgorges a large group of day trippers in the mountain village of Fornalutx in the north-west of Majorca. Locals sipping coffee in the atmospheric plaça shrug resignedly as throngs of tourists crowd the cobbled lanes, iPhone cameras at the ready.
Meanwhile, in the town of Soller and its port, guides with gaudy umbrellas march their wards through the packed streets on whistle-stop tours before catching buses, or the vintage tram and train, back to Palma.
The majority of visitors, though, arrive in hired cars, and like ravenous sharks, circle the car parks in the Soller valley, snapping up every available space. It's a similar story in the arty village of Deià and other popular enclaves. The island has never been busier. Yet recent media headlines have told a very different story.
Amidst the alarmist reports about wide-scale anti-tourist sentiment, chaotic traffic jams and impending strikes in the hospitality sector, it has been suggested that a boycott of Majorca is underway, with British holidaymakers in particular said to be steering clear. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Hamlet Ramirez Marquéz, owner of Café Soller and La Sal Port Soller restaurant, said: 'Trust me, there are many happy British holidaymakers currently here in Soller.'
He added that recent headlines about traffic and parking problems were 'way off the mark. Last year, we had problems but now we have three new car parks, and residents have exclusive parking zones.'
His views are corroborated by Emese Juhasz, proprietor of the Grøenk restaurants in Deià and Fornalutx: 'We have a lot of British guests and it's evident from their comments that the island still holds its charm. The British love affair with Majorca is unwavering.'
Rubén Zamora, Managing Director of Nybau hotels in Majorca, added: 'Earlier this year, perhaps due to economic conditions, occupancy was lower in our hotels in Pollença, Palma and Montuïri, but all in all we expect a similar or better season than in 2024. Still, we cannot be complacent, and need to maintain high standards, but the gloomy forecasts have been greatly exaggerated.'
The data supports their assertions. For the first three months of 2025, there was a 3.4 per cent increase in the number of international visitors to the Balearic islands, and a bumper 18 million tourists are expected in the archipelago this year.
Can these holidaymakers expect a laid-back summer free from the anti-tourism demonstrations and flash-mobs on beaches that plagued Majorca last year? Not quite. This weekend, on June 15, a large-scale rally will be held in Palma by Menys Turisme, Més Vida (Less Tourism, More Life), a united platform of different island action groups.
It will form part of a coordinated initiative by the Southern Europe Network Against Touristification (SET) which will hold demonstrations in regions it perceives to be particularly badly affected by excessive tourism, such as Barcelona, Venice and Lisbon.
Menys Turisme, Més Vida believes over-tourism adversely impacts the environment, drains natural resources, and sends long-term rents spiralling, making homes unaffordable for locals. Margalida Ramis, its spokesperson, commented: 'We need to keep up the pressure because we're looking for political decisions that go to the root of the problem, and of course this won't be achieved in one day.'
Meanwhile, a 'Welcome to Sollerland' satirical Instagram campaign, that uses stark AI imagery to paint a picture of a saturated Soller in the next decade, has been emulated by several towns across the island, which have set up similar social media profiles. A spokesperson opined: 'We have lived largely off tourism for 80 years, but things have now accelerated. Sollerland uses humour to offer a graphic vision of the drama we live through every day.'
So far, local island activists have kept their powder dry about plans for further disruption, but it is likely that there will be a flutter of flash-mobs on a few beaches this summer, plus peaceful demonstrations in Palma.
For holidaymakers, it seems Majorca's allure remains undiminished, but with unrest amongst residents growing, what might the regional government do to placate them?
With tourism providing an estimated GDP of between 40 and 75 per cent, it would be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, a view backed by Maribel Quirós, owner of Moll restaurant in Port Soller. 'We can't sell Majorca and then complain about it,' she said. 'We have to be coherent.'
Marga Prohens, President of the Balearic islands, insists that her party was the first to acknowledge that the archipelago has reached its limits. It is for this reason, she states, that the regional government has created 'a decree to contain tourism that sets limits and prevents further growth in visitor numbers.'
Following Spain's demand that Airbnb remove 65,000 illegal short-term holiday rentals from its site, Jaume Bauzà, Minister for Tourism in the Balearics, has pledged to 'continue doing everything possible to combat illegal rentals, which is what truly overwhelms tourism.'
Tougher measures will see more inspectors on the beat, with rogue landlords who rent via word of mouth facing huge fines. On the issue of overcrowding during the summer months, the new decree aims to encourage year-round tourism to ease saturation of much-visited haunts.
Some are calling for more radical action, however, such as a restriction on the number of arrivals at Palma Airport, a tax and limit on rental cars, and a further decrease in cruise liners docking in the capital. The projection for 2025 is 541 vessels, already a reduction from 2019 when 592 cruise liners were given access.
However, the Platform Against Megacruisers would like the current daily limit of three ships and 8,000 passengers reduced further to just one large cruise ship and no more than 4,000 passengers per day.
While the polemic continues, Maria del Carmen Peñas de Haro, Director General of Tourism for Calvia Council, Majorca's second largest municipality, which includes Magaluf, remains upbeat: 'Here in Calvia, we welcome countless British visitors, and this year is no exception.
'Tourism is the driving force of the Balearic economy, and we want our holidaymakers to feel completely at home.'
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
2 hours ago
- UPI
'Black boxes' from jet crash in India found; sole survivor doing well
1 of 10 | India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the site of an Air India plane crash near the airport in Ahmedabad, India, on Friday. Photo by Indian Press Information Bureau | License Photo June 13 (UPI) -- Both of the "black boxes" were recovered from the wreckage of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in India after after all but one of the 242 people onboard died. The voice and data recorders may help investigators learn what caused the passenger jet to crash just minutes after it took off from Ahmedabad for London's Gatwick Airport on Thursday. "The Flight Data Recorder (Black Box) has been recovered within 28 hours from the accident site in Ahmedabad," Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, the Indian Union Minister of Civil Aviation, said in a social media post. "This marks an important step forward in the investigation. This will significantly aid the enquiry into the incident." Hours later on Saturday morning local time, the voice recorder was found. The captain of the flight sent a distress call to air traffic control less a minute after take off, India's aviation authorities confirmed Saturday. The plane crashed just 33 minutes after takeoff. The recorders were recovered from on top of the medical college hostel where the jet crashed. Members of the U.S. Transportation Safety Board and British authorities are assisting with the investigation. More 50 of those killed from the plane are British nationals. The aircraft was made in the United States. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday they haven't found any safety data that the plane model itself is unsafe. "They have to get on the ground and take a look. But again, right now it'd be way too premature," Duffy said at a news conference. "People are looking at videos and trying to assess what happened, which is never a strong, smart way to make decisions on what took place." It was the first fatal flight involving the 787-8. Boeing has manufactured 1,188 of the planes since they went into service in 2009. India's government is inspecting all Boeing 787s , the aviation minister just told reporters in a press briefing. Air India operates 33 Boeing 787s and rival airline IndiGo has one, according to data from Flightradar24. Rescue workers scoured the site for survivors and, miraculously, one man, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who had been in seat 11A on the Air India flight, right next to his brother. He walked away from the crash site with only minor injuries. The sole survivor is doing well in hospital but is "psychologically disturbed," according to the Civil Hospital medical director. The jet struck a hostel for B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital students and relatives, a medical school. The total death toll is at least 290. The British national of Indian origin told the Hindustan Times it happened very fast. "Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed," Ramesh said. "I don't know how I'm alive, how I exited the plane." Ramesh added, "I don't know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes -- the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me. ... I walked out of the rubble." He was seated near a left-side window emergency exit in the economy section of the aircraft. He said he saw the exit, tried to get out through it and succeeded. Ramesh said he still can't believe he made it out alive. Prime Minister Narenda Modi visited him in the hospital. Modi said on X, "Met those injured in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad, including the lone survivor and assured them that we are with them and their families in this tough time. The entire nation is praying for their speedy recovery. A student said it was a "miracle" she missed the flight. Bhoomi Chauhan, 28, said she was angry after a traffic jam on the way to the airport meant she missed boarding the flight by just 10 minutes. Now she said is "numb" after learning a about the crash. In a statement on X Air India offered its deepest condolences to families of those killed and added, "The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national. The FAIMA Doctors Association said on X that "The wife of one super-specialist doctor was found dead." Fifty MBBS students were hospitalized in stable condition while two or three were in critical condition and four or five students were missing. Three to four relatives of resident doctors also are missing, according to FAIMA.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Starmer's latest freebie: British sovereignty in exchange for nothing
While we can't rely on the French to help police the Channel – despite paying them £500 million for the privilege, we can always trust our Gallic cousins to bear a grudge. We already knew that the Prime Minister's great EU 'reset' was a sham; that much was clear when all we got in return was the use of e-gates that were already operational in many European countries. Now, we learn that we may not even be granted access to the bloc's industrial defence programme, despite Sir Keir Starmer's insistence that defence and security was a central tenet of the deal. As he boasted last month after selling us out to Brussels: 'We've also struck a new defence and security partnership to strengthen our cooperation and strengthen our security – which is vital in this dangerous new era. 'And it will open the door to working with the EU's new defence fund – providing new opportunities for our defence industry, supporting British jobs and livelihoods.' Except, of course, the French have other ideas. In yet another example of just how bad Labour is at negotiating anything (see also the Chagos surrender and, more recently, the 'deal' to allow Spanish border guards to check passports on Gibraltar) we now learn that Emmanuel Macron is trying to shut out British arms firms from the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP). While different to the defence fund, which is known as SAFE (Security Action for Europe), EDIP will see cash pumped into joint procurement projects and the production of weapons, ammunition and other military hardware. It was created for the benefit of the EU and 'allies' but French diplomats have insisted the tool should be solely used to boost firms based inside the EU, as well as Norway and Ukraine – shutting out the UK. So much for Starmer's boast that the reset deal would put Britain 'back on the world stage' and give us 'unprecedented access to the EU market, the best of any country.' Labour is yet to reveal how many billions is being squandered on a reset that has already prompted another big fat 'non' from Paris. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Briton stranded in Jerusalem during Iran attacks says city ‘like a ghost town'
A British grandfather stranded in Jerusalem during a wave of Iranian missile attacks has described the city as a 'ghost town' and said he feels 'abandoned' by the Foreign Office. James Eden, 72, from Newcastle upon Tyne, flew to Israel on Monday for a short pilgrimage to visit Christian sites he first saw two decades ago. But what was meant to be a six-day trip turned into a crisis when air raid sirens woke him in the early hours of Friday when his flight home was cancelled following Israeli strikes on Iran and a barrage of retaliatory missiles. 'It feels very eerie, very strange – like a ghost town,' the grandfather-of-four said. 'Before, it was a hive of activity – cars everywhere, everyone having a good time. 'Now everything is shut down, just a few old people shuffling about. 'It feels a lot like the Covid lockdowns.' The retired accountant, who travelled with his Hungarian friend Miki Mogyorossy, 49, from London, said the pair were enjoying the warm weather and had visited key religious sites including the Sea of Galilee and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. 'We were only supposed to be here six days to see the sights,' Mr Eden said. 'At the time when I booked it there was no hint at all that this was going to start. 'The conflict with Iran has been on the table for 20 years – if you worry about it all the time you would never come here.' But in the early hours of Friday, he was jolted awake by an emergency alert – written in Hebrew – on his phone. 'I didn't understand any of it, but once we spoke to some Israelis they told us it was a warning,' he said. 'The sirens were going off outside – we all rushed out of our rooms but were quickly told to get back to bed. 'We gathered in the stairwell because there was no basement and stayed there for 10 or 15 minutes. 'Then we had another notification saying we could go back to bed.' By the morning, he said, 'everything was shut down – shops and offices all closed, restaurants all closed'. Mr Eden and Mr Mogyorossy managed to find one restaurant open after scouring the city. But as they were walking back to their hotel they saw a barrage of missiles coming across the sky. 'I was standing by a wall – the best place I could find – with a bit of an overhang. 'If any of those missiles had landed, there would have been a huge explosion.' A second phone alert from Israel's home front command, this time in English, warned of incoming rocket and missile fire. The notification gave just 90 seconds for the pair to reach shelter. He said he did not believe any of the strikes landed in Jerusalem, but described the sky lighting up with interceptors from the Iron Dome defence system. Footage taken by Mr Eden shows Iron Dome rockets taking out Iranian missiles overhead. 'I was shocked by the amount of missiles going over,' he said. 'Most people were in safe spaces. I didn't hear any explosions, just a lot of banging from the Iron Dome missiles.' Despite the intensity of the situation, Mr Eden said he remained relatively calm – but fears he will run out of medication. 'At my age I have to take medication and I only have two weeks' supply,' he said. 'Now my flight's been cancelled. At any time there could be another strike.' Mr Eden has been in contact with the British embassy but said he felt let down by the response. 'I've spoken to the Foreign Office – I've texted the embassy, given them my details,' he said. 'There is that sort of feeling that we've been abandoned – why has nobody rang me? 'I would like people to know I'm here. Just say 'we're on the case – give us three to five days, we'll come back'. If that was given, it would be good.' He added: 'The nervous energy takes its toll on you. I was enjoying myself, but now I want to go home.' 'A friend said to me, 'You should have listened to me – why did you go?' But this threat's been around for 20 years.' Despite the shutdown – he has still managed to find a restaurant that is serving a pint of Guinness. 'Somehow I've managed to find a pint of Guinness which I didn't think would be so easy,' he said. 'So it's not all that bad.'
