4 days ago
The devastating effects of Spain's anti-tourism protests revealed in shocking hotel report
Bookings in some of Mallorca's most popular summer holiday resorts have slumped by as much as 20 per cent, say hoteliers on the Balearic Island, suggesting holidaymakers are voting with their feet following anti-tourism marches.
The hoteliers association that represents the resorts of Alcudia and Can Picafort say their key markets have slowed in recent months.
The news comes following major anti-tourism protests across mainland Spain and its islands this year - with another huge protest march in the pipeline for Mallorca's capital next weekend.
Last week, thousands of defiant anti-tourism protesters vowed to bring the streets of Palma to a standstill on June 15th, with representatives of around 60 groups saying they're planning to march.
The Alcudia and Can Picafort hoteliers association this week said bookings had dropped across key markets, including Germany, its number one market, reporting a 15% to 20% slump on last year.
Pablo Riera-Marsa, president of the hotelier's Association, said: 'We are seeing how the German market, traditionally our Number 1 market, is the one that has slowed down the most.'
However, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reports that the group is optimistic that late bookings would still see figures rise, saying tourists were edging their bets on bargain last-gasp deals.
He explained: 'We are detecting that this season, last-minute bookings are once again becoming more popular, with tourists waiting for special offers and promotions before making their purchase decisions.'
The hoteliers association maintained that numbers are simply returning to normal levels following a 'champagne effect', when people started travelling again following the end of the pandemic.
The demonstration in Palma on June 15th will be led by campaign group 'Menys Turisme, Mes Vida' (Less tourism, more life), which claims that the everyday life of locals has become 'unbearable' thanks to foreign holidaymakers.
They have accused both the Balearic Islands' government of ignoring the pleas for drastic changes in their current tourism model.
The platform is asking the island's residents to take to the streets to demand a change in the economic model and what they describe as 'touristification.'
This will be the third major protest of its kind but the activists say they are getting nowhere despite calls to clampdown on tourists.
The demonstration in Palma will be held simultaneously with similar marches in Ibiza, Barcelona, Donosti and other major Spanish cities.
'We stand for the right to a dignified life and to demand an end to touristification', said Jaume Pujol, spokesman for Menys Turisme, Més Vida.
The group today also criticised the local government, accusing them of promoting policies that have aggravated the mass tourism crisis.
They also warned that, with the start of the tourist season, 'unbearable situations' are already being repeated on the island, including road closures due to tourist events and genera; saturation of public spaces and markets.
Menys Turisme, Mes Vida also argued that their island is 'not for sale' and that 'it is urgent to put limits' on a tourism model that they consider increasingly destructive.
It comes a month after tens of thousands of furious Spaniards took to the streets across the country to demand a solution to the cost of living crisis they say has been exacerbated by tourism.
The demonstrations on April 5th took place across major Spanish towns and cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Palma.
According to organizers, 30,000 people took to the streets of Malaga - a seaside town in the south of Spain - as they demanded solutions to the housing crisis, with banners reading: 'Houses for the people of Málaga. Hotels for tourists, affordable rents.'
But police reported that around 5,000 demonstrators took part in the Malaga march.
Residents were photographed holding banners with the slogan: 'Houses for the people of Málaga. Hotels for tourists'.
Some also hung posters from their balconies and windows with messages saying: 'Housing is a right, not a business'.
Meanwhile in Madrid, around 15,000 people gathered in the capital's neighbourhood of Atocha and marched towards Plaza de Espana shouting slogans like: 'Landlords are thieves' and 'Madrid will be the tomb of rentals'.
Angry renters pointed to instances of international hedge funds buying up properties, often with the aim of renting them to foreign tourists.
The question has become so politically charged that Barcelona's city government pledged last year to phase out all its 10,000 permits for short-term rentals, many of them advertised on platforms like Airbnb, by 2028.
Marchers in Madrid last month chanted 'Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods' and held up signs against short-term rentals.
'No more leaving our neighborhoods, our homes, or even our cities every five or seven years,' said Valeria Racu, spokesperson for the Madrid tenants' union, in a statement at the start of the demonstration.
'We're calling on the half-million households whose contracts expire in 2025 to stay home and resist,' she added.
Last month, British holidaymakers were left cowering in hotels as protesters stormed the streets of the Canary Islands.
