ruth901
How the tourist boom is dividing the islandAre we still welcome on Mallorca?
Holiday island in a state of emergency!
Even in the early season, planes, buses and beaches are overcrowded. At the same time, many locals can no longer afford the rents in Mallorca. Protests against tourism are becoming louder and louder. Are we still welcome on the island? In the video we go looking for clues.
Caravan instead of an apartment
Activist Pere Joan Femenia works with the association “Less Tourism – More Life” for the people who have been “displaced”. He shows us a place in a suburb of Palma. There are around 150 caravans here, 80 of which are permanently inhabited. Sara Ruiz also lives here. She is the mother of a six-year-old son. The 27-year-old works part-time in a bakery in the capital Palma. An affordable apartment? Hopeless! “I feel forced to live in these conditions because the only alternative would be to live under the bridge,” says the young mother. Many people here on the island feel like Sara Ruiz. A total of around 90,000 apartments are said to be missing. In times of need, locals also occupy empty and dilapidated buildings like an old prison.
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Marcel Remus: “Prices on Mallorca will definitely go up”
The locals' frustration is not directed at individual holidaymakers. But against development on the island. Wealthy foreigners buy houses and apartments on Mallorca and rent them out at high prices to holiday guests. Many accommodations end up on platforms like Airbnb – some legal, some illegal. Luxury broker Marcel Remus also knows the problem. The 39-year-old even predicts: “Prices on Mallorca will definitely go up.” The fact that normal families can hardly find any living space is unacceptable. Politicians must act urgently.
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Tourists remain welcome – but not without borders
While filming, we hear the same sentence over and over again: Nobody wants to abolish tourism. Mallorca could hardly survive without holidaymakers. International guests alone spent more than 23 billion euros on the Balearic Islands last year. However, many locals want clear boundaries. More rules. Less mass tourism. And solutions to the housing crisis. Because one thing seems certain: holidaymakers are still welcome on Mallorca. But many Mallorcans now feel overwhelmed by tourism.
Sources used: own RTL research
