‘Empty hotels, no rental cars and no cyclists’ chant anti-tourist zealots as thousands storm ‘historic’ Majorca protest
ORGANISERS of Majorca’s anti-tourism protest have released a bizarre video gloating at the idea of empty hotels, no bike tourists or car hire ahead of tonight’s massive demonstration.
The protesters also talk of ploughing up the holiday island’s motorway network in the promo video for the Palma demo.
The scene-setting video for the Majorca protest features images including queues to get onto iconic island cove Calo des Moro and a group of foreign cyclists.
It starts with the lyrics: “There will be no more regattas, tomorrow is the last cruise”.
It then continues: “Goodbye rental cars, goodbye rat businesses. Houses will be cheap and we won’t see more cyclists.”
It ends with an islander singing in Catalan: “We will plough the highways, the hotels will be empty and so the world will understand that there are too many tourists.”
But Toni Perez, mayor of Brit holiday hotspot Benidorm, alluded to anti-tourist protesters not understanding how less visitors could lead to the country’s economic suicide.
He said to local media: “Has anyone considered that in a European country in which its great strength is the car industry, the population demonstrates against it?”
Roughly 100 various organisations have vowed to support tonight’s demo in Palma – the second in two months.
The number of protesters is even expected to surpass a whopping 10,000 people.
Regional government spokesman Antoni Costa has already showed angst among Majorcan politicians as he begged protesters to leave Brit holidaymakers alone.
Mr Costa said: “There’s no fear because here it hasn’t happened and people have always been respectful.
“But we have seen a certain type of behaviour in Barcelona which, as you can imagine, we didn’t like.
“We ask for the upmost respect for those who have decided not to demonstrate and urge those who do protest to do so peacefully and not interrupt other citizens and visitors.”
Foreign tourists were booed and jeered by some locals as they ate evening meals on terraces in Palma’s Weyler Square during the last protest in the Majorcan capital on May 25.
Organisers ended up making a public apology afterwards due to the poor behaviour demonstrated.
Earlier this month tourists were sprayed with water pistols in Barcelona by demonstrators during a protest there against tourist massification.
Locals marched along a waterfront district of the city with their furious slogan “Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism”.
Last night the Melia Palma Bay Hotel was one of a number of buildings in Palma lit up with messages of support for this evening’s protest.
A neon message on the front of the hotel, which appeared around 10pm, said: “Let’s put limits on tourism.”
Anti-tourist measures sweeping hotspots
A WAVE of anti-tourist measures are being implemented across Europe to curb mass tourism in popular holiday hotspots.
Overcrowding has become the main problem in many sunny destinations, with authorities trying to find a solution to keep tourists and locals happy.
Officials have attempted to reduce the impact of holidaymakers by implementing additional taxes on tourists, or banning new hotels.
Earlier this year Venice became the first city in the world to charge an entry fee for holidaymakers after it started charging day-trippers €5 (£4.30) if visiting the historical Italian centre.
It was followed by an area in Barcelona which resorted to removing a well-used bus route from Apple and Google Maps to stop crowds of tourists from using the bus.
Meanwhile, San Sebastián in the north of Spain, limited the maximum number of people on guided visits to 25 to avoid congestion, noise, nuisance and overcrowding.
The city has already banned the construction of new hotels.
The Spanish government has allowed restaurants to charge customers more for sitting in the shade in Andalucia.
Benidorm has introduced time restrictions, as swimming in the sea between midnight and 7am could cost a whopping £1,000.
The Canary Islands are also considering adopting measures to regulate the number of visitors – and charge tourists a daily tax.
Greece has already enforced a tourist tax during the high season (from March to October) with visitors expected to pay from €1 (£0.86) to €4 (£3.45) per night, depending on the booked accommodation.
Officials in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia want to introduce a fee for travellers to remind people to be courteous during their trips.
