During the protest organised by the “Less Tourism, More Life organisation, demonstrators held signs with messages like ‘’Your luxury, our misery’.
Many locals protested on Sunday evening in the capital of Palma in Mallorca against the millions of tourists that descend on the Spanish Mediterranean Island every summer.
According to local observers, the turnout was slightly lower than the large demonstration held eight weeks ago, when organisers estimated around 25,000 participants.
During the protest organised by the “Less Tourism, More Life organisation, demonstrators held signs with messages like ‘’Your luxury, our misery’.
According to the poster advertising the protest representing the islands, almost one million residents showed private jets, cruise ships and luxury yachts, all circling the island like a swarm of flies.
However, the Balearic Islands have a resident population of almost 1.2 million.
Last year, 18 million holidaymakers visited, 4.6 million from Germany and 3.4 million from the United Kingdom.
According to police reports, just eight weeks ago, 10,000 people took to the streets of Palma under the slogans ‘Enough is enough!’ and ‘Mallorca Is Not for Sale!’.
The organisers claimed there were 25,000 participants.
There have also been demonstrations against ever-increasing mass tourism in other Spanish tourist hotspots, such as Barcelona and Málaga, as well as on the Canary Islands.
Spanish media have reported on the conditions facing the locals.
“I work in maintaining a luxury villa for English people and earn between €1,500 [$1,630] and €1,800 a month,” a resident of Ibiza told El Pais newspaper.
He moved out of his home in February, unable to pay monthly rent for a room of around €1,000. Since then, he has been sleeping in a caravan behind a Swedish furniture outlet and showering at a friend’s place.
His neighbours, also in caravans, earn similar amounts.
“Welcome to Ibiza,” El Pais wrote, describing the two worlds of top nightclubs and life in the parking area.
Regional government head Marga Prohens told local media that she had an understanding of the protests.
“But I ask that these demonstrations do not turn into vandalism against holidaymakers and residents, the way they did in Barcelona,” she said.
The Barcelona protesters sprayed patrons at restaurants used by tourists with water pistols and waved placards with ‘Tourists go home. You are not welcome’, written in English.
