A youth movement on a Spanish island has shared an ‘anti-tourist’ video in which photos of public officials and hoteliers were set on fire. The chilling clip is likely to have prompted a response from tourism workers in Majorca, with local hoteliers launching a campaign to make tourists feel welcome. The Arran Majorca movement called on youth mobilisation against tourism, saying: “With tourism, locals are losing out. Young people: get organised.”
The group says on its social media that it is the assembly of Arran Jovent in Majorca — Arran Jovent is a leftist youth movement linked to a party campaigning for Catalan independence, according to reports. The video shared was in Catalan and also showed graffiti vandalism to the headquarters of the tourism ministry in Palma de Majorca — the capital of Majorca and the Balearic Islands. In the video, the group is translated as saying: “It is no longer enough to just talk about limiting population while the Majorcan society continues to grow, it needs to decrease now and we cannot wait any longer.”
“We are not proud that our island has been sold to Escarrer, Barcelo or Fluxa,” the group said in a reference to hoteliers Gabriel Escarrer, Simón Pedro Barceló and Miguel Fluxà.
The group also said: “We are fed up and ready to face it! The political class is responsible for our misery. They have put economic interests above our lives and have given Majorca away to private capital. With tourism, local are losing out. Young people: get organised.”
The graffiti on the tourism building in Palma has been reported to the national police, and an investigation is also underway to determine whether the video possibly constitutes a hate crime, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reports.
According to the English-language newspaper, the graffiti has already been removed from the building.
On X, formerly Twitter, Arran Majorca captioned the video: “We demand change, we demand decrease!”
“We young women are being pushed into poverty while hoteliers are making a fortune thanks to the political class,” it said in the translated post.
“We are fed up with our land being commercialised, while the working class is always the one who suffers the most.”
Majorca and the Balearic Islands are among the most popular destinations for holidaymakers in the Mediterranean.
Concerns over the level of tourism on the islands and other holiday hotspots across the region have been growing in recent years.
There were a series of protests against mass tourism last year and thousands took part in a demonstration in Palma last month.
Some tourists were reportedly surrounded and jeered by a small group of protesters.
Campaigners have blamed mass tourism for issues such as skyrocketing housing prices and rises in the cost of living.
More than 2.3 million Britons visit Majorca each year which is famous for its beaches, warm weather and cuisine.
Hoteliers on the island announced on Sunday, the day after the release of the chilling video from Arran, they will launch a pro-tourism campaign amid growing concerns that anti-tourism sentiments are affecting trade, according to reports.
Javier Vich, president of the Majorca Hotel Federation, said they want “to convey that we are a welcoming land, with a vocation for tourism, and to thank them for choosing us”.