Residents of a Spanish town admit they “scared tourists away” after overtourism protests led to a steep decline in tourist numbers. Soller Valley, on the island of Majorca, has had tourism at the heart of the local economy for decades, with hotels, bars and restaurants providing jobs and drawing in visitors from across the world.
However, the town, like many parts of Spain, has seen a growing dissatisfaction with the tourism industry, with foreign visitors blamed for rising property prices, increases in anti-social behaviour and a strain on public services. A wave of protests across Spain have seen tourists told to “go home”, but some residents in the Soller Valley worry that the message might have been heeded. One hotel owner told the Majorca Daily Bulletin: “We’ve scared the tourists away.
“I wouldn’t want to spend my holidays in a place where I don’t feel welcome.”
A waiter in a local restaurant that relies on tourism explained that the region had struggled to attract visitors in the numbers of previous years.
They said: “Except on weekends or rainy days, there’s not much going on here; we’re just waiting around, and it’s been like this since May.”
The view is backed up by data with Majorcan officials reporting a drop in visitor numbers across the Balearic Islands following several large anti-tourism protests.
According to the Mallorca Hotel Business Federation (FEHM), municipalities such as Soller are seeing noticeable declines in tourist activity whilst the Majorca Daily Bulletin says industry representatives across the hotel, hospitality and transport sectors have reported a decrease in tourist footfall.
Pedro Oliver, the president of the College of Tour Guides, said his excursion sales have fallen 20% this summer, with the worst-affected areas being Valldemossa, Palma, and Port Soller.
He said: “The anti-tourism messages are resonating. If you generate negative news, which has repercussions in other countries, tourists opt for other destinations when choosing their holidays.
“We are sending the message that we don’t want tourists and that everything is too crowded.”
Juanmi Ferrer, the leader of the Restaurants Association in Mallorca (CAEB), has warned that fewer visitors could lead to restaurants across the island being forced to close this year.
Some areas are seeing up to a 40% drop in customers, and in a highly unusual move, restaurants in traditionally busy tourist towns like Soller are granting holiday leave to staff in the middle of peak season.
In June, as many as 10,000 people took to the streets of Palma to demand an end to the “touristification” of the region.
They called on local authorities to do more to combat the impact of tourism whilst also telling potential visitors to stay away.