Spain has last Sunday once again seen tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets to voice their opposition and anger to mass tourism. Last year, the Mediterranean country saw another record breaking year in terms of foreign visitor arrivals. A whopping 94 million tourists descended on the country, despite ongoing protests and growing hostility towards visitors.
This year has already seen a number of demonstrations in Barcelona, Granada, Palma and Ibiza. Activists in Majorca previously told the Express that they plan to target tourists directly over the summer, as they step up their campaigns against mass tourism.
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“In Palma, we’ll do another campaign of actions and protests about the problem of tourism, because the number of tourists is increasing every year,” Pere Joan – a member of the Menys Turisme Més Vida – said.
“The message we are trying to convey is ‘don’t come to Majorca’. And this can be done by creating bad publicity, by taking action that can make tourists feel uncomfortable.”
When asked whether this would mean targeting tourists individually, the activist replied: “Yeah, we think so. I want to let you know that it’s a possible strategy to get our goals.
“If politicians don’t do it (take action), I don’t know what else we can do, because many people here are angry.”