Locals in Majorca are fuming as a picturesque beach has been ‘overrun’ by tourists. The authorities have blamed the impact of social media influencers who have been used to divert visitors away from the island’s hotspots.
Caló des Moro, a tiny cove in the south east of Majorca, attracted around 4,000 visitors last year after influencers started posting videos labelling it the island’s “best kept secret”. Despite being hard to access and having a maximum capacity of around 100 people, tourists continued to flood the cove rather than the nearby Es Trenc beach which boasts two kilometres of fine sand and plenty of parking. It forced locals to stage a protest which pressured outsiders to leave.
Martí Picornell, Head of Communications at the local Santanyi Town Council, said: “The Santanyí Tourism Department hasn’t used the image of Caló des Moro for publicity purposes in years. Local residents are exhausted by the situation, which is why the decision was taken.
“This unwanted social media coverage is the worst. People go to the cove just to take selfies and nothing more.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Balearic tourism department said the attempt to stifle overtourism through the use of influencers “had the completely opposite effect to what was intended and runs contrary to government policy on containing tourism.”
The local authority has also removed all images of Caló des Moro from its website. As well as disgruntled locals, heavy footfall to the cove is having an environmental impact.
Sergio Ruiz Halpern, a marine biologist at Save the Med, explained: “Caló des Moro is a paradise, not just for humans. It harbours rich and biodiverse ecosystems. The sheer volume of visitors in peak season crushes native land and sea ecosystems alike. We simply cannot sustain this level of pressure.”
Isabel Moreno Castillo, also a marine biologist, and former Head of Biology at the University of the Balearics (UIB), added: “Beaches are constantly shifting ecosystems – they change every single day, shaped by the wind and the waves.
“When beach-goers step on the fragile, endemic plants that hold the sand in place, that stability is lost and even a gentle breeze can begin to erode the beach.”
Meanwhile, Ibiza has already set a daily cap of 20,000 tourist and rental vehicles until September 30 in a bid to fight overtourism. They have also restricted access to certain beaches.