‘Kill a tourist’ – this is the graffito plastered on a wall in the Spanish island of Mallorca.
Spain’s movement against uncontrolled mass tourism has reached a point of no return after protests first began in the spring of 2024.
Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga and the Canary Islands are just some of the destinations where demonstrations have taken place.
Locals blame tourists for pricing them out of their homes by driving up housing costs, gentrification and environmental degradation.
The words ‘Kill a tourist’ emerged across several locations in the town of Manacor, in Mallorca, according to Mallorca Daily Bulletin.
The centre right Partido Popular party of Manacor denounced the vandalism on Tuesday, insisting that tourists are welcome.
PP spokesperson, Maria Antònia Sansó, stressed that ‘the graffiti do not represent, in any case, the majority feeling of the residents of Manacor’.
She insisted that the party understands the growing social unrest in relation to the tourist overcrowding, but denounced this behaviour as ‘totally unjustified’.
Spain recorded an additional 24 million tourists in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period the previous year, representing an annual increase of 14.5%.
The country had already registered an all-time high in international visitors last year.
The number of tourists has also skyrocketed in Mallorca. In 2023, the total number of tourists increased by a staggering 1.3 million to 17.8 million.
This year, it was forecast that it will rise by a further two million, reaching 20 million.
Just 10 days ago, about 10,000 protesters took part in a demonstration against tourism on the island.
Pere Joan Femenia, of Menys Turisme, Mas Vida (Less Tourism, More Life) which organised the event, said: ‘Mass tourism is making it difficult for local people who cannot afford to live on their own island because tourist flats push up prices.
‘Tourists fill up beaches and put a strain on public services in the summer.
‘We want to cut mass tourism and to ban non-residents from buying houses which are just used for a few months a year or for speculation.’
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