Protest in Mallorca: 8,000 demand less tourism, more life!

Protest in Mallorca: 8,000 demand less tourism, more life!

The Balearic Islands are in 2025, since a record -breaking number of over 20 million visitors is expected. However, this also triggers massive protest in Mallorca, where today, on June 16, 2025, around 8,000 people in Palma took to the streets against exuberant mass tourism. The demonstration started on Plaça d’spanya and found her end to the passough del Born.

The campaign was organized by the initiative "Menys Turisme, Més Vida" ("Less tourism, more life"). The participants passionately chanted slogans like "Whoever loves Mallorca, don't destroy them!" And called for a drastic limitation of the number of visitors and a moratorium for cruise ships. Jaume Pujol, the spokesman for the initiative, criticized the regional government sharply for its ignorance and the inadequate measures to promote sustainable tourism practices.

protest from various motives

The increase in tourism also has negative side effects. In particular, housing costs on the island have risen sharply in recent years, which leads to an acute shortage of housing. The participants of the protests came from all parts of the island and focused on the difficulties that locals are now experiencing. Locals have to move into the hinterland due to the high prices, which is often associated with long pendulum times and traffic jams that are still exacerbated by tourism traffic.

according to reports from the "Diario de Mallorca", the number of demonstrators exceeded the initial expectations. Many protesters argue that landlords increasingly tend to rent real estate to tourists instead of to locals due to the lucrative holiday rentals. As a result, local people often have to put up with uncertain living conditions and high rental prices.

economic effects of tourism

The economic figures show that tourism plays an important role for Mallorca. In 2024, around 13.5 million tourists on the islands spent a total of 22.4 billion euros, which corresponds to an increase of 12% compared to the previous year. Tourism now has a share of over 40% of Mallorca's total income.

Against the background of increasing criticism of mass tourism, protests take place not only in Mallorca, but also in other Spanish cities, such as Barcelona. These movements show that concerns about the negative consequences of tourism and the quality of life of the locals are of great importance. Some of the protesters in Palma wore the banner "Mallorca is not to be sold", which underlines their determination to defend themselves against the commercialization of their homeland.

How these dynamics will develop remains to be seen, but dissatisfaction on the island becomes clear, while the number of tourism continues to rise.