Tourist troubles in Mallorca

Tourism fuels Mallorca — but is the price too high?

Many tourists don’t seem to appreciate the impact of unreasonable behaviour | Photo: MDB Digital

Peter CloverPalma 20/06/2025 10:16

Mallorca undoubtedly benefits from tourism, and will always entertain its honoured visitors from abroad with hospitality and enthusiasm. I only wish that some of the many visitors to our shores would extend the same respect to the local residents. Naturally, the bustling coastal resorts are geared up for the onslaught of mass tourism. However, those who choose to veer away from the busier, noisier enclaves and support Airbnb with bookings in village homes etc. should realise that they are choosing to spend their vacation in quiet residential areas which never freely elected to share their chosen environment with noisy and often raucous holidaymakers who suddenly turn up on their discreet doorsteps!

Naturally, families on holiday will always make some noise! Yet sadly, excessive, high-pitched squeals and excited screams from young children inevitably go unchecked by poolside parents, who are determined to enjoy their own vacation, regardless of the effect their presence is having on the dynamic of a previously peaceful community. Immediate neighbours simply don’t stand a chance, or have any choice – that’s the legacy of holiday lets! It seems that parents who don’t want to spend their family holiday in a noisy hotel complex have no problem whatsoever in sharing their boisterous brood with the locals of a quiet, residential community!

Traditionally, many locals take a ‘siesta’ in the afternoons, especially during the hotter months, (a concept most tourists fail to understand), and no consideration is ever applied by rowdy visitors heavily locked into holiday mode. And woe betide anyone who dares tell them to keep the noise levels down! It’s an afront, and not something any tourist ever wants to hear or take on board!

It’s the same with the growing discontent over cyclists. Mallorca welcomes the sport wholeheartedly, yet is falling victim to the excessive influx of enthusiasts who quite frankly treat our island like a giant cycling park that’s totally marketed for their use and at their personal disposal. Many tourists don’t seem to appreciate the impact of unreasonable behaviour. After all, they’re on holiday so the residents of Mallorca should just suck it all up! Really?

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Edgar Broughton | 20 days ago

It's the same situation with Welsh, Cornish, Devonian and Yorshire Dales holiday homes, air bnb, YMCA hostels and cosy family hotels in small countryside communities. But let's not forget it takes two to tango. For every foreign client, tennant or guest there's a local owner. Did the local owner's neighbours ever say to him/her? "Good luck with your new business centred in our little neighbourhood, but how will you guarantee the good behaviour of your customers?" My point is that of course it is the responsibility of the holidaymaker to behave themselves, but the person making the profit takes some responsibility also if things go wrong.

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LovedSoller | 20 days ago

And so the positive suggestions to arrest the terminal decline of the island are what?

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