The Fòrum de la Societat Civil has collected some 200 proposals from the debate at the congress on tourist saturation held last month in Palma, where several organisations have proposed that foreigners should only be able to buy property if they are resident on the islands. This was announced today, Wednesday, at a press conference by the organisation’s spokesperson, Jaume Garau, who stressed the importance of banning tourist rentals in multi-family dwellings.
The organisation, among the measures it proposes to alleviate the housing emergency in the Balearics, has proposed that foreigners who want to buy a home on the islands should be required to have resided in the community for a number of years. Among the proposals that emerged from this congress, which was attended by some 180 people and up to 15 speakers, Garau referred to the need to recover the historic centres of the localities of the islands, which have changed their form in recent times due to tourism.
The 17 social and non-profit organisations that make up this group to rebuild the islands and pass on these proposals to the government see it as essential to stop promoting tourism in the region and to establish an obsolescence index to transform old and obsolete hotels into housing and other facilities, such as cultural, technological and health infrastructures.
Another of the measures included by the organisation is to establish a tourist saturation index, in which a maximum number of visitors per resident in the Balearics can be established, and that the tax on tourist activities should increase “quite a lot”, especially during the peak months of June to October, so that the community has money to invest in diversifying the economy, Garau said.
This civil forum also sees it as “fundamental” that civil society, which has hundreds of organisations on the islands, “must be better represented in the public bodies that decide things”, in Garau’s words, and he also called for greater transparency. The Fòrum de la Societat Civil on the islands has called for a proposal for a law guaranteeing that the structures of civil society will be financed by the institutions, as “they have a public function and must be correctly represented in public bodies”.
Another of the conclusions that this entity will convey to the government in the working groups to be held by the executive led by Balearic president Marga Prohens is that in any tourism proposal on the islands “the local language and culture should be perfectly represented”, as Garau defended in his speech. He insisted that these proposals, which emerged from the congress with political representatives and social agents on June 26 in Palma, are strategic proposals and that “all of them are very important” in the face of an “evident” situation marked by an “unsustainable” tourism system, something that “nobody disputes, not even the government”.
Garau stressed that there is only one alternative, which is to reduce volumes. “We are talking about decreasing the tourist sector and making other sectors grow, such as the health and agri-food sectors, among others,” he said. “If we decrease little by little it will be easier for everyone. We must return to a sustainable balance, which has existed on these islands, and to an inclusive transition system,” he reiterated.
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Reading the comments i see, the brits and the foreigners still thinking they know better than the local people, what exactly they need ...
Clearly there needs to be changes to the tourism model, but those protesting appear to have a short memory with regards to the past global crashes and the more recent post Covid scenario, where the island and general population at large were crying in their ensaimadas for the return of the tourists! The Mallorquin family property sales would decline substantially since the residents would not be able to afford the prices - and then who would be gnashing their teeth? Is this really the answer?! How about reframing the problem of not being the tourists themselves, but the system as a whole? The greed of the local businesses, hiking up their prices so that we are amongst the most expensive destinations in Europe, and not passing on any of the profits to the employees, who are largely paid the same as they were 10-15 years ago. Additionally, what about a more sustainable housing solution by the government, and better welfare system? I could add, what about making the Autonomos less ridiculous, so that self-employed individuals can afford to be self-employed, when they can often earn very little to nothing on a bad month, yet the Government are still holding out their hands insisting on a substantial monthly sum? The list is endless - but let's try to see some sense here and not cut our noses off to spite our face! Just saying.........
Just a minor point - as a member country of the EU this would contraviene the law. The Balearics and Spain as a whole receive more financially aid from the EU than they give. So, does Mallorca plan to leave ?? That went well for the UK didn’t it ?!?!?! And they gave more than they took - financially. Cut the EU funding, ohhh and the money from tourists slashed. Plus, the housing market would collapse (does anyone remember the last crash at all???). So all the benefits of the last recession, plus covid - with no EU support. Is that the plan? Everyone with a little understanding of the islands gets it that over tourism needs to be addressed. But I just wish the politicians and media would stop banging on about these ridiculous ideas. Simply put - they’re illegal and even if you could get round that - they’d spell disaster.
That'll likely trigger a buying spree in the next couple of years. I'm getting old, and keeping it running is a lot of work, so I'm thinking of selling up. Maybe I'll accelerate that thinking. One thing I can be quite sure of .. whomever buys won't be Mallorquin or any of the protestors. And they'll likely pay asking price or bid higher against others. Especially if there's a time limit.
This argument is a good one - "to proposed that foreigners who want to buy a home on the islands should be required to have resided in the community for a number of years" so my point here is if you should stay multiple years on the Island you would acquire a rented apartment, occupying affordable housing for the locals. Not exactly helping out the shortage, I would say this is a own goal and Spanish logic at high level
So an extra tax to offset the damage caused by tourism. Heaven forbid that the windfall income from tourism, currently 45% of GDP ($35 billion for the Balearics - so larger than that of Iceland, Cyprus or Malta) might be used to diversify the economy.
This is a no brainer , same in Austria Well done
If the Protest Movement continue to cause increasing fear and problems. Then perhaps Foreigners will not want to live here , to buy property.
Freedom of movement to live work and abide in any member state. Freedom to own good, property and use goods and property in member state. So that’s 480 million foreigners. Ill not dwell on international obligations.
Zoltan TeglasLike they used to in the good old days before they got insanely greedy.