The big question. With all the talk of tax rises and possible protests will you still come on holiday to Mallorca? The Yes vote is winning but only slightly!
Has Mallorca gone too far?
Not a week seems to go by at the moment without the local authorities planning or proposing a new tax or surcharge which would be paid by tourists. The Balearic government is proposing raising the rate of the tourist tax and is even pondering a surcharge on hire cars.
Anti mass tourism march in Palma
Hundreds of people are marching through the streets calling for an end to mass tourism in Mallorca.
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As a former property owner on the island, it was not the overcrowding that I found unbearable, rather it was the thoroughly miserable looking tourists that crammed the pavements and outdoor cafés. I could never understand why it was almost impossible to see anyone smiling or laughing. Don’t believe me? try looking at all photographs on here featuring huge and crowded cafe terraces and spot the people who have broad smiles or even the merest hint of merriment in their eyes or demeanour.
tranq tranquerStop talking sense - it won't go down well with many here.
Burgundy BluePerhaps the time has come to consult tourists on how they would like to see their favourite holiday isle in 10 years time? I would like the island to be like other tourist areas I visit - with as few people as humanly possible so that I can enjoy the location like a local just passing by. No crowds, no jams and congestion ( except maybe rush hours which is universally normal) wearing clothes that are not patently touristic - just blending in. Now the only time that idill is achievable is in the first phase of a tourist location. When tourists mix with locals, there is no demarcation of areas, this country that country. Tourists have a harder time because fewer locals speak anything except their own language, forcing tourists to make an effort to communicate. Since you asked that is my kind of tourism. For Mallorca those days are in the stone age , the early and mid sixties. As for asking tourists how they want our chosen home to be - they can take a running jump ( my mind said something stronger with f's in it)
In PalmaIt’s the blight affecting “Red top” journalism. Sensationalise everything, which is especially easy with negative news. As the old adage goes: Bad news is good news. Unfortunately some of the supposed journos at the MDB unwittingly, or otherwise, continue to comply with that ancient Fleet Street mantra.
Thanks for an important article. The Bulletin can play an important role in providing a Mallorca positive view, being read and referred to in many countries. Thus write more on all the positive developments like the Tramuntana hiking trail GR 221 being completed this week. And not acting as the voice of the anti-tourism far left.
I lived in Mallorca with work in the good old pre brexit days, 15 years ago. It still feels like home on the many times I have returned. I think some of my fellow brits behaviour sadly fails woefully and cant blame the local people not wanting this on their shores; Many tourists visit but wont really know the Island having sat on a beach drinking all day and night. I hope a solution can be found in these awful times where global recession and problems affect us all ; personally would visit anytime of the year and would avoid the hotter summer months when many visit. mañana será un mejor día...
I'm guessing in the vast majority of those voting here are British, and considering the plethora of fury and outrage Mallorca articles implying anti-British sentiment trotted out almost daily in British tabloids, I would have expected the results to be overwhelmingly "no". But maybe there are more non-British readers of this rag than one might think.
A question How many of the protesters are Mallorquin and how many have gone to Mallorca from the mainland thus swelling the population of the island for work? But, when I see signs saying tourists go home immigrants welcome….. I’m baffled!
“ Today, we ask our readers to vote so that we can judge opinion amongst the people who matter, the holidaymaker.” And there we have it, folks. The editor of the MDB thinks residents on the island are not readers - and if they are - then their views don’t count. Hang your heads in shame.
Hopefully it will put off a significant number of tourists. A drop of around 10% in the summer would be welcome by the vast majority of the population.