Protesters have taken to the streets on the Spanish island of Mallorca to demonstrate against overtourism.
Organised by Moviment Jove de Sóller (Sóller Youth Movement) and Menys Turisme, Més Vida (Less Tourism, More Life), local people lined the streets with signs and placards in the town of Sóller on Saturday, 8 August.
The protest came two weeks after tens of thousands joined a march in the capital, Palma de Mallorca.
Saturday’s turnout in Sóller was estimated to be around 1,000 protesters, according to the Guardia Civil, however the organisers put this number closer to 2,500.
Protesters met at Plaça dels Estiradors before marching down Sóller’s main thoroughfare, Carrer de la Lluna, before ending outside the town hall, where the organisation’s manifesto was read aloud by campaigners.
The manifesto said that university students are often late for class because the roads are saturated with visitors, working people cannot afford homes due to steep rent increases and small businesses are replaced by companies designed exclusively for tourist consumption.
It added that the people of Soller have given up going to the port or the town square in the summer and also outlined concerns that excess boat traffic damaged the island’s marine ecosystems.
The groups requested that institutions to listen to their demands and adhere to their “constitutional obligations”.
Sofía, speaking on behalf of the Sóller Youth Movement, said that the demonstration “is not against tourism or against tourists”.
“It is against the economic model of tourism-driven monoculture that makes residents feel like strangers in our own homes, prevents us from accessing decent housing, and reduces our culture to little more than a backdrop,” she said, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Market stalls and displays outside businesses in the centre of Sóller had been removed during the demonstration at the request of the government to ensure public safety along the protest route.
Overtourism protests have become common during the past few summers in Mallorca, as well as across other tourist hotspots in Spain.
Local governments have started to introduce measures to try and quell the effects tourists are having on the area.
Last year, the mayor of Palma announced that all types of tourist rentals will be prohibited to try to combat illegal accommodation. Meanwhile, Sóller also introduced some “resident-only” traffic zones in the town centre to try and direct tourists to visitor car parks.
Read more: Residents of Mallorca, Spain march against mass tourism
