Palma Protests Erupt Against Overtourism

Some 20,000 protesters hit the streets of Palma in Mallorca for a mass demonstration against overtourism, demanding changes to a touristic model they say is harming the Spanish Mediterranean island. 

Under the slogan "Let's change course and set limits on tourism", the demonstrators formed a sea of brightly-coloured flags and banners as they surged through the city's most visited streets, in the latest in a wave of mass anti-tourism protests in Spain. 

"Your luxury, our misery," read one sign, while another placard said: "This isn't tourism phobia, it's numbers: 1,232,014 residents, 18 million tourists."

The protests were called by some 80 organizations and social groups who want limits to be placed on excessive tourism in the Balearic Isles, whose main three islands are Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza. 

They say the current model of tourism has stretched public services to breaking point, harms natural resources and makes local access to housing increasingly difficult.

Organizers claimed that 50,000 joined the protests, with police estimating 20,000 participants. Earlier, the central government's delegation in the islands had said 12,000.

Last year, a record 17.8 million people visited the Balearic Islands, from mainland Spain and abroad, and the figures are expected to be even higher this year. 

The demonstration followed another mass protest across the archipelago's three main islands at the end of May, in which many thousands of marchers hit the streets to demand steps to limit over tourism under the slogan: "Our islands are not for sale". 

After Catalonia, the Balearic Islands was the second most popular region of Spain for tourists last year, attracting 14.4 million holidaymakers, the Spanish National Statistics Institute said.

In the first quarter of this year, 16.1 million people visited Spain, an increase of 18% compared with the same period last year.