Spain holiday warning: Hotel boss warns anti-tourism protests 'could happen' in holiday hotspot Majorca

A hotel boss in popular holiday destination Majorca has warned that anti-tourist protests could spread to the hotspot as the island is flooded with too many visitors. It comes as anti-tourist graffiti has been popping up in Majorca saying "Tourist Go Home".

The words ‘Go Home Tourist’ were written in English over a wall underneath a real estate promotion billboard in the neighbourhood Nou Llevant where most homes were bought by Germans. Island newspaper Diario de Mallorca described it as the first example of tourism-phobia in Nou Llevant, and said it was targeted at the neighbourhood’s “new foreign residents”.

CEO of Blau Hotels, which has two luxury hotels in the east and south coast of Majorca, Joan Pla, claimed that houses built for locals were instead being purchased by foreigners as holiday homes and he "wasn't surprised" by the huge outcry over tourism after thousands took to the streets in Tenerife. He cited the rising cost of living and mass tourism as problems in Majorca.

He told local newspaper Ultima Hora: "It’s clear that the eruption of Airbnb had a huge impact on the decline, but now we’re in another phase in which the homes that are built for residents are bought by foreigners to spend a few months in. All this makes us lose sight of where we are going.

"There is nothing sustainable about the number of people coming to the islands and the high consumption of resources we have. I am not surprised there are demonstrations like the ones in the Canary Islands, which could also happen here."

Fede Fuster, head of local hotel association HOSBEC, also branded holiday homes "a virus". In a speech in the Costa Blanca resort of Altea, he said: “We watched with concern how people in the Canary Islands protested a few days ago against the ‘negative’ effects of tourism.

“This is serious, it should worry us and occupy our minds. The delicate balance between tourists and residents that we have been able to maintain for decades has been broken.”

On April 20, huge protests were staged across the Canary Islands to crackdown on over-tourism. marches were organised under the slogan "The Canary Islands have a limit”. "Your tourism our misery" and "tourists not welcome" slogans were plastered on the walls all over Tenerife. 

In response, the government introduced a new eco tax which looks to regulate the number of foreign visitors by charging them a daily fee. The island's council confirmed the new tax system will come into effect from January 1, 2025 and will be applied to all the famous nature sites that are protected, including Teide volcano.