While Arran, which is defined as a Marxist youth organisation that is committed to political and economic independence and reunification of the Catalan Countries, continues to fuel anti-tourism stunts such as vandalising superyachts, luxury cars and restaurants in Ibiza and Mallorca every once in a while, the war against tourism in Mallorca appears to have died down. The new centre-right Partido Popular government has changed the narrative to a more welcoming and positive one, as we saw at the World Travel Market in London.
However, despite tourism having generated massive wealth for many individuals and become the main economy for the Balearics and numerous others parts of Spain, it has become the root cause of some serious problems such as over saturation and a strain on natural resources and the environment.
That said, the Balearics is now taking a more proactive and mature approach to resolving some of the problems without pointing the finger directly at tourists, in particular antisocial ones, with the blame more often than not directed at the Brits.
But Spain’s other popular island destination, the Canaries, is up in arms over mass tourism and it’s getting a bit tasty.
Slogans like “Tourists go home” have started to pop up in various resorts in Tenerife, which is currently enjoying its winter peak season, and protesting locals have demanded an “eco-tax” for tourists to offset the “irreparable” damage they have caused to the island.
Both social and environmental groups took part in a recent protest waving signs that read “The Canaries are no longer a paradise” and “The Canaries are not for sale”.
It’s a very dangerous game to play, especially when the world continues to get ever smaller when it comes to travel and other factors like climate change and cost have to be taken into account.
Moving forward, potential tourists have numerous matters to take into account when booking, the last thing they need is to told to stay away.