Is a protest march by 20,000 people through the streets of Palma on a hot Sunday afternoon in July enough to drive through radical change to the tourist industry? On an island with a population rapidly approaching the one million mark, 20,000 appears to be a drop in the ocean but how many people support the protesters but elected to stay away for a variety of reasons?
What struck me about the anti-tourism march on Sunday was that the majority of people taking part were Mallorcans, people born and bred on Mallorca. The language of the march was Mallorcan, I heard little Castilian Spanish. These days the island population is made up of Mallorcans, Spaniards (people born outside the island but who now live here) and foreigners. The Mallorcans are not known for being very vocal (just go to the Son Moix stadium where Real Mallorca play and sometimes you could hear a pin drop!).
In my experience the Mallorcans are people who don’t often raise their head above the parapet. But on Sunday they did. It was Mallorcans marching for change because they do not feel at home on their own island. I think many local residents will support some of their complaints, a lack of affordable housing, too many people, public services under strain.
But others won’t, especially people from the mainland who have made Mallorca their home or who come here during the summer months to work the season. A vast number of non-Mallorca born mainlanders work in the tourist industry on the island. As far as I could see they didn’t march on Sunday. This was strictly a Mallorcan affair. It was a cry for help from people who see their island in peril.
So why are Mallorcans, many of whom live in villages and towns outside the tourists areas and who have never visited Magalluf or Playa de Palma, getting so upset and calling for change? It is a difficult question to answer but mass tourism has now engulfed much of the island, unlike 15 years ago when it was usually just confined to the tourist resorts. Tourism has even come to the most remote island villages.
The Balearic government are under pressure to make changes and try and find ways to curb tourism but at the same time without breaking European Union law. It is almost impossible to stop a German or a Frenchman from buying a home on the island because it would break most European Union laws. And can the Balearic government curb fellow European Union citizens from coming on holiday to the island? I don’t think so.
The sensible approach would be to have a better distribution of tourists throughout the year. At the moment the vast majority of tourists come to the island during a three-month period.
This is quite normal because it is peak season but our weather is usually good for at least nine months of the year, so in theory tourism could be better distributed. The same could be said with cruise ships. Better having two a day throughout the week than four on a Saturday and Sunday.
I don’t feel that Sunday´s march was a a storm in a tea cup. It was a cry for help and understanding. Mallorca is not against tourists; it is against having too many during three months of the year.