Nearly five weeks after a wave of anti-tourism and in some cases pro-refugee slogans were sprayed on listed buildings and key locations in the old historic quarter of Palma, the last of the insulting messages were today being removed by the Emaya municipal services agency.
The graffiti certainly caused controversy. In Majorca, political parties on both sides condemned the it, while the graffiti made front-page news in the UK and Germany. Some tourism sources did come forward claiming that they could understand that some residents of Palma were perhaps a little angry and frustrated by the city centre being overtaken by tens of thousands of tourists, especially when six or seven large cruise ships arrive in Palma on the same day. They nevertheless strongly rejected the manner in which this frustration was being expressed.
There were complaints from residents associations, the business community and of course the tourist industry that the council had not taken action to remove all of the slogans earlier. However, as the Bulletin explained this week, listed buildings come under the control of the Council of Majorca. Agreement needed to be reached to allow Emaya to take responsibility for cleaning the exterior of private buildings, which is normally up to the owners.
The minister for tourism and vice-president of the Balearics, Biel Barceló, told the Bulletin that he cannot control the feelings and sentiments of a minority and that mass tourism and the sudden development of Palma as a major international city destination is not going to please everyone.
However, he also said that the city council and the tourism authorities were doing their best to ease the pressure the increase in tourism is causing for the city, the traffic and its natural resources in order that everybody can live in harmony and that the city’s tourism industry can continue to grow for the benefit of everybody.