Environmentalists GOB have called a protest on Saturday to demand limits on cruise ships and cruise tourism. It will be staged on the steps of the Cathedral from 11.30am and coincide with protests in other Spanish port cities. GOB say that the Spanish government's June 7 decision to lift the ban on cruise ships (for Covid reasons) has prompted the protests.
In Palma, Més, one of the three parties which form the administration at the town hall, were critical of the welcome committee for Mein Schiff 2 on Thursday, headed by tourism minister Iago Negueruela (PSOE). The party suggests that nothing has been learned from the pandemic and the over-dependence on tourism.
GOB point to Palma being the city in Europe with the second highest pollution from "mega-cruise ships". Limiting this type of ship and its type of cruise tourism, the environmentalists add, would be in line with fulfilling climate obligations.
In 2019, there were eleven million cruise passengers on 4,236 ships which docked at the main Mediterranean ports and those of the Canaries. Spain, GOB maintain, has the second highest level of greenhouse gas emissions from cruise ships in Europe.