Environmentalists GOB are insisting that the Council of Mallorca drops the promotion of the lighthouse hiking route that follows the coast from Cala Ratjada to Puerto Andratx. GOB maintain that this route will lead to "a very significant increase in human pressure on the coast and will intensify the touristification of natural spaces".
The organisation has made submissions regarding the management plan for this hiking route, considering that it is a "fallacy" to suggest that it will not increase the number of tourists but instead contribute to a "change of the tourism model". GOB argue that any new offer will lead to increased pressure on resources and believe that an aim to increase tourists in the low season will not result in a change, if the pressure in the summer isn't reduced.
GOB are critical of the plan for a variety of reasons. One is that it doesn't estimate the number of expected users or identify the carrying capacity of different sections through which the route runs. "But it is evident that the creation and promotion of a recreational offer of this type will generate a very significant increase in the number of people." They also believe that the route will encourage the use of off-road bicycles and horses on ways that until now have basically been for pedestrian use.
The plan, in GOB's opinion, has "many shortcomings at a technical level" and in its analysis of "environmental repercussions".