Balearic environmental group GOB has organised a new rally in Mahón, Menorca, for this Saturday to protest against tourism overcrowding. The environmental organisation warns that 2024 has once again broken the records of previous years, which is why it is calling on people to join the event scheduled for 10.30 am in Plaza Conquesta, where “a message calling for a better future” will be conveyed.
GOB argues that there are environmental, social and economic reasons to support the rally, which it has tried to express in various actions during the campaign carried out throughout the year. This year has seen the highest tourist influx in history, and despite this, the Balearics have gone in the last two decades from 46th in per capita income in Europe to 148th.
A peak of 232,000 people was also reached on 10 August in Menorca, which spent 43 days with more than 200,000 inhabitants. As a result, beaches such as Cala Mitjana have multiplied their maximum capacity by up to eight times and the water treatment plants have not been able to cope.
The Balearics is also the region with the most expensive housing and the second highest rental prices, and has 5,800 houses officially destined for tourist rental, without counting the thousands that are marketed outside the law. GOB warns that this growing problem is leaving a whole generation without a life project because, “without affordable housing, it is impossible to consider the future”.