Businesses in Magaluf have sounded the alarm over a lack of holidaymakers in the party city in the lead-up to the holiday season after weeks of anti-tourism protests.
Photos show that Magaluf, one of Majorca’s busiest cities, is still half-empty – days before tourists are meant to be flooding its streets, bringing with them much-needed spending money that is vital for the local economy.
The Majorca Daily Bulletin reported that businesses are now anxious about whether enough tourists will come to the island.
Some said that the busy holiday season hasn’t yet started, and that some insist the city is busy at the weekends.
But many have blamed the surge in anti-tourism protests the island has seen in recent weeks, in which angry demonstrators have told tourists to ‘go home’.
Over the weekend, thousands of angry Mallorcans took to the streets to protest against mass tourism and gentrification.
They said they were being forced out of their homes and treated like second-class citizens on their own island.
“Your wish has come true,” a bar owner said.
The island’s local government appears to be supporting the protesters. The Balearic government has given tourist inspectors the power to physically block illegal rentals.
The government also said it wants to involve local police in property inspections.
Pictures from Magaluf show the city is now a ghost town.
A wide stretch of white sand, usually covered with towels, bags and beach bodies, reflects the bright Spanish sun.
The rows of deckchairs, which merchants rent out for up to £60 a day, lie empty, with only the odd Mallorcan using the facilities. Many of them lie on their side, a state of disuse rarely seen in the pre-summer months.
Meanwhile, local residents seem content to lie down on the public beach for free, refusing to pay the often exorbitant fees to companies for use of leisure facilities.
In fact, some seem happy to be able to use the provided parasols for free. One photo shows a young woman sitting under a parasol on the shady sand without paying for it.
Photos of cafes, bars and restaurants around Magaluf beach show a similar situation: only a few customers and even fewer waiters and waitresses serving a few types of food, mostly drinks.
Even the footpath along Magaluf’s beach, known for its vibrant nightlife, caters almost exclusively to tourists.
One photo showed a dozen or so people strolling along the long stretch of beach.
The photos showing Magaluf as a ghost town were released as demonstrators began preparing Majorca’s beaches for a new protest march against mass tourism to “drive out” foreign visitors.
Organisers of Saturday’s march in Palma, which drew around 15,000 people and was booed by some foreign holidaymakers, promised afterwards that “this is just the beginning”. Catalan Tours – launched an online campaign calling on locals to “occupy” the island’s beaches.
The first meeting is being organised this Saturday to promote a “big event” for June 16th, with the slogan “We are Mallorcans filling the beaches”.
The latest campaign appears to have been triggered by the remarks of Manuela, a Canadian and spokesperson for the right-wing extremist party Vox in the regional parliament of the Balearic Islands.
She responded to Saturday’s protests by saying: “We understand the frustration, but we Mallorcans, who make our living directly or indirectly on tourism, cannot expect to go to the beaches in July and August like we did many years ago”.