Panic in Majorca as major overtourism protest group vow to ‘intensify’ actions for 2025

A major movement which organised several demonstrations against tourist overcrowding in is set to regroup and redouble its efforts amid forecasts of continued growth in the upcoming season. 

In a statement, the Menys Turisme, Més Vida (less tourism, more life) platform explained its intention to intensify its actions on local issues, including , job security, and poverty.

The movement has made the move “after seeing the government’s new tourist campaign, the announcements of billion-dollar investments, the boom in property speculation and luxury tourism while the housing problem worsens,” it said, according to the . 

It also criticised the continuation of policies that “only favour the liberalisation of land” and favour speculation and business in the context of a climate and ecological crisis as well as the foreseeable “faliure” of the Pact for Sustainability round tables. 

The platform has called for a meeting to be held on Saturday (February 15) at the Escola Rural des Puig d’Alanar, in Manacor. The meeting will include talks, a workshop, and a round table before closing with an open assembly.

This update comes just after it was announced that the Balearics, of which Majorca is the largest, has united with the to combat the overtourism crisis at a social and political level. The tourism authorities of both archipelagos are in talks to coordinate action, including drafting laws and regulations.

Future legislation against overcrowding is set to be an unprecedented initiative amid a lack of political intervention elsewhere. 

Last year, descended on Majorca unprecedented numbers of over 15.3 million.

Menys Turisme, Més Vida was behind a , which saw a staggering 111 groups participate. 

The protest was an action “against mass tourism and a process of touristification that suffocates us, condemns us to impoverishment and the continued precariousness of our lives, and an irreversible degradation of the territory and the natural and cultural heritage of the islands”, the organisers said.

The rise of holiday rentals and hotels is seen as a major cause of the housing crisis that is gripping the region, with mortgages and rents too expensive for locals – who form a huge part of the tourism industry – to afford. 

The number of accommodations is also accused of pushing out residents of their city centres and changing the nature of cities, with local shops being turned into services mainly catering for holidaymakers.

Speaking to Express.co.uk last year, Olivier Heuchenne, co-founder of , a luxury villa rental agency, warned that protesting is “not the best” way to get the image out there, as it “can come back like mud, [it] can come back like a raw egg in your face.”

“People are then going to say, ‘I’m not going to Majorca, they made so much noise, then I’m going to go to where they are not protesting’, where it’s the same sea, the same weather, landscape, it’s Italian food. .”