00:00I am on one of the most famous beaches of the Spanish island of Mallorca, Balearic Islands.
00:21And it is occupied today not by tourists, but by residents in anger.
00:26They came to protest against the more and more devastating effects of mass tourism.
00:39In the Balearic Islands, as in the Canary Islands, or even in Barcelona and even Madrid,
00:43a wave of protests is raging in the most popular destinations for tourists.
00:48Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands, has a little less than a million inhabitants.
00:53This year, it expects some 20 million visitors, a record.
00:58There is such pressure. Prices of the housing have increased.
01:03We have cruises every day with thousands of people.
01:06We have every minute one flight. It's cars, it's pollution.
01:10You go to the beaches, full of people. You go to restaurants, full of people.
01:14The streets are full of people. We just want to say that we are fed up.
01:27We are fed up. Our lives are ruined because we can't afford to pay rent.
01:33Here in Mallorca, it is even more impossible.
01:36Mallorca is coming to the streets.
01:38Mallorca is coming to tourism? No, not tourism.
01:40Tourism is drying up. It is killing us.
01:46Tourism represents almost half of the GDP of the Balearic Islands.
01:51Mallorca, the capital of the Balearic Islands
01:55An economic mania that does not benefit everyone.
02:02The all-inclusive formulas of large hotel chains or ferry companies,
02:06whose giant ships dock every day in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital,
02:11even have the opposite effect for part of the local trade.
02:16From Bulgaria, Cristina has settled and worked in Mallorca for about 20 years.
02:24The massification of tourism is not synonymous with overconsumption,
02:28especially since the pandemic, she says.
02:31There are a lot of people.
02:34And the financial possibility is less.
02:39Now there are more offers of hotels, all-inclusive,
02:44vacations.
02:46People prefer to be on one floor and prepare food alone.
02:50And maybe they sit in a bar to have a soda or a sangria.
02:56Sometimes to share.
02:59Paz and Cecilia try on their part to resist the effects of over-tourism
03:04within a collective that seeks to promote sustainable and local trade.
03:09For the business, it is not bad that there is so much tourism,
03:12but it is not exponential.
03:15That is, it does not mean that because more people come, I sell more.
03:19I earned the same with half the people.
03:22And it is not a matter of money either,
03:25because in the end you have to make a balance between quality of life and business.
03:31It takes away our clientele who live on the island,
03:35because when the center is collapsed by people,
03:38it is not pleasant to come and do business here.
03:41There are almost only franchises.
03:44They are the only ones who can survive on the main axis.
03:47The city loses its identity because traditional trade leaves.
03:50But we still try to fight to be there and offer things with soul.
03:58In addition to the degradation of quality of life,
04:01there is a shortage of housing that hits the inhabitants with full force.
04:05The flambé of real estate prices
04:07especially makes employees flee from public services.
04:10In an economy focused on tourism,
04:13most jobs are seasonal in Mallorca.
04:17Diego works six months a year as a tourist bus driver.
04:21Every day for eight years,
04:23he transports holidaymakers between the airport of Palma and the hotels on the island.
04:28He earns about 2,000 euros per month and up to 3,000,
04:31depending on his additional hours.
04:34But his living conditions continue to deteriorate.
04:37I like what I do, I like the job.
04:39I like to live here, but the doors are closing.
04:42Because at the moment it is difficult to live in Mallorca.
04:45There are workers everywhere,
04:47but there are people who have not come this year because of the rent.
04:51After a separation,
04:53Diego chose to live in the caravan he owned.
04:58The rental market and real estate have become inaccessible for him.
05:04The only way to live is to live like this.
05:07Because the floors are built for foreigners,
05:10and the prices are for foreigners, they are prohibitive.
05:13If a builder comes and builds a floor that costs 350,000 euros,
05:16it is not the floor that any Spaniard will buy.
05:19Work permits are not prioritized either.
05:21And for that kind of building, for the most expensive,
05:23and for normal people, there is nothing.
05:25It does not expand.
05:26I have evaluated several times
05:28that I have to leave Mallorca because of this situation.
05:31I also have my daughter here, who I have as a neighbor.
05:34Hello, hello.
05:35Flore.
05:38A life that Flor prefers to stay,
05:41an option that more and more young workers must resort to in Mallorca.
05:45I work as a waitress now,
05:47and I earn very well compared to other places in Spain.
05:50But even so, paying for a flat for yourself is something you can't afford.
05:57You can't afford to have freedom and independence,
06:00like me in this case, to live like this, calm.
06:02You have a freedom that you don't have in a shared house.
06:06The overexploitation of tourist attractions in Mallorca
06:09is accompanied by increasing precariousness,
06:11emphasizes this former municipal councillor on the left.
06:15She points the finger at international speculation
06:18and the complacency of the new right-wing majority.
06:22Very rich people or companies with a lot of capital
06:25come here to invest, to buy houses,
06:27because they know that the price of housing is rising every year,
06:30and therefore it is a very profitable speculation business,
06:33or they use it for their temporary holidays.
06:36But the prices of housing, or the basket of buying,
06:40because we are on an island
06:42where 80% of the fresh food comes from abroad,
06:45are very high.
06:47The working families don't arrive at the end of the month.
06:50There are certain measures that have been taken in recent years,
06:53which is, on the one hand,
06:55the prohibition of the tourist rental of flats in Palma,
06:58because that evidently also meant an increase in housing.
07:02The number of hotels that can be in the city has been limited,
07:05but now all these types of initiatives are being stopped.
07:09Neither the municipality behind me
07:12nor the government of Mallorca
07:14wanted to follow up on our interview requests.
07:17Faced with the growing anger of the population,
07:20local authorities have promised new measures
07:23to limit mass tourism.
07:25Cosmetic solutions,
07:27says the person in charge of the main environmental defense organization in Mallorca.
07:31Climate change, she says,
07:33makes it all the more urgent
07:35a radical reform and a diversification of the island's economic model.
07:39More than half of the 54 municipalities in Mallorca
07:43do not have drinking water in their reefs.
07:46There are water restrictions in various municipalities.
07:49Water restrictions are never imposed on the hotel sector,
07:52which continues to consume two or three times more
07:56per person or per tourist than per resident.
07:59Protecting fertile soil and protecting water resources
08:03should be two strategic issues
08:06from the point of view of economic policies,
08:09and they are not.
08:11The reality is that we have current plans
08:14to expand the operational capacity of the airport in Palma,
08:18to expand the port of Palma.
08:20We have a decree that allows
08:22to increase tourist places on the rustic soil.
08:25Obviously, we are advocating and accelerating
08:28our path towards collapse.
08:34A concern that spreads in many tourist spots in Europe,
08:39but that does not affect the good mood of the holidaymakers.
08:55It's the end of the day and this report in Mallorca.
08:58The beaches are empty, the bars are full,
09:01and whatever the concerns of the Spaniards,
09:04those I met here,
09:06how many will come back to Mallorca?
09:08Or at least almost all.
09:10At night it is very busy,
09:13it knocks on doors,
09:15there is no restraint.
09:17It speaks very loudly.
09:19Personally, I would never come back to this neighborhood.
09:23This universe, I would say.
09:27Yesterday, country roads...
09:30Nevertheless, according to estimates,
09:33the number of tourists in Spain
09:35must beat a historic record in 2024.
09:38I will get all I know, West Virginia
09:42Mother, mama, take me home
09:48Country roads...
09:56Country roads...
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