Majorca holiday warning as Spanish resort to limit tourist numbers after summer of overcrowding
MAJORCA has announced plans to crack down even further on the number of tourists after a summer of overcrowding resulted in protests.
The island’s governing councils says it intends to impose a new, tighter limit and will also employ extra inspectors to check on illegal holiday lets.
And they warn that owners of apartments and villas renting out their properties “under the radar” will be fined.
Majorca experienced an unprecedented summer due to the lifting of coronavirus travel restrictions with hotels and streets full to the brim.
But the boom has brought with it new complaints of “tourist massification” which politicians want to get rid of.
Tourism leaders say they want quality rather than quantity and also aim to stamp out rowdy behaviour.
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Majorca council confirmed yesterday that it intends to reassess its tourism plan and crackdown on the tourist capacity of the island which will include a limit on the number of tourist beds available.
Island president Catalina Cladera said: “We want tourism of greater value and less volume and the new tourism law marks the roadmap with the moratorium and the blocking of new places.
“I will not deny it, this summer there has been overcrowding in some points and in punctual moments.”
Yesterday, two-star hotels and “excess tourism” venues in Majorca confirmed they are to rebel against the Balearic government’s plan to shut them down to cure overcrowding and rowdy holidays.
They say they will fight any compulsory purchase orders from next year amid claims that the controversial proposal will ruin hundreds of family businesses.
The Balearic government is also running a campaign to change the image of Majorca and Ibiza and to get rid of rowdy tourism once and for all.
Recent measures have included the introduction of tough fines for unruly behaviour and a ban in certain areas on party boats, pub crawls and alcohol measures.
Brits in Ibiza and Majorca will only be allowed to have six drinks per day when staying at all-inclusive resorts.
Fines of up to €60,000 (£50,000) can be given to anyone caught breaking the new rules.
Now, the government has set its sights on any establishment that “contributes to excess tourism and/or overcrowding”.
President Francina Armengol recently announced that €10million would be set aside in 2023 to buy one or two-star hotels, described as “lesser standard holiday accommodation”, as well as low-class entertainment venues, in Majorca and Ibiza. These areas or buildings would then be regenerated.
But the decision has caused uproar amongst the family-run hotels and hostels with owners warning it will ruin hundreds of businesses and affect thousands of workers.
National president of The Spanish Association of Hotel Managers and Directors (AEDH), Manuel Vargas and representative on the islands, Alicia Reina said: “It is urgent to defend this type of establishment and the businessmen who run low-category hotels if we don’t want the most important and strategic aspect of the Balearic Islands to remain in the hands of foreign investment funds whose only pursuit is their own economic interests and which are not involved in the sustainability nor in the values and culture of the islands.”
Other hoteliers stated: “It will ruin small hotels and hostels with two or fewer stars, most of them run by island families who are going to lose their main source of income by seeing their hotels expropriated for ridiculous prices.”
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Booking flights to Spain could soon cost a lot more too, with new laws set to cause airfares to soar.
And here is why there is more to Majorca than party-central Magaluf.
