Spanish anti-tourist fanatics tell Brits ‘don’t come, we don’t need you’ in ranting open letter warning of the ‘worst summer in the history of Mallorca’

Spanish anti-tourism activists have told holidaymakers to stay away in a ranting open letter warning that this year will be the ‘worst summer in the history of Mallorca’.

Leading protest groups have issued a letter urging Brits and other tourists to ‘stay home’ at the summer holidays as they warn of overcrowding, environmental degradation and other ‘serious’ problems in Mallorca.

‘ENOUGH. STAY HOME! DO NOT COME. We do not need more tourists,’ locals wrote in the letter, which was published today in the Majorca Daily Bulletin. ‘In fact, you are the source of our problem.’

The furious letter was written by seven anti-tourism groups on the island: SOS Residents, Menys Turisme Mes Vida, GOB, GADMA, Alternative Per Pollenca, Brunzit and Amics De Le Vall De Coanegra.

They claimed that ‘Mallorca is not the paradise’ being sold to tourists, alleging that locals are ‘angry and no longer hospitable’ because holidaymakers are destroying their home.

They claim the holiday hotspot has been ‘exploited to unimaginable limits’ and allege the ‘greed and avarice’ of ‘parasite’ hotel owners, politicians and real estate investors has caused an ’emergency situation’.

‘The land we love it’s being destroyed and many of us have to leave the island because it is uninhabitable,’ locals said, adding: ‘It is time to take a stand.’

The letter comes as anti-tourism protesters have ramped up their campaigns in recent weeks by blocking beauty spots and torching hire cars.

The anti-tourism movement is gaining momentum across southern Europe with at least 15 activist groups from holiday hotspots in Spain, Portugal, Italy and France set to meet in Barcelona next month to plot their next steps. 

The letter warned of overcrowding, cost of living surges, housing prices, resource allocation, traffic and congestion.

The activists also alleged that they were concerned about preserving Mallorca’s beaches and beauty spots.

‘There is no need to list the problems that we residents suffer from, they are well known,’ the letter states.

‘Environmental and ecosystem deterioration, infrastructure issues, overwhelmed public services, transportation problems, loss of quality of life, gentrification, disproportionate increases in the cost of living, and a total lack of access to housing for the local population.’

Protesters allege that it was not long ago that residents ‘lived in peace and harmony’ on the island.

But they say that now ‘things have changed’ and Mallorca has become a ‘top tourist destination, leading to the collapse we are now suffering’.  

‘We are facing the worst summer in the history of Mallorca,’ the activists warned, claiming that predictions indicate 2025 will yield a record number of visitors, which the say will create ‘an emergency situation in a fragile environment that is already uninhabitable’.

They added that it was ‘insulting that our politicians use the concept of “sustainable” every time they talk about tourism in Mallorca because nothing could be further from the truth.’

The letter comes after visitors to Spain’s party paradise of Ibiza were left disappointed last month after a popular viewing point was dramatically blocked off with boulders in the latest sign of growing local resentment towards mass tourism.

The famous Es Vedra viewpoint, where thousands gather to watch the sun sink behind the mountainous island each evening, is now off-limits after frustrated landowners declared they’d had enough of being overrun by crowds. 

A blunt sign now warns visitors: ‘Private Property. Restricted Access.’

But the blocked roadway was seemingly tame compared to the violence and chaos that erupted in Tenerife last week, where furious activists reportedly torched and smashed a fleet of hire cars in a shocking act of protest. 

Disturbing footage circulating online shows masked vandals dousing around 20 rental vehicles with flammable liquid before setting them alight in the popular Costa Adeje resort – a favourite among British holidaymakers.

Angry demonstrators targeted visitors last year, blaming them for soaring rents and a cost of living crisis that’s driving locals out of their homes. Some campaigners have even threatened to take their protests to the next level by blocking airports.

The Neighbourhood Assembly for Tourist Degrowth – a key player in the anti-tourism push – said it wants to ‘strengthen the network of the territories of southern Europe against tourists.’

The recent vow for more protests follows a summer of major demonstrations across Spain’s popular resorts, with anger particularly mounting over mass tourism.

In January shocking graffiti reading ‘kill a tourist’ appeared in Tenerife amid the holiday hotspot’s ongoing protests against holidaymakers.

The frightening slogan was spotted on a house in the south of the Spanish island by a concerned resident who admitted to being worried that the mass protest movement against overcrowding was going too far.

Speaking to LBC, they said: ‘Things on the islands are getting worse due to the large number of tourists and new residents, which leave us without homes and severely affect our natural environment’.

The local, who remained anonymous due to safety concerns, added that people on the island are becoming desperate for change and respect.

‘But perhaps this does not justify those actions, which seem to be escalating. It’s frightening,’ they said.

A protest also erupted in October after hundreds of demonstrators stormed Tenerife’s Troya beach, where sun-seeking holidaymakers were stunned to be disrupted by a placard-waving mob yelling slogans such as ‘More tourists, more misery’ and ‘the Canary Islands are not for sale’.

Protesters descended on the beach, one of the most popular in Las Americas (Tenerife), with many beating on drums and blowing whistles as they walked along the shoreline.

Astonishing footage of the incident showed holidaymakers being surrounded and penned in by Spanish locals while they were sunbathing in swim shorts and bikinis.

There were no reports of any violence, but protesters, whose banners included one in English which said ‘Go Home Tourist’ are said to have been mocked and taunted.

Half a dozen activists also went on hunger strike outside a church in the northern Tenerife town of La Laguna last year.

It began on April 11, 2024, and was called off after 20 days.

Victor Martin, a spokesman for Canarias Se Agota which translates into English as ‘Canary Islands on the Brink, said before it started: ‘The hunger strike is indefinite and will continue until the two macro hotel projects we’re fighting against are stopped for ever and the regional agreement agrees in writing to sit down and talk to us about a tourist moratorium.

‘A tragedy could occur and someone could die if the government doesn’t listen.’

The hunger strikers wanted authorities to halt two tourist projects, one involving the construction of a five-star hotel by one of Tenerife’s last virgin beaches called La Tejita.

They also wanted local and regional politicians to change the tourist model to protect the island from the worst excesses of mass tourism including sea pollution, traffic gridlock and lack of cheap affordable housing linked to the pushing-up of property prices because of Airbnb-style holiday lets.

On a separate occasion, protesters from a platform called ‘Lanzarote has a Limit’ were seen filmed storming an illegal hotel in the island resort of Playa Blanca with banners with the slogans: ‘Our water is in your pool.’

They were also seen filling containers with water from the hotel’s swimming pools and using it to wash dish cloths.

Political organisation Tanekra Canarias, which supported the recent October protests, said in a statement on its Instagram page: ‘Most of the income generated by tourism in the Canary Islands does not stay in the region.

‘The main accommodation facilities are controlled by large hotel chains and international tour operators.

‘Massive tourism is associated with a rise in local inflation, especially with regard to housing.

‘Most of the jobs it generates in the Canary Islands are precarious and poorly paid.

‘This combination leads to many municipalities that concentrate the most tourist activity, presenting the highest levels of poverty, despite having low unemployment rates compared to other municipalities.’

October’s protests were the latest in a series of demos and other actions that had taken place across mainland Spain as well as the Balearic Islands last year.

Two major demos took place in the Majorcan capital Palma, the first on May 25 when organisers had to apologise afterwards for abuse directed at some foreign holidaymakers.

Shocked tourists were booed and jeered by some locals as they ate evening meals on terraces in Palma’s Weyler Square.

Marchers were also heard chanting ‘Tourists go home’ as they passed through the central square on the 20-minute route from the park where the protest began to iconic street Paseo del Borne.

On July 27 around 250 protesters impeded tourist access to a picture-postcard Menorcan beach in a ‘surprise action’.

Activists boasted of filling a car park by Cala Turqueta, a beautiful cove on the island’s southern coast, with ‘residents’ cars’.

They then used towels and their own bodies to shape the message ‘SOS Menorca’ on the sand by the waterline.

And last year, when the Canary Islands were the focus of anti-mass tourism protests hotel bosses there admitted British holidaymakers were calling to ask if they would be safe.

Activists are continuing to demand the government make a change to prevent the number of tourists visiting the holiday hotspot amid soaring rents.