For our neighbourhoods, for our cities and towns, for our territory, for our workers, for our climate, for our coast, for our health, for our future.
Different cities in the South of Europe of the SET network are making a united call on Tuesday 27 September, World Tourism Day, to denounce the impacts and consequences of the intensification of tourism after the stop that led to the pandemic and in response to the current situation of worsening of the climate crisis.
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In Mallorca, more than thirty organisations are calling for a human chain around the Consolat de Mar on Tuesday 27 September at 7 pm.
The SET network, a network of southern European cities against tourist stations, is launching a united call for action on Tuesday 27 September in different cities and territories, on the occasion of the NO celebration of World Tourism Day and under the slogan Tourism Day Collapse.
Here in Mallorca, the organisations of the Platform Against Airport Expansion and other organisations from all over the island are joining this united call for action and are calling for a Human Chain around the Consulate of the Sea on Tuesday 27th at 7pm.
The reason for this call
Overcrowding and pressure on land and resources
This summer we have seen a return of mass tourism that in some cases is statistically close to the pre-holiday period, and in others clearly exceeds it.
Mass tourism in the Balearic Islands, and specifically in Mallorca, is at record levels in all areas, surpassing the figures for 2019, before the pandemic. Approximately 16 million tourists arrive at the island’s entrance gates, either through the airport or the ports of Mallorca, staying in a large number of tourist accommodations available in the hotel industry and in tourist homes.
Today the hotel offer is at 95% occupancy in the Balearic Islands. We are leading the recovery of the tourism sector in Spain, closing the second quarter of this year with 6.4% more sales than in 2019, according to EXCELTUR, although half of the tourists do not stay in hotels but in holiday rentals.
Urban pressure is also growing at a very worrying rate, with building permits approved in the first half of the year between 3% and 5% higher than those approved in the same period in 2021 and 2019 respectively, according to data from the Balearic Architects’ Association. The sector is recovering pre-pandemic levels, representing the highest half-yearly number of building works since 2008. Moreover, construction is concentrated in a luxury segment while, due to tourist pressure, there is no affordable housing for the resident population.
Tourist overcrowding means extremely high social pressure (human pressure index) on the islands – specifically in Mallorca, in August, the number of people has already exceeded 2 million – and saturation of all infrastructures that cannot cope with the excessive demand for basic resources such as water, land occupation and energy demand. Water treatment plants, roads and beaches are bursting at the seams, creating a host of problems for residents and visitors. Meanwhile, there are drought warnings and different municipalities such as Artà, Deià and Manacor are already applying restrictions on high water consumption. According to official figures, tourism consumes one out of every four litres of water.
The cost of this economic model based on the intensification of tourism is extremely high in economic, social and environmental terms. We are increasingly dependent on “all tourism”, which makes economic diversification impossible while facilitating the business of large companies and financial funds that see in this system a short-term profit with minimal cost and very high collateral effects for the population and natural resources. Meanwhile, a large amount of public money is allocated to prioritise the construction or expansion of road, airport and port infrastructures to increase their operational capacity, privatising the profits and socialising the losses.
Emissions
This economic model means an ever-increasing generation of CO₂ emissions, parallel to the growth of indicators related to the model of tourist overcrowding, above all due to the increase in energy demand in summer with continuous heat waves and the use of highly polluting transport systems such as planes, boats and private transport vehicles. A model that still expects to continue to grow in terms of the arrival of more tourists, which means emitting more emissions in the context of climate emergency declared by the IB Government and the Spanish Government. While the number of tourists and emissions must be reduced, as indicated by scientists/experts. All this is a serious contradiction to the climate emergency declarations made by the IB Government and the Spanish Government. Whereas the number of tourists and emissions must be reduced as indicated by scientists/experts. All of this is in serious contradiction with the declarations of climate emergency made by the IB and Spanish governments and with the Paris Agreements which oblige us to urgently reduce emissions.
Overcrowded tourism makes us poorer and excludes us
A model of tourist overcrowding that increases job creation but with increasingly worrying conditions of job insecurity, social inequality and housing emergencies that increase inequalities and social injustice. Since the pandemic, inequality has grown, more money has been collected but this has not led to improved welfare; on the contrary, the population at risk of poverty has increased. At the same time, the demand for “higher quality” tourism is beginning to take hold, a dangerous drift given the greater consumption of resources it implies and the fact that it encourages a real estate market based on speculation and the increase in the price of housing that is not accessible to residents, causing expulsion and worsening inequalities.
The model of growth and excessive tourism does not improve economic, environmental and social indicators; on the contrary, it impoverishes us. Currently, the Autonomous Community of the IB, with more than 16 million tourists a year, we are in twelfth place in terms of Spanish GDP, whereas in 1980, with 5 million tourists, we were in first place in terms of GDP. Tourism overcrowding makes us poorer according to current economic indicators.
A model that makes road, airport and port infrastructures the backbone of tourist and urban overcrowding, and the saturation of the territory and infrastructures. To give an example, on Saturday 20th August, five international cruise ships and seven ferries from various shipping companies coincided in the Port of Palma with a large number of passengers, some of whom use the home port of Palma to embark on cruises to the Mediterranean after arriving at Palma airport from different European countries. Port and airport linked to the circle of “tourist overcrowding”.
New connections, more tourism.
The IB Government and the Consell de Mallorca are not lagging behind in welcoming the arrival of more planes and more tourists, welcoming in a very positive way the opening of the new airport connection route from Palma to New York, which will mean the arrival of more passengers and the real estate business, in fact, some real estate agencies have announced that it will soon become the leading US real estate agency in Mallorca. And they still intend to continue opening new routes.
Mass tourism, over-tourism and collapse.
It is urgent and necessary to put a stop to a model of tourist monoculture based on unlimited growth and overcrowding that is leading us to economic, social and environmental disaster for the islands and their inhabitants, a model that does not put people and the planet at the centre in order to improve their living conditions in a fairer and more equitable way for everyone. The convening organisations and many others are making proposals to eliminate tourist overcrowding and to change the current model for one where future generations have the hope of a better future.
Gentrification and loss of identity
The Balearic Islands lead the national ranking of autonomous communities where foreigners buy the highest number of homes. In 2021, this percentage stood at 33% of the total, 10 points higher than the second community in the ranking, the Canary Islands. In addition, many of these purchases are destined for tourist rental, which further aggravates the problem of overcrowding and makes it increasingly common to see ghost towns in the Balearic Islands during the autumn and winter months. The process of gentrification not only involves a residential migration process but also directly affects the cultural identity of neighbourhoods and villages, which lose their essence, their life and their own traditions.
We have an unscrupulous socio-economic model that simply seeks to continue maximising its profits above all else, with no regard whatsoever for the social, cultural or ecological impacts it has on our islands.
Thus, under the slogan WORLD, TOURISM DAY = COLLAPSE TOURISM DAY, on Tuesday 27 September different actions will take place in different parts of Southern Europe to protest and denounce this situation.