Anti-tourist protestors plan to 'collapse' Majorca during demonstration next month

Anti-tourist protestors have started to graffiti Majorca’s roads ahead of a demonstration next month designed to “collapse” the holiday island.

Messages saying ‘Stop Tourism SOS’ have been painted onto the tarmac on the Ma-10 road between the towns of Deia and Soller, which activists say suffer from over-tourism.

They are said to have appeared in the last few days near Llucalcari, a coastal hamlet in Majorca’s Tramuntana mountain region which is popular with cyclists and walkers.

It was not immediately clear on Tuesday who was responsible.

On Sunday, protestors staged a mini-demonstration outside Palma Cathedral as they announced their intention to take to the streets of the Majorcan capital and said they were confident of an “historic turnout”.

The new demo has been planned for 7pm on July 26th – just over a year after thousands marched in Palma on a day which ended with around 100 noisy activists banging drums surrounding upmarket eatery Cappuccino Borne next to a McDonald’s in the city centre after their protest finished. Police had to move in to disperse them.

Next month’s protest is being organised by Menys Turisme Mes Vida, which in English translates as Less Tourism More Life.

Ahead of last June’s march, group activists held up a sightseeing bus.

Announcing its plan for a fresh protest, a fortnight before the August 12th solar eclipse which is expected to attract thousands more people than normal to the Balearic Islands, the group said: “Majorca is at its limit.”

Spokesman David Comas said: “We can’t cope with more tourists.”

He said his island had been turned into a “theme park” where it was now “impossible” for young people like him to “become independent and manage to obtain decent housing.”

Sources said the July 26th date had been picked so smaller protests which haven’t yet been fully publicised could take place in the weeks leading up to the main march.

The first anti-tourist demo in the Balearic Islands this year will take place this Saturday in Menorca.

The Canary Islands and the Balearics have been at the forefront of anti-tourist protests over the past two years, although they have also taken place in cities like Barcelona and Malaga.

Graffiti in English left on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of April 2024 included ‘My misery your paradise’ and ‘Average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200 euros.’

In an apparent UK backlash, a response left in English on a wall next to a ‘Tourists go home’ message said: “F##k off, we pay your wages.”

After local politicians paved the way for tourists to be charged to visit Tenerife’s natural spaces, the words ‘Canarias tiene un limite’ – English for ‘The Canary Islands have a limit – subsequently appeared painted on the tarmac of one of the access roads to the iconic Teide mountain.

Another message painted on the road said: ‘Moratoria turistica’ – ‘Tourist moratorium’ in English.’

In February last year one of Spain’s famous Osborne billboard bulls was daubed with anti-foreign graffiti alluding to wealthy outsiders owning holiday homes as colonialists who should ‘go to hell.’

The roadside silhouette symbol in Majorca had the words ‘Rich foreign property buyers go to hell’ scrawled on it in red capped-up letters in English.

SOS Residents, the protest group which flagged up the vandalism linked to the so-called ‘tourism-phobia’ which saw huge demos take place around Spain in 2024 and 2025 in places like the Balearics and Canary Islands over issues including the lack of affordable housing, said at the time: “This morning has given us a nice surprise.”

Referencing the cultural differences between many Spaniards in areas where there is more pro-independence sentiment and those in the heart of mainland Spain, the organisation added: “We applaud the good taste they’ve shown in double measure, making a mess of the symbol of Hispanization with an anti-colonialist message.”

Supporters responded to the images of the graffiti-covered bull on social media by publishing clapping and heart emojis. Another wrote: “I love it.”

But others responded by saying the mystery vandalists had targeted the wrong people, with one writing on Instagram alongside a photo of the defaced bull: “Even if the buyers were from Majorca, the problem would be the same.

“For me the problem is not so much who buys, but rather who uses the property as a market asset to get more money.”

At the weekend it was reported Spaniards in the Canary Islands had stepped up their war on holidaymakers by gluing shut Airbnb key boxes.

Brits were also warned about activists using fake police tape to cordon off popular beauty spots like beach access paths to trick tourists into thinking they are closed.