Tourist rages about not hearing ANYONE speak Spanish on their Majorca hols as anti-visitor fury grows
A SPANISH tourist has complained about everyone speaking to them in a foreign language in Magaluf.
The frustrated holidaymaker blasted the hotspot for disrespecting the official language of the country amid growing anti-tourism tensions.
The visitor moaned that they don’t wish to return to the island after all interactions during their stay were in a different language.
Spanish tourist Asturias told a local broadcaster IB3: “It’s been a very long week. We have been in Magalluf, but very bad, very bad. A very bad week.
“We are in Spain and they speak to us in a foreign language. It is a lack of respect that in Spain they speak to us in a foreign language.”
Although it wasn’t specified which foreign language was used, local media speculated that it must have been English.
Around 2.3million UK tourists holiday on the isle every year with locals raging “Low quality, beer-drinking” Brits are ruining their hometowns.
Hostile messages against foreigners and tourists written on public walls have also been on the rise – sparking fears that anti-tourist movements could become more hateful.
Just this week, a hateful graffiti urging residents to “kill a tourist” was found on a wall in Majorca.
Politicians in the Spanish holiday island have condemned the bitter act by anti-tourist vandals, calling the behaviour “totally unjustified”.
But the shameful act is just one of the latest amid the waves of anti-tourist sentiments that have swept various parts of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.
Protesters organised another huge demonstration in Majorca where they chanted: “We will plough the highways, the hotels will be empty and so the world will understand that there are too many tourists.”
Another said: “Goodbye rental cars, goodbye rat businesses. Houses will be cheap and we won’t see more cyclists.”
More than 20,000 protesters packing into capital Palma complained about hard-drinking revellers and soaring rents.
Banners demanded: “Take back your drunks — give back our homes” and “Your paradise, our nightmare.”
Slogans aimed at Brits mocked their Euros performance too after Spain beat them 2-1 in the quarter-final.
Placards read: “Out at the final. Get out of here.”
Anti-tourist measures sweeping hotspots
A WAVE of anti-tourist measures are being implemented across Europe to curb mass tourism in popular holiday hotspots.
Overcrowding has become the main problem in many sunny destinations, with authorities trying to find a solution to keep tourists and locals happy.
Officials have attempted to reduce the impact of holidaymakers by implementing additional taxes on tourists, or banning new hotels.
Earlier this year Venice became the first city in the world to charge an entry fee for holidaymakers after it started charging day-trippers €5 (£4.30) if visiting the historical Italian centre.
It was followed by an area in Barcelona which resorted to removing a well-used bus route from Apple and Google Maps to stop crowds of tourists from using the bus.
Meanwhile, San Sebastián in the north of Spain, limited the maximum number of people on guided visits to 25 to avoid congestion, noise, nuisance and overcrowding.
The city has already banned the construction of new hotels.
The Spanish government has allowed restaurants to charge customers more for sitting in the shade in Andalucia.
Benidorm has introduced time restrictions, as swimming in the sea between midnight and 7am could cost a whopping £1,000.
The Canary Islands are also considering adopting measures to regulate the number of visitors – and charge tourists a daily tax.
Greece has already enforced a tourist tax during the high season (from March to October) with visitors expected to pay from €1 (£0.86) to €4 (£3.45) per night, depending on the booked accommodation.
Officials in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia want to introduce a fee for travellers to remind people to be courteous during their trips.
A few weeks ago almost 3,000 protestors took to the streets of Spain’s capital Barcelona and used water guns to attack tourists.
Some 2,800 locals marched along a waterfront district of the city with their furious slogan “Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism”, plastered across banners and signs.
Two women were seen pointing their water pistols at tourists with stern looks on their faces.
Some unlucky holidaymakers were sprayed as they tried to enjoy their evening, with some eating their dinner outdoors at restaurants.
Footage then captured tourists fleeing from the spray.
One protester held up a disturbing sign which read: “Dear Tourist: Balconing is Fun!” – poking fun at holidaymakers who died falling from balconies.
The unprovoked attack on holidaymakers in the Catalan capital seems to have drawn inspiration from the anti-tourist organisation Balconing Balearic Federation, which keeps track of the deaths caused by “balconing” near island resorts.
A huge anti-tourist movement has also sprung up in neighbouring Ibiza and other Balearic Islands.
Reasons for the protests across Europe are largely the same – issues of overcrowding, housing, protecting the environment, congestion and resource allocation.
Residents across the board feel pushed out by mass tourism – and are concerned about the preservation of their beaches or beauty spots.
However, there have been warnings that putting off holidaymakers could be an act of economic suicide for a western Mediterranean island which has relied on the tourist trade for generations.
Tourism drives around 45 per cent of Majorca’s economy.
Officials have attempted to reduce the impact of holidaymakers by implementing additional taxes on tourists, or banning new hotels.
