Anti tourist fanatics in Majorca mock English holidaymakers over Euros defeat during hate-filled protest
HOLIDAYING Brits are being targeted in a wave of demonstrations on the tourist hot spot of Majorca.
Locals even goaded English trippers over the Three Lions’ 2-1 defeat to Spain in Euro 2024 Final.
They carried placards showing defender Kyle Walker and the words: “The only thing coming home is you.”
More than 10,000 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.”
Some tourists have been booed and jeered as they ate evening meals on terraces in Palma’s Weyler Square.
A huge anti-tourist movement has also sprung up in neighbouring Ibiza and other Balearic Islands.
More than 2,000 miles away in the Canary Islands tens of thousands took to the streets, while a few protesters even went on hunger strike.
The mainland city of Barcelona has been hit by rallies too, with tourists being sprayed with water pistols.
The trouble has flared while Brit families prepare for the biggest getaway of the year and state schools break up for summer holidays.
Higer taxes, fewer flights
Half of the UK’s 67million population has already made plans to travel abroad this year despite concerns about holiday costs.
The latest Majorca protest was organised by a group called Menys Turisme, Mes Vida — Less Tourism, More Life.
Leaders want fewer flights, no new hotels and higher taxes on holidaymakers.
Before the march they released an inflammatory video calling for bans on hire cars and threatening to plough up Majorca’s motorway network.
The film included images of queues to get to iconic island cove Calo des Moro and a peloton of foreign cyclists blocking a road.
It makes no sense for us to bite the hand that feeds us
Counter-protest group
It featured music with the lyrics: “Goodbye rental cars, goodbye rat businesses. Houses will be cheap and we won’t see more cyclists.”
Locals are calling for a host of limits to be imposed, saying housing is in short supply and prices are being pushed up due to the sheer number of visitors.
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.
And a counter-protest group, made up of anonymous locals, were seen handing “we love you” stickers cards to holidaymakers. A spokesman for We Love Tourism Mallorca said: “It makes no sense for us to bite the hand that feeds us.”
Each year more than 2.3million Brits holiday on the isle, which measures 45 miles by 60 and has fewer than a million full-time residents.
Zealots warning
More than 3.4million Germans — 40 per cent of the annual tourist total — also go.
Slogans aimed at them mocked their Euros performance too after Spain beat them in the quarter-final. Placards read: “Out at the final. Get out of here.”
Regional government spokesman Antoni Costa pleaded with locals to show restraint.
We are not against tourism — we’re asking that they change this model that allows for unlimited growth of tourism
Protester Rosario Correo
Mr Costa said: “We have the utmost respect for those who have decided not to demonstrate and we urge those who do protest to do so peacefully and not interrupt visitors.”
In the Canaries an estimated 50,000 joined demos urging a policy switch to halt tourism development at popular destinations including Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
Protester Rosario Correo, said: “We are not against tourism — we’re asking that they change this model that allows for unlimited growth of tourism.”
Toni Perez, mayor of British holiday favourite Benidorm in mainland Spain, warned zealots of the huge cost to the economy should they succeed in driving tourists away.
He said: “Has anyone considered that in a European country in which its great strength is the car industry, the population demonstrates against it?”
More demonstrations have rocked the historic Italian city of Venice, where protesters clashed with police in April when it became the first city in the world to make trippers pay to visit.
Angry locals confronted cops in the historic Piazzale Roma, raging that they “didn’t want to live in a theme park” .
Locals warned that the new levy of €5 — £4.21 — will do nothing to curb the city’s chronic overcrowding over the summer.
Meanwhile latest research suggests more Brits are currently seeking last-minute deals to escape the UK’s recent washout.
More than a quarter of those interviewed by the Association of British Travel Agents say they would book if they can secure a good deal to somewhere hot and sunny.
And one in five they would book purely to escape poor weather in the UK.
Britain’s soggy summer followed its wettest spring since 1986 — and more weather misery is forecast for August.
Abta Director of Communications Graeme Buck said: “While many people will already have a summer holiday to look forward to, a significant proportion might book a late deal.”
MORE HOLS WOES FROM IT OUTAGES
HOSTILITIES abroad at the hands of locals were made worse as global chaos from a computing meltdown continued.
Brit holidaymakers due back in Manchester had been stranded in Corfu for over 50 hours last night, with the airport still suffering IT issues.
One passenger, travelling with badly-hit travel firm Tui, said: “We still don’t know what’s happening. Everyone is just miserable and angry.
“It’s been a nightmare. People have work tomorrow.”
Dozens more flights have been called off after days of outages resulting from a cyber security update gone wrong.
Poor weather across Europe has also added to the chaos, leading to 48 easyJet journeys being cancelled on Sunday.
By Nick Parker