Last summer, over 50,000 residents on the Spanish island of Mallorca gathered in Palma de Mallorca, its largest city, in a mass protest against overtourism, holding signs that read things like, Tourists, we love you when you dont buy our land, and Your paradise is our nightmare.?
They called for the preservation of their natural and cultural resources, increased access to housing and a more sustainable tourism model that allows residents to reap the benefits of the vast numbers of tourists that visit the island each year.?
A record-breaking 13 million tourists visited Mallorca in 2024, and Spain as a whole set a new record with 94 million visitors. The islands less than one million residents are fed-up with the ways things are. Other protests drew large crowds in beleaguered cities across Spain last summer, including Barcelona, with many residents protesting against the same issues as those occurring in Mallorca.?
This year, the Palma Tourism Board isnt launching a campaign to attract more tourists. Instead, its launching a campaign to change residents minds.?
According to the tourism board, the main goal is to encourage residents to take pride in Palmas tourism industry and feel like it's a valuable part of life, to promote further the integration of tourism activity into local life and strengthen the bond and sense of belonging between residents and their city.?
As part of the campaign, residents can enjoy free access to experiences like tastings, exhibits and other attractions.?
Yet I wonderis it really a good idea, or even an ethical one, to spend money on convincing people their problems arent reallack of affordable housing caused by travelers buying up too many short-term rentals, for exampleinstead of actually working to transform the islands tourism model to support and benefit the people who live there??
After all, the tourist board isnt going to be solving any of the residents major issues simply by trying to change their minds and help them see the value tourism brings. The problems arent going to disappear, even if there arent any massive protests this summer like last year.?
Extremely popular destinations need to re-think their tourism models, re-engineer them so that the people who live, work and raise their families in these cities are the ones that benefit from tourism the most and ensure that the funds generated from such tourism can support and protect what makes these destinations so popular in the first place.?
My take? Dont spend tax dollars or government funds on changing the peoples minds. Instead, listen to the will of the people and act accordingly as their representatives.?
Theyre not asking for the worldonly that, when the world decides to visit their island, they arent ignored in favor of catering to travelers, or left out of the benefits.
Weve been operating on this idea of exponential tourism growthmore travelers, more tourism dollars, more tax revenue, more hotels and resorts, year after year after year, ad infinitum.
But in medicine, exponential growth like that is called cancer.
Launching a campaign to change residents minds isnt going to solve anythingit might as well be a band-aid on a tumor. And if a doctor gives you a band-aid when you have cancer, wellthats not ethical at all.
We have to transform the way we think about tourism if were to sustain it and our tourism communities for future generations. We need forward-thinking plans, not just goals. We need actionable steps,?
Take Greenland as an example.?
Greenlands government just released a ten-year tourism plan with goals that include designing tourism around the peoples benefitsits planning to improve healthcare and housing for its residents through tourism dollars, and one of the plans main pillars is to ensure that tourism grows to support the people and the landnot the other way around.?
I hope more destinations will take Greenlands responsibility towards the land and its people and create new ways for locals to thrive alongside tourism, not in spite of it.?
You know my answer. It isn't ethical to try convincing people with real problems that tourism is beneficial. It can be, when done in the right way. Yet unchecked, it can create lasting problems for residents in tourist-dense areas.?
Let's be part of the solution, not the part of the problem.?
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