The Spanish tourist crisis has continued this week as angry locals on an island beloved by the British staged a huge protest declaring the island is “not for sale”.
More than 500 people turned out on the island of Menorca on Tuesday carrying placards arguing against more properties being used for visiting foreigners.
Around 18 million tourists visit the Balearic Islands each year, which includes Menorca, Majorca, and Ibiza, with an estimated 26.9 percent coming from Britain.
In a statement to Express.co.uk, organisers GOB Menorca said: “Under the proclamation ‘Menorca is not for sale’, people have gathered in the Plaza de la Catedral to ask for a change of course, where tourism is an economic activity that does not run over the inhabitants and natural resources.
“The combination of thousands of houses that have been allocated to tourists in recent years, added to the arrival of people with high purchasing power, has caused a very serious loss of access to housing, which is holding back expectations of a whole generation of young Menorcans.”
The protest group said demonstrators formed a human chain was formed as “a display of both reclamation and warning”.
They added: “A call for attention and care for an area highly stressed by real estate speculation and tourism. And a warning so that everyone knows that Menorca does not give up: it will not give up defending the lives and rights of residents.”
Elsewhere on the island, in the village of Binibeca Vell, known as the Mykonos of Menorca, locals have complained about the intrusive behaviour of tourists who have been on the rise for years, forcing community leaders to finally bring in strict new rules.
On Friday, residents voted on whether they should put a cap on the number of visitors, or ban them altogether.
According to one local, as many as one in three people, 30 percent, wanted a complete ban on tourists.
Oscar Monge, President of the Community of Property Owners, said on Saturday: “Around 30 percent of the owners wanted to close permanently to tourists but the civic behaviour of visitors helped persuade people that the current partial closure is sufficient.”
Residents have often complained that tourists fail to respect their privacy and have even stolen items from their homes.