Spain‘s growing anti-holidaymaker sentiment has taken a dark turn as graffiti spelling out the words ‘Kill a Tourist’ have emerged across several locations in the town of Manacor on Majorca.
The centre-right Partido Popular party has condemned the act of vandalism and has urged Manacor Town Hall to ‘collaborate in cleaning it all up immediately’.
PP spokesperson Maria Antonia Sanso said that the graffiti did not represent the general feeling of the residents of Manacor’, and called the act ‘totally unjustified’.
It is understood that the graffiti appeared in privately owned spaces, according to Majorca Daily Bulletin.
This comes as anti-tourism protests have been sweeping through Spain over the last few months, as locals demand tighter controls on holidaymakers, who they accuse of being rowdy and disruptive, as well as the reason for higher housing prices.
Anti-holidaymaker protests escalate in sinister turn as ‘kill a tourist’ graffiti appears on wall in Majorca
An anti-tourism protester holds a sign showing a picture of England footballer Kyle Walker with the words ‘the only thing coming home is you’ at a demonstration earlier this month
A protester holds a sign reading ‘Take back your drunks, give back our homes’ during demonstration in Palma this month
Last week, anti-tourist campaigners in Majorca mocked England’s Euro 2024 final defeat against Spain and demanded Britain ‘takes back its drunks’ as thousands demonstrated against holidaymakers.
Up to 50,000 locals descended onto the streets of the Majorcan capital Palma as they called for curbs on the amount of foreign visitors allowed on the Spanish island.
That’s despite calls from the regional government for demonstrators to show foreign visitors ‘respect’ during the march, as the wave of anti-tourist sentiment continues to grow in the Mediterranean.
The Balearic Islands received almost 18 million tourists last year and this year bookings for the summer have increased by 15%, the president confirmed.
Earlier this month, under the slogan ‘Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism’, some 2,800 people – according to police – marched along a waterfront district of Barcelona to demand a new economic model that would reduce the millions of tourists that visit every year.
Demonstrators hold a sign which reads ‘tourism yes, but not like that’ during the march in Palma
A demonstrator holds a sign which reads ‘it’s not tourismphobia, it’s Mallorcan’ during protest
A young man holds a sign which reads ‘Stop cruises’ and a giant homemade model of a cruise ship
Protesters carried signs reading ‘Barcelona is not for sale,’ and, ‘Tourists go home,’ before some used water guns on tourists eating outdoors at restaurants in popular tourist hotspots. Chants of ‘Tourists out of our neighbourhood’ rang out as some stopped in front of the entrances to hotels.
Barcelona’s rising cost of housing, up 68 percent in the past decade, is one of the main issues for the movement, along with the effects of tourism on local commerce and working conditions in the city of 1.6 million inhabitants.
In the Canary Islands, 50,000 people took to the streets of Tenerife in April to protest against tourism on the island.
Demonstrators were seeing brandishing ‘you enjoy, we suffer’ placards, claiming that the huge influx of tourists to the island is causing major environmental damage, driving down wages and squeezing locals out of cheap affordable housing, forcing dozens to live in tents and cars instead.
Anti-tourism protesters in Barcelona gather outside a restaurant being used by holidaymakers in the city during a demonstration on July 6
An anti-tourism placard is seen during an anti-tourism demonstration in Barcelona earlier this month. More than 3,000 people have demonstrated against the tourist overcrowding suffered by the city of Barcelona and in favor of tourism reduction policies
Protestors squirted water guns at tourists eating in popular spots in the city
