Brits are told to 'go home' as anti

Release time：2024-05-21 17:00:40 Source：Worldly Watch news portal

Furious locals have demanded that British holidaymakers 'go home' as anti-tourist graffiti has appeared in another Spanish holiday hot spot.

'Go Home Tourist' has been scrawled in English over a wall underneath a real estate promotion billboard in Nou Llevant, Mallorca, a neighbourhood that has seen a massive influx of foreign buyers over the past few years.

Nou Llevant, located five minutes from Playa de Palma and billed as a smaller version of San Francisco's Silicon Valley, has undergone a massive transformation with most new properties being snapped up by Germans.

The graffiti in Nou Llevant is just the latest demonstration against tourist with thousands of people having protested in Tenerife, Canary Islands on Saturday to demand the government temporarily limit tourist arrivals.

Residents in Mallorca are echoing some of the same complaints that protestors in the Canary Islands have been making, claiming that the boom in short-term holiday rentals is driving up housing costs for locals.

'Go Home Tourist' has been scrawled in English over a wall underneath a real estate promotion billboard in Nou Llevant, Mallorca, a neighbourhood that has seen a massive influx of foreign buyers over the past few years

Nou Llevant, located five minutes from Playa de Palma and billed as a smaller version of San Francisco's Silicon Valley, has undergone a massive transformation with most new properties being snapped up by Germans

Thousands of residents protested in Tenerife, Canary Islands on Saturday to demand the government temporarily limit tourist arrivals

The thousands of demonstrators in Tenerife joined the protests under the slogan: 'The Canary Islands have a limit'

Overnight pictures of the anti-tourist graffiti were published by local press, less than a month after similar messages appeared in southern Tenerife.

No-one is yet claiming responsibility for the graffiti which appeared in a road called Avinguda de Mexic opposite a recently-completed new apartment complex.

Island newspaper Diario de Mallorca described it as the first example of tourism-phobia in Nou Llevant, and said it was targeted at the neighbourhood's 'new foreign residents.'

In the last four years more than 750 apartments worth up to €2.5million (£2million) have been built there.

Around 70 per cent of the properties are said to have been snapped up by foreigners, mainly Germans.

One Spanish woman interviewed under a fictitious name in a Majorcan paper last year complained it was difficult to communicate with neighbours because most only spoke German and the majority of apartments where she lived were being purchased as holiday homes or rental investment properties.

Other locals have alleged that code-operated key lock boxes have appeared on many of the entrances of new apartment blocks. 

Nou Llevant was talked about as a little Silicon Valley before its transformation began.

A councillor in the Majorcan capital Palma, which the neighbourhood forms part of, said the council sought a 'co-existence' between the residential area and technology or renewable energy companies, so that employees could also live there.

Opposition politicians rubbished the idea, saying it was a residential area for the wealthy and a magnet for foreign investors with a lack of much-needed social housing linked to local incomes.

housands of people demonstrate against tourism policies on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain on April 20, 2024

Campaigners have been quick to distance themselves from anti-tourist graffiti which appeared on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of the month 

The islands are threatened by sea pollution, traffic gridlock and lack of cheap affordable housing linked to the pushing-up of property prices because of Airbnb-style holiday lets

Flyers like this slamming holidaymakers are being stuck to buildings all over Tenerife

Protesters flood the streets of Tenerife on Saturday, calling on local authorities to temporarily limit visitor numbers to alleviate pressure on the islands' environment, infrastructure and housing stock, and put curbs on property purchases by foreigners

People on a hunger strike sit in wheelchairs during a demonstration for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, April 20, 2024

Holding placards reading 'People live here' and 'We don't want to see our island die', demonstrators said changes must be made to the tourism industry that accounts for 35% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the Canary Islands archipelago.

Residents in the Balearics Islands which include Majorca and Ibiza showed their support for the Canary Islands protesters on Saturday who took to the streets in their thousands, although their demos were much smaller.

Organisers of the demonstrations in Tenerife said 80,000 people joined the protests under the slogan: 'The Canary Islands have a limit.' Official estimates put the number of people in attendance at around 30,000.

Campaigners have been quick to distance themselves from anti-tourist graffiti which appeared on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of the month.

Messages in English left on walls and benches in and around the resort included 'My misery your paradise' and 'Average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200 euros.'

In an apparent UK backlash, a response left in English on a wall next to a 'Tourists go home' message said: 'F**k off, we pay your wages.'

At the beginning of last week a picture was published in local press showing the words 'Go Home' on a hire car in Tenerife.

Canarias Se Agota, the lead platform behind the Canary Islands protests grouping together a number of ecological associations, has voiced demands which include a halt to two controversial hotel projects, an eco-tax and more sustainable tourism.

Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo suggested last week that the government is considering suggestions of a €3 (approximately £2.60) per night charge for visitors, The Sun reported.

He said last Friday that while 'ecotax is not included in the government program' currently, it is 'true' that the government is 'willing to discuss it'.

Travellers aged 16 and over already pay a daily charge of up to €4 (£3.45) when visiting equally popular Balearic islands, such as Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza.

People march on a street during a demonstration for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, April 20, 2024

A woman shouts next to a banner with the word "tourism" during a demonstration for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, April 20, 2024

Anti-Tourist graffiti scrawled on walls in the beach resort of Palm-Mar in the South of the Island of Tenerife

Graffiti which once said 'Average salary In Canary Islands 1,200E' has been painted over in Palm-Mar, Tenerife by officials who are trying to convey the small town as 'tourist friendly'

Thousands of people demonstrate against tourism policies on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain on April 20, 2024

Clavijo's remark comes as locals are demanding that authorities axe several major tourism projects in Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands. 

Some British holidaymakers have shown their support for the issues raised by the islanders but others have accused them of biting the hand that feeds them.

Six men and women affiliated to Canarias Se Agota, which in English would translate as 'Canary Islands on the Brink,' are now on day 12 of 'indefinite' hunger strike outside a church in the town of La Laguna in northern Tenerife.

They were filmed being bought to the Saturday protest in the Tenerife capital Santa Cruz in wheelchairs.

Related articles