Anti-tourism campaigners in Majorca have urged locals to keep the island’s beauty spots off their social media to discourage hordes of rowdy visitors.
Mallorcan communication agency La Indis launched the campaign, which saw stickers with the tagline 'Don't tag this beach, b**ch!' plastered around beauty spots, last year. The campaign was aimed at stopping locals from tagging the island’s most beautiful beaches and spots on their social media - offering designs with the slogan for free for all to download.
This year the campaigners have upped the ante by printing off thousands of the stickers and handing them out to locals for free. Director of La Indis, Virginia Moll, said locals were free to display the stickers “anywhere”. She told Ultima Hora: “We will not be the ones who recommend sticking them on the same beaches, but each person can decide what to do with their stickers. At the moment, we have seen them in coastal areas such as Son Serra or Cala Major."
What started as an online campaign last year has made it into the real world with stickers appearing across the island (La Indis)She said piles of the stickers left outside their offices have been snapped up with interest from businesses in other parts of the island as the campaign gains in popularity. The aim was to “promote a true social debate on the problem of overcrowding,” Virginia said. Over half of their current batch of 1000 stickers have bene given away to locals and businesses, she said, with the red logos appearing on beauty spots across the sunny island.
Just one tag on Instagram could result in millions of views, leading to overcrowding, Virginia told local publication the Majorca Daily Bulletin. “The problem isn't that people can't find space to lay their towels, it is a problem with very serious consequences for the local population,” she added. “Our paradise can no longer give more of itself. Being sustainable is not just about not harming the environment but understanding that posting a beautiful photo has drastic consequences for the environment.”
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Locals in other tourist hotspots have also been campaigning against too many visitors to their shores (Getty Images)The news comes amid a series of crackdowns across other regions as locals contend with waves of tourists. Last week residents in a holiday village in Menorca known as the “Spanish Mykonos” said they want to ban all tourists from visiting - after previously telling them they can only visit between 11am and 8pm so locals can enjoy their breakfasts. One million tourists are set to descend on the village of Binibeca Vell, which became popular with Brits after images of the gorgeous area went viral on social media.
“Binibeca Vell is not a place of adventure, but it's a private housing development where people reside,” said Óscar Monge, who runs a group representing the 195 property owners in Binibeca Vell. “If the administration continues to leave us abandoned, in August we'll carry out a vote among owners on whether we should close up the development,” he added.
Meanwhile, in Tenerife, thousands of locals protested in April demanding that the government limit the number of tourists arriving on the island. Complaints in both areas centre around claims that a boom in short-term holiday rentals is driving up housing costs for locals.
Brits on holiday in Tenerife will be hit with a “tourist tax” local authorities recently confirmed in a controversial statement. A government spokesperson on Tenerife said the tax would apply to the island’s natural beauty spots and was an essential part of maintaining the protected sites in the face of surging visitor numbers.
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