Crisis in Mallorca: “illegal” holiday rentals spark anger | World | News

The suburbs of Palma in Mallorca are seeing an increase in tourists, although there are few hotels there.

Local residents believe they know the reason for the unexpected increase and plan to take matters into their own hands.

There are growing protests against tourism in Spain, with local people venting their anger about the effects of mass tourism.

One of the main complaints concerns the increasing proliferation of holiday rentals offered on online platforms.

Activists say the increase in rental housing is pushing locals out of the property market as prices continue to skyrocket.

Jaume Garau of the Palma XXI association told the Majorca Daily Bulletin that he had a good idea why more tourists were flocking to Palma’s suburbs.

He said: “The centre is saturated and that is why there are now tourist accommodations outside the centre.”

“And when we see so many tourists in these areas, it is because there is a lot of illegal activity there.

“All legal places are taken, so they go somewhere else: to illegal accommodation.”

In Palma, renting apartments to tourists is prohibited, but business still seems to be booming.

Joan Nadal, a representative of the Menys Turisme, Més Vida platform, which organised a major protest against overtourism in Palma earlier this year, said: “We know that there are illegal tourist properties in our neighbourhood.”

“They don’t pay taxes and bother their neighbors with their antisocial behavior.”

Some of Spain’s most popular cities have gradually introduced new rules to limit the number of holiday rentals.

Nevertheless, statistics from the Spanish government show that the number of holiday homes has increased by nine percent in the last year and there are now over 340,000 registered.

This means that in some cities there is one tourist accommodation per 1.5 square kilometers and per 139 locals.

Studies have shown that most rental apartments are owned by large companies and not by private individuals.