Aena justifies the controversial 'Malle' advertising at the airport and denies responsibility for the overcrowding

PalmaAena has responded to the Government's criticism over the installation of a large advertising banner at Palma Airport which, according to the Executive and a large part of the public opinion of many residents, projects an image of Mallorca associated with tourist excesses.

The public company responsible for the management of Spanish airports defended itself this Thursday in a statement in which it pointed out that the campaign has no relation to the promotion of excess tourism and that it is a strictly commercial action promoted by a German banking entity and the digital payment platform Wero, similar to Bizum. The poster, located on the facade of the Son Sant Joan car park building and visible from the arrivals terminal, includes the slogan in German “Was auf Malle passiert, wird auf Malle beglichen” (what happens in Mallorca is settled in Mallorca), a phrase that has ignited the debate about the island's tourism model.

In this sense, Aena excuses itself by stating that the campaign aims to promote the Wero payment system and not any type of conduct related to nightlife and excess tourism. The entity insists that the message should be interpreted in a commercial context and detached from the behavior of visitors. The company has also shrugged off criticism for overcrowding in the Balearic Islands and pointed out that the airport does not generate tourist demand, but rather depends on the destination and the existing offer in the Balearic Islands.

The statements come after the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports, Jaume Bauzà, harshly criticized Aena for authorizing the installation of the banner. Bauzà has described the campaign as “inacceptable” and has denounced that it contributes to reinforcing a “caricature” of Mallorca associated with excesses. Bauzà has denounced that the use of the term 'Malle' constitutes “a tourist caricature” that reduces Mallorca to a destination of “open bar and quick business”, and has warned that the message being projected is that “everything goes” on the island and that it functions as a “theme park of excesses”.

MÉS alerts Parliament and demands withdrawal of the campaign

The response to the campaign has not only come from the Government team, but the opposition has also been very critical of it. Specifically, MÉS per Mallorca has registered a Non-Binding Proposal (PNL) in Parliament to demand the immediate withdrawal of the campaign. Through a statement, they have emphasized that they consider it “offensive” and representative of a tourism model based on “the commercial trivialization of Mallorca and excessive tourism”.

The initiative also attacks Aena's management model, which the party defines as "centralized, extractive, and alien to the interests of the Balearic Islands," and denounces that decisions about airports are made from Madrid without real participation from Balearic institutions. In the text, MÉS directly links airport policy with tourist overcrowding and the housing crisis, and rejects the planned expansions at the airports of Palma and Ibiza because, it assures, they increase pressure on the territory and consolidate "an unsustainable economic model."

The eco-sovereignist formation also calls for moving towards effective airport co-management and reprimands both the president of Aena, Maurici Lucena, and the director of Palma airport, Tomàs Melgar, for having allowed a campaign that, in its opinion, "undermines the identity and social interests of Mallorca".

In fact, the spokesperson for MÉS per Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, also made a post on the social network X stating that this campaign was another example of "colonial mistreatment". "That Aena allows this advertising at Son Sant Joan airport is another sign of absolute contempt, they openly go against the Majorcans to get all the juice out of us," he sentenced.