The environmental group Friends of the Earth has warned that the global energy and climate crisis already has direct effects on Ibiza and compromises the current economic model based on tourism. Coinciding with Earth Day, the organization has released a statement pointing out that factors such as international instability —aggravated by conflicts like those in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz— are already impacting transportation and tourist bookings.

This week in Parliament, the Minister of Tourism, Jaume Bauzà, exclaimed with strong words at the fact that the opposition (in this case MÉS per Mallorca, through its spokesperson, Lluís Apesteguia) expressed the idea that public services should be prioritized for residents, over promotions for tourists. “They want to pay for their bicycles too”, the minister scandalized, and he sarcastically remarked: “If they are locals, if they vote here, red carpet. They don't overcrowd, they don't saturate, they can run everywhere. Beware, though, if they are from northern countries!”. He said all this with shouts that wouldn't have needed a microphone, and he finished it off with a very typical outburst: “Coño!”. Like other members of his executive, Bauzà seems to have trouble distinguishing when he is in Parliament or when he is at a picnic with friends in the countryside. It is said, incidentally, that this man is also the Minister of Culture.The idea that Minister Bauzà was trying to express is not exactly new either: it boils down to the fact that prioritizing the needs of residents over the leisure of tourists is a sin of selfishness. “Mallorcans, you live in paradise and you want it all to yourselves”: this phrase was often repeated during the SOS! Turisme campaign, in the years of the pandemic. The minister has added a quality touch, which consists of lamenting the good life that we residents enjoy, in contrast to the contempt suffered by the poor people who come to visit us from “northern countries”: these, as is well known, do nothing but endure impertinences, scowls, and tourismphobia. However, they continue to come, because they are selfless and good people, and they do so in ever-increasing numbers each year. All this, according to the minister, would have a clear electoral motivation, because –attention– residents vote here, these bastards. They do so, as can be seen, to maintain their status as an unjustly privileged caste, to the detriment of the suffering people “fro  northern countries”, who are always left in the corners. A tourist is no longer a friend, as in the old slogan. Now it would be: let us pity the tourist, to whom we owe everything and in return has nothing.On the other hand, immigrants who already live in the Balearic Islands and can now benefit from the regularization legislated by the Spanish government do not deserve such consideration. According to the denunciation of the Popular Party of Madrid, and as the Popular Party of the Balearic Islands obediently repeats, this regularization is once again an electoral maneuver, this time by the perfidious Pedro Sánchez, to win the votes of supposed grateful immigrants. This idea is misinformation, since regularized immigrants do not acquire the right to vote until they obtain Spanish nationality, a process that can be delayed for up to ten years. Worse than inventing false voters, however, is that the PP wants to spread the suspicion that all these regularized immigrants are potential criminals, “victimizers of women”, as Feijóo said, a man always overwhelmed by the circumstances. The criminalization of immigrants is, as everyone knows, a typical slogan of the far-right.The ranking of citizens, however, is clear. The worst are immigrants from the south, who are criminals, followed by residents, who are spoiled. Those, on the other hand, who have been underestimated, despite all they have done for these Islands, are our brothers from the northern countries. For them will be the attention of the Government and the promised land (served in succulent real estate promotions).

A company has been reported by the Artà City Council for organizing a mega scavenger hunt with no less than 900 people. It involved touring the urban center doing absurd things like painting on the ground or sticking adhesives on traffic signs or the town's walls.

The Artà City Council has opened a disciplinary file against a company that organizes tourist routes in Mallorca, following actions detected recently in the municipality, which constitute a breach of current regulations. The events occurred last Tuesday, after a citizen alerted about the presence of people spray-painting in the public street. Based on this alert, the responsible company was identified, the City Council documented the facts, and has prepared the corresponding report.

The tourist overcrowding of the Balearic Islands continues to increase. The number of tourists visiting the Archipelago during the summer season could increase again, and this time thanks to Ryanair. The company announced new routes this Thursday connecting Palma with different points in Europe and an expansion in the offer of seats and flights to visit Ibiza and Mallorca.

The PSIB-PSOE has questioned the data provided by the Consell de Mallorca on the removal of illegal ads on Airbnb and has accused its president, Llorenç Galmés, of exaggerating the figures.

The platform Airbnb has removed more than 60,000 illegal tourist rental spaces in the Illes Balears during this legislature, according to the island councils and the Government in the framework of the policy to combat irregular supply. The figure was highlighted by the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, during her speech at the Fira de Turisme de Menorca, held in Alaior.

Airbnb has removed nearly 8,000 illegal tourist rental listings in Mallorca as a consequence of the agreement that the platform reached with the Consell de Mallorca a year ago. This was explained by the president of the insular institution, Llorenç Galmés, at a press conference to present a tourism management tool. According to Galmés, these listings correspond to a theoretical capacity of 40,000 places, although they could continue to operate through other channels.

A group of people staged a protest action this Thursday in front of the Congress Palace against the Art Cologne fair. The participants, disguised as souls in pain or bubotes, carried out a performance to denounce that this cultural event "favors elitism and contributes to the "touristification" of the island.

The partial collapse of a hotel in Calvià on Thursday night led to the partial evacuation of the establishment and the sealing off of the affected area, as reported by the Mallorca Fire Department. Two people sustained minor injuries, both with superficial wounds and one case of fainting. This Friday, the property's management has decided to close the hotel for safety reasons, and guests are being relocated to other hotels in the area.

Promoted by Celestí Alomar, Minister of Tourism of the first Pacte de Progrés (1999-2003), a tax on tourist stays, immediately known as the ‘ecotax’, was approved on April 10, 2001, twenty-five years ago. It levied, approximately one euro per night, the stay of tourists. With the revenue, some negative externalities of mass tourism in the Balearic Islands were to be corrected. It did not come into effect until May 2002 due to an appeal to the Constitutional Court, filed by the Aznar government. When the People's Party won the following elections in 2003, it repealed the tax, considering it a brake on tourist competitiveness. Those who defended the repeal of the tax said that it could not be classified as ecological or environmental, and that it was not even a tax, arguing: “It was nothing more than a symbol of a policy of negative messages towards what tourism represented”. And they related the application of the ecotax to the decrease in tourist arrivals and the problems the hotel sector had experienced. The Government of Jaume Matas wanted to replace it with so-called green cards or ‘sustainable’ foundations that only collected a pittance.

The historic port of Sanitja, which housed the ancient Roman city of Sanisera, north of Mercadal, is on the verge of the boatless season. Not a single one of the forty that were still there until this winter. Costes has evicted them for failing to regularize the users' association and the legal status of the five jetties that were used in this protected area, which had already led to the opening of several sanctioning proceedings by the state administration.

A minor was injured this Tuesday afternoon after falling several meters from a hotel in Son Caliu, in the municipality of Calviá.

A sketch from the British comedy show 'Saturday Night Live UK', broadcast by the Sky channel, has gone viral on social media after satirizing the behavior of some United Kingdom tourists who travel to Spain to enjoy the sun, but without leaving the British environment.

Tourist bookings to the Balearic Islands have increased by 1.7% in the last week compared to the same period last year, according to data published by the Travelgate platform. Furthermore, demand has also grown by 0.9% compared to the previous week, a fact that confirms the upward trend as the high season approaches.

This March, singer Júlia Colom published a tune on social media that is not part of any of the albums she has released to date. It is a song written by her and her brother Martí, in which she speaks of a Mallorca that cries, of historic records, and of what, Colom says, we all know we have to do when the day gets longer: “stay inside at home so as not to bother them too much”. In a video that begins with a close-up of her and ends with an image of a hotel on the Majorcan coast, the singer from Valldemossa states: “Mallorca, you have been punished, / for getting the maximum profit: / a seasonal product / that now lasts all year round”. It is just the latest example of a whole series of songs with which island musicians and singers have demonstrated against mass tourism in recent years.

Palma Airport registered at least thirty flight delays this Friday, coinciding with a new day of strike by Groundforce company's ground staff, responsible for ramp assistance services. According to Aena data, sixteen departures and fourteen arrivals at Son Sant Joan were affected.

Palma Airport registered at least thirty flight delays this Friday, coinciding with a new day of strike by Groundforce company's ground staff, responsible for ramp assistance services. According to Aena data, sixteen departures and fourteen arrivals at Son Sant Joan were affected.