"What happens in Malle stays in Malle": the German airport advertisement that ignites residents

PalmaA new advertising poster entirely in German installed at Palma Airport has once again ignited the debate about mass tourism in Mallorca. The campaign, located on the facade of the car park building and visible from the main exit of the arrivals terminal, uses the slogan 'Was auf Malle passiert, wird auf Malle beglichen' ('what happens in Mallorca is settled in Mallorca').

The campaign, located on the facade of the car park building and visible from the main exit of the arrivals terminal, promoted by Sparkwasse and Wero, a savings bank and public banks from Germany and a payment service provider, similar to Bizum, respectively; has generated strong criticism, especially for the term 'Malle', a colloquial designation used by German tourists to refer to the island, deeply rooted in certain sectors of the popular imagination and often associated with a model of tourism based on excess, permanent partying, and uncontrolled consumption of alcohol and drugs, especially in Arenal and the street known as 'del Jamón', in addition to having, every summer, a long history of rapes and sexual assaults on women.

The presence of these types of messages at the main entry point to the Islands comes shortly after the start of what has so far been a record-breaking tourist season, which has also gone hand in hand with the social debate about the limits of the tourism model and, consequently, the loss of quality of life for residents of the Balearic Islands due to the lack of access to housing, precarious employment, and rising prices.

In recent years, the proliferation of signs, advertisements, and services aimed exclusively at foreign visitors has been criticized by organizations warning of a progressive subordination of public space to the tourism industry. The location of the sign, right at the airport exit, has reactivated the debate about what model of island is projected to the millions of tourists who arrive each year and what space is occupied by the native language and identity within infrastructure increasingly geared towards unbridled tourist consumption.