ANTI-TOURISM activists in Mallorca have announced a mass march through Palma on July 26 vowing an ‘historic turnout’ that will bring the city to a standstill.
The announcement came at a small demonstration outside Palma Cathedral on Sunday June 7, where members of Menys Turisme Mes Vida — Less Tourism More Life — gathered to set the date and make their intentions clear.
“We can’t cope with more tourists,” said David Comas, a spokesman for the group.
Comas described Mallorca as a ‘theme park’ where it had become impossible for young people to live independently or secure decent housing, as rents and property prices continue to track the island’s position as one of Europe’s most popular holiday destinations.
The main march is set for 7pm on July 26. Organisers say smaller, supporting protests are expected in the weeks beforehand — the July 26 date was chosen deliberately to build momentum over the summer peak.
It will not be the first this year.
The opening salvo comes this Saturday, when demonstrators take to the streets of Menorca — itself a favourite destination for British tourists — in the first Balearic protest of 2026.
The timing of the Palma march is significant.
On August 12, just over a fortnight later, a solar eclipse is expected to draw thousands of additional visitors to the Balearic Islands on top of the peak summer crowd, straining infrastructure and tempers further.
Last June’s Palma demonstration drew an estimated 15,000 people.
When it ended, around 100 activists surrounded tourists at a restaurant in the city centre before police moved in to disperse them.
The year before, organisers had to issue a public apology after holidaymakers eating in a square in Palma were booed and jeered.
Anti-tourist sentiment has hardened across Spain’s island territories over the past two years.
In the Canary Islands, activists have been gluing shut key boxes used by Airbnb hosts.
In other areas, fake police tape has been used to block access to beaches and beauty spots — tricking tourists into thinking popular trails are closed.
The announcement comes less than a week since five international real estate agencies were vandalised in Mallorca in a coordinated overnight attack.
Vandals smashed windows, sabotaged door locks, and daubed walls with aggressive graffiti in the inland town of Santa Maria del Cami.
The Policia Local confirmed that the coordinated strikes took place at around 2.30am.
Two young men were spotted carrying out the sabotage before fleeing the scene in a getaway car.
The properties were left defaced with spray-painted slogans reading ‘Guilty!’ and ‘Guiris out!’ across the glass.
German multinational Engel and Volkers suffered the worst damage during the night.
Attacking youths smashed a front window and defaced the company facade, which forms part of a protected cultural heritage site.
Activists across the islands regularly blame international estate agents for pricing locals out of the market as property values skyrocket.
But the Balearic National and International Real Estate Association, ABINI, has issued a fierce pushback against the targeting of foreign firms.
A spokesperson for the group branded the overnight sabotage as ‘cowardly and unjustifiable’ actions that target the wrong people.
“These attacks falsely accuse the real estate sector of being responsible for the residential emergency being experienced in the Balearics,” the association said.
The group insisted that ‘real estate agencies are not the problem, but part of the solution’ to the ongoing island property crunch.
ABINI warned it would not tolerate the ‘criminalisation of hundreds of small business owners and workers’ who are simply doing their jobs honestly.
The group has consistently shift the blame for the regional housing shortage elsewhere.
Bosses argue that local authorities should focus on cutting through the regulatory labyrinth and building more public housing rather than blaming international investments.
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