The government government’s strategy to relieve overloaded areas through collaboration with influencers eventually generated an unexpected increase in visitors, forcing the authorities’ retreat.
Digital campaign attracts unexpected crowds
Balearal islands recently implemented a strategy that aimed to distribute the flow of tourists to less known zones through collaboration with digital influencers, many of them with audiences higher than half a million followers. This measure intended to reduce pressure on the most popular places, but eventually had the opposite effect, according to a spokesman for the regional executive, quoted by.
In particular, the small beach of Caló de Moro, in Mallorca, with a capacity of about 100 people, has seen the influx increase to more than four thousand visitors and about 1,200 vehicles a day in June 2024. This situation originated significant congestion and environmental impacts. María Ponds, mayor, even appealed to the press to “not mention the beach again.” Authorities removed all promotional photographs from the site of official portals and asked the tour operators to remove the area from the scripts.
“Selfie Tourism” and pressure on fragile areas
The phenomenon, known as “selfie tourism”, translates into the demand for idyllic scenarios for photographs, promoted by content creators. Although this strategy has been adopted in other international destinations, such as Bali or Vermont, the growing popularity of social networks and the ease of access to the islands accentuated the problem in whaares, resulting in the overcrowding of environmentally sensitive zones.
Given the impact, the government of the Balear Islands immediately suspended all partnerships with content creators and blocked new paid collaborations.
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Protests in response to mass tourism
While the whaares faced this situation, thousands of residents of the Canary Islands were manifested on May 18, under slogans such as “Mass Tourism makes us homeless” and “Canaries are not on sale.” According to official data, the archipelago recorded, in March, the entry of more than 1.55 million foreign tourists, an increase of 0.9% over the previous year’s record.
Additional measures in Barcelona and Madrid
The popular contestation of mass tourism also extended to large cities. Barcelona City Hall has announced that it will cease to grant new licenses for local accommodation and will not renew the existing ones, with the aim of eliminating the tourist apartments by 2028.
In Madrid, a measure has been approved in effect in August and will ban local accommodation in residential buildings in the central area of the city. At the same time, the Spain government notified the Airbnb platform to remove 65,000 illegal ads that did not indicate the license number or have incorrect data, in accordance with Spanish legislation.
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