The picturesque bay of Caló d’es Moro on Mallorca continues to cause controversy. The beautiful stretch of beach is flooded daily by hordes of tourists who share pictures and videos on social media. The local Mallorcans have had enough and have issued a dire warning.

Mallorca is not only an absolute holiday hotspot for party lovers, but also for beach and swimming fans. A particularly popular place for this is the picturesque bay of Caló d’es Moro, which lies in the southeast of the island. But the local residents are now sending a clear message against mass tourism.

The idyllic beach of Caló d’es Moro is now also known as “Instagram Bay”. This rather unromantic name simply comes from the countless tourists who flood the bay every day and provide their surroundings with photo and video material on social media.

The locals want to put a stop to this constant overcrowding of the small bay and have now resorted to peaceful protest. “Ocupem les nostres platges” (English: “Let’s occupy our beaches”) was the hashtag of the Mallorca Platja Tour initiative on X (formerly Twitter), under which the protest action on Sunday (June 16, 2024) was called for.

The organizers’ plan was for people to gather at “Instagram Bay” from 8 a.m., before the tourist rush, to make a peaceful statement against the commercialization of their beaches.

Here you can see the organizers’ call for action on X:

Already in May of this year there was a large open discussion under the motto “less tourism, more life” with a large number of participants – and this time again hundreds of locals followed the call of the initiative.

Up to 300 people answered the call on X and gathered in the picturesque bay early in the morning. Although the protest was peaceful, the local police authorities were on site to record the personal details of those present. The reason: the police classified the action as a demonstration, which should have been registered ten days in advance.

Some of the participants spoke to the Mallorca newspaper and once again highlighted the need for such protests. “We are calling for restrictions and regulations to improve the quality of life of the residents of Mallorca and Santanyí in view of the overcrowding,” says Joan Cabot, a participant in the demonstration.

Here you can get an impression of the protest action on X:

Another participant also explains his motivation for taking part in the beach occupation: “It is necessary to stop all this because we are digging our own graves if we continue like this.”

Fortunately, there was no sign of any aggressive behavior on the part of the protesters or tourists. One of the protesters even distributed leaflets in English to inform the arriving holidaymakers about the situation.

“We understand what they are asking for. It is not our fault either, but after all, an island is a limited space and I assume that excesses are noticed more quickly here,” says a British holidaymaker after reading the flyer carefully.

After the peaceful but also media-effective implementation of the protest action at Caló d’es Moro, the next beach occupation against mass tourism is now scheduled to take place at the end of July.

By Frederik Steinhage (ste)

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The original of this article “Tourist flood on Mallorca Bay shows no end: “Digging our own grave”” comes from Express.de.