Police charges in Palma: the political cost of mass tourism in Spain

Palma: peaceful anti-tourism protest ends with police charges and rubber bullets

Mallorca has seen a new episode of social tension. A peaceful demonstration against mass tourism in Palma was broken up with rubber bullets and police charges, according to witnesses. Attendees claim the police had "orders to wreck it". The incident reopens the debate over the sustainability of the Balearic economic model, where tourism generates 45% of GDP but also overcrowding and resentment.

The overcrowding is brutal: the ratio reaches 18 tourists per resident in high season, according to figures cited in the debate. Against this backdrop, some blame the "78 regime" (Spain's post-Franco political order) for building its economy on speculation and rent-seeking. Yet others point to the hypocrisy: Spaniards are the world's second most frequent travellers, behind only the US.

Spaniards: champions of tourism... and of complaining about it

Spain's statistics institute (INE) has just published its Familitur survey: in the first half of 2025, Spaniards made 46.4 million trips, up 2.9% on the previous year, and spent 15,202 million euros (+9.7%). Trips abroad grew by 11.8%, with spending up 14.3%. In other words, while some protest against tourists, others head off on holiday en masse. The data reflect a society that demands global mobility but rejects visitors when they arrive on its doorstep.

The paradox is obvious: how do you square criticism of tourism with the fact that Spaniards themselves are voracious travellers? There is no easy answer. What is clear is that the Palma protest is no isolated incident: it is the symptom of a model that generates wealth but also social fracture. And the police, caught in the middle, are taking the blame.