An idyllic town in Mallorca has taken the daring step to ban tourists to ride in the historic center after large protests that deny the structure of traffic for the local population.
Sóller, a traditional municipality of around 14,000 people in the northwest of the island, will only limit access to the 12 main streets of the city from this year.
The Council will introduce a 'low emission zone' of 70 hectares, which means that renting to further park to further park to reduce congestion.
According to the new rules, only vehicles that are registered with residents are allowed on the central roads, with 'a few exceptions', reports the Mallorca Daily Bulletin.
Visitors are expected to park in 'soon set up' areas of the 'Desvío' (Detour) Road, which also suffered congestion problems last year.
Antoni Costa, the vice-president of the Balearic government, has sworn to tackle persistent 'overtourism' on the islands and this week to warn that 'we cannot' grow if the islands 'have reached their limit'.
The move comes in the midst of growing dissatisfaction with the impact of tourists on popular holiday destinations throughout the country, culminating in large protests nationwide last summer – and desperate action of local councils to illuminate the pressure on residents.
File photo. Soller will introduce innovative new measures to manage overtourism
A demonstrator has a sign with the text 'It's not a tourism phobia, it's mallorcicide' during protest
Sóller will hope to tackle the urgent problem of congestion by setting up a new defining areas where only residents can drive.
The border extends through the MA-11 main road to Calle de Isabel II, Calle de Sant Jaume, the Ma-21122 and the Calle Andreu Coll, Glosador, on the Calle de Cetre.
The secondary streets including the old city will also be affected, according to a new map of the exclusion zone.
Plans for such a policy have been in the making for months, according to local media, and responding to increasing protests about congestion in the city.
But the local authorities are pressed to offer sufficient parking space, made difficult due to the highly concentrated traditional Spanish layout.
“Provided there is parking, I don't think there will be a problem, but if there is no parking space, it can be a nightmare,” a regular visitor told The Daily Bulletin.
The Can Tinet parking space would be opened in August last year as the first of various to reduce the tension on the narrow lanes of the city.
While Sóller is largely isolated from the other major cities in Mallorca, the Balearics welcomed around 15.3 million international tourists last year.
This rose 6.15 percent compared to 2023, in line with a wider trend of holiday destinations built from the pandemic.
Panoramic view of Port de Soller, Mallorca
'Overtourism' has contributed to the felt tribe of Lage Wonen and Limited Homes in Spain, where demonstrators in large cities appear to demonstrate against economies built around catering for tourists.
Last summer, demonstrators in Alicante organized their first big march through the city, which argues about limits in the tourism sector about concern that costs the locals out of housing and trapped in unstable seasonal jobs.
An organizer for the “Alicante Dede Vas?” Group behind the Mars told MailOnline at the time that they wanted to make the 'conflict visible' and called on the local authorities to 'take measures to put the needs of the people who live in the city in the foreground compared to the wishes of those who visit the city'.
'The tiredness of many people in Mallorca, the Canary Islands, Barcelona or Alicante, is huge; the fear and stress to have difficulty renting a house; Or for the suffering of terrible working conditions; Or not being able to sleep well because there is a tourist apartment in your community … In the end, pain and suffering causes hostile reactions to tourists, “said spokesperson Salva.
Anti-Holidaymaker protests escalate in sinister turn while 'Kill a Tourist' Graffiti appears on the wall in Mallorca
A demonstrator has a sign with the lecture 'Take your drunks back, give our houses back' during demonstration in Palma this month
Protests have adopted a more aggressive tendency in some affected regions; Up to 50,000 inhabitants took to the streets in the capital of Mallorcan of Palma in July to ridiculed England fans about their bad luck of the euro.
In the second major protest in two months, demonstrators stood up, written in English, with the text: “Take your drunks back, give our houses back.”
The return took a sinister turn when graffiti that 'Kill a Tourist' emerged at various locations in Manacor, at Mallorca.
Earlier in July, protesters in Barcelona sprayed tourists with water guns while marching through areas that are popular with visitors.
The police said that around 2,800 people had been demonstrated and a new economic model demanded that the millions of tourists who visit visits every year.
