A major crackdown on tourist numbers is in the pipeline for a Spanish town in the holiday hotspot of Majorca.
Shocking new images showed traffic jams last week in the pretty town of Soller as tourist numbers start to soar as the summer season approaches.
The Government is now said to be extremely concerned about the volume of traffic and said it’s having an “unacceptable” impact on the local population.
Antoni Costa, a spokesperson for the Balearic government, has reacted to the images that showed tailbacks on Thursday and said there is a need to set limits “to the constant growth in volume because it will lead to an unsustainable pattern of growth,” reports Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Costa said the government now recognises there’s a need to establish limits on tourism.
He added that tourism on the island needed to grow “in value and not in volume, in quality and not in quantity” and that the situation in Soller has an impact on the resident population “which is unacceptable”.
A pilot plan is underway to measure the tourist footprint with sensors as Costa said that the Government first needs to get to grips with the scale of the problem.
The start of peak tourist season, combined with weekends and public holidays such as this May 1, created a traffic gridlock in some parts of Majorca.
The roads in the Serra de Tramuntana were crammed with cars on Wednesday, May 1 and Thursday, May 2.
However the Soller road and the Formentor road in Pollensa were the worst affected – with half a mile-long queues recorded on the road between Soller and the port.
Ibiza is planning to introduce limits on vehicles this summer.
Meanwhile locals in Majorca are reportedly being “forced out of their homes” as the popular holiday destination witnessed a surge in the number of tourists moving in.
CEO of a Majorcan company, Ignacio Fiol of AB Capital shares how the prices of the properties have gone up substantially.
According to the expert, earlier residents could afford to buy a second home on the island as the prices were comparatively low. But it’s all change on the holiday island.
He said: “There are Majorcans who aspire to have a second home elsewhere. What they could have had here (in Majorca) thirty years ago,” reports Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Mr Fiol added: “They have given up on having a second residence in Majorca because of the prices and displacement by ‘foreign capital’”.
