Fury over Spanish holiday destination's new plans which 'treat tourists like animals'
19 February 2025, 13:00
Palma City Council’s plans have divided opinions after they put forward new rules to limit guided tours to 20 people per group.
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Tourism agencies are said to be furious with a council in the popular holiday destination of Mallorca, with one president comparing the new rules to "treating tourists like animals".
Palma City Council’s latest plans see them limiting the number of tourists in groups from 70 to 20 people, and require all tourist guides to display ID - a decision they say treats them "like criminals".
This comes amid issues raised in sunny locations such as Spain where record numbers of holidaymakers flock to the resorts and beaches, much to the dismay of some locals.
Now, the president of tourism agency Proguies Turístics de Baleares, Gabriel Rosales, has condemned the new plans, claiming that they are not only illegal but also treat tourist guides as "criminals" and tourists as "animals".
Most tourist groups, he says, range from 30 to 50 people and the Balearic Islands’ regulations allow groups of up to 70.
“It’s baffling that the council didn’t consider the existing regulations before moving forward with this," Rosales said as he went on to raise concerns over how last minute visitors will be handled by police.
"Are we going to tag them like animals? Or hand out batons to keep out the ‘unauthorised’ tourists?!" he questioned.
Speaking of the plans to have tourist guides provide ID, he stated: "This violates our privacy rights and clashes with data protection laws. Why should we have to reveal all this information when a police officer only needs to show a badge number? It’s like we’re being treated like criminals."
Rosales is convinced that these rules, if put in place, will affect the number of people visiting famous locations such as Cathedral of Mallorca and the Castell de Bellver, causing a huge drop in their revenue.
At the moment, the rule is currently in a 'public comment' period after which it will go to the full council for a final vote.
