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‘Don’t tag this beach, b**ch!’ Mallorca anti-tourism campaign urges locals not to reveal beauty spots on their social media in latest bid to discourage visitors

Mallorca’s anti-tourism campaign has urged locals to not reveal the island’s beauty spots on their social media in its latest bid to discourage rowdy visitors.

Stickers sporting the tagline ‘Don’t tag this beach, b**ch!’ have been spotted plastered around beach entrances following an initial launch of the campaign by the Mallorcan communication agency La Indis last year.

La Indis began the campaign in an effort to stop locals from tagging the locations of the island’s most picturesque spots on social media and offered users the possibility of downloading designs with the slogan for free in any format.

But this year, the campaign group has upped the ante and brought ‘Don’t tag this beach, b**ch!’ to life, by printing thousands of stickers with the motto and distributing them free of charge to interested locals, reports Ultima Hora.

The bright red stickers, show the slogan written in a bold font with a locator symbol below, and can be displayed in ‘your car, in your business, or anywhere,’ said Virginia Moll, director of La Indis.

Stickers sporting the motto ‘Don’t tag this beach, b**tch!’ have been spotted around beach entrances as Mallorca attempts to crack down on tourism levels

Mallorca is urging locals to share the motto which aims to stop people from tagging the locations of the island’s most picturesque spots on social media

A Mallorca (pictured) local told Ultima Hora: ‘Overcrowding affects us residents first by making it more expensive and worsening our quality of life, but tourists are also harmed’

‘We will not be the ones who recommend sticking them on the same beaches, but each person can decide what to do with their stickers. At the moment, we have seen them in coastal areas such as Son Serra or Cala Major,’ she added.

Moll revealed that every weekend the group leaves a pile of stickers outside their office, and by the time Monday comes around, there are none left.

‘Several businesses from different parts of the Island have been interested, such as the Bonaire 15 store in Binissalem, which already distributes them,’ she said, speaking on the the rising popularity of the campaign.

The agency has so far printed a batch of over 1,000 stickers, and have already distributed over half to locals who have displayed them in their businesses and around nearby beauty spots on the sunny island.

Moll said the initiative was carried out to display a ‘commitment to the cause’ as La Indis aim to ‘promote a true social debate on the problem of overcrowding’.

A local told the respected Spanish publication: ‘Overcrowding affects us residents first by making it more expensive and worsening our quality of life, but tourists are also harmed. 

‘For this reason, our campaign seeks to involve them in the search for solutions to alleviate this problem’.

The ‘Don’t tag this beach, b**ch!’ campaign was officially launched last summer as a hashtag that locals could use on their social media posts regarding the issue of overcrowding.

La Indis told the Majorca Daily Bulletin that just one tag could result in millions of views on Instagram and that ‘the problem isn’t that people can’t find space to lay their towels, it is a problem with very serious consequences for the local population’.

The agency offered free downloads of the slogan, and Moll revealed one town hall had asked to use the design for its local beach.

‘Our paradise can no longer give more of itself. Being sustainable is not just about not harming the environment but understanding that posting a beautiful photo has drastic consequences for the environment,’ Moll said.

The sticker campaign comes after a series of crackdowns on the Spanish island as it battles overcrowding and immense spikes in tourism.

Last week, a Menorca holiday village dubbed the ‘Spanish Mykonos’ threatened to ban all tourists after previously telling them to only visit between 11am and 8pm so they can enjoy their breakfasts.

It comes after the government of the Balearic Islands introduced a ban on the sale of alcohol between 9:30pm and 8am in a bid to crack down on so-called low quality tourism.

The decree bans late night sales of booze from commercial establishments in Llucmajor, Palma and Calvia in Mallorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza.

Ibiza also became the latest Spanish holidaymaker hotspot to join in with growing anti-tourism protests that have erupted around the country.

Demonstrators packed into Weyler Square in the Tenerife capital Santa Cruz, the start point for a march on the Brit-popular holiday island, on April 20

The words ‘Go Home Tourist’ were scrawled in English over a wall underneath a real estate promotion billboard in Nou Llevant, Mallorca, a neighbourhood that has seen a massive influx of foreign buyers over the past few years

‘We welcome anybody who wants to enjoy our local culture, gastronomy, local traditions, beautiful beaches and covers,’ said Xaquelina Ana Perry, a spokeswoman for an activist group by the name of Prou Eivissa (Enough Ibiza).

‘We are only against the massification of the type of tourism attracted to our island. The island is saturated, especially with illegal renting and our 572 square kilometres cannot take anymore,’ she added.

Similar protesting has been seen in other popular destinations, such as Tenerife, where furious locals even went on hunger strike in an effort to voice their anger.

In Menorca, graffiti has also sprung up on walls telling tourists to ‘go home’, while in Marbella last year, tyres on cars with British number plates were slashed. 

On April 20, thousands of protestors took to the streets of the Canary Islands to protest against the problems caused by mass tourism and demand their politicians take action. 

The protestors chanted the slogan: ‘Canarias tiene un limite’, which in English translates as ‘The Canary Islands have a limit.’

Two weeks ago the same words appeared painted in white on the tarmac of one of the access roads to Mount Teide in Tenerife.

Another message painted on the road said: ‘Moratoria turistica’ – ‘Tourist moratorium’ in English.’

Majorcan-based hotel chief Joan Pla warned recently the mass tourism protests in the Canary Islands could be repeated in the Balearics.

Spanish islands are threatened by sea pollution, traffic gridlock and lack of cheap affordable housing linked to the pushing-up of property prices because of Airbnb-style holiday lets

Graffiti reading ‘My misery, your paradise’ is seen in the Balearic Islands

He claimed the number of homes built for local residents that were being purchased instead by foreigners as holiday properties was a problem.

And he complained islands like Majorca where he is based were having to cope with the influx of too many people at certain times of the year.

Tenerife, a popular island with British tourists, has been at the forefront of the protests linked to the type of mass tourism it attracts.

Just before the protests, a leading Tenerife politician urged British and Irish tourists looking for cheap all-inclusive sunshine breaks to go elsewhere for their vacations.

Carlos Tarife, deputy mayor for the island capital Santa Cruz, said holidaymakers interested in staying in their hotels with their mandatory wristbands on should book places like the Dominican Republic instead.

Graffiti in English left on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of last month included ‘My misery your paradise’ and ‘Average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200 euros.’



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