Menorca resort shuts out sightseers with chains across alleyways

Menorca resort shuts out sightseers with chains across alleyways

Furious Menorcan residents living in a resort town known as 'Spain's Mykonos' have chained up their streets in their latest bid to stop holidaymakers intruding on their private properties.

The nearly 200 homeowners of Binibeca Vell, which lies on the south of the island of Menorca, say they do not want any visitors before 11am and after 8pm as anti-tourist signs attached to thick rope and chains have been hung up throughout the holiday hotspot.

Locals have long complained of rowdy tourists disrespecting their homes by climbing stairs, scaling private balconies and even entering doorways to locals' homes as they hunt for picture perfect spots.

Binibeca, famed for its whitewashed cottages and twisting alleys, can accommodate just 500 permanent residents in the summer, but every year around 800,000 tourists pile in and cause havoc for locals.

But recent images show the small town almost completely deserted as several alleyways have ropes and chains hanging between the entrances with round signs indicating no trespassers.

The new blockades are Binibeca's first anti-tourist measure before residents take a vote on whether to ban holidaymakers altogether in August, The Telegraph reported.

Óscar Monge, president of the residents association, blamed Menorca's authorities for failing to regulate tourism in the area and leaving locals to take matters into their own hands.

He said: 'Binibeca is promoted by the administration and tourism companies, but what benefit do we get out of it?

'We pay dearly for being the most potent tourist attraction in Menorca'.

The residents organisation receives €25,000 annually to repair and touch up the outside painting of the town's houses but Monge believes the amount is insufficient and has demanded a plan to manage the area sustainably.

He said: 'It's outrageous that the politicians who run local tourism are telling us that the only alternatives we have to keep the place clean are to close it, privatise it or start charging.'

In a post on Binibeca's website, locals asked visitors to refrain from 'entering homes' and 'climbing balconies'.

The message included a series of pictures showing one tourist splayed out on a stairwell and another sitting in a chair belonging to one of the locals.

There are 1.2million permanent people in the Balearic Islands, which are home to Menorca, the smaller neighbour of popular tourist destinations Majorca and Ibiza.

In 2023, the islands saw about 18million tourists arrive, hitting a record for the archipelago.

And 14.4million of these were foreign visitors, the majority of whom were Germans and Brits.

It comes as Brits headed to Majorca this Bank Holiday weekend faced major disruption as thousands of people took to the streets in anti-tourist protests.

The protests were held on Saturday evening, starting at 7pm, and were centred on the capital of Palma.

Organisers said they were astounded by the number of groups and organisations which had pledged their support.

'Initially, we thought there would be about 2,000 people but now it is going to be considerably more,' said a spokesman for the organising group, Banc de Temps de Sencelles.

Last week, a group under the slogan 'Més turisme, menys vida', which translates to 'More tourism, less life' said it intended to cause chaos at Palma Airport over the coming weekend.

Mes is calling for a reduction in the number of flights at Palma airport, saying: 'Majorca is no longer overcrowded, Majorca is experiencing collapse. You cannot have airports that, year after year, break records.'

The Balearic government says it is willing to change the tourist model and has started a round of talks with the public. As yet, no concrete measures have been agreed.

Banc de Temps de Sencelles has labelled its campaign 'Majorca is not for sale!' and is so surprised by the promised support that it has asked the government to lay on more buses and trains so people from all over the island can attend.

'The demonstration aims to highlight the problem of access to housing in Mallorca, a general problem, but not isolated, because it cannot be separated from tourist saturation, the purchase of properties by foreigners,' said Carme Reynés of Banc de Temps de Sencelles.

The group says the protest will be followed by 'other actions' over the coming weeks.

Protests in Majorca come after more than 50,000 people took to the streets of Tenerife back in April to protest against tourism on the island in the Canaries.

Demonstrators were seeing brandishing 'you enjoy, we suffer' placards, claiming that the huge influx of tourists to the island is causing major environmental damage, driving down wages and squeezing locals out of cheap affordable housing, forcing dozens to live in tents and cars instead.

British visitors to Tenerife are also set to be hit with a controversial 'tourist tax' from next year, local authorities recently confirmed.

The proposal is part of the island's new tourism strategy and is seen as an eco tax, but the level of charge and the formalities are yet to be agreed by Parliament.

It will apply to all of Tenerife's most famous protected sites, including the volcano Mount Teide and several rural parks and hamlets like Masca.

A spokesman for the Tenerife government said the introduction of this eco tax was necessary due to the vast increase of people visiting protected sites, visitors and locals alike.

Travellers aged 16 and over already pay a daily charge of up to €4 (£3.45) when visiting the equally popular Balearic islands, such as Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza.