Mallorcans live in caravans as tourists snap up housing

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain - Pilar Hernando lives in a caravan on the outskirts of Palma de Mallorca and showers in the local sports centre.

The 45-year-old Hernando, who has struggled to find work in bars and restaurants, said she cannot afford rental prices that have risen significantly partly due to a tourism boom on the Spanish holiday island.

"Prices go up, rents go up, everything goes up...except salaries," Hernando said.

She is one of a number of Mallorcan residents resorting to living in caravans parked in makeshift camps as they are priced out of the housing market by landlords preferring to rent to tourists.

The trend has led to protests in the island as well as in Spain's most visited city of Barcelona and other locations. Last Sunday, about 10,000 protesters took part in a rally against mass tourism in Palma de Mallorca.

The city has three such caravan sites. Local authorities have provided a recycling system but its residents say there is only one place on the island to dispose of sewage. They say they are not allowed to open their windows or place a table outside because they are parked in a public space.

Police have threatened them with fines while the local government said it cannot provide any more facilities and referred them to social services, they said.

The Balearic Islands government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SQUEEZED OUT

Anti-tourism activists in Spain say visitors drive up housing costs and lead to residents being unable to afford living in city centers.

Spain received 33 million international travellers up to May, 14% more than the same period in 2023.

After Catalonia, the Balearic Islands was the second most popular region of Spain for tourists last year, attracting 14.4 million holidaymakers, the National Statistics Institute said.

Tourism also generates 45% of the Balearic Islands' gross domestic product, tourism industry association Exceltur says.

But visitors increasingly favour renting holiday homes via apps such as Airbnb when travelling, with short-term rentals by foreign tourists up by 24% between March and May, Exceltur said.

On the islands, rents have risen 158% in the past decade, the sharpest increase in Spain, according to property listings website Fotocasa.

The average rent for an 80-square-metre (861 square feet) apartment on the Spanish archipelago was 1,447 euros ($1,570) a month in June, Fotocasa said. That compares to an average monthly salary in Spain of 1,925 euros, according to the Statistics Institute.

Aina Anamaria, 48, took out a loan to buy a motorhome which she pays off in monthly instalments of 323 euros, about half of the 700-euro salary she receives for working in a shop. Renting a room in an apartment on the island will typically cost 400-500 euros, she said.

"There's no way to describe how we have to live this way on our own island," she said.

($1 = 0.9204 euros)

- (Reuters)