A Menorca holiday village dubbed the ‘Spanish Mykonos’ has threatened to ban all tourists after previously telling them to only visit between 11am and 8pm so they can enjoy their breakfasts.
Binibeca Vell, which is popular with Brits, is set to receive one million tourists this year after its popularity boomed on social media.
Locals have complained about the bad behaviour of visitors with one claiming ‘they went into homes’, ‘sat on chairs’ and ‘climb on our walls’.
Last year, residents began to hit back, requesting tourists only visit the fishing village – which is famous for its unique whitewashed walls – between 11am and 8pm.
In a post on the village’s website, locals also asked vistors 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.
Binibeca Vell, which is popular with Brits, is set to receive one million tourists this year after its popularity boomed on social media
Locals have complained about the bad behaviour of visitors with one claiming ‘they went into homes’, ‘sat on chairs’ and ‘climb on our walls’
Last year, residents began to hit back, requesting tourists only visit the fishing village – which is famous for its whitewashed walls – between 11am and 8pm
In a post on the village’s website, locals also asked vistors to refrain from ‘entering homes’ and ‘climbing balconies’
Óscar Monge, who runs a group representing Binibeca Vell’s 195 property owners, told the Guardian: ‘Binibeca Vell is not a place of adventure, but it’s a private housing development where people reside.’
‘If the administration continues to leave us abandoned, in August we’ll carry out a vote among owners on whether we should close up the development,’ he added.
Mr Monge explained that the main problem is the Spanish authorities who residents believe are not doing enough to tackle the issues with tourists.
Binibeca Vell residents were given £12,850 by the government last year to help deal with rubbish removal but the deal has not been renewed.
Begoña Mercadal, head of tourism for Menorca told the El Diario newspaper that residents would be able to close their village to tourists if they wished.
She said: ‘We fully acknowledge that it is private property and, therefore, if they want to close it, that is their right.’
The row in Binibeca Vell comes amid a number of protests across holiday hotspots in Spain that are struggling with overtourism.
Last month, furious locals in Mallorca demanded that British holidaymakers ‘go home’ in anti-tourist graffiti scrawled across the isalnd.
‘Go Home Tourist’ was written 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.
‘Go Home Tourist’ scrawled in English over a wall underneath a real estate promotion billboard in Nou Llevant, Mallorca
Holidaymaking Brits met with anti-tourist graffiti on Tenerife as frustrated locals claim they only ‘drink cheap beer, lay in the sun and eat low quality food’
The thousands of demonstrators in Tenerife joined the protests under the slogan: ‘The Canary Islands have a limit’
People on a hunger strike sit in wheelchairs during a demonstration for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, April 20, 2024
Protesters flood the streets of Tenerife calling on local authorities to temporarily limit visitor numbers
Thousands of people also demonstrated in Tenerife, Canary Islands in April to demand that the government temporarily limit tourist arrivals.
Residents in Mallorca are echoing some of the same complaints that protestors in the Canary Islands have been making, claiming that the boom in short-term holiday rentals is driving up housing costs for locals.
British visitors to Tenerife are also set to be hit with a controversial ‘tourist tax’ from next year, local authorites 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.