'I'm a Brit living in Mallorca – this is the biggest myth about the tourism protests'

A Brit living in Mallorca has taken to TikTok to debunk a myth about the anti-tourism protests in Spain.

In recent months there have been a number of anti-tourism protests in popular Spanish holiday destinations, on both the mainland and the Balearic Islands. Some places have seen the slogan "tourists go home" graffitied on walls in English, and in Mallorca specifically locals have taken to the streets with banners saying: "Your paradise is our nightmare." Most of the protests are focused on rent prices rising as a result of properties being bought up and rented to visitors.

Ottilie Quince, an 11-time world champion cyclist at the World Transplant Games, is a Brit who owns and runs a bike shop in Mallorca. She also shares insights about the island on her TikTok page (@ottilieq).

In two recent videos she addressed questions about tourists going to Mallorca, and specifically the locals' attitudes towards them. And despite how it may seem, Ottilie insisted that people don't hate tourists.

"What's happening is, prices are increasing for rent of properties, and bills, and obviously everything else," she explained. "But wages aren't increasing, so [for] local people - myself included - it's getting more and more tricky to actually live here.

"It's not that people really hate tourists - they don't. Tourism brings a great deal of money here to the island, and without the tourists we wouldn't have a huge chunk of money here."

However, she did say there was one aspect to the tourism that locals don't like - the booze-fuelled madness. Ottilie continued: "The other part of it is - and this has been happening for years, and it's not just the Brits, the Germans are just as bad - but it's the vulgar behaviour of tourists.

"The getting absolutely smashed, p*ssing up walls, being loud, just not being nice. Just not being respectful. And I think they [the locals] have had enough."

Reacting to the videos, one local said in agreement: "There is no problems.... the tourists are more than welcome. What we don't like is the tourists that don't respect the place where they are." Another comment read: "Me and my friend came on a city break to Palma in June was lovely no issues at all."