Palma's city council has caved to pressure from local anti-tourism groups as it unveiled plans to eliminate approximately 1,700 beach loungers across the capital's coastline.
The plans, which will be implemented by 2026 and will mark a 20 per cent reduction, address growing concerns from locals who have complained about the scarcity of free spaces on their beaches due to the proliferation of paid sunbeds and umbrellas.
The removal programme will affect four municipal beaches in Palma, with the council citing both coastal erosion and residents' grievances as driving factors behind the decision.
Most of the cuts will be in Playa de Palma, where sunbed numbers will drop from 6,000 to 4,436, while umbrella provision will decrease from 2,503 to 2,218.
Plans are in place to remove some 1,700 sunbeds
GETTYCala Major faces a reduction from 300 to 250 loungers, whilst Ciutat Jardi will see its allocation trimmed from 300 to 288.
Cala Stancia's sunbed provision will fall from 150 to 132.
Can Pere Antoni beach, which falls under coastal protection agency jurisdiction rather than municipal control, will experience the steepest proportional cut, with loungers reduced from 200 to just 94.
Palma's mayor, Jaime Martínez, has revealed an ambitious €300million investment programme to enhance Playa de Palma over the coming decade.
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The comprehensive plan includes a prohibition on constructing new tourist hotels, with existing establishments required to either undergo upgrades or convert to residential flats.
By 2027, the council intends to introduce a digital booking system, allowing beachgoers to reserve loungers and umbrellas through an online application.
These measures form part of a broader strategy to address overtourism concerns that have sparked protests across the island and other Spanish destinations.
Campaign groups in Majorca recently urged tourists to stay away from the island this summer, claiming mass tourism is destroying their way of life.
The end of the letter told tourists to 'stay home'X/MENYS TURISME MÉS VIDASeven organisations representing local residents published an open letter on social media to holidaymakers.
The letter said: "Majorca is not the paradise they are selling you.
"The local population is angry and no longer hospitable because the land we love is being destroyed and many of us have to leave the island because it is uninhabitable. Put yourself in our place.
"It is time to take a stand. Our leaders do not listen to us, so we the residents, ask you: Do not come."
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