MAJORCA has launched a shocking new plan to crackdown on Brit tourists flooding to beaches by tracking their phones.
As part of a bizarre scheme to limit the number of holiday-goers, the Balearic government has announced they will now be using a creepy technology to keep an eye on sun-loving Brits.
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The government has claimed they want factual evidence to prove beaches are becoming rapidly overcrowded and need actual numbers and data to achieve this, reports Majorca Daily Bulletin.
They are aiming to manage the numbers flocking to various beaches on the island in the future so they can impose rules, limitations and fix the heavy congestion.
Sensors in people’s mobile phones will be able to keep track of the number of people on the beach at any given time.
The phone tracking trial will start on just one beach to begin with so the data can be analysed before it may be rolled out across the Balearic islands.
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The exact spot is yet to be confirmed but it will be at a beach where tourism is rife.
Some potential spots are thought to be Es Trenc in Campos, Cala Varques in Manacor or Caló des Moro in Santanyi.
Some other schemes being piloted in Majorca include offering more public transport near to resorts so tourists can travel to different beaches further away.
This will also solve the parking and traffic crisis often seen on hot days.
BRITS ‘GO HOME’
The latest scheme to limit Brits from beaches comes after tourists have been told to “go home” from Spain as layers of anti-tourist graffiti has also been sprayed across the streets.
Many of the Canary Islands have started to crackdown on tourism after a wave of furious locals called for ‘low-quality’ tourists to stop flocking down to holiday hotspots.
The words ‘Go Home Tourist’ can be seen scrawled in English over a wall in a shocking set of pictures.
As a picture was also published in local press showing the words “Go Home” on a hire car in Tenerife.
Messages in English left on walls and benches in and around the resort read “My misery your paradise” and “Average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200 euros”.
Residents across the Balearic Islands – which include Majorca and Ibiza -showed their support for the Canary Islands protesters, who took to the streets in their thousands on Saturday.
Organisers in Tenerife said 80,000 people joined the protests under the slogan: “The Canary Islands have a limit.”
Canarias Se Agota, the lead platform behind the Canary Islands protests, has voiced demands which include a halt to two controversial hotel projects, an eco-tax and more sustainable tourism.
Brits could now face a daily ‘tourist tax’ to visit the Canary Islands after the anti-tourist protestors demanded a freeze on holidaymakers.
President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, warned that a daily cost for visitors could be on the table.
While not included in current plans, Clavijo said the government is willing to look at suggestions of a three euro per night charge.
As well as a tourist fee, they are seeking fewer flights to the island, and restrictions on foreigners owning homes.
The Canary Islands president has previously begged Brits to visit the holiday hotspot after furious locals branded them “low-quality”.
Residents have labelled UK tourists as a “cancer” as prices skyrocket and they allege intoxicated partygoers are destroying their paradise.
In an apparent UK backlash, a response left in English on a wall next to a “Tourists go home” message said: “F*** off, we pay your wages.”
TOURIST TRAP
A RISING number of visitors in idyllic holiday hotspots is forcing out locals.
- Important amenities such as post offices and village shops are being disposed of to make way for more houses and cafes for tourists.
- Locals are also struggling to climb on the property ladder as many houses sit empty, being used as second homes and holiday lets.
- In some hotspots this has created a major housing crisis as demand for accommodation and second homes drives house prices sky high.
- Road infrastructure and parking systems often can’t cope with more tourists – leading to traffic chaos and safety concerns.
- The issues see younger families leaving the area, in turn making it harder for community members left behind.
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