Mallorca invents 'homeless tourist' category amid success

Mallorca has invented a new tourist category: the homeless tourist. This isn't about a young person sleeping on the beach after a night out, a backpacker on a tight budget, or someone who missed the last bus. It refers to the average tourist who arrives with a suitcase, a mobile phone, and an organized vacation.

Knowing a hotel room can cost 100, 150, or 200 euros, these tourists have decided to forgo paying for accommodation, opting instead to use Mallorca's extensive coastline as their "bedroom." The author suggests this phenomenon is a perfect metaphor for the "disaster" that tourism success has become. For decades, success was measured by arrival numbers, with each new record reinforcing Mallorca's status as a tourism powerhouse.

Now, the island has tourists who no longer need lodging. The beach serves as a hotel without reception, license, tourist tax, or a bill. The room offers a sea view. The author argues that an island is not a nightclub to be filled to capacity; it has limited resources like roads, beaches, water, public services, and land, and most importantly, inhabitants. These residents live on the island year-round, needing housing, jobs, and places to raise families, not just for a week in August.

The sight of tourists sleeping on beaches with their luggage is not a funny anecdote. First, many locals could no longer afford housing. Now, some tourists find it not worth paying for a room. The author concludes that the real disaster isn't tourists sleeping on beaches, but that many still believe more can fit.