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CULTURAL DELIGHTS
OLIVE PRESS
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MALLORCA
FREE THE Balearic Islands are increasing efforts to encourage UK tourists to visit after a significant dip in visitor numbers following a spate of anti-mass tourism protests. They reported a 10% decrease in British tourism in July. In 2023, four million Brits visited the islands, meaning the July slump meant tens of thousands skipped a trip to the holiday hotspot.
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Vol. 7 Issue 189 www.theolivepress.es September 6th - September 19th 2024
Come back! Spain’s other major market, Germany, increased its visitor numbers by 12% during the same period. Although it's not clear if it was the protests that have influenced holidaymakers’ plans, the local
tourism agency, AETIB, initiated a UK-focussed media campaign designed to counter the negative press before the data was released. Managed by London based firm, Lotus, the campaign hopes to reassure travellers they are welcome on the islands. The campaign, sent to tour operators and travel agencies, said tourists should not fear displays of ‘turismophobia’ or hostility.
It comes after months of protests throughout Spain against mass-tourism. It is not uncommon to see graffiti reading ‘tourists go home’ in major cities, but the situation took a dark turn when graffiti reading ‘kill a tourist’ appeared in Manacor. The escalating anti-tourist sentiment reached fever pitch in May with Mallorca’s ‘historic’ anti-tourism protest. Opinion Page 6
FLOOD TRAGEDY
RESCUE teams resumed the search yesterday for a British hiker, 32, who was swept away by a surging river on Tuesday night. A British couple went missing in the Serra de Tramuntana following a severe storm that battered the island. The body of the missing hiker’s girlfriend, 26, also British, was found in Sa Calobra just 200 metres from where rescue teams started the search on Wednesday. A team of specialist divers from the Special Underwater Activities Group (GEAS) has joined the 30-strong Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group (GREIM) in scouring the rugged terrain for the missing man. They are searching a mountain range littered with steep cliffs, sharp gorges and dry river beds that are flooded from the recent storms. A group of 10 hikers who managed to get rescued — two Spaniards, along with French, German, and British nationals — said that the couple had been swept away in Torrent de Pareis, Escorca. According to reports, a sudden torrential surge caught the woman unawares and snatched her away, with the man suffering a similar fate when trying to save her.
Efforts were being made to triangulate the missing hiker's position using his mobile phone signal. Rescuers remained positive that there was a chance the man could be found alive and well, but at the time of going to press he remained missing. Mallorca firefighters admitted that the search has been ‘complicated’ by rapidly moving murky waters that have dredged dirt and mud, which has affected visibility for the rescuers.
Shock
Of the 10 rescued tourists, two were brought back in a state of shock, while a third was treated at a clinic but is not in danger. They had been located by helicopter, stranded by the flood waters, completely soaked through in the beating rain and without any warm clothing. The Guardia Civil had already set up a special rescue operation, anticipating that hikers might get in trouble with torrential flood waters when storms struck the island. Indeed they led a total of 100 people to safety who had become trapped. Previous experience taught them that hikers might attempt to access the scenic Torrent de Pareis river despite the
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Search continues for missing British tourist who was swept away by flash flood that killed his partner as specialist divers join team By Walter Finch
weather alerts. The Torrent de Pareis is a deep, narrow gorge that stretches about 3km from the Gorg Blau reservoir to its mouth at the Cala de Sa Calobra, a small cove on the northern coast of Mallorca. The walls can reach heights of up to 200 metres, and the gorge narrows to just a few metres across in some parts. During heavy rains, water captured in surrounding areas flows into the gorge, causing the dry riverbed to flood rapidly. The narrowness of the gorge creates a funnel effect, and in a matter of minutes the sudden waters turn into a raging torrent that experts have described as ‘attacking’ during heavy rainfall. Hikers caught in the gorge during
these conditions have little time to react and few places where they can escape to once a flash flood begins. Five people have died while hiking in the rocky gorges and ravines of Mallorca’s SEARCH: Helicopter was called in to help try to find Serra de Tra- the missing man while the search continued on foot muntana since 2017 – largely experienced canyoneers. were hindered by the ongoing storm. In January 2020, Balearic freediving His body was never recovered. champion David Cabrera, 34, van- Another canyoneer, Joaquin Muñoz, ished while canyoning in the Torrent 59, died in 2019 after torrential waters de na Mora. washed him off a 60 metre cliff, and in Search teams – including the GEAS – 2017 a 46-year-old woman drowned were deployed to rescue him, but they after getting tangled in ropes.
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Scientists uncover the ancient secrets of Spain’s oldest building See page 9