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Vol. 8 Issue 200
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LOUD AND CLEAR ACTIVISTS have targeted Mallorca's Osborne Bull with graffiti telling foreign homebuyers to ‘go to hell’ as the anti-tourism backlash on the island gathers pace. The vandalism, shared on Instagram, has sparked concern for its ‘xenophobic’ sentiment. The words ‘rich property buyers go to hell’ were sprayed on the controversial monument - which towers over the MA-15 road between Algaida and Montuiri - earlier this month. The Osborne Bull has become a focal point for discontent and protest in Mallorca for its associations with
Anti-foreigner sentiment surges in Mallorca as graffiti appears on famous Osborne Bull statue By Walter Finch
Spanish culture and the ‘commercial takeover’ of the island, as perceived by Catalan-speaking locals. Despite condemnation from local politicians – including the far-right Vox party – a local residents’ group ‘applauded’ the graffiti.
Misguided? TOUR guides in Palma have slammed Palma City Council’s plan to limit groups to 20 people per group, which they claim contravenes Balearic Islands’ regulations that allow groups of up to 70. “The current average group size is between 30 and 50 people,” said tour guide official Gabriel Rosales. “It’s baffling that the council didn’t consider the existing regulations before moving forward with this.” Rosales argues that this change will cripple the tourism sector and related businesses. “With groups of just 19, it will be impossible to sell tours, as they’ll be financially unsustainable,” he explained.
He also pointed out that popular attractions like the Cathedral of Mallorca and the Castell de Bellver could see a drop in revenue. Rosales is also protesting the requirement that guides visibly display identification with their full name and police monitoring of tour numbers. “Why should we have to reveal all this information when a police officer only needs to show a badge number?” Rosales asked. “It’s like we’re being treated like criminals. “What happens when people join the group on the fly? Are we going to tag them like animals? Or hand out batons to keep out the ‘unauthorised’ tourists?” Rosales questioned.
“This morning we were given a pleasant surprise!” wrote SOS Residents on Instagram, who celebrated the ‘anti-colonialist message’ and called the bull a ‘symbol of Spanishisation’. The graffiti has received mixed reactions on social media, with the post gathering nearly 2,400 likes and numerous comments debating the merits of such protest actions. “Thank you rich foreign property buyers for letting us live a modern life without hard work, based on the selling of properties that our grandfathers bought for nothing and now we sell for a thousand times more,” one commenter wrote. Foreign buyers accounted for 31% of transactions in Mallorca between 2022 and 2024, spending an average of more than €1.5 million on luxury properties, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Germans, Austrians, Swiss, Belgian and Dutch buyers dominate the market with 41% of transactions, while Brits make up 10% of the share.
They helped drive an 11.2% annual growth in house prices in the Balearics last year – almost three times the national average – with an average price now standing at €4,083/sqm in the Balearic Islands. It is thanks to this demand from abroad that many locals feel priced out of the housing market. The Osborne Bull has become a focal point for discontent and protest in Mallorca for its associations with Spanish mono-culture and commercial takeover.
Controversial
While protected as a national cultural icon across Spain, its presence in Mallorca has become increasingly controversial in a region with a strong independent identity. On the mainland, hundreds of these striking black bulls still stand on Spanish hillsides, while Mallorca hosts just one, making it a particularly prominent target. But the symbolism extends beyond just foreign buyers snapping up property – last summer saw numerous demonstrations against mass tourism, with residents arguing
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that the islands are becoming unaffordable for locals. Illegal tourist apartments are another issue in the firing line for activists railing against the islands’ current economic model. Palma Mayor Jaime Martinez recently announced that the regional government is working on a system that would ‘prevent unlicensed properties from being listed on rental platforms’ such as Airbnb and Vrbo. He added that Palma city hall is coordinating with the regional government to step up efforts to track down illegal rental properties and map their locations. The wrangling comes against a backdrop of 25 million tourists expected to descend on the island of 1.2 million people this summer season. Tourism directly contributes 43.6% of the region’s GDP (€22.3 billion last year), far in excess of the 13% it represents across Spain as a whole. "Tourism is crucial to our economic future," said Llorenç Pou of the opposition PSOE. “But the wealth it generates isn't shared as it should be, and overcrowding creates serious problems. There are simply too many tourists."