‘Everything is collapsing’: Ibiza is the latest Spanish hotspot to fight back against overtourism

Tourism is pricing locals out of being able to live on Ibiza, campaigners say.

Activists are taking to the streets this weekend to protest what they say are the downsides of tourism.

According to Prou Ibiza (‘Enough Ibiza’ in Catalan), nurses and police officers are having to live in cars and caravans because housing is unaffordable, and operations and cancer treatment have been delayed because doctors can't afford to live on the white isle.

The campaigners are calling on authorities to limit the number of tourist beds in Ibiza, one of Spain’s most popular resorts.

They will protest outside the white isle’s government offices today. Protests are also planned in Mallorca and Menorca over the weekend.

Rafael Jimenez, a spokesperson for Prou Ibiza, is a local police officer from Ibiza. He moved to Aragon on the Spanish mainland after he had had enough of mass tourism.

“We are not against tourism itself. We have nothing against the people who come and respect our island,” he tells Euronews Travel.

“A side effect of mass tourism is that house prices are rising. Everyone feels that everything is collapsing. More restaurants require more workers but these workers require places to live and there are ten looking for every place. 

There are nurses and police who live in caravans.”

Jimenez left Ibiza where he had lived for most of his life because, he said, he “could not take the atmosphere any more”.

“I have a house in Ibiza. But I couldn’t take it. We feel that tourism is taking public places. It is very expensive,” he added.

Karla Andrade, 36, a teacher and mother who works in Ibiza, has moved to Palma in Mallorca. She flies back and forth to Ibiza rather than pay the high rent on the island. 

She takes 40 flights a month, getting up at