PALMA, Majorca — In summers, Majorca and its sister islands off the eastern coast of Spain were once a discreet destination for the cultured, famous and wealthy. In the 19th century, the composer Frédéric Chopin and his partner, the writer George Sand, were among those who sought its Mediterranean climate.
Celebrities still come, but in more recent years, bargain airlines and package tours have added to the mix, with Britons and others looking for cheap and drunken holidays.
It has reached the point where some hotels in the port of Magaluf have encased their balconies in glass panels to prevent inebriated clients from jumping off. Usually they land in swimming pools, sometimes not. In early June, a 20-year-old tourist became the second person to fall to his death this year.
Then there is Palma, the island’s quieter, tonier capital about a half-hour drive along the coast, where the mayor is erecting his own kind of barrier to tourists: It has become the first Spanish city to ban the short-term rental of apartments through Airbnb and other home-sharing websites.
«We want Palma to remain livable for its inhabitants,» said Antoni Noguera, the mayor. «We believe that we are setting a trend, because there are many cities in Europe that have the same problem.»
Airbnb and others had already been facing a backlash. Amsterdam and Paris are among the European cities that decided to limit the number of days people can rent their apartments. Different restrictions have come into force across North America, from Vancouver to New York.
But Mr. Noguera may be right to think that his city is taking the clampdown a step further. Under Palma’s new rules, only owners of detached townhouses will be allowed to rent to tourists. Anybody offering short-term rental in an apartment building risks a fine of as much as 40,000 euros.
Critics of Airbnb insist they want to contain rather than dampen tourism. The sector, after all, represents about 40 percent of Majorca’s gross domestic product.
But they view short-term rentals as a frontal attack on the social fabric of their city, reducing the housing supply and making Palma unaffordable for its 440,000 residents. Last year, prices in Palma’s secondary housing market rose at the fastest pace among Spanish cities, according to some studies.
Fed-up residents have hung posters from their balconies showing a woman with a shopping trolley using a walking stick to drive away tourists with their selfie sticks and carry-on luggage. «The city is for whoever lives in it, not whoever visits it,» it reads.
Joan Miralles, the president of Habtur, an association that represents homeowners who rent to tourists, said politicians have made Airbnb the scapegoat for their failure to control the tourism boom and to build more affordable housing.
Instead, he said, politicians bowed to pressure from the hotel lobby, on an island that is home to four of Spain’s five largest international hotel operators.
«Banning Airbnb will do nothing to solve our housing crisis, but it will stop the democratization of a tourism sector that has been controlled by a few hotel oligarchs,» Mr. Miralles said.
For Manel Domènech, who heads one of the neighborhood associations that pushed for the ban, residents should have the right to live without suffering the excesses of tourism.
«It’s fine to have your neighbor celebrate his birthday once a year, but not to have a weekly party above your head,» Mr. Domènech said.
On Majorca, fears of ruin by a crush of tourists.
© 2018 The New York Times