Residents of a Menorcan village dubbed the ‘Spanish Mykonos’ have rejected a feared tourist ban.
Although around 30 per cent of picture-postcard Binibeca Vell’s 195 homeowners wanted a total prohibition on outside visitors 24/7, a modification of visiting restriction times ended up being agreed at a meeting on Friday night.
The holidaymaker veto was said to be on the cards ahead of the vote after locals chained off the 22 entrances to their community at nighttime earlier this year.
Residents voted to put restrictions in place after visitors flocked back to Menorca following the end of the Covid pandemic.
Some selfie-hunting holidaymakers ended up trampling through private properties in tourist attraction Benibeca Vell, a privately-owned community, although it is widely described as a village, and interrupting their rest times.
Since May 1st, visitors were only allowed to access its streets between 11am and 8pm and a tightening of restrictions had been talked about.
Confirming the result of the vote at an annual general meeting, Oscar Monge, president of the Community of Property Owners in Binibeca Vell on Menorca’s southern coast, said: “The result by unanimity is for a visiting timetable of 10am to 10pm with no entry charge.”
As well as certifying the tourist mecca would remain open during the daytime for the estimated 800,000 tourists a year who visit, Mr Monge’s announcement also put any possibility holidaymakers could be charged for touring Binibeca Vell on the back burner.
He added in comments early on Saturday morning: “The new visiting times will be brought in immediately.”
Although he described the vote as “unanimous” on Friday night after the end of the meeting, he said on Saturday: “Around 30 per cent of the owners wanted to close permanently to tourists but the civic behaviour of visitors helped persuade people that the current partial closure is sufficient.”
Mr Monge, a 51-year-old restaurant owner, described the decision to close off the area at night-time earlier this year as “common sense.”
He complained a €15,000 subsidy the island council used to give them which they put towards removing the rubbish tourists left in high season had been taken away following elections and a change of government.
Referring to some of the problems caused by ‘badly-behaving’ holidaymakers, he said: “We’ve had situations where at 9pm tourists were going onto homeowners’ private terraces to take selfies and we’re saying simply this can’t carry on.
“Some of the guides use a wireless device and give tourists headphones but others just speak unaided and three guides at a time in a narrow street with the echo that produces when people are having their siestas or having dinner with their family or friends leads to residents getting annoyed.”
Insisting holidaymakers would still be welcome within the allowed visiting times, he added: “We received 800,000 visitors last year and if people stop visiting us because of what they’re reading then so be it. It’s not going to make any difference to us.
“Next year we’re anticipating a million visitors and the year after that it’s probably going to be around 1.1 million.
“Those that don’t come are losing out on the biggest tourist attraction in Menorca.
“We have a lot of beautiful beaches but apart from Mahon and Ciutadella there’s not a lot more. This is a place the tourist can’t miss out on, but for his or her sake.
“The sunsets here are excellent.”
Friday’s vote took place following a summer of discontent in the Balearic Islands which have seen thousands of people take to the streets in two major demos in the Majorcan capital Palma to protest at some of the problems caused by mass tourism including overcrowding and difficulties accessing affordable housing.
Other smaller protests have taken place in other parts of Majorca, as well as Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
On July 27th around 250 protestors impeded tourist access to a picture-postcard Menorcan beach in a “surprise action”.
Activists boasted of filling a car park by Cala Turqueta, a beautiful cove on the island’s southern coast, with “residents’ cars”.
They then used towels and their own bodies to shape the message ‘SOS Menorca’ on the sand by the waterline.
The unannounced protest, by environmental non-profit organisation GOB Menorca, resulted in the car park being “blocked” to holidaymakers for around six hours from early morning according to local reports.
