17 August 2023 , 14:27
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Spanish people are attempting to fool Brits into thinking popular sunbathing spots are closed by putting up fake warning signs across the island of Mallorca.
Some posters claim that there have been jellyfish on the shore, cliff falls or sewage contamination in the water, while others state that the beach is closed or that it takes almost three hours to walk there. However, people who can read the local Catalan dialect have spotted the cheeky reality of the signs - as small text at the bottom gives a different picture.
Under an image of a swimmer surrounded by jellyfish, it says in Catalan: "Open beach. Not to jellyfish or foreigners." Another that lies about rockfall, points out that there is no landslide but that the danger is due to overcrowding. The signs were placed by the anti-capitalist activist group Manacor Caterva. The group have previously campaigned against over-tourism and criticised tennis star Rafael Nadal for owning an eatery and tourism business on the island in the Balearics. They said the signs were done as a "bit of humour."
Some fake signs have popped up near popular beaches warning people to 'beware of dangerous jellyfish' (Twitter)
One sign warned of falling rocks (Twitter)A press release from the group, shared with the Majorca Daily Bulletin, criticises tourists for overcrowding the island and states that "the coves of the Balearic Islands have been expropriated by tourism." In a post on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter, Caterva wrote: "These days we carried out a denunciation action against the #massificació tourist in the coves of #Manacor. With a bit of humour, we've put up a few posters that you can see in the photos. From Cala Morlanda to Cala Bota."
The group continued: "The usurpation of the coves is just another expression of how capitalism uses an economic activity like tourism, taken to the extreme, to dry the territory for free and to extract the maximum surplus value from the workers."
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Tourism accounts for some 75 per cent of the island’s total economic output and in 2016 English tourists made up about a quarter of them. The news comes as holidaymakers desperate to bag the best spot by a pool have been resorting to new and "crazy" methods to beat the rush. One holidaymaker told the Mirror: "In an effort to control the sunbed madness, the door from the hotel to the pool area was kept locked until 8 am. So people were lining their towels up on the floor in a queue ordered by the door before it opened. I must add this wasn't youngsters, but mostly elderly and middle-aged people. I don't know what time they started, but we were up at 6.30 am one morning to grab breakfast before an excursion, and there was already an established towel queue forming at the door. Crazy behaviour!"