Abstract
The historic centre of Palma is undergoing significant socio-urban change due to tourism-real estate speculation—an issue that is constantly highlighted in debates on tourism gentrification. This revaluation of the historic centre as a place for investment coincided with a serious economic crisis and an increase in urban inequality throughout the city. Tourism gentrification is spreading throughout neighbourhoods in the old town, most notably in areas with high heritage value. Our aim herein is to examine tourism gentrification in the historic centre of Palma through the increase in luxury hotels and short-stay holiday home rentals, particularly those listed on Airbnb, as the two most recent agents of gentrification. The advent of social resistance to this phenomenon can be tied to the socio-urban impacts that have stemmed from this tourism speculation: financial (real estate speculation and rising property prices), social (evictions), and functional and scenic (symbolic and commercial transformation). The strongest political response has come in the recent Tourism Act (August 2017) introducing certain regulatory measures: firstly, the focus on the illegal nature of renting holiday accommodation and, secondly, tourism zoning which, in Palma, has led to a complete ban on holiday rentals in residential apartment blocks. Palma is the first city in Spain to opt for this solution.
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