Mass tourism in the Balearic Islands has had its day, said the leader of the Spanish archipelago, after thousands demonstrated against a model which they blame for overwhelming the popular holiday islands.

Marga Prohens, the president of the Balearic Islands regional government, said authorities must target “quality tourism” rather than simply trying to attract more tourists.

“The volume model has come to an end: you cannot grow more in volume but in value. The model of growing in volume has reached its limit,” Mrs Prohens told UltimaHora, a local newspaper.

Protesters called for affordable housing on an island where they claimed illegal tourist flats were pushing up the rental prices, so some local people were forced to live in caravans or cars.

Campaigners estimate about 1,000 people live in caravans or mobile homes as average monthly rents are €1,500 (£1,300).

Mrs Prohens said the conservative government in the islands had approved a series of 700 housing projects, lowered tax on property sales and transferred public land so developers can make more rental housing.

However, despite Mrs Prohens’ words, protesters signalled they may stage more demonstrations later this summer during the height of the holiday season.

About 10,000 people protested in Palma de Mallorca on Saturday against excessive tourism, Spanish police said.

Holding up posters, some in English, which read ‘Too Many Tourists…SOS Residents’, demonstrators filled the streets of the capital of the largest Balearic Island.

Others held banners which read ‘Mallorca Not for Sale’ and ‘We Used to Have a Life’ protesters banged drums as they marched through the streets.

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Hundreds took part in a smaller demonstration against mass tourism in Menorca and about 1,000 protesters marched in Ibiza on Friday night.

Rafael Giménez, of Prou Ibiza, which organised Friday’s protest in the White Island, said more demonstrations may be staged during the holiday season.

“We have to talk to other groups but we think more protests will be held later this summer,” he told i.

Mr Giménez said protesters want to limit new tourist places and ban more illegal tourist flats which, he claimed, push up the price of rental property for locals.

However, he stressed that campaigners did not oppose tourism but were against the current mass tourism model which had forced him to leave the island to live in the Spanish mainland.

Protesters in Mallorca said they want people who have not lived in the island for five years to be barred from buying property and to place more controls on holiday accommodation.

After Catalonia, the Balearic Islands was the second most popular region of Spain for tourists last year, attracting 14.4 million holidaymakers, according to data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute.

Some 18 million tourists visited Catalonia in 2023 and 13.9 million people visited the Canary Islands.

Tourism generates 45 per cent of the Balearic Islands’ gross domestic product, according to data from Exceltur, an industry organisation.

In April, thousands of people protested in the Canary Islands, calling for a temporary limit on tourist arrivals to stem a boom in short-term holiday rentals and hotel construction that is increasing housing costs for locals.