“Tourists, go to their homes” and “Tourism steals us” was read in the posters that held a multitude of protesters who marched by the call Gold mile In the city of Barcelona, a street flanked by luxury boutiques and high -end hotels, spraying visitors with water guns in front of a Louis Vuitton store. A police barricade arrested the march near the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, one of the main tourist attractions of the city.
The protests arose from the Network of southern Europe against tourist. These marches are the last organized by this growing movement promoted by citizens of different European metropolis, who claim for the problems related to the high cost of housing and environmental damages, a consequence of excessive tourism.
“The general perception is that tourists have much more money than local residents: they arrive to party, rent places that those who live in the city cannot afford with their salaries,” he said Joan Mas31 -year -old waiter resident in Barcelona, to The New York Times. According to official statistics, tourism represents more than 12 percent of Spain’s gross domestic product.
The organizers emphasized, before Sunday’s protests, in which their objective was to raise awareness about the negative repercussions that their cities are increasingly focused on serving tourists instead of the local population. Asier Basurtowho helped organize Sunday’s protest in San Sebastián, a tourist city affirmed that “the enemy of protesters are not tourists, but those who take advantage to negotiate and exploit the homes and lives of the local population.” In that aspect, the population’s perception is that tourism scared away young people and turned San Sebastián into a simple decoration.
The organizers of the protest affirm that housing shortages, the high cost of life and pressure on natural resources caused by mass tourism are their main concerns. There were also protests in the popular islands Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza. These islands, with a population of just over a million inhabitants, welcomed more than 15 million international tourists in 2024.
“This tourism model does not bring economic prosperity, but problems such as real estate crisis,” he said Pere Joan Female, group spokesman Less tourism, more lifewho organized the protests in Palma de Mallorca, where the protesters stopped the tourist bus on Saturday. The islands have faced a shortage of police, health personnel and teachers because the high costs of housing, which the organizers of the protests greatly attribute to excess tourism, have made it difficult to capture public sector workers.
In Venice, who has fought against the effects of excessive tourism and has addressed one day hikers with a daily rate of 5 or 10 euros, a march denounced by two hotels recently built in a residential area. Citizens uploaded a banner that said “Stop Hotel = + Città”, more than 6 meters long.
In Genoa, activists made luggage noise down the streets simulating a race. In the report, the locals affirmed that, although the city did not register the same level of tourism as other Italian destinations such as Rome or Venice, they hoped to force local legislators to take measures to manage tourism before it was out of control. International arrivals to Europe increased almost 5 percent in the first part of this year compared to the same period of 2024.
The Greek island of Santorini and Bruges, Belgium, have imposed new standards and taxes on their tourist industries. Barcelona plans to prohibit Airbnb rentals at the end of 2028. Ibiza and other places are limiting cruises. Palma authorities announced an initiative a few days before the protests to withdraw more than 1600 sun loungers from the local beaches, in response to the pressure of the activists to facilitate the enjoyment of the sea.
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