Spanish holiday hotspots, including Barcelona and Tenerife, are witnessing an increase in anti-tourist protests as over 8,000 protesters thronged the streets on Sunday. Their rallying cry was against the escalating housing rents, with a stern message for the officials, declaring, “We don’t need more tourists.”
In contrast to the previous anti-tourism protests, this latest surge of discontent swept through the Canary Islands’ premier tourist draws yesterday, spilling onto beaches where British holidaymakers found themselves seeking refuge or hastily retreating amid calls from disgruntled locals for actions such as hiking the tourist tax, or imposing a complete “moratorium” on all tourism ventures.
British travellers soaking up the sun on Tenerife’s Playa de las Americas and Troya beaches were met by a large, vociferous crowd of demonstrators disrupting the midday tranquillity with chants of “The Canary Islands have a limit,” and pronouncing that “more tourists, more misery.”
This sentiment echoed across other islands in the Canaries with Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, and El Hierro also playing host to public outcry demanding similar restrictions. El Mundo, the Spanish news outlet, reports that these groups opposing tourism, now uniting over 20 factions under the “Canary Islands have a limit” campaign, signal a trend that suggests even larger, more synchronized demonstrations may be on the horizon.
Meanwhile, the Mail points out that signs with messages such as “Go Home Tourist” were not an uncommon sight amongst the sea of banners directed at beachgoers.
A new anti-tourist group has emerged, justifying their stance with a bold statement: “We will go to the tourist areas because that is where the injustice we are denouncing is taking place and because that is where we want to confront the system that is destroying our islands.”
Madrid was recently paralysed by anti-tourism protests, prompting the government to issue a Royal Decree targeting the 14,000 unauthorised Airbnbs and other short-term holiday rentals in the capital. Despite these efforts by the Spanish government to mitigate the impact of the country’s soaring popularity post-pandemic, tensions remain high.
Yet, these measures have scarcely calmed the ire of those living in Spain’s coveted tourist hotspots. Locals find themselves ousted from their own neighbourhoods due to the influx of tourists snapping up properties, including about 300,000 Britons who have settled there lured by the allure of sun, sea, and sand. On the Canary Islands alone, foreigners now buy one out of every three homes.
The ‘Canary Islands have a limit’ collective further added: “While tourist areas prosper at the expense of our landscapes and resources, many local communities suffer the consequences: increased cost of living, loss of housing for residents, job insecurity and environmental deterioration.”