British tourists in the city of Malaga have been branded a plague as tensions in the region intensify ahead of a protest later this month.
Protesters are being encouraged to gather on Plaza de la Merced this Saturday and shout anti-tourism chants in protest against the impact of over-tourism on the region.
Ahead of the protest, local lawyer Luis Navarrete took to X to express their displeasure at how Malaga had been transformed.
The Olive Press reported that he wrote: “Our central cafe is now called John Scotts and at 11am it stinks of guiris and pints of beer. They have destroyed our identity, they have prostituted everything they could in our city. This deserves a change.”
According to the publication, guiri is a term used to describe northern European and British tourists who visit the region.
Underneath Mr Navarrete’s post, locals described the tourists as a plague complaining that traditional bars had been replaced by burger places and sushi restaurants.
The latest complaints about tourists in Spain come as tensions rise across the country’s tourism hotspots as locals push back against the impacts of over-tourism on the region.
However, this displeasure has not been met without some pushback by British tourists who have hit back after residents of Majorca claimed they were being “colonised by foreigners”.
Spokesperson for SOS Residents Alícia Aguiló told the Majorca Daily Bulletin: “They started in the Canaries. Now I see that in Ibiza they are beginning to mobilise. This is just the beginning.
“We will continue until politicians are willing to make changes. Majorca is being colonised by foreigners and greedy developers have turned the islands into a theme park for tourists.”
However, in response, some British tourists have claimed their presence is a boost to places such as Majorca and the Canary Islands. One holidaymaker, Zoe Kemp, told The Sun: “They rely on tourists to survive. If you look around, everything is based on tourists.
“Places like Magaluf are advertised as cheap drinking holidays. We help the economy.”