Thousands protest against tourism in southern Europe
Thousands of protestors took to the streets over the weekend in southern Europe to fight against the rampant increase in tourism.
On June 15th, the streets in many major cities across Spain, Italy, and Portugal were filled with dissatisfied local residents who joined forces to chant against tourists, demanding they go home.
The protests are caused by the rise in tourism, which is making it unaffordable for locals to live in these locations and forcing them to leave the city they call home. In 2024, 26 million people visited Barcelona alone, and locals have now adopted the water pistol as a symbol to combat overtourism.
One local resident told Reuters in Barcelona regarding her reason to protest: “I’m very tired of being a nuisance in my own city. The solution is to propose a radical decrease in the number of tourists in Barcelona and bet on another economic model that brings prosperity to the city.”
Additionally, Miquel Borràs, president of the Federation of the Neighbourhood Associations of Barcelona, told Agence France-Presse: “Many residents are having to leave the city, especially young people, because they can’t find affordable housing in Barcelona.”
In addition to Barcelona, protests also took place in many other tourist areas across Spain including Ibiza, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, San Sebastian and Granada. Around 600 locals took to the streets in the Catalan capital to dissent against the rise in tourism.
In Italy, locals made their voices heard in cities such as Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Milan and Venice. Meanwhile, on June 15th, Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, was also host to a protest on June 15th.
The protests were organised by Sud d’Europa contra la Turistització, which translates in English to Southern Europe against Overtourism.
In a statement, they said the protests were to “defend the city from the plunder to which tourist monoculture is subjecting it”, and also claimed that local economies had become “too dependent on tourism”.
The protests come after Més per Majorca, a local political party in Majorca, announced plans earlier this year to roll out a new “regressive policy” in a bid to “degrow” tourism in the popular Spanish islands, outlining a 40 per cent cap alongside announcing a yearly restriction on the amount of tourists permitted access to the holiday destination. The policy was introduced after locals protested last summer.
