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Spain’s tourism backlash gaining traction among locals weary of seemingly unstoppable growth

Grievances mounting about the gentrification of neighbourhoods and large numbers of visitors making life difficult for residents

A protester holds up a sign reading ‘Out with binge tourism’ at a demonstration in Barcelona. Photograph: EPA/Marta Perez
Guy Hedgecoe
Mon Aug 05 2024 - 07:12

The message, painted in red, in English, on the wall of a side street in central Barcelona, could hardly be clearer: “Tourism kills the city. Tourist go home. You are not welcome.”

It’s a sentiment which is not confined to just one graffitist. In early July, thousands of residents marched through the Catalan city to protest against the huge number of tourists who are now a part of their lives all year round. Some protesters fired water pistols at foreign visitors who were sitting in cafes.

It’s not exactly the welcome Spain’s tourism ministry had in mind when it unveiled a post-pandemic campaign aimed at bringing international tourists back to the country, under the slogan, “You deserve Spain”.

Yet that campaign appears to have been an overwhelming success. The number of visitors to Spain has surpassed 2019 levels. Last year, 85 million came (the UK, France and Germany were the main countries of origin, while Ireland provided 2.5 million visits) and this year, more than 90 million arrivals are expected, placing Spain close behind France, the world’s biggest international tourism destination.

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But, as Barcelona has shown, the seemingly unstoppable growth of Spain’s tourism industry is now triggering a backlash.

Other popular destinations have seen a similar reaction by residents. Cities like Málaga and Alicante have staged demonstrations this summer. So too have the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, where a group of activists in Tenerife staged a three-week hunger strike to demand a halting of planned tourism macro-projects.

Anger had been brewing for some time. As long ago as 2016, a group of activists blocked traffic in central Barcelona to draw attention to the tourism model that the city was following. But this year seems to be a tipping point, as many Spaniards have started to question whether the economic benefits generated by their tourism industry are worth the problems it is causing.

Barcelona is one of the starkest examples. Energised by the success of the ‘92 Olympics, it combined the unique charm of a thriving industrial city with the architecture of Antoni Gaudí and a privileged location on the Mediterranean. Over the last two decades, however, low-budget flights, stag weekends, cruise liners and, more recently, Airbnb, have conspired to rob the city of its soul. Central Barcelona has become a consumerist emporium geared almost exclusively to tourism where international clothing retailers, souvenir kiosks and coffee and restaurant franchises have replaced smaller family businesses. The 3.5 million visitors who came by cruise liner last year will have spent just a few hours in the city, enough to thicken the crowds but not enough for them to see beyond the tacky veneer.

It’s a phenomenon which has been repeated in many other cities, including Málaga on the south coast. Kike España, an activist there, compared the city to a theme park, catering for visitors but not for locals. His complaints are now commonplace in Spain’s tourist hot spots: as well as causing gentrification, the large numbers of visitors make life for residents less pleasant by crowding the streets and creating traffic and queues.

But the biggest grievance is over housing. Cities like Barcelona, Málaga and Palma de Mallorca have seen rental costs soar as their centres have been given over to tourism. Airbnb is most frequently blamed: owners can charge much more by offering their properties for short-term holiday rental than to long-term residents.

In several areas, the housing situation has become a full-blown crisis. In Ibiza, many workers have to commute from neighbouring islands because they are unable to find accommodation that is affordable on their wages. Other professionals, including junior police officers, sleep in their cars for the same reason. Meanwhile, Víctor Martín, an activist in Tenerife, told me that many people working in the tourism industry in the Canary Islands are living in slums.

Spain is not alone in grappling with this problem. Venice, Lisbon, Prague and Paris are among other European cities where locals are becoming increasingly vocal about the negative impact of tourism, especially on the housing market.

This summer’s wave of protests in Spain has helped persuade local politicians to take the issue seriously and they are exploring ways of stemming the tide.

Catalonia and the Balearic Islands already charge a small “tourist tax” for each night spent by visitors in their regions, although it seems more effective at raising money for the local coffers than keeping numbers down. Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca have introduced limits on cruise liner arrivals, as has Venice (which, in a desperate move, has also banned people from pausing while walking across its congested bridges). Such limits may prevent tourist numbers from going even higher, although they do not seem to have made more than a minor impact.

Other proposals, to stem or eliminate short-term tourist accommodation, look like a serious effort to tackle the housing problem. Individual city halls in Spain are deciding how to go about this. Barcelona’s Socialist mayor Jaume Collboni has pledged to revoke all of the city’s 10,000 or so licences to rent out properties on Airbnb and other similar platforms by 2028.

However, unlicensed holiday properties present a further problem and local authorities lack the personnel needed to police the sector properly and clamp down on rogue operators.

The vast majority of Spaniards do not hate tourism per se and are aware of how crucial it has been for their economy’s development. What activists, industry players and politicians all appear to agree on is the need to consider changing the kind of experience offered to visitors, away from low-budget stays focused on booze and sun towards, for example, holidays based more on culture or gastronomy. Such a strategy will draw accusations of elitism but it could reduce numbers and the impact of those who travel.

Spain and other European countries are now scrambling to rediscover the fragile balance between catering to their visitors and their residents. However, now that the genie of mass tourism is out of the bottle, the question is whether it can be put back in.