Protests against mass tourism have captured Spain’s zeitgeist in 2024, and the mood of discontent remains unabated.
On Saturday October 19th, the eastern city of Valencia will hold its first mass protest against overtourism (with an emphasis on the right to housing), and the next day on Sunday October 20th the Canary Islands will carry out their second multi-island demonstrations.
Almost six months have passed since 60,00 people took to the streets of all eight Canary Islands to demand a change to a tourism model that is suffocating the archipelago.
Spiralling rents and property prices, huge pressure on the islands’ resources, excess pollution, lack of space, too many cars and prioritising tourists over locals were some of the main gripes Canarios had when on April 20th they protested en masse.
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Despite it being the biggest protest in Canary history, and one that sparked numerous other demonstrations in regions with similar problems, little has changed on the islands since the 20-A protests.
READ ALSO: ‘The island can’t take it anymore’ – Why Tenerife is rejecting mass tourism
In fact, there are more hotels being given the go ahead, more holiday lets available and tourist numbers continue to beat records.
By the end of 2024, it’s expected that 18 million tourists will have visited the archipelago, nine times their population.
Protest organisers have stressed they are not against tourism per se as an industry or an activity, they are against a development model that continues to grow at the expense of consuming limited land and resources, directly clashing with the way of life of residents.
El 20 de octubre volvemos a las calles.
Nos vemos en Exponeloneras, Maspalomas, a las 12:00 !!#CanariasTieneUnLímite pic.twitter.com/Xi8nDFdbx2
— Protesta Las Palmas (@ProtestaLPGC) October 14, 2024
On October 20th, the main demands will be to set limits on arrivals, on the number of hotels, the number of cruise ships, the number of foreign residents, the purchase of homes by foreigners, the number of golf courses, water usage, rental cars, flights and so on.
This time the protests will take place in areas of the islands that are affected by overtourism.
In Tenerife, the protest will be in Adeje (Playa de las Américas), in Fuerteventura it will take place in Corralejo and in Gran Canaria in Maspalomas, all three starting at midday on Sunday.
As for the protest in Valencia, it will be a two-pronged demonstration against mass tourism and in favour of the right to housing, which highlights how both problems go hand in hand in Spain.
💥FALTEN 7 DIES PER A LA MANI DE #ValènciaNoEstàEnVenda 💥
Una setmana per a eixir i omplir els carrers, però la lluita és tots el dies.
Contra la turistificació, pel dret a l’habitatge i per la defensa del territori!🗓️19 d’octubre
🕡18:30h
📍Torres de SerransVos esperem!🫰🏾 pic.twitter.com/wOvrHCrhcY
— València no està en venda (@valencianoesven) October 12, 2024
Under the slogan “Valencia is drowning” (Valencia se ahoga), protesters will demand more measures to prevent Valencia from becoming another victim of mass tourism as well as action on the part of authorities which guarantees locals access to decent and well-priced housing.
Even though Valencia is Spain’s third biggest city and has historically had a more even distribution of tourists across the region which includes Alicante and the Costa Blanca, it’s only more recently that its international popularity has exploded, and with it gentrification.
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Protest organisers speak of “the loss of the cultural and personal identity that unites us as a people, the devastation of our territory in favour of excessive building, the disappearance of traditional commerce, the problems of pollution and coexistence and the generalised rise in prices and precariousness in sectors such as the hospitality industry, all of which are only the tip of the iceberg of the problems that affect the city and forcibly displace the neighbourhood”.
The protest is set to begin at Valencia’s Serranos Towers at 6.30 pm on Saturday 19th and end at the town hall square.
Another protest calling for more housing will also take place in Alicante on the same day, starting at 7pm from the train station.
This post was originally published on here
