A surge of protests is sweeping across popular Spanish tourist destinations, including Barcelona and Tenerife, as locals take to the streets to demand action against soaring rents and overwhelming tourism. On Sunday, over 8,000 protesters marched through the streets, chanting: “We don’t need more tourists.”
In a departure from recent anti-tourism protests, demonstrators targeted major tourist hotspots in the Canary Islands, including beaches where British sunbathers were forced to take cover or flee as locals called for measures such as increased tourist taxes or even a complete halt on tourism entirely.
On the Playa de las Americas and Troya beaches in Tenerife, hundreds of protesters disrupted the midday calm with a loud and boisterous procession, rallying behind the slogan “The Canary Islands have a limit” and declaring “more tourists, more misery.” Similar protests erupted in other island destinations, including Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, and El Hierro, as residents demanded more action against the neverending waves of holidaymakers.
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According to Spanish publication El Mundo, over 20 anti-tourism groups have united under the banner “The Canary Islands have a limit,” with further coordinated protests expected to follow. Reports in the Mail also indicate that protesters waved signs reading “Go Home Tourist” at sunbathers.
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An anti-tourist group has emerged, voicing strong opposition to the influx of holidaymakers in Spain, stating: “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.”
Despite Spanish authorities implementing multiple strategies to mitigate the collateral impact of its soaring popularity with tourists – a phenomenon accelerating post-pandemic- dissatisfaction persists.
Recent protests by anti-tourism activists caused chaos in Madrid’s streets last week, prompting a swift governmental response. A Royal Decree was introduced targeting over 14,000 unauthorised Airbnb and similar vacation rentals in the capital city.
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Yet, Spanish residents continue to express their exasperation, especially in coveted tourist spots where they are being economically displaced due to the surging property purchases by visitors, amongst them around 300,000 British nationals drawn by the allure of sunshine and beaches. In the Canary Islands, a significant proportion of homes – currently one out of every three – are acquired by non-natives.
Further reinforcing their standpoint, the ‘Canary Islands have a limit’ collective stated: “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.”
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