Anti-tourism protestors rally in opposition to international guests in Barcelona

Thousands of protestors marched through central Barcelona this evening, waving placards and squirting holidaymakers with water guns in the latest expression of anger at perceived overtourism in Spain.

Under the slogan ‘Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism’, some 2,800 people – according to police – marched along a waterfront district of Barcelona to demand a new economic model that would reduce the millions of tourists that visit every year. 

Protesters carried signs reading ‘Barcelona is not for sale,’ and, ‘Tourists go home,’ before some used water guns on tourists eating outdoors at restaurants in popular tourist hotspots. Chants of ‘Tourists out of our neighbourhood’ rang out as some stopped in front of the entrances to hotels.

Barcelona’s rising cost of housing, up 68 percent in the past decade, is one of the main issues for the movement, along with the effects of tourism on local commerce and working conditions in the city of 1.6 million inhabitants. 

Rents rose by 18% in June from a year earlier in tourist cities such as Barcelona and Madrid, according to the property website Idealista. For years, the city has worn anti-tourist graffiti with messages such as ‘tourists go home’ aimed at visitors some blame for the rising prices and shaping of the economy around tourists.

Barcelona’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced a plan in June to phase out all short-term lets by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move by the authorities who seek to rein in soaring housing costs and make the city liveable for residents.

But many still feel not enough is being done to balance the needs of tourists, who bring millions to the city each year, with those of locals.

‘Local shops are closing to make way for stores that do not serve the needs of neighbourhoods. People cannot afford their rents,’ said Isa Miralles, a 35-year-old musician who lives in the Barceloneta district.

‘I have nothing against tourism, but here in Barcelona we are suffering from an excess of tourism that has made our city unliveable,’ said Jordi Guiu, a 70-year-old sociologist.

The northeastern coastal city, with internationally famous sites such as La Sagrada Familia, received more than 12 million tourists last year, according to local authorities.

To combat the ‘negative effects of mass tourism’, the city council run by the Socialist Jaume Collboni announced 10 days ago that it was banning tourist apartment rentals – there are now more than 10,000 – by 2028 so that they can be put back on the local housing market.

The announcement could lead to a legal battle and is opposed by an association of tourist apartments who say it will just feed the black market.

The Barcelona protests come after similar demonstrations in tourist hotspots such as Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and the Canary Islands.

The second most visited country after France, Spain received 85 million foreign visitors in 2023, an increase of 18.7 percent from the previous year, according to the National Statistics Institute.

The most visited region was Catalonia, whose capital is Barcelona, with 18 million, followed by the Balearic Islands (14.4 million) and the Canary Islands (13.9 million).

Furious locals who orchestrated mass anti-tourism protests across the Canary Islands earlier this year issued another warning to British travellers this week as they vowed to target ‘main holidaymaker areas’ over the summer break.

Again, they aired their frustrations that not enough had been done to answer their calls. 

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Tenerife on April 20, with roughly 200,000 protesters thought to have taken part in mass demonstrations across the island archipelago. 

The protests, organised by various groups including ‘Friends of Nature of Tenerife (ATAN)’ aimed to discourage foreign holidaymakers while also compelling councils to introduce new legislation aimed at protecting the islands from the effects of an ever-expanding tourism industry. 

But the groups claim their demands have fallen on deaf ears and as a result are gearing up for another explosive demonstration.

‘We have decided to take to the streets again. This time we will take to the streets in the very centre of this development model: in the main tourist areas,’ a statement from ATAN read.

‘We ask people to continue fighting from every corner of the islands against this unjust model that is destroying our lives and our territory.’

The campaigners claim that the huge influx of tourists to the island is causing major environmental damage, driving down wages and squeezing locals out of cheap affordable housing, forcing dozens to live in tents and cars instead.

One female protestor at the march in April held up a sign which read: ‘Fourteen million tourists a year but 36 per cent of Canarians at risk of poverty.’ 

Many top tourist destinations have trialled innovative new measures to control the flow of visitors as they battle backlash from residents.

In April, a town in Japan set up a 65ft screen to block off views to Mount Fuji in a bid to deter tourists from gathering at a picturesque spot.

Also in April, Venice became the first city in the world to charge an entry fee for day-tripper tourists, aimed at reducing the number of short-stay visitors who cause unmanageable congestion in peak times.

The ‘tourist tax’ has been controversial, with several residents’ committees and associations planning protests to coincide with the launch in Italy. 

Reps argue the fee will not fix the fundamental issues but only cloud the city’s public image.

Under the new rules, a fee will be charged to tourists passing through the city without staying overnight.

Authorities hope this might help manage the flow of some 30 million tourists drawn in by the city’s history and romantic canals each year.