Staff Reporter
FOREIGN media outlets have been reminding tourists to beware of Spain’s ‘tourismophobia’ ahead of its busiest season of the year heating up; summer.
Drawn to Spain for its culture, history, and cheap cervezas to drink under the hot summer sun by the sea, more than 90 million international tourists visited in 2024, spending nearly nearly €126 billion.
And every year, the number of tourists on Spanish shores increases… 2024 saw 10 percent more visitors than in 2023.
In response, residents have been mobilising for another summer of protests against over-tourism, and media companies have passed this warning to their readers.
“While the exact form of the demonstrations has yet to be decided, it’s fairly certain that there will be water guns,” wrote the New York Times last week. It’s a direct reference to anti-tourism protests seen in Barcelona last year, where locals sprayed water guns at visitors in the popular Ramblas suburb.
The Barcelona Neighbourhood Assembly for the Decrease in Tourism (ABDT) has announced on its website that on June 15, there could be days of ‘struggle and mobilisation against touristification’ throughout the Southern Mediterranean.
More than 120 people attended the group’s Southern European Meeting against Touristification this month.
The Mirror has also published a warning to British travellers, advising they should be wary of residents in major tourist hubs in Spain, Italy, France and Portugal.
The British outlet quoted one of the protesters in Barcelona as saying: “We want tourists to feel a certain sense of fear about the situation: without fear, there is no change.”
Menys Turisme Más Vida is gearing up for summer demonstrations in the Balearic Islands, which include the streets of Mallorca, where residents have coined the term ‘tourist surfing’ due to the hordes of foreigners roaming the island.
Canarias Tiene Un Límite has organised a protest for May 18 under the slogan ‘Canarias dice basta, ‘Canary Islands Says Enough.’
Barcelona City Council has been implementing measures to tackle overtourism in the last few years, such as attempting to ban tourist apartments, increasing tourist taxes and banning cruise ships from docking at the central city port.
“The way to combat mass tourism is this: roll up your sleeves and continue working seriously to guarantee a Barcelona with higher-quality tourism, which generates employment and in no way harms the lives of the people of Barcelona,” city council sources told El Mundo.
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