‘A point of no return’: why Europe has become the epicenter of anti-tourism protests this summer

() – Anti-tourism protests have spread across Europe this summer, with demonstrations in the Netherlands, Greece and, of course, Spain.

In early July, protesters marched through popular tourist areas of the Spanish city of Barcelona, ​​spraying unsuspecting visitors with water guns while chanting: “Tourists, go home.”

And more recently, thousands of people protested on the Spanish island of Mallorca, with organizers claiming that the island’s tourism model “impoverishes workers and enriches only a few.”

At the center of the protests is the growing problem of rising rents and home prices, which have made home ownership nearly impossible for some residents.

Carlos Ramírez, a school teacher in Barcelona, ​​northeastern Spain, has been saving for his first home for years and earns a “decent” state salary, he says.

But prices in the Catalan capital are skyrocketing and Ramírez, 26, fears he will be expelled.

“Everyone I know lives here,” he told . “But the only way to live in Barcelona right now is to share a room with two, three or four people.”

Like other residents of southern Europe, whose cities are also popular summer travel destinations, Ramírez places much of the blame for rising costs on one thing: mass tourism.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult for local residents, especially younger ones, to have their own space,” he says. “Over the years, more and more tourists have come.”

In Barcelona, ​​rents have increased by 68% in the last decade, according to the city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, a pattern that is reflected in other European cities.

Many residents are fed up. Some have taken extreme measures to make their voices heard. In April, residents of the Canary Islands demonstrated against excessive tourism and called a hunger strike.

When anti-tourism protesters began firing water guns at visitors in Barcelona’s city center on July 6, a moment that gained international attention, Ramírez said he could “feel the resentment” in the air.

Creating resentment

He says that he was happy to see so many neighbors join the demonstration, which was attended by around 2,800 people according to Barcelona City Council.

“A lot of people, a lot of companies, are warning tourists not to visit Spain because of the hostility and all that. Frankly, I think it worked,” Ramírez said, reflecting on the protests’ ability to deter tourists from visiting the city.

Antje Martins, a sustainable tourism expert at the University of Queensland, said the reputational impact of such protests could influence where tourists decide to travel.

“Barcelona now has a very bad reputation among other tourists who don’t want to visit it because they are afraid,” he said.

But Eduardo Santander, director general of the European Travel Commission, a non-profit association charged with promoting Europe as a tourist destination, suggests that incidents such as the protests in Barcelona are “isolated” and do not “reflect the full reality of Spain or Europe”.

Overall, Martins believes this is not a confrontation between tourists and residents.

“For me, they are a broader reflection of tourism that is not managed sustainably,” he said.

“When I see those confrontations where residents rebel against tourism… I think that is a reflection that they are not happy because they do not get any benefit from the tourism that they see,” he added.

Ramírez agrees with this sentiment.

“I identify with them, we are not directly blaming the tourists,” he said. “We want to pressure our government to change its policies.”

The main issues at stake here are structural, not personal, Martins said.

Residents who cannot pay their way due to unsustainable levels of tourism generally receive lower salaries and some work in the tourism industry itself, he added.

Taking action

In some European cities, local authorities are taking bold steps in a bid to control tourism levels.

Venice authorities have recently described the implementation of a temporary entrance fee aimed at regulating the number of tourists as a success.

The new 5 euro (about $5.4 million) tourist tax, which began on April 25 and ended on July 14, raised more than 2.4 million euros (about $2.6 million), significantly more than as expected, according to the mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro.

Some residents told a crew that while there were still people, the crowds seemed smaller during the operation. But others disagree.

Susanna Polloni of the Venice-based Housing Solidarity Network group told that the tax “is not only useless, but also harmful,” as it brings to the international imagination the idea of ​​a “Veniceland,” where there are You have to buy a ticket to enter.

Polloni adds that mass tourism has already caused the closure of health services, the replacement of neighborhood stores with souvenir shops and the increase in house prices in Italy’s canal city.

“We are about to reach a point of no return,” says Polloni. “We believe that our cry for help, from a city that is dying for the benefit of a few, should reach everyone.”

Despite the backlash from some, more cities across Europe are following suit, and some are even looking to expand their tourist fees.

Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni recently announced that he wants to increase the city’s tourist tax for some cruise passengers.

Tourists visiting the city for less than 12 hours generally cause additional crowding at the main attractions of the Sagrada Familia cathedral, the Las Ramblas pedestrian promenade in the Gothic Quarter and at Gaudí’s hillside Park Güell The city’s press office told .

The current tourist tax is Barcelona’s third largest source of funding: last year it raised about 100 million euros (about $108 million) from cruise passengers (who pay 6.25 euros (about $6.8) for entering the city) and other visitors staying in hotels and other tourist accommodation.

Collboni said he also wants to end the licenses of around 10,000 apartments currently approved for short-term rentals, the press office said.

It’s not just housing issues that have generated a backlash against tourists, Ramirez said, adding that disrespectful behavior by some has also played a role.

In Florence, Italy, a young woman was recently filmed kissing, rubbing and rubbing against a statue of Bacchus, the god of wine and sensuality, and the mayor’s office called it an act that “imitated sex.”

And in 2023, a tourist was accused of damaging a statue at the 16th-century Fountain of Neptune, located in Piazza della Signoria.

That same year, in another part of Italy, a group of tourists was accused of toppling a valuable statue in a villa.

Bad tourist behavior has also been a problem in other parts of Europe, including Barcelona, ​​Mallorca, Magaluf and Benidorm, Ramírez said.

“It seems like they do here what they can’t do in their own countries,” he told . “We feel very insulted.”

Sebastian Zenker, professor of tourism at Copenhagen Business School, explains how these types of incidents have led some cities to carry out “demarketing campaigns” that aim to discourage certain tourists from visiting them.

Zenker points to Amsterdam’s 2023 “Stay Away” campaign, which targeted male visitors aged 18 to 35 with ads warning them about the consequences of antisocial behavior.

“That was a very harsh and strict way of demarketing,” he told . “It didn’t stop the bachelor parties, but it raised awareness that this city has changed the rules.”

However, efforts to attract more cultural tourists may have unintended consequences, Zenker said.

“If you raise prices and attract more rich people, that solves the overcrowding effect, but at the same time it increases inflation and the problem of gentrification.”

In Mallorca, prices have become “super crazy” after many activities for “drinking tourists” were banned, says Zenker.

Much of the money raised will not return to the hands of local communities, he added.

So what is the solution?

“It’s about seeing how the money that tourists earn, or with tourists, is invested in the place and in jobs so that people can live,” he said.

“This [las protestas] “It will continue until we find a balance again.”