Anti-tourism protesters have promised to wreck havoc across Spain this summer as demonstrations aimed at keeping holidaymakers out have already begun escalating.
Visitors to the party paradise of Ibiza were left disappointed last month after a popular viewing point was dramatically blocked off with boulders in the latest sign of growing local resentment towards mass tourism.
The famous Es Vedra viewpoint, where thousands gather to watch the sun sink behind the mountainous island each evening, is now off-limits after frustrated landowners declared they’d had enough of being overrun by crowds.
A blunt sign now warns visitors: ‘Private Property. Restricted Access.’
But the blocked roadway was seemingly tame compared to the violence and chaos that erupted in Tenerife last week, where furious activists reportedly torched and smashed a fleet of hire cars in a shocking act of protest.
Disturbing footage circulating online shows masked vandals dousing around 20 rental vehicles with flammable liquid before setting them alight in the popular Costa Adeje resort – a favourite among British holidaymakers.
Angry demonstrators targeted visitors last year, blaming them for soaring rents and a cost of living crisis that’s driving locals out of their homes. Some campaigners have even threatened to take their protests to the next level by blocking airports.
The anti-tourism movement is gaining momentum across southern Europe with at least 15 activist groups from holiday hotspots in Spain, Portugal, Italy and France set to meet in Barcelona next month to plot their next steps.
Visitors to Spain’s party paradise Ibiza last month were left disappointed after a popular viewing point was dramatically blocked off with boulders
More than 3,000 people demonstrated against the tourist overcrowding suffered by the city of Barcelona and in favor of tourism reduction policies in July
The Neighbourhood Assembly for Tourist Degrowth – a key player in the anti-tourism push – said it wants to ‘strengthen the network of the territories of southern Europe against tourists.’
The recent vow for more protests follows a summer of major demonstrations across Spain’s popular resorts, with anger particularly mounting over mass tourism.
In January shocking graffiti reading ‘kill a tourist’ appeared in Tenerife amid the holiday hotspot’s ongoing protests against holidaymakers.
The frightening slogan was spotted on a house in the south of the Spanish island by a concerned resident who admitted to being worried that the mass protest movement against overcrowding was going too far.
Speaking to LBC, they said: ‘Things on the islands are getting worse due to the large number of tourists and new residents, which leave us without homes and severely affect our natural environment’.
The local, who remained anonymous due to safety concerns, added that people on the island are becoming desperate for change and respect.
‘But perhaps this does not justify those actions, which seem to be escalating. It’s frightening,’ they said.
Furious activists reportedly torched and smashed a fleet of hire cars in a shocking act of protest in Tenerife last week
Graffiti reading ‘kill a tourist’ has been spotted on a wall in Tenerife amid Spain’s anti-protest movement
A group of Lanzarote locals launched their own pro-tourism march to cheers and applause from British holidaymakers
A protest also erupted in October after hundreds of demonstrators stormed Tenerife’s Troya beach, where sun-seeking holidaymakers were stunned to be disrupted by a placard-waving mob yelling slogans such as ‘More tourists, more misery’ and ‘the Canary Islands are not for sale’.
Protesters descended on the beach, one of the most popular in Las Americas (Tenerife), with many beating on drums and blowing whistles as they walked along the shoreline.
Astonishing footage of the incident showed holidaymakers being surrounded and penned in by Spanish locals while they were sunbathing in swim shorts and bikinis.
There were no reports of any violence, but protesters, whose banners included one in English which said ‘Go Home Tourist’ are said to have been mocked and taunted.
Half a dozen activists also went on hunger strike outside a church in the northern Tenerife town of La Laguna last year.
It began on April 11, 2024, and was called off after 20 days.
Victor Martin, a spokesman for Canarias Se Agota which translates into English as ‘Canary Islands on the Brink, said before it started: ‘The hunger strike is indefinite and will continue until the two macro hotel projects we’re fighting against are stopped for ever and the regional agreement agrees in writing to sit down and talk to us about a tourist moratorium.
Some 6,500 people take part in a demonstration organised by a platform reflecting the growing discontent among locals with the current tourism model in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain on October 20, 2024
A protester is seen holding up a placard expressing his opinion as he takes part in a demonstration against mass tourism in the city, following protests in the Canary and Balearic islands or Majorca
Anti-riot forces gesture as demonstrators put symbolic cordon on a bar-restaurant window during a protest against mass tourism on Barcelona’s Las Ramblas alley, on July 6, 2024
Thousands of people demonstrate against tourism policies on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain on April 20, 2024
Members of the Mallorca Platja Tour association demonstrate against the tourist saturation on the beach of Palma de Mallorca on August 11, 2024
People take part in a protest against mass tourism in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, July 21, 2024
‘A tragedy could occur and someone could die if the government doesn’t listen.’
The hunger strikers wanted authorities to halt two tourist projects, one involving the construction of a five-star hotel by one of Tenerife’s last virgin beaches called La Tejita.
They also wanted local and regional politicians to change the tourist model to protect the island from the worst excesses of mass tourism including sea pollution, traffic gridlock and lack of cheap affordable housing linked to the pushing-up of property prices because of Airbnb-style holiday lets.
On a separate occasion, protesters from a platform called ‘Lanzarote has a Limit’ were seen filmed storming an illegal hotel in the island resort of Playa Blanca with banners with the slogans: ‘Our water is in your pool.’
They were also seen filling containers with water from the hotel’s swimming pools and using it to wash dish cloths.
Political organisation Tanekra Canarias, which supported the recent October protests, said in a statement on its Instagram page: ‘Most of the income generated by tourism in the Canary Islands does not stay in the region.
‘The main accommodation facilities are controlled by large hotel chains and international tour operators.
‘Massive tourism is associated with a rise in local inflation, especially with regard to housing.
‘Most of the jobs it generates in the Canary Islands are precarious and poorly paid.
Anti-tourism campaign group Banc del Temps Sencells posted a video last week hinting that there will be more action taken. In the clip, locals can be seen marching through Mallorca’s streets holding ‘For Sale’ signs
Protesters march on Las Americas beach during a demonstration to protest against mass tourism, in Arona on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife, on October 20, 2024
People attend an anti tourism protest under the motto ‘Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism’ organised by different civil society groups in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, 06 July 2024
‘This combination leads to many municipalities that concentrate the most tourist activity, presenting the highest levels of poverty, despite having low unemployment rates compared to other municipalities.’
October’s protests were the latest in a series of demos and other actions that had taken place across mainland Spain as well as the Balearic Islands last year.
Two major demos took place in the Majorcan capital Palma, the first on May 25 when organisers had to apologise afterwards for abuse directed at some foreign holidaymakers.
Shocked tourists were booed and jeered by some locals as they ate evening meals on terraces in Palma’s Weyler Square.
Marchers were also heard chanting ‘Tourists go home’ as they passed through the central square on the 20-minute route from the park where the protest began to iconic street Paseo del Borne.
On July 27 around 250 protesters impeded tourist access to a picture-postcard Menorcan beach in a ‘surprise action’.
Demonstrators put symbolic cordon on a bar-restaurant window during a protest against mass tourism on Barcelona’s Las Ramblas alley, on July 6, 2024
Thousands of people took to the streets in the centre of Malaga to protest against the rising rental prices and to demand a decent housing
A protester holds a sign reading ‘Can’t wait to get off work and swim in sewage’ during a demonstration against mass tourism, in Arona on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife, on October 20, 2024
Activists boasted of filling a car park by Cala Turqueta, a beautiful cove on the island’s southern coast, with ‘residents’ cars’.
They then used towels and their own bodies to shape the message ‘SOS Menorca’ on the sand by the waterline.
And last year, when the Canary Islands were the focus of anti-mass tourism protests hotel bosses there admitted British holidaymakers were calling to ask if they would be safe.
Activists are continuing to demand the government make a change to prevent the number of tourists visiting the holiday hotspot amid soaring rents.
