Several British tourists were reportedly forced to “flee beaches” from popular Spanish destinations as anti-tourism protests swept across the areas.
A wave of protests is sweeping through popular Spanish tourist hotspots, including Barcelona and Tenerife, as locals rally to demand action against skyrocketing rents and the impact of mass tourism.
On Sunday, a crowd of over 8,000 people took to the streets to express their outrage at soaring rent prices and tell authorities: “We don’t need more tourists.”
Unlike previous anti-tourism protests, Sunday witnessed a significant influx of demonstrators at key tourist hotspots across the Canary Islands.
Some protests took place at popular beaches. British holidaymakers were caught off guard, forced to take cover or quickly exit as frustrated locals demanded measures like raising the tourist tax or even implementing a complete “moratorium” on all visitors.
At Tenerife’s Playa de las Americas and Troya beaches, tourists hid behind their beach towels as a large march swept through. Protesters carried signs in English urging them to go home.
The crowd united under the slogan “The Canary Islands have a limit,” blaming the influx of visitors for their creaking public services, chanting “more tourists, more misery.”
Tourists on other islands, including Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, and El Hierro, also saw noisy protests at beaches and shopping centres.
El Mundo, a Spanish news outlet, reported that these anti-tourist groups have now combined under the banner “The Canary Islands have a limit”.
As anti-tourism groups from Barcelona to the Canary Islands unite, signs suggest that the movement will likely escalate, with more coordinated protests expected.
This comes despite the Spanish government’s efforts to reduce the effects of mass tourism, such as banning over 14,000 illegal holiday rentals in Madrid alone.
The newly formed anti-tourist group said in a statement on Sunday: “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.”
However, these actions have barely scratched the surface of the discontent felt by locals in Spain’s tourist hotspots. The influx of tourists snapping up properties has led to soaring living costs and displaced residents.
The Canary Islands are particularly affected, with one in three houses now owned by non-Spaniards.
The ‘Canary Islands have a limit’ campaigners 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.”
