Spain’s main holiday destinations are rising up against mass tourism as locals rage at the impact it has on house prices and their overall lifestyle.
Huge protests have been seen in a number of parts of Spain, including the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, and major cities such as Barcelona.
Speaking to Spanish outlet Diario de Ibiza, Maria Amengual, a resident of Mallorca, has described the influx of tourists during the summer as a “brutal invasion.”
She added: “Mass tourism means having to go to the emergency room for a serious ailment and being told that ambulances are busy attending to several drugged or drunk people.”
Diario de Ibiza also outlines the economic impact of mass tourism, with rents tripling or even quadrupling in some parts of Spain.
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As a result, essential workers such as doctors and police officers have fled hotspots like Ibiza and Mallorca in search of cheaper housing.
There have even been incidences of police officers sleeping in their cars and teachers commuting to work by plane from Palma to Ibiza because of rent costs.
The outlet also reports that flats previously rented out to locals in Barcelona’s old town have been turned into tourist flats and even taken over by drug mafias.
Mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, unveiled two news policies in May to tackles the problem of mass tourism.
She suspended permits for tourist flats in homeowners’ associations and commercial premises and banned mega cruise ships from Valencia’s port.
The President of the Balearic Islands recently declared that “talking about limits is the best way to defend tourism”
Marga Prohens added: “The Balearic Islands have reached their limit.”
Below is a list compiled by Diario de Ibiza of the areas of Spain most impacted by mass tourism:
1.- Peñíscola (Castellón): 25.4 tourists per resident. With a population of 7,882 inhabitants, this town receives 201,000 inhabitants.
2.- Albarracín (Aragon): 23.3 tourists per resident, 990 inhabitants but receives 23,119 visitors.
3.- Sant Llorenç des Cardessar (Mallorca): 21.3 tourists per inhabitant with 8,920 residents. It receives 190,459 tourists.
4.- Sallent de Gállego (Aragon): 21.1 tourists per resident. It has 1,519 inhabitants and 32,184 visitors
5.- Salou (Catalonia): 17.6 tourists per inhabitant. It has 28,512 residents and 504,331 tourists.
