When its inhabitants Barcelona attacked with…water pistols against tourists to show their discontent waves that submerge the city the news has sparked strong reactions. Record numbers of visitors to major European centres are causing heated protests, but their spending is supporting the economy. And policymakers are trying to strike a balance.
The backlash against tourism extends far beyond Barcelona, according to a Financial Times analysis. Europe is dubbed the world’s museum, and the Mediterranean has become a premier resort. European countries welcomed 709 million international visitors last year, but the vast majority of travelers are within Europe.
In some countries, the mass of pleasure seekers has grown so much that, from Venice and Amsterdam to Lisbon and the Greek island of Santorini, the patience of the inhabitants is running out, especially in Spain. It is the second most visited country in the world, with 85 million foreign travelers last year.
Residents complain that housing has become unaffordable, public transport is “slowing down”, medieval town centres are “turning into Disneyland”, water supplies are running out and anti-social behaviour is rampant. That’s why, in the last three months, anti-tourism protests have drawn 56,000 people to the Canary Islands and 10,000 to the island of Mallorca, where locals rose up to “occupy” one of the most Instagrammed beaches.
Spain faces a European test of whether anger can be turned into a force for renewal – not destabilization. After all, dynamiting a sector that is the economic source of many people’s lives is dangerous. Over the past six decades, the industry has become a source of jobs and profits. It has elevated Spain to the ranks of the rich countries and accounts for 12 to 13 percent of the national GDP.
But a slogan in the Canary Islands summed up a common sentiment: “Tourism, yes. But not like this.”
Jordi Hereu, Spain’s tourism minister, is careful to strike the right balance. The country’s record number of visitors last year was “an undisputed success,” he says. The tourism promotion agency predicts that the number of visitors from June to September will increase by 13% compared with last year. But Spain must not forget that its tourist destinations are also home to many of its residents, Hereu adds.
Measures
The question is how to fix the tourism sector – and at what financial cost. Europe’s tourism hotspots are currently going through the stages of what academic George Doxey has called the “irritation index”. In other words, the initial arrival of visitors causes euphoria. This gives way to apathy as the flows are taken for granted, followed by discomfort as saturation approaches.
The final stage, competition, is characterised by open expressions of hostility towards tourists. As early as 2001, the Canary Islands imposed a moratorium on new construction in tourist areas in an attempt to control the number of new buildings.
Ten years ago, amid social unrest linked to the eurozone’s austerity measures, Barcelona saw its first large-scale protests against tourism. But since then, the nature of the problem has changed, and then Covid-19 struck. Residents understood what it meant to have their homes back, but at a very high price: governments have accumulated huge debts to compensate for the disappearance of tourism revenues.
When the pandemic subsided, travellers returned and policymakers were desperate to welcome them back. This moment is “qualitatively different” from the long-standing problem of mass tourism, Barcelona and Athens-based academic and urban planner Angelos Varvarousis told the FT.
“It’s not a question of numbers, it’s that cities, regions and even entire countries are transforming into tourist societies. Which means that their landscapes, their economies, their images are at the service of tourists. It’s a form of colonization,” he said.
That’s why many residents of tourist areas are calling for new measures to tackle the most painful economic problem: housing. While the housing supply is squeezed by Airbnb-style apartments and foreigners’ holiday homes, rising rents have pushed restaurant and hotel staff to live in caravans, tents or cars on Greek and Spanish islands.
The problem is compounded by the fact that most tourism jobs are low-skilled and poorly paid. In response, Lisbon has suspended the issuance of new short-term rental permits. Barcelona has taken the most drastic measures, pledging to close its 10,000 Airbnb-type apartments – which account for 40% of guesthouses – by the end of 2028.
But a number of legal challenges from landlords cannot be ignored. This decision will penalise the many families with children who stay at their homes because hotels are too expensive. So the implications could be huge.
That’s why one solution to hypertourism, advocated by many in the travel industry, is based on the idea that the root of the problem is not too many people but too little capacity. Parties only feel the problems if they are not prepared to deal with them, they say. What is needed is coordinated investment in housing, urban transport and water systems. And that’s where most destinations suffer.