Smoke and water pistols in mass ‘overtourism’ demos
Thousands of people have taken to the streets of cities in southern Europe to demonstrate against overtourism, firing water pistols at shop windows and setting off smoke in Barcelona, the scene of the main protest.
“Your holidays, my misery,” protesters chanted in the streets of the Spanish city on Sunday (local time).
They held banners emblazoned with slogans such as “mass tourism kills the city” and “their greed brings us ruin”.
Under the umbrella of the SET alliance – Sud d’Europa contra la Turistització, or Catalan for “Southern Europe against Overtourism” – protesters joined forces with groups in Portugal and Italy, arguing that uncontrolled tourism was sending housing prices soaring and forcing people out of their neighbourhoods.
Barcelona, a city of 1.6 million, drew 26 million tourists last year.
Authorities in the north-eastern Spanish city said about 600 people joined the demonstration, some firing water pistols or putting stickers saying “neighbourhood self-defence, tourist go home” on shop windows and hotels.
Footage posted online by local outlet Catalan News shows protesters chanting and setting off flares.
Outside one hotel, an agitated worker confronted the protesters, saying he was “only working” and was not the venue’s owner.
There were similar demonstrations in other parts of Spain, including Ibiza, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, San Sebastian and Granada.
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In Italy, there were protests in cities such as Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Milan and Venice, where locals oppose construction of two hotels that will add about 1500 beds to the city, the organisers told Reuters.
In Barcelona, the local government said last year it would bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028 to make the city more liveable for residents.
“I’m very tired of being a nuisance in my own city. The solution is to propose a radical decrease in the number of tourists in Barcelona and bet on another economic model that brings prosperity to the city,” Eva Vilaseca, 38, told Reuters at Sunday’s demonstration in Barcelona, dismissing the common counterargument that tourism brings jobs and prosperity.
International travel spending in Europe is expected to rise by 11 per cent to $US838 billion ($1.3 trillion) this year. Spain and France are among the countries forecast to receive record numbers of tourists.
A protest in Lisbon was scheduled for later on Sunday.
