Hundreds of protestors rallied in Alicante today against perceived ‘overtourism’ in the latest such demonstration to hit Spain – and the first major event to be staged in the city.
Scores of residents met at the central Plaza Toros with banners and flags reading ‘Leave our neighbourhoods’, ‘our home is not the patio of gringos’ and ‘f*** AirBnB’ late Saturday amid fears locals are being priced out of their homes and trapped in unstable jobs catering to foreign visitors.
Aggrieved locals chanted ‘Alicante is not for sale’, blew whistles and waved flags, closing streets as they rallied on the Calle Calderón de la Barca from 7.30pm today, finishing their march at the office for tourism to plenty of applause from crowd.
Salva, a spokesperson for the organising ‘Alicante donde vas?’ group, told MailOnline: ‘As far as we know, a protest of this nature has never been held here before and we consider it essential to make the conflict visible.
‘What is not named does not exist and it is essential we make it clear that there are many of us residents of Alicante who demand that limits be placed on the tourism industry.’
Protesters pictured holding placards during an anti-tourist demonstration in Alicante today
A banner is held up during a march today at the central Plaza Toros in the Spanish city
Signs in support of the PCPE, the Spanish Communist Party, during this afternoon’s demonstration
Some banners read ‘stop turismo’ and were marched through the streets of Alicante
Another said ‘F*** AirBnB’, expressing locals’ frustration with the holiday home rental company
The protest is the latest of a series of demonstrations in Spain, most recently erupting in Barcelona, where tourists were shot at with water guns as they ate on a popular street last week.
Across Europe, local authorities have tried to answer the calls of residents by imposing heavy restrictions on loutish behaviour and even charging day-trippers to visit some cities – but many still feel their main concerns are not being addressed.
Protestors gathered at the Plaza Toros square in Alicante on July 13 as temperatures pushed 30C in the latest such demonstration to call for reform.
Ahead of the event, posters appeared across the city branded ‘Alicante is not for sale’ and urging ‘limits’ on ‘mass tourism’.
Streets were closed by local police as crowds gathered around the demonstration, protestors venting their frustrations towards the effects of tourism on local neighbourhoods.
Local media filmed as organisers with megaphones chanted into the crowds in dramatic scenes apparently unprecedented in Alicante.
One British tourist waving the St George’s Cross waded into the rally chanting ‘England, England, England’ before locals guided him away.
Salva, a spokesperson for the group organising, told MailOnline: ‘It is the administrations (city council, autonomous community, central government) that must take measures to put the needs of the people who live in the city at the forefront, compared to the wishes of those who visit the city.
‘We hope that the demonstration is the first step so that more people feel that it is legitimate to claim the right to live with dignity in our city, and to be able to join together to build a neighbourhood movement that says that Alicante is not for sale.’
Beaches in the city were lined with visitors today amid the first protest in the area
Diners gathered in a restaurant in Alicante this afternoon
Aggrieved locals chanted ‘Alicante is not for sale’, blew whistles and waved flags
Protesters closed streets as they rallied on the Calle Calderón de la Barca from 7.30pm today
One demonstrator held up a placard reading ‘tourism=misery’ today
Protestors gathered at the Plaza Toros square in Alicante on July 13 as temperatures pushed 30C in the latest such demonstration to call for reform
Another sign read ‘tourist we spit in your beers, cheers’ during a day of anti-tourist sentiment
Salva assured that the organisers ‘understand’ the concern of British tourists who might feel ‘uncomfortable’ with the rallies and said their criticism was ‘focused mainly on the tourism industry and institutions, whose profit motive condemns residents to defencelessness in the face of the harm caused by tourism’.
‘We are all tourists, or potential tourists… we have all travelled, we travel and we will travel… [but] we understand that the discomfort with touristification results in some people showing antipathy or rejection towards tourists.
‘The fatigue of many people in Mallorca, the Canary Islands, Barcelona, or Alicante, is enormous; the anxiety and stress of having difficulty renting a house; or for suffering horrible working conditions; or not being able to sleep well because there is a tourist apartment in your community… ends up causing pain and suffering that can fuel hostile reactions towards tourists.’
Indeed, as protestors gathered on Saturday, many homeless people carried small bags through the city in the heat, looking through bins for food before resting on the steps to closed businesses.
Builders meanwhile continued renovation work on a tower block branded ‘Tourist Apartments’ ahead of the main summer rush.
‘Despite focusing our protest on administrations and the tourism industry, we also consider that all of us, potential tourists, must reflect on our leisure and consumption practices; rethink whether it is ethical to stay on AirBnB, for example,’ Salva continued.
She told MailOnline that organisers felt it ‘an achievement to break the taboo on tourism, which is always sold to us as something that only brings good things’.
‘In just five years, rental prices have doubled. The multiplication of tourist apartments (AirBnB and others), as well as ‘seasonal’ rentals (which have short contracts, less than one year, in order to avoid the law that requires not raising the rental price during the five years that a normal rental contract lasts), are mainly responsible for this situation.’
Ahead of the event, posters appeared across the city branded ‘Alicante is not for sale’ and urging ‘limits’ on ‘mass tourism’
Streets were closed by local police as crowds gathered around the demonstration
Two people walk past an empty outdoor section of a pub. Tomorrow, bars and clubs will open their doors to holidaymakers hoping to cheer their team to victory in the EURO 2024 final
Visitors privy to the problems of renting in Spain agree with the overall message of the demonstrations
Beachgoers in Alicante pictured with towels slung over their shoulders as they walked through the city’s streets on a tumultuous day
Some visitors urge protestors to be careful not to blame foreign tourists for problems they blame on administrative mistakes
A police car pictured in Alicante today as locals took to the streets in an anti-tourist march
As the day wore on, local restaurants started filling up
Spain received 85 million foreign visitors in 2023, an increase of 18.7 per cent from the previous year, according to the National Statistics Institute
Salva said neighbourhoods now ’emptied of the local population’ have lost ‘traditional businesses’, replaced by stores or companies catering to tourists.
Since their first meeting in March, the group – echoing the concerns of similar movements across Spain and wider Europe – has attracted dozens of supporters.
Tomorrow, bars and clubs across the city will open their doors to holidaymakers hoping to cheer their team to victory in the final of EURO 2024 between England and Spain.
Earlier this week, Dutch and English fans met in Alicante to support their national teams in the semi-final.
A flare was lit between sports bars in the inner city as The Netherlands took an early lead – and England fans erupted into rounds of ‘It’s Coming Home’ after Ollie Watkins’ late goal saw England make a dramatic comeback in the closing seconds.
Away from the coast, a waiter at the more ‘typical’ Rias Baixas restaurant told MailOnline the business had existed for 55 years, was doing well and had remained largely unaffected by the downsides of the tourism trend.
Odi, a market stall seller catering to tourists with various ‘Alicante’ branded trinkets, said she was not from Spain originally and had only been working in the city for ‘almost a year’.
She said she had ‘no opinion’ on the demonstration against mass tourism on Saturday.
It comes after protestors squirted water guns at tourists eating in popular spots in Barcelona
Tourists sharing paella can only watch on, bemused, as the rally moves past
Video showed protestors gathering in Las Ramblas, a hotspot for holidaymakers
A woman carries a sign that reads ‘neighbours in danger of extinction’ through Barcelona
Anti-riot forces gesture as protestors put march through Las Ramblas earlier today
Visitors privy to the problems of renting in Spain agree with the overall message of the demonstrations – but urge protestors to be careful not to blame foreign tourists for problems they blame on administrative mistakes.
Gerardo Díaz Cano, 30, visiting Alicante from Madrid, told MailOnline: ‘It is difficult to afford a house as today in Spain, especially in the big cities, there is no one to control the price of rents.
‘The owners, when there is demand, will set any price to rent or sell their properties.’
Gerardo was also aware of the benefits tourism brings to Spain.
‘Thanks to tourism the economy grows and it provides job opportunities.
‘I think that the demonstrations they are carrying out are not correct.
‘It is not the way to express themselves, since the tourist is not to blame for the housing problems that currently exist in Spain.
‘For me, they should go to demonstrate at the city hall so that they can give them an answer or in any case start to control the rentals or sales more.’
Similar protests have erupted across Europe in recent months as locals take to the streets to try to force their authorities to bring about meaningful change.
In Barcelona last week, some 2,800 activists marched on La Rambla – a popular tourist spot lined with souvenir shops and restaurants – to confront visitors directly.
Protestors wrapped tables in red tape and shot at tourists with water guns – drawing criticism from Spain’s tourism minister, who said that while the actions were reprehensible, the incident had been ‘exaggerated’.
Protesters carried signs reading ‘Barcelona is not for sale’ and ‘Tourists go home’ as they paraded through the city to call for a new economic model to relieve over-reliance on the tourism industry and reduce the number of visitors flocking to the Catalan capital.
Alasdair, an English teacher from Scotland who has lived in Barcelona since 2017, told MailOnline: ‘Lots of people still recognise the need for tourism here… Barcelona lives off a hell of a lot of tourism.
‘I think it’s gotten better in the sense that there are fewer drunks around but the main protests are against mass tourism.
‘If you look at the targets – the streets they went on – it’s the hyper touristic spots. In a sense it’s a little anti-capitalistic. That’s the impression I got from it: tourism is not bad in itself, it’s the mass tourism and the loss of character and the loss of space for locals to hang around in.’
The rising cost of housing is a major concern for the city’s 1.6million inhabitants, rising 68 per cent in the past decade alone.
With tourists occupying short-term apartments and creating a market for AirBnB rentals, rents rose by 18 per cent in June, year on year, in cities popular with tourists including Barcelona and Madrid.
Spain received 85 million foreign visitors in 2023, an increase of 18.7 per cent from the previous year, according to the National Statistics Institute.
Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona, announced a plan in June to phase out all short-term lets by 2028 in a drastic attempt to remedy some of the urgent concerns about housing.
But residents also fear their economies are becoming too tourist-centric, creating an over-reliance on seasonal work and unstable jobs catering for foreign visitors.
In Tenerife, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in April to demand change, demanding tourists ‘go home’ and calling on councils to introduce new legislation aimed at protecting the islands from the effects of an ever-expanding tourism industry.
But the various organisers claim their demands have fallen on deaf ears and are now gearing up for another demonstration.
‘We have decided to take to the streets again. This time we will take to the streets in the very centre of this development model: in the main tourist areas,’ a statement from the Friends of Nature of Tenerife (ATAN) read.
‘We ask people to continue fighting from every corner of the islands against this unjust model that is destroying our lives and our territory.’
A symbolic cordon was put around a bar-restaurant in an area popular with tourists
Thousands were reported to have taken place in the march against tourism earlier today
People clash with police as they protest against the introduction of the registration and tourist fee in Venice, Italy, April 25, 2024
People protest against the introduction of the fee in Venice, Italy, April 25, 2024
Decrying the failed draw of foreign tourists, one demonstrator at the march on April 20 held a sign reading: ‘Fourteen million tourists a year but 36 per cent of Canarians at risk of poverty.’
In Malaga, south of Alicante, more than 15,000 tourists massed in the streets at the end of June to air their frustrations.
Banners read: ‘We feel like strangers in our own city.’
In a bid to appease residents frustrated by loutish behaviour from visitors, some countries have also introduced new laws to try to curb excessive drinking and disruption.
Alicante brought in a new rule this year requiring bars to close their outside terraces by midnight for nine months of the year. Tourists also face fines of hundreds of euros for drinking in public throughout the city.
New rules in Magaluf ban drinking in the street and buying alcohol from grocery stores after 8.30pm – with fines of up to €1,500 (£1,350) or rising to €3,000 (£2,550) for more serious behaviour breaches.
Drink limits have also been introduced at all-inclusive hotels in the notorious tourist hotspots of El Arenal, Playa de Palma in Mallorca, and Sant Antoni in Ibiza in a bid to clamp down on reckless drunken behaviour.
