The anger grows. This time the south of Europe coordinated and called for Sunday for an international protest day. In Spain, Italy, Portugal and France, the platform “Sur de Europa Contra La Turistización” (Southern Europe against touristification) set protest in march to demonstrate against the consequences of mass tourism. This time it was less peaceful than a year ago. In Barcelona, the police resolved a demonstration near the Sagrada family basilica near the Sagrada family. “Tourism steals our bread, our roof and our future”, was on the posters that carried over 600 demonstrators with them while firing Böller and inflaming Bengalische Feuer. There was a wrangling with security forces in front of a hotel.
In Barcelona, fewer demonstrators came than a year ago, some brought water pistols again. In 2024, activists had “shot at” vacationers on restaurant terraces, which attracted attention worldwide. International media up to the New York Times warned travelers about the protest day and advised them to be careful on Sunday.
Spain is facing a new holiday record
The frustration has grown since the major demonstrations of the past year, because they have had no effect: Spain is facing a new holiday record and could exceed the 100 million mark this year. Before the start of the main season, more than 25 million tourists came until the beginning of June; That was a good seven percent more than in the same period of the previous year. At the same time, rental and real estate prices rise unchecked.
20,000 inhabitants had already demonstrated in the Canary Islands this May. In Palma de Mallorca, the activists wanted to build on the large demonstration last July and with the slogan “We have to stop touristification for the right to a worthy life” tens of thousands. In the summer of 2024, a good 50,000 had asked to set limits to tourism. Protests were also set in Ibiza, Menorca, Granada and San Sebastián, as in several Italian cities. In Lisbon, the city saint of Antonius was to be symbolically driven out of his church.
The average rents rise
Like Barcelona, the Portuguese capital becomes priceless for more and more residents. They are not generally against tourists, they just want less. Ultimately, the intensifying housing shortage in southern Europe was again on Sunday. In Spain, the city administration of Barcelona is most powerful. By the end of 2028, the licenses for the almost 10,000 apartments are to end with more than 40,000 beds and will no longer be renewed. In the town hall, one hopes that these apartments will return to the regular market and create relief there.
But the landlords of the apartments no longer want to be the scapegoats and present their own numbers on Friday. Due to stricter restrictions in Barcelona between 2021 and 2024, the offer fell by almost 50 percent, one calculates the rental platform Airbnb: Nevertheless, the number of tourists continued to grow and the average rents increased.
For Airbnb it is clear who is to blame for the overcrowding: “Overtourism is mostly powered by the hotels,” says a new study that the Airbnb director Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago explained using Barcelonas. “Of the 40 million overnight stays in Barcelona, there were 72 percent of hotels and similar accommodations in 2023. In the entire EU, the proportion is even 78 percent,” said Airbnb boss responsible for Spain and Portugal.
The local association of apartment tenants Apartur pointed out last week that there were fewer than one percent of all apartments in the city of tourist apartments. There is no guarantee that they return to the regular rental market after the licenses ended. “We have commissioned a survey. According to this, only three percent want to rent their apartment as normal, they want to sell 97 percent, let it stand empty or rent out for shorter periods of time to students,” says the President of Apartur, Enrique Alcántara. The elimination of the apartments in Barcelona could threaten up to 40,000 jobs and endanger 1.9 percent of economic output. Apartur and other owners want to pull before the European Court of Justice to stop the mayor's plans.
