Anger is rising in the country, the world’s second most popular tourist destination (illustrative image).Image: www.imago-images.de
Thousands of Spaniards protested in Malaga and Cadiz against mass tourism, which they accuse of making housing inaccessible to locals.
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Thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday in the Spanish cities of Malaga and Cadiz (south) against mass tourism, accused of depriving the local population of affordable housing. Anger is growing in the country, the world’s second largest tourist destination.
With the motto: “Malaga to live, not to survive”nearly 5,500 people, according to the sub-prefecture, gathered in the historic center of the large Andalusian city of 570,000 inhabitants, a mecca of “sol y playa” (sun and beach) tourism.
At the call of around fifty local associations, they gathered with placards which read:
“Prohibition of tourist accommodation”
or:
“Salary of 1300, rent of 1100, how to live?”
The largest number of accommodations for tourist use
“The city has become an amusement park”assures AFP Quique, a 26-year-old protester, who is worried about these “tourist accommodations which have taken the place, in an irregular way, of the usual accommodations.”
In Spain, the province of Malaga is the one with the largest number of accommodations for tourist use, i.e. 39,000, including 6,500 in the city itself, according to the National Institute of Statistics. The city attracts many tourists and expatriate workers because of its dozens of beaches and a cultural offering of which Picasso, born in the city in 1881, is the central figure.
In Cadiz, another Andalusian city, hundreds of people also gathered in the historic centre behind the slogan: “one more tourist, one less neighbor”.
The port of Cadiz, located in the historic centre of this city of just 117,000 inhabitants, has become a popular destination for cruise ships, with 20 of them arriving in June, according to data from the local port. LAlmost daily arrival of thousands of travelers congests the narrow streets of the old quarter.
From the Balearic Islands to the Canaries via Barcelona, movements hostile to overtourism are increasing in Spain.
Already in the 2010s, residents mobilized against overtourism, mainly in Barcelona. But after the break due to Covid-19, exasperation seems to have gone up a notch, while Spain welcomed a record 85.1 million foreign visitors last year.
Tourism in Spain represents 12.8% of the GDP and concentrates 12.6% of jobs. (chl/ats)
