Protests against mass tourism swept across southern Europe over the weekend as locals raised their voices against its growing impact on their cities’ livability, their rents and their way of life.

On Sunday, large-scale demonstrations were held in popular holiday destinations from Spain to Portugal and Italy — from Barcelona, Valencia and Palma de Mallorca to San Sebastián, Granada, Genoa, Naples, Palermo and Venice. 

Activists under the umbrella alliance Sur de Europa contra la Turistización (Catalan for Southern Europe Against Touristification) called for a dramatic rethink of tourism’s role in their communities.

Why protesting?

Protesters say the growing number of tourists — nearly 94 million came to Spain in 2024 — drives up rents, displaces locals and transforms neighbourhoods into amusement parks. 

Traditional retail is forced out by souvenir stores and ice-cream parlors, while restaurants and cafés cater more to tourists than their own communities. Local people say their quality of life is suffering due to congestion, overcrowding, a shortage of available housing and precarious employment within the tourism industry.

Daniel Pardo, a member of the Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, explained that the kind of tourism currently encouraged in Barcelona is not compatible with the lives of the local population. 

According to him, there is a need for a radical reduction in the number of tourists and a new economic model that brings prosperity to the city. Pardo stressed it’s not just a protest against mass tourism, but against a tourism-first culture that disregards the well-being of locals.

Water pistoils

Some campaigns used dramatic tactics, including spraying tourists with water pistols. Activists in the capital of Catalonia doused diners along Las Ramblas and a tour bus in front of the Sagrada Família, sending a clear message that tourists are adding to the growing pressures on their city. Stickers stating “tourists go home” appeared on hotel doors and storefronts.

Measures

Some policy measures are underway in response. The City of Barcelona plans to prohibit the renewal of licences for holiday lets after 2028 in a bid to ease pressure on its rental market. 

The Spanish government, meanwhile, is requiring holiday rental providers to register their properties in a new database and recently forced platforms to delete tens of thousands of listings that fell foul of regulations.

Other cities are following suit. Ghent in Belgium, for instance, banned the construction of new hotels in its city centre, while Venice implemented a small entrance fee for day-trippers — although this policy’s effects remain limited. Some tourism experts say these piecemeal measures do little to ease the growing strain.

Try looking further than the tip of your nose

Jan Van der Borg, a tourism expert at KU Leuven, explained that the main problem is that tourists continue to follow the well-trodden path instead of spreading more evenly across different places — or reducing their number. 

Sometimes additional places emerge — for instance, in Albania — but 90% of tourists still gravitate toward the most iconic sites. Van der Borg expects the number of tourists to grow by another 25% by 2030.

It’s the economy, stupid

While tourism brings employment — generating 14% of Barcelona’s GDP and 150,000 jobs — many locals say this comes at a heavy price, with low pay, poor conditions and growing inequality. Activists insist their resistance is not against tourists per se, but against a tourism industry that disregards their rights, their well-being and their future.

Don’t stay home

Van der Borg explained that it’s not a matter of staying home or closing the doors to the world. We just need a more conscious approach — a way to appreciate our own spaces without turning them into playgrounds for tourists. 

With growing disquiet across southern Europe, many are calling for policy makers to make difficult but necessary choices to ease the pressures their cities are under. The weekend’s protests reflect that growing debate — a debate about the future of tourism, its human cost and its role in reshaping the places we call home.

Some tourism statistics

• Belgium sees modest tourism growth in 2024, led by Flanders and Brussels.
• Travel in 2024: Spain, France, USA, China, Mexico lose ground and Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, UAE to grow market share.
• France, Spain, USA, China and Italy most visited countries in the world, Belgium 41st.
• France welcomed 100 million international visitors in 2024.
• Turkey welcomed 62 million international tourists who together spent $61 billion in 2024.
• SPAIN | 94 million international visitors and €108.7 billion tourism income in 2024.
• UN WORLD TOURISM BAROMETER | International tourism recovers pre-pandemic levels in 2024.
• Outside the EU, Europeans mostly travel to Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
• Intra-European travel mostly for fun and / or family.
• Europeans visit other European countries over 7 nights on average.

On tourism

• ​Belgians choose safety, sustainability and convenience for summer travel: climate change, geopolitical instability and flight convenience shape 2025 holiday trends.
• OVERTOURISM | Alternatives for Venice, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Santorini, Paris, Dubrovnik, London and Rome?.
• Belgians book Asia, vintage travel and boutique hotels for spring and summer 2025.
• There’s more than one way to enjoy a cruise.
• SOLO TRAVEL | More expensive, but also some advantages.
• Flanders updates star classification for hotels.
• WINTER IN ANTWERP 2024-2025 | 1.3M visitors, 120K for New Year’s fireworks, 64.4% hotel occupancy.
• OPINION | Travelling on a package holiday.
• Are there too many hotels in Antwerp?.
• ANTWERP SUMMER 2024 | 2.7 million day tourists and 493K overnight stays.
• 2024 | Twice as many Belgians will travel by train this summer.
• Spain saw a surge of Belgians visiting in the first quarter of 2024.
• Antwerp number 1 of 40 most exciting cities to visit in 2024.
• Antwerp’s municipal museums welcomed over 1.5 million visitors in 2023.
• CLIMATE CHANGE & TRAVEL | Is Belgium ready to be the Spain and Italy of the future?.
• Condé Nast Traveler praises Antwerp as one of the Best Places to Go in 2024 in Europe.
• Flanders’ art cities residents still proud of their city, but highlight drawbacks of tourism more
• Antwerp hotel industry demands stricter rules and enforcement for Airbnb as business tourism is not recovering.
• ANTWERP | 13.5 million day tourists, 2.6 million overnight stays and less Dutch visitors in 2023.
• ANTWERP | 2022 tourism statistics show recovery towards 2019 numbers.
• City happy with Winter in Antwerp 2022-2023 edition.
• City sees Winter in Antwerp 2023-2024 breaking attendance records.
• Belgians make 4.5 million day trips to Antwerp every year.
• ANTWERP | 2.2 million day tourists and 398K overnight stays in the summer of 2023.
• ANTWERP | 2 million day tourists and 337K overnight stays in the summer of 2022.
• Belgians travelled massively in the first quarter of 2022.
• The Major Flaws of domestic tourism in Belgium.
• Discovering Belgium and the Netherlands in COVID times.