Overtourism Causes Unrest Across Europe
Tourists in Barcelona this weekend were likely to be doused in water from a protestor with a squirt gun—a toy usually wielded by a child. People with timed passes to enter the Louvre in Paris, France, on Monday showed up to locked doors when an impromptu strike from workers fed up with dealing with the multitudes of tourists without adequate resources shuttered the famed museum. Those unlucky enough to have boarded an ill-fated city tour bus to take in the sites of the Spanish island of Majorca endured a long delay when anti-tourism protestors stopped the bus, set off flares, and hung a banner on the side of it.
The actions were part of a widespread backlash seen across Europe over the weekend in which locals protested the effects of overtourism on their communities. The Associated Press reported that the largest protest occurred in Majorca where approximately 5,000 people took to the streets in the island’s capital city of Palma. Hundreds protested in other Spanish cities, including Barcelona and Granada, and dozens of people joined in other countries, including Lisbon, Portugal, and Venice, Italy.
The target of the protests are policy makers in the cities and countries who have long-prioritized the positive financial impacts of tourism in their municipalities. “Our enemy is not the tourist, but the speculators and the exploiters who hide behind tourism to profit from the housing and lives of the local population,” Asier Basurto, who helped organize Sunday’s protest in San Sebastián, a resort city on Spain’s northern coast, told The New York Times.
Of course, the victims of the squirt-gun wielding protestors, not to mention the bus-stopping ones or the museum strikers, are the tourists themselves. The Times reported that most tourists doused with water took it in stride, though it angered some. And there is a bit of class tension in the mix as well. “The general perception is that these people have way more money than we do—they come here to party, to rent places we can’t afford on our wages,” another protestor told the Times.
Possibly the primary grievance from locals about overtourism is the effect it has on housing supply and housing affordability. A flyer (translated using Google translate) claiming to be from the Southern Europe Network Against Tourstification, which is widely cited as the organizer of the weekend protests, calls for activists to protest because “hotels and tourist apartments, legal and illegal, continue to usurp thousands and thousands of homes that, recovered for residential use and accompanied by courageous public policies, could greatly improve the situation and guarantee affordable housing in our city.”
The EU’s Eurostat noted that guest nights booked through online services such as AirBnB and Expedia surpassed pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels by 23 percent by 2022, with 108 million room-nights booked. The number climbed each year with 2024 ending with more than 155 million room-nights, which was nearly double the prepandemic high.
Meanwhile, Spanish mobility consulting firm EO reported the availability of long-term rental property in the nation decreased by three percent in 2024, with rental prices reaching a new all-time high of €13.5 per square meter per month.
Those fighting overtourism also cite both small-scale pollution, as in the trash that tourism and overconsumption brings to localities, as well as large-scale pollution, as in the detrimental climate impact of travel and tourism, as reasons to curb tourism. Other complaints include the nuisance overcrowding causes to everyday life activities as well as how tourism changes the character of localities when locally focused stores, restaurants and other forms of commerce are replaced by ones that cater to tourists.
The U.S. State Department has warned travelers to exercise caution in several European locations because of the possibility of anti-tourism protests. All of Italy and Spain are under a Level 2 travel advisory, which includes the following recommendations:
- Avoid demonstrations and crowds.
- Be aware of your surroundings.
- Follow the instructions of local authorities.
- Check local media for breaking events. Be prepared to adjust your plans.
Risk consulting firm Solace Global, based in the UK, published The Anti-Tourism Movement—Travel Risk Forecast earlier this year. The report noted that organizational tactics of anti-tourism follow the patterns of other movements that are likely to continue.
“In addition to larger, single-issue groups and networks, there are also examples of anti-tourism protests expanding by converging with other social and political movements. This likely demonstrates that anti-tourism sentiment is widespread, resonates with a broad section of society, and will continue to grow,” the report noted. “This is likely because the structural issues associated with overtourism are affecting a wide cross-section of the population.”
While the protests have generally been limited and nonviolent, the report said that could change: “Should local and national policymakers fail to meet the demands of the growing anti-tourism movement, or if the tourism market does not naturally evolve in response to the protests, there is a realistic possibility that activists will escalate their tactics, potentially shifting towards more disruptive or confrontational actions designed to directly impact tourism and draw greater public and political attention. As the movement continues to grow but doesn’t yield palatable successes, protests are likely to grow in both scale and frequency. There is also the chance that if a transnational and largely peaceful protest movement that gains mass attention fails to counter mass tourism, more radical elements, especially those tied to environmental groups with a history of direct action, will start to adopt more disruptive tactics, which could include blockades, sit-ins, vandalism, or even acts of sabotage.”
The report specifically called out airports—and attempts to disrupt airport operations—as a likely future target. Hotels, upscale shopping districts, and ports with cruise ships could also be likely future targets for disruption.
The BBC noted actions taken by several European nations in response to overtourism concerns.
- Switzerland is making changes to its trains to make them more environmentally friendly, marketing off-season tourism, and special taxes or fees for tourist destinations.
- Spain has made moves to curb AirBnB listings, is using technology to actively monitor the crowding of specific tourist destinations, and is trying to entice visitors away from overcrowded coasts.
- Berlin has enacted several reforms designed to guide tourists towards environmentally sustainable choices.
