ANOTHER anti-tourism protest is brewing in Spain as protesters prepare to take to the streets of Malaga in less than a month.
Furious at the impacts of the mass tourism model, the inhabitants of the Costa del Sol are now demanding an end to the “touristification” of the holidays access point.
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Frustrated Malaga residents say prices are pricing them out of their own neighborhoods, and more and more properties are being converted into hotels and tourist rentals offering short stays to visiting foreigners.
After the pandemic, large numbers of remote workers have moved to Spain in search of a cheaper cost of living. The store reports.
And expats often earn higher salaries than locals, making it difficult for them to compete.
The protesters will take to the streets on June 29 and march with the slogan: “For decent housing and against the processes of touristification and precariousness of life.”
Angry protesters said the city has become “uninhabitable.”
Some fed up residents have posted angry messages outside the building and around the city centre, asking tourists to “go home”.
Stickers on tourist apartments include phrases including “stinks of tourists,” “go home” and “this was my house.”
It comes after thousands of people took to the streets of Tenerife to demand restrictions on tourists after telling Brits to “go home”.
Anti-tourist hordes filled a square in the capital brandishing banners, some of which read “you enjoy, we suffer” in English.
More than 15,000 people waved Canary Islands flags and honked horns to create deafening noise in the capital, Santa Cruz.
At the same time, protests also occurred on other popular Canary Islands, such as Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.
Banners at the mass protest read: “Where is the money of tourism?” and “Tourism moratorium now.”
The marches were organized under the slogan “The Canary Islands have a limit.”
Anti-tourist protesters want authorities to halt two projects, including one involving the construction of a five-star hotel on one of Tenerife’s last pristine beaches.
They are also seeking greater protection against mass tourism, to help with the local environment, traffic and housing problems.
Other demands include the protection of natural spaces, a tourist offer tax and better working conditions for hotel cleaners, who joined today’s protest in Santa Cruz and insisted to the local press: “We are not slaves.”
Organizers say the march had up to 50,000 participants.
Why do Tenerife residents confront the British?
RESIDENTS of the largest Canary Island appear to be at war with UK tourists as they attack visitors with anti-tourism graffiti and pop-up local campaigns.
Locals have been furious because they are “fed up” with “low quality” British tourists who only come for cheap beer, burgers and sunbathing.
Now they are demanding a tourist tax, fewer flights to the island and drastic measures against foreigners buying houses.
Some protesters claim their anger is directed at the government and not tourists as they call for change.
They claim that AirBnBs and other vacation rentals are driving up the cost of living and that they are fed up with the noise, traffic and trash that accompany the flood of tourists who visit them each year.
Jaime Coello, president of the Telesforo Bravo Foundation, stated: “The quality of the tourism product is being destroyed by investors and the regional government.”
Waves of anti-tourist graffiti have been painted across the island to tell Brits they are not welcome.
Bitter messages outside tourist spots read “Your paradise, our misery” and “Tourists are going home.”
“Locals are forced to move and YOU are responsible for it,” one printed sign read furiously.
Another said: “Tourists are going home!”
The chaos brewing, along with hatred towards visitors, is now scaring British tourists away from going on holiday to Tenerife.
And Jorge Marichal, head of a hotel chain in Tenerife, revealed that Britons were calling for fear of not being safe while on holiday on the island.
He said: “One of the problems I’m facing is that customers are starting to call and ask what’s going on here and if it’s safe.”
While the hotel owner said he understands the pain of the local population, he added that being “anti-tourist” is not the way to do it.
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