Massive anti-tourism manifestation in Malaga, Spain tomorrow (June 29)

I know I'm going to take heat for my response, but here's the thing; every apartment you stay at in Spain, every Airbnb you rent contributes to Spanish families losing their ancient homes so that some money grubbers can get rich by buying out the homesteads.
Honor Spanish heritage and family homes by staying in hotels, and avoid commercial bnb rentals like the plague.

Additionally, be generous withh graciases, and por favors, spend money at local shops, visit the museums, but don't take Spanish homes away from the Spanish.

I should also add that Paradores are a good sustainable alternative for tourists to stay in. They are state-run hotels often located in restored historic buildings such as castles, monasteries, convents, and palaces. They blend modern amenities with historical charm, great onsite restaurants, and often are no more expensive than your average 3-4 star hotel in Spain. I've stayed in a few Paradores and they've all been great experiences!

Here is the official list of Paradores if curious - https://paradores.es/en/paradores

It's not new. It made me think of a photo I took in Barcelona in 2006. "Tourist You Are The Terror". Parc Guell. It was the squatters that felt the pinch first, way back 18 (!) years ago.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/totally_pixelated/7t2M17JR5W

That kind of anti-tourist sentiment in your photo has always been in the background in Spain for several decades, mainly on the fringe. However post pandemic, especially in the last year or two we have seen it become much more of a mainstream political stance. Especially with the rising living costs in the main tourist cities of Spain.

Yes, I remember seeing bits and pieces of graffiti ever since I first went went to Barcelona in 1999. It was common on the fringes of the left and on the squat scene. Saying that, I was always welcomed by squatters in Barcelona, both by people who lived in Gracia and at parties in other parts of town. Especially in my early years of going out there, most of my interactions with Catalan folks were on the squat scene. I must have got a pass.

It's interesting to see Antifa graffiti in that picture in 2006. My understanding of the anti-fascist movement then was quite different to what the media in the US ended up defining "Antifa" as.

ETA: Of course Ada Colau (former Mayor of Barcelona) was a squatter once herself, so it all comes around :) I just remembered I had read that somewhere after talking about squatting.

Another plug for Paradors. I’ve stayed at 25 so far and will be staying at another 10 later this year. They’ve all been very good to excellent and as already stated, are no more expensive than the hotels in the areas they are located. Having a rental car is a good idea since many are located in small towns not well served by public transportation, but there are a number that are right in the center of town.

I certainly stand with the Spanish people. Renting apartments, at first with a small deposit by bank transfer and cash in hand on arrival, then by AirBnB in its early days, is something I always did in Barcelona. The impact wasn't so great then, but obviously it still existed, as evidenced by the graffiti in my picture above. I haven't been to Barcelona in ten years but there's no way I could do that with a clear conscience now.

I don't particularly want to stay in a hotel. Renting an apartment, or having people to stay with, in an interesting neighbourhood is what I've always done in cities. I'm not a city centre hotel kinda guy. It makes an ethical visit to Spain, particularly Barcelona, difficult for me.

Of course it's not the first time Spain has been blighted by overtourism. Whole swathes of the Spanish Costas were concreted over and high rise hotels built, from the late 60's and early 70's on.

I am laughing when I read some comments suggesting to stay in Hotel instead of airbnb. I guess this person doesn't know much about hotels lobbying and do not realize that in only one investor's appartment which will be ban, will accomodate only 1 family or most probably just a couple, while in hotel you could have accomodate several families turning the hotel building into appartments building.
May be you should also wonder why Spanish cannot afford to rent an appartment while Ukranian refugee to name them get 600 € per person to get a lodging! Yes a couple has 1200 € per month to get its lodging which is higher than the minimum wage of a Spanish... so is just a goverment problem.
But of course is easier to point out the small investor than to attack the hotel lobby or the government.

You cannot spit in your soup ! The investors got Malaga out off the dust during the 2008-2010 crisis and now you want to thanks them and show them the Exit sign .... Gracias !!!
But do not take part of this action when you do not manage all the in and out please !

Article from today:

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2024/06/29/thousands-take-to-the-streets-of-malaga-in-latest-protest-against-excessive-tourism-in-spain/

"THOUSANDS OF LOCALS TAKE TO THE STREETS OF MALAGA IN LATEST PROTEST AGAINST ‘EXCESSIVE’ TOURISM IN SPAIN"

Thank you Carlos for alerting travelers to these issues and protests. Respecting locals, their rules, their issues and the challenges tourism presents is no small matter. Anyone traveling to Spain should be educated on these events.

Good luck!

Do these cities have the huge influx of day-trippers from large vessels that Barcelona does? These people don't even provide many dollars to the local economy. Unfortunately, those of us who live in places where so many others want to vacation have to resign ourselves to the steep decline in our quality of life because our governments are greedy for tourist dollars.

It's not just the government that gets money from tourist dollars. Individuals and companies get revenue and income from tourists--cafes, restaurants, tour bus companies, souvenir shops, etc benefit from tourism. The thought that cutting out AirBnBs will result in decreased number of tourists is not reality based. People flock to these cities to sightsee and visit historical or culturally relevant sites. Decreasing accommodations within the city will just result in AirBnBs popping up in areas outside of the city, which will create more traffic or put more pressure on public transit as visitors travel further from where they are staying to the sites.

Also there are many tourists such as myself that do not enjoy the cruise ship experience and would resent having to book a room on a ship just to visit a particular city.

It seems that a lot of the AirBnBs we have stayed in were actually apartments that were purchased, fixed up/modernized in buildings which had other units that remained "vintage"--this is actually akin to micro-gentrification and is much easier to pull off financially/logistically than knocking down a whole building, getting plans approved for a whole new building. Much less environmental impact as well.

As far as living in a tourist destination community, I totally get how frustrating it is during high season. I live in a university town, and I avoid going downtown during the academic sessions. However, complaining about the tourists impacting ones life is similar to buying a house near an airport and then complain when the airport expands and gets busier.

Also, as housing prices increase, many of us made the decision to move out to more affordable communities--some of us did the housing hopscotch a few times. AirBnBs had no impact on causing housing prices to increase.

I am sure that we are not alone, but the country where I live has been experiencing some pretty wicked inflation--houses/gas/food/water/electricity. Much of this can be laid at the feet of the world's monetary policy. In the US the government increased the money supply to prop things up during the recession, we have been told by the pundits that this has no effect on prices which flies in the face of basic monetary facts that were taught a few decades ago.

AirBnBs are not the cause of increased housing prices, but they are an easy target.

This is totally not PC, but if one doesn't like tourists, don't live in a community that is filled with tourist attractions.

The lack of affordable housing is a really complex issue. It's good that Spanish people are standing up and making their voices heard, but everyone knows that there's a lot more factors than the proliferation of AirBnBs that contribute to the situation. As soon as housing becomes an investment over somewhere with a roof to live, there's going to be conflicts of interest.

Thanks for letting us know Carlos.

I see the same anti-tourists groups growing in Mexico especially among "gringo areas" of Oaxaca and Mexico City where spray painted messages of Gringos Go Home are cropping up all over.

It is a complex issue made more difficult by the fact that the government wants the tourist dollars and are mostly seen to benefit the business leaders and other rich people especially in countries where corruption is rife.

I agree with the statement "if one doesn't like tourists, don't live in an area with tourist attractions." But there is the issue of where will the people live who need to staff the jobs created by tourism? Who's going to clean your room, drive your buses, cabs and Ubers, cook your food, serve your food, and scan your tickets to attractions?

Numbers of participants could very well be between 60,000 - 100,000 or higher and could impact the old town area.

The numbers were estimated to be around 15,000, not as high as some expected but significant nontheless. Whilst I sympathise with many of the protesters regarding the struggle to find affordable housing I'm afraid the blanket approach of targeting tourists isn't going to do them any favours. There is no distinction in the protests about what tourists they're protesting about and graffiti and signs saying (in Spanish and English) "tourists f*** off home", "stinking of tourists" etc will be seen by all tourists.

When I was in Mallorca recently there was a march through Palma where tourists sat down in restaurants were harassed and abused. I was not in Palma that day but I was the following day and it could easily have been me and my family being abused. I've been visiting Mallorca for over 20 years, I stay at the same hotel that employs many islanders, I eat out at independent restaurants, shop at local markets and stores and have paid a lot of money into the local economy over the years. Such indiscriminate targetting of tourists is putting people off visiting and I know several people who have been visiting Mallorca in the same way as I have who have decided to take their money elsewhere to places such as Greece or Turkey where they feel more welcome. Even during the period I was there I noticed it was a lot quieter than it usually is at that time if year, one town in the south of the island was almost deserted when usually it is bustling with tourists. many of the restaurants were empty and some shops hadn't even bothered to open. A recent article in a local Mallorcan newspaper reported the concerns from a number of restaurant owners on the island who have witnessed a decline in tourist numbers and the detrimental impact it is having on their businesses. If the protests and anti tourist sentiment continues it will not be good for those areas that rely on tourism.

AirBnBs are not the cause of increased housing prices, but they are an easy target.

As someone who lives in a major tourist state, you are full of it. Short-term rentals owned by out-of-staters has absolutely contributed to our housing crisis. Every single house that goes on sale around here immediately, like within hours, gets out-of-staters who want to buy it. That not only raises the prices of homes to make purchasing them out of the reach of locals, but also increases the rents that landlords charge for long-term rentals. And it also, on top of all that, changes the fabric of our neighborhoods. My neighborhood is somewhat rural and in the before-times we knew all our neighbors and had regular get-togethers. That is not the case anymore. I personally no longer have an immediate neighbor. The house is owned by out-of-staters. I have transient tourists coming and going from next door, and it really sucks.

I am in solidarity with the residents of Andalucia. I am very much hoping that we can get our state to ban ownership of short-term rentals by anyone who is not a resident of our state.

I agree with the statement "if one doesn't like tourists, don't live in an area with tourist attractions." But there is the issue of where will the people live who need to staff the jobs created by tourism? Who's going to clean your room, drive your buses, cabs and Ubers, cook your food, serve your food, and scan your tickets to attractions?

Funnily enough, that was the one thing in dkoo77's post I thought was a bit daft. They made some good points, but that wasn't one of them in my opinion.

It goes a bit deeper than "who's going to clean your room?" For many people who have grown up in the historic centres of Spanish cities, it's probably more about "mum and dad live up the street and aunty, uncle and all my cousins live around the corner". When it comes time for someone to possibly get married and strike out on their own, not being able to afford to live in "their" neighbourhood is a big issue. It doesn't matter if they work in the tourist trade, customer support at Movistar or in the sewage and water department of the local council.

From the articles provided above, it sounds like tourism to Malaga is growing at an incredible rate. The figures provided, if accurate, are astounding.

As of today, there are 12,354 homes for tourist use (VUT) in the registry of the Junta de Andalucía in the municipality of Málaga and, since February of this year alone, 800 new applications have been registered for the capital. ...

According to the latest tourism bulletin prepared by Turismo Costa del Sol, 1,482,548 tourists visited the province of Malaga between January and March 2024, that is, 13.5% more than in the same quarter of the previous year . This Monday, the president of Turismo Costa del Sol, Francisco Salado, presented the forecasts for the summer season : between June 1 and September 30, an increase of 10.8% of air seats to Malaga is expected, which translates into 5.6 million seats . In short, tourism in Malaga continues to grow. source

Those are the sort of figures that need keeping an eye on, especially with the history of how an exploding tourist industry changed the landscape in the south of Spain in the past. People turning out in the street to draw attention to them, and the possible issues around such growth, is warranted, definitely, in my opinion.

What I don't like is othering. The post from a contributor above singling out Ukrainian asylum seekers rubbed me up the wrong way, without going down the political rabbit hole that is immigration and asylum right across Europe.

I also learned a new word from one the articles posted above.

Guiri is a term used to describe typically British or other northern European tourists. ... “Our central cafe is now called John Scotts and at 11am it stinks of guiris and pints of beer." source

F- that. You can read some of the other things said in the article, but I'm not down with those sort of words from anyone. There's a lot of entirely decent folk from northern Europe that have been going to Spain quietly and respectfully for years.

Just coming back around to this post and I'm surprised by how many detailed responses there are, definitely the groups protesting achieved their goal of expanding the conversation of the impacts of overtourism in Spain into the Anglosphere, looking at all the Anglo media coverage.

I'll just respond to a few things:

The thought that cutting out AirBnBs will result in decreased number of tourists is not reality based.

The goal of "banning" the Airbnbs is not to decrease the number of tourists, but rather to create an environment where locals and tourists are not competing directly for housing.

People flock to these cities to sightsee and visit historical or culturally relevant sites.

The vast majority of tourists coming to Spain just want a good beach, sunny weather, and a strong drink. Spending your entire holidays in Europe to visit historical/cultural sites is more an American thing, and they are only ranked 7th in the nationalities who most visit Spain.

Decreasing accommodations within the city will just result in AirBnBs popping up in areas outside of the city

The attraction of the Airbnbs are that they are located in the central parts of the city, not in the outskirts. Without that I'm not so sure that they will be as valuable for tourists.

However, complaining about the tourists impacting ones life is similar to buying a house near an airport and then complain when the airport expands and gets busier.

It's more like an airport is built right next to where you have already been living for generations, then you fight back to preserve your ancestral hometown when the airport expands.

This is totally not PC, but if one doesn't like tourists, don't live in a community that is filled with tourist attractions.

Again this is the wrong way of looking at it, these people have already been living in these communities for many generations, maybe even centuries, now in a matter of a few years you've got thousands of tourist apartments that act as "rent multipliers" for the neighborhoods they are in, artificially bringing up the average cost of housing for locals trying to live nearby. Now the local families who have been living in that historic neighborhood for generations are priced out by foreign conglomerates buying up long-term apartments in the area and turning them around for short term rent to tourists at exorbitant prices, thus the old neighborhood is turned into a "Disneyfied" version of its former self without any authentic local life or culture. This is what happened to the Barrio Gotico in Barcelona, and it's no wonder locals in other Spanish cities want to avoid the same fate.

Forgive me for going a little off topic, but reading this thread reminded me of my childhood in Weston-super-mare in the Uk. 45/50 years ago it was a very popular destination for people from the Midlands and us locals complained about the invasion of the 'grockles' , afraid to go out on summer weekends when the motorbike rallies brought hundreds of cider drinkers.....Now Weston is almost deserted on a sunny weekday in June, hotels and flats have become rest homes......I'm not sure what my message is: 'be careful what you wish for'? Or most probably 'everything in moderation'

Whatever else I've learned in 71 years on the planet, maybe the most important one is that it's never a good idea to rely upon other people doing as you wish them to.

Perhaps the people of Málaga and similar places will succeed in outlawing AirBnBs and other such accommodations; if that's what the majority wants, I hope they do succeed. Until that happens, though, I'll continue to use AirBnBs. They offer a unique combination of qualities that meet my needs admirably. And admittedly I don't respond well to appeals that aim to change my behavior by engendering guilt.

The theory that AirBnBs are the primary cause for rent increases in tourist areas is a popular one. So far as I know, the correlation has been demonstrated, but the causation has not.

For those of you who with gazillions of lame excuses, and continue to use Airbnb guilt free, you were never going to find the empathy anyway for the thousands of Spaniards who have lost their homes so you could party on the cheap.

I'd suggest you read RS "Travel as a Political Act" but you still wouldn't get it.

For those of you who are too good to stay in hotels so that Spanish families could keep their homes, you'll never get it either.

Socially conscious travellers stay in hotels, in campgrounds, or with friends. They don't support those who render their national hosts homeless.

Viva España!

Just to qualify the above statement, I think short term tourist rentals are ok in some circumstances, especially in places where there is not a lot of established tourism and AirBnb is not competing with locals for housing. I'm thinking more rural places or small towns, where a tourist rental can be a great win-win for both the local trying to make ends meet and the tourist who's housing options like hotels are limited. But in the crowded historic centres of overtoursited cities like my hometown of Barcelona, AirBnb is doing more harm than good, and has been slowly destroying that city for the last decade.

I think it's very important to do your research ahead of time to understand how your actions as a tourist might be negatively affecting the local community.

Socially conscious travellers stay in hotels, in campgrounds, or with friends.

I guess I've established my particular level of "social consciousness." Cheers, all.

BTW, I agree fully that travel is a political act. But as in all things, politics is personal, and one person's truth is another's delusion. I'm strongly resistant to any suggestion that my approach to travel entails fascism or anything close to it because I choose lodging that meets my needs rather than obeying someone else's sociopolitical dictates.

Honestly, my travel helps to support the citizens of the places I visit. That's the bottom line for the travel I do.

Going back to what I said in another post further up, it's really easy to blame the "other".

While Carlos is spot on with most of what he says, he said this:

local families who have been living in that historic neighborhood for generations are priced out by foreign conglomerates

I'm not sure one should be focussing on the "foreign" To give an example relating to London, where I live. There has been much made in the British press over the years about "Russian oligarchs" buying up London property as an investment, often letting it lie empty while it accrues capital. What I think is the real story though is honest to goodness Londoners buying up property in bulk, having huge rental portfolios and flipping the apartments to one another at a profit. That's what really affects working class Londoners when they're trying to buy or rent somewhere to live, not some billionaire with the penthouse in the latest high rise apartment block or the 10 million quid house in Chelsea. What about the Spanish people who are rinsing housing in various ways for every cent they can? Too easy to blame the foreigners.

Like I said above, lack of affordable housing is a complex issue, with many factors at play. It's really easy to blame "foreign conglomerates" or a US-based internet platform, or, for that matter, ordinary people trying to have a nice time on holiday in a foreign country. Anger at these groups is somewhat misplaced. Looking at the housing market holistically, regulating new development, government mandated rent caps and close, tight management of the tourist industry and its impact on the Spanish people and environment are things that are going to be more productive in making a fairer, more accessible housing market in the long run. Sorry if this sounds a bit commie for some, but these are things that make it a bit easier for the "average José".

Gerry perhaps "foreign conglomerates" is not the right word? Maybe "foreign investors"? Basically big money interests from outside Spain (usually China, Russia and the Middle East), with no responsibility for the wellbeing of the local community, goes on a property buying spree and flips real estate for speculation. This abusive practice was often tied to the golden visa program in Spain, which was repealed this year by our Socialist government. Nothing to do with anti-foreign sentiment.

I don't want to get into more, but if you are truly interested in learning more here is a good article from the NY Times - https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/21/business/golden-visa-spain-europe-housing-crisis.html

Yeah, fair enough. I didn't mean to make it sound like I was having a go.

My comparisons to London are somewhat misplaced too. Barcelona, and I've learned Malaga, are set up in such a way that they have these dense historic centres where lots of people live. In London, it's pretty much always been rich people that live where the tourists go, so the impact of holiday rentals has been negligible on ordinary people.

It sounds like the demise of the golden visa was a step in the right direction. I hope the Spanish people continue to exert pressure on the government to make things better for them, but still allow people to come to visit Spain with a degree of freedom as to how they can do it. A good socialist government should be working for the people :)

I couldn't read the article for free it seems, even logged in.

government mandated rent caps

That didn't work for Scotland, all it did was make a lot of landlords decide that it was more trouble than it's worth and sold their property. The rental market diminished significantly and caused a real problem for those seeking a rental property.

The majority of private houses for rent in the UK are owned by a landlord who has one, maybe two houses to let. The rent is typically used to cover the property mortgage as well as a chunk of the landlords own mortgage. They're viewed as secure investments rather than an income generator. I have a friend that rents out three properties all to friends or aquantainces. He charges less than the market rate in rent because he'd rather have tenants that he knows and trusts but also because hs views the properties as his pension. Of course, he could rent them out as holiday lets and potentially earn more money but that would remove three two/three bedroom houses from the rental market. He doesn't do this but there are many that do so it's not always big, foreign investors snapping up property.

Would I stay in a private holiday let if I was visiting a popular city? Most likely not. On city breaks I much prefer staying in a hotel. I've stayed in enough AirBnB's, VBRO's etc to know that a comfortable bed, pillows etc is very much a hit and miss affair whereas I know what I'm getting with a well known hotel brand. However I will quite happily rent a villa with a pool for a summer holiday as it's highly unlikely that it's having an impact on housing shortages for locals. The villa I rented in Crete last year was a purpose built holiday let and certainly wouldn't be on the radar for locals looking to rent or for first time buyers seeking a foot on the housing ladder.

I think holiday rentals certainly have their place but in the towns and cities were there is an acute shortage of affordable housing for locals their presence should be heavily curtailed.

That didn't work for Scotland, all it did was make a lot of landlords decide that it was more trouble than it's worth and sold their property. The rental market diminished significantly and caused a real problem for those seeking a rental property.

Hmmm... From what I gathered it was quite popular with those that advocate for tenants' rights over landlords'. The fact that it was a temporary measure from the start didn't help with stability. There's always going to be disruption to a market when artificial levers are introduced. Given time, it should reach some sort of equilibrium. The free market is great and all, but it's an animal that needs taming sometimes to make sure it doesn't eat people.

So the problem for Spaniards, Greeks, Irish and other Europeans is AirBnBs. Oh, wait, no, it's golden visas. Anyway, it's the fault of Americans and other rich foreigners. Or so the natives say, as certainly it couldn't be the greed of their own citizenry. Bottom line is that all these factors have likely contributed to higher real estate prices, which it should be noted have both negative and positive impacts.

Spain and the other countries still have undeveloped land on which new housing can be constructed. Perhaps the rise in property prices will now support new housing development; we'll see. But let's hope the protestors who want to keep tourists out aren't successful. Because if they are, they'll find out what real economic depression looks like.

thanks carlos for starting the original thread and your measured responses thereafter. the spanish or for that matter any nation or people have every right to address problems as they see fit. i have no truck with that. i will adjust accordingly. however, how dare someone preach to the rest of us about using 'airbnb guilt-free', 'traveling as a political act', and 'too good to stay in hotels'! who appointed you the arbiter of travel etiquette?

i travel because i can and want to. i do it the way i like it. i stay in airbnb's because they are cheaper than hotels. i am not looking for empathy from the locals or your validation. communities can make the laws as they please and if doesn't suit me i will go elsewhere.

i have some more choice words but i don't want to stress out our poor moderator/s on this lovely 4th of july!

Hmmm... From what I gathered it was quite popular with those that advocate for tenants' rights over landlords'.

I'm sure it was but I as is usually the case in such matters the advocates are generally not the ones impacted by the consequences.

Hmmm, I have been following all of these new articles about travel and over-tourism around the world with great interest.

I do not think anyone should ever be offended about locals protesting regarding changes in their own neighborhoods--we who are only visitors cannot really understand the situation from their perspective.

I do know that overall travel itself has expanded greatly--more young people value experiences over goods, the economies have vastly improved in other nations (like India) over the decades, more Americans are getting their passports, and the Covid lockdown made people want to get out and see the world as much as possible. The introduction of the Air B & B industry created a brand new way for homeowners and investors to tap into the travel market dollars (or Euros, etc.). There is also the dominance of social media encouraging sharing of life activities. Of course, the world population has also increased by a billion people in just ten years. Finally, certain destinations seem to trend and become hot spots for travel for a while--I think Spain is in the spotlight right now.

Is there a common solution worldwide? Are there multiple solutions for each country? Are there unique situations that can actually endanger local populations (example--damage to Venice canals by large cruise ships) which must be addressed immediately? What about resources--for instance, droughts and lack of water for locals, as we saw happening in Barcelona.

Yes, the protests are reactive, due to frustrations and stress, etc., but this points out to the need for proactive efforts as soon as possible. Governments as well as the travel industries (hotel, air, cruise, Air B&B, etc.) all need to start working together and create an action plan for potential solutions, instead of basically ignoring all these issues. This situation will only worsen down the line.

I also think the plans need to be inclusive (don't limit travel to higher economic status visitors), careful of the environment, respectful of local citizenry, and thoughtful in design. Does this mean visiting a place potentially based on a lottery system? Perhaps.

All I can say is I love Spain, and for me it is like a second home, so I will always feel in my heart the pain of its people.

I am counting down the days until my visit next month, and looking forward to drinking some excellent jerez, dancing some flamenco, visiting the masterpieces of Velázquez, Goya, and El Greco, praying in Toledo's cathedral, and renewing my Spanish spirit.

Patience, kindness, and good will are all essential when we ask others to welcome us, even if we are spending money, because it is their home, and we are just temporary travelers.

Spain and the other countries still have undeveloped land on which new housing can be constructed. Perhaps the rise in property prices will now support new housing development.

The last thing we need is more urban sprawl, I think we can all agree that we don't want Barcelona to turn into a Los Angeles or a Houston. Besides most cities in Spain are actually hemmed in by natural geography so they can't keep expanding beyond where they are right now.

A little additional commentary on the situation.

https://www.surinenglish.com/malaga/tourist-homes-raise-their-voices-the-limitations-20240704080004-nt.html

An interesting read. It's also worth noting that in the UK there is a problem with a lack of affordable housing and there are not enough houses being built (house builders don't want to build too many and risk reducing their profitability) yet the problem can't be laid at the feet of tourism or specifically private holiday lets. There is an overall issue with the cost of living in general which is not confined to areas popular with tourists. It does seem far too easy and simplistic to blame tourism. Certainly being abusive, insulting and spraying water at tourists visiting your city isn't going to help matters.

These protests are against tourism, but are ill defined in what they want. Here we discuss the AirBnB impact and the cruise ship impact, but the protesters don’t have a defined target that they want to help solve the problem. They want less tourism apparently, but how? It would be good to hear some reasonable steps or goals. Less tourism is so vague. Easy to protest but you can see that even here we cannot agree on any sort of function that will achieve that.
Venice, the first and supreme example of over tourism is unable to make or take any steps that have had any meaningful impact on the problem. This all moves so slowly that Venice will sink into the sea well before the problem is addressed in such a way that it would matter.