Protesters used water pistols against tourists in Barcelona and on the Spanish island of Mallorca on Sunday
Thousands of protesters have turned out in southern Europe to demonstrate against overtourism, marching and using water pistols against unsuspecting tourists.
The marches were part of a coordinated effort by activists from southern Europe’s top destinations, including the Spanish destinations of Barcelona and Mallorca, as well as in Venice, Italy, and Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.
Demonstrators say that overtourism is fueling a housing crisis and erasing the character of their hometowns.
Protesters in Barcelona blew whistles and held up homemade signs saying, “One more tourist, one less resident.”
It is not the first time the city has seen this type of protest. Barcelona protesters first took to firing squirt guns at tourists last summer.
“The squirt guns are to bother the tourists a bit,” Andreu Martínez said in Barcelona with a chuckle after spritzing a couple seated at an outdoor café.
“Barcelona has been handed to the tourists. This is a fight to give Barcelona back to its residents.”
Martínez says his rent has risen by more than 30% as more apartments in his neighbourhood are rented to tourists for short-term stays.
He said there is a knock-on effect of traditional stores being replaced by businesses catering to tourists, like souvenir shops, burger joints and “bubble tea” spots.
“Our lives, as lifelong residents of Barcelona, are coming to an end,” he said.
“We are being pushed out systematically.”
Barcelona hosted 15.5 million visitors last year, dwarfing the city’s population of 1.7 million people.
Other marchers, however, didn’t fire their water pistols at tourists and instead sprayed themselves as an effort to keep cool in the heat.
Around 5,000 people gathered in Palma, the capital of Mallorca, although protest organisers claim the number could be as high as 30,000.
Some demonstrators held water guns and chanted, “Everywhere you look, all you see are tourists.”
The tourists who were targeted by water blasts laughed it off.
The Balearic Islands are a favourite for British and German sun-seekers.
It has seen housing costs skyrocket as homes are diverted to the short-term rental market.
Hundreds more marched in Granada, in southern Spain, and in the northern city of San Sebastián, as well as on the island of Ibiza.
How is tourism affecting housing availability?
Cities across the world are struggling with how to cope with mass tourism and a boom in short-term rental platforms, like Airbnb, which are causing a decrease in the available housing market for locals.
When thousands marched through the streets of Spain’s capital in April, some held homemade signs saying, “Get Airbnb out of our neighbourhoods.”
It’s a complex situation for authorities to deal with, with the industry contributing 12% of gross domestic product in Spain.
Last month, Spain’s government ordered Airbnb to remove almost 66,000 holiday rentals from the platform that it said had violated local rules.
The boldest move was made by Barcelona’s town hall, which stunned Airbnb and other services that help rent properties to tourists by announcing last year the elimination of all 10,000 short-term rental licenses in the city by 2028.
That sentiment was back in force on Sunday, where people held up signs saying, “Your Airbnb was my home.”
The short-term rental industry, however, believes it is being treated unfairly.
“I think a lot of our politicians have found an easy scapegoat to blame for the inefficiencies of their policies in terms of housing and tourism over the last 10, 15, 20 years,” said Airbnb’s general director for Spain and Portugal, Jaime Rodríguez de Santiag.
That argument either hasn’t trickled down to the ordinary residents of Barcelona, or isn’t resonating.
Txema Escorsa, a teacher in Barcelona, doesn’t just oppose Airbnb in his home city; he has ceased to use it even when travelling elsewhere, out of principle.
“In the end, you realise that this is taking away housing from people,” he said.
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