In Spain, activists refuse to see their country turned into a "tourist showcase"

Is Spain crumbling under the weight of tourists? Spanish police investigated on Tuesday, August 6, vandalism against rental cars in Palma de Mallorca led by an organization fighting against mass tourism. In a video broadcast the day before on social networks, activists of the movement of the separatist left Catalan Arran filmed themselves, masked, degrading rental vehicles.

📽️ VÍDEO | Due to 100,000 cotxes of turistic lloguer to the illa of #Mallorca: saturació, insostenibilitat, contaminació i convert the ciutat in a turistic aparador. El jovent passem to the ofensiva! 💥 # TurismeMassiuVsVeïnes🛳️🏖️ pic.twitter.com/vH3qvw7s7z

In a tweet relaying the short sequence, activists explain that Mallorca now has "more than 100,000 tourist rental cars". And denounce the "saturation", the "pollution" and the "transformation of the city into a tourist showcase".

An affront to the economic circles and conservative parties that support this activity representing more than a tenth of the GDP of Spain and up to 45% in the Balearic Islands. "Thank you very much to the tourists who use rental cars to visit the paradise where we live, to revitalize our economy", thus defended, on Twitter, the former right-wing president of the region, José Ramon Bauza.

Muchas gracias a los turistas que utilizan coches de alquiler para visitar al paraíso en el que vivimos, revitalizar nuestra economía, disfrutar de nuestro país a través de nuestras islas y contar a su vuelta las maravillas que tenemos en Baleares. ¡BIENVENIDOS! #NoTurismofobia https://t.co/Bd8OToItjm

"Tourism kills the city"

The Arran movement is not at its first attempt. Last month, activists hung a poster with the message "Tourism kills the city" on Casa Mila, a building erected by architect Gaudí in the Catalan capital. Already in Barcelona in July 2017, several members of the independence organization had forced a tourist bus to stop before vandalizing. In the process, some had punctured rental bike tires, while others had thrown confetti at vacationers sitting on the terrace of several restaurants.

The second largest tourist destination in the world, Spain welcomed 82.6 million visitors in 2018. A "new historical record" for the country, hailed by the government. But as holidaymakers increasingly flock to Catalan beaches, the anti-tourism protest, "turismofobia", as the Spanish media nickname it, flourishes in several major cities, such as Barcelona and Palma.

"The phenomenon is nothing new but it has obviously gained momentum: there were 600 million tourists in the world in 1960, against 1.4 billion today," says Josette Sicsic, journalist and director of the observatory Touriscopie, sociological watch of tourism, contacted by France 24.

Explosion of low-cost flights

The flip side of this democratization of tourism? First, a deterioration of the quality of life of the premises. "Prices are rising, quality is falling, it's a classic phenomenon, as you can see in Spain as well as in Montmartre or Marseille," says the specialist.

Add to this the explosion of low-cost flights, city-tours and rentals on platforms like Airbnb, which threaten the identity of city centers, according to activists. Not to mention the environmental threats that mass tourism represents. Finally, the sector would lead to job insecurity. While tourism represents a "driver" for the Spanish economy, the country holds the record for Europe in the number of seasonal contracts, with 4.4 million people, or 26.4% of employees, according to the National Institute Statistics (INE).

"The tourism sector is very heterogeneous: some bad practices adopted by the bosses do not reflect the entire profession", however, in El Mundo, José Luis Pereda, vice president of Exceltur, association of tourism professionals defends Spanish.

"No xenophobia in antitourism"

But if anger rises in the crowded streets, "the phenomenon deserves to be relativised," insists Josette Sicsic. "There is no xenophobia in antitourism, people are just annoyed that they can not get out of their homes and have to pay more." Above all, local people are afraid of having to leave their neighborhood, under the effect of mass tourism. "Specifically, with Airbnb, tenants can be kicked out of their homes so that their apartment is rented to a tourist, which would bring much more to the owners."

Measures have already been taken here and there to try to calm relations between residents and tourists. Elected mayor of Barcelona in 2015 with the support of Podemos, Ada Colau had assured not wanting "that the city becomes a cheap souvenir shop". The elected official had finally blocked the licenses for the construction of new hotels and apartments for tourists. For its part, the capital of Madrid adopted in March a regulation to strongly restrict the temporary rental of housing. "Scoops" for Josette Sicsic, who believes that the real problem lies first in the "multiplication of air links".

For example, there are on average 17,000 seats available to ensure, every day, the connection between France and its Spanish neighbor, according to the French Embassy in Spain. "As long as we do not limit these flights, we will not solve the problem of mass tourism in depth," concludes the director of the observatory.