We need tourism to decrease’: Will there be more anti-tourist protests in Europe in 2025?
- Tourism in Europe’s hotspots continues to rise, but after protests in 2024, what can we expect for the coming year?
- This year was marked by a string of anti-tourism protests across Europe.
- Locals and residents fought back to regain their cities with marches,campaigns,slogans and even water pistols.
Tourism in Europe’s hotspots continues to rise, but after protests in 2024, what can we expect for the coming year?
This year was marked by a string of anti-tourism protests across Europe.
Locals and residents fought back to regain their cities with marches,campaigns,slogans and even water pistols.
From Amsterdam and Athens to Venice, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, and Málaga to the Balearic Islands, residents rose up and spoke out about overtourism.
But when it comes to handling increasing visitor numbers as we enter 2025, are authorities and protestors on the same page? Here’s what both groups say – and are planning.
Authorities responded with different overtourism measures
In Barcelona, the city council vowed to get rid of all Airbnb-style accommodation by 2028, and in December 2024, they took the first step when the Urban Planning Commission initially approved an amendment for stricter limits that can now be placed on short-term rentals.
Venice, meanwhile, limited tour groups and banned megaphones back in August. Málaga barred new holiday flats in 43 city neighbourhoods, and the Canary Islands decreed that 90 per cent of residential areas must be allocated to permanent residences within the next five years.
Amsterdam, on the other hand, launched a ‘Stay Away’ campaign, as well as an interactive quiz to test visitors on behavioural etiquette.
But this is more than simply about crowds and noise.
In Spain, where most of the demonstrations have taken place, most of the anti-tourism protests have been about accommodation. Many believe that the current housing crisis is in part due to the increase in tourist accommodation over the last few years.
are the protests and the new measures working, or do these cities still have a long fight ahead of them?
“We need tourism to decrease”, says Barcelona protestor
The country welcomed 82.8 million international travellers in the first ten months of 2024, beating all previous records, according to the latest statistics from the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism.
and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down: tourism is expected to grow by 25 per cent in the winter of 2024/25 compared with last year, the Spanish Tourism Board recently revealed.
A spokesperson for the Assemblea de Barris pel Decreixement Turístic (Assembly of Neighbourhoods for the Decline of Tourism or ABDT) in Barcelona, who organised some of the protests there, shares their thoughts ahead of the New Year.
“We want to work in ever-larger networks, and also undertake our usual tasks of mobilisation, political advocacy and pedagogy regarding the nature of the tourism industry,” they say. “We need tourism to decrease”.
They believe that the city authorities are not seeking to reduce the problems but the mobilisation against tourism – while promoting tourism growth at the same time. They believe overtourism is contributing to climatic, social, and environmental issues, as well as the housing emergency.
ADVERTISEMENTThe authorities, they add, “should abandon any policy of tourism promotion and mega-events and urgently embark on the path of tourist decline and eco-social transition”.
Even though the ABDT don’t have any concrete plans for more protests, they are resolute that more changes need to happen.
The spokesperson argues that the city council’s intention to ban all tourist apartments in Barcelona appears uncertain. “At the moment, there is no plan, just a public proclamation. Even if it were to become reality, it would be too late and insufficient”.
They maintain that all types of tourist accommodation should be decreased, including hotels, which are “also responsible for the reduction of the housing stock”.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Canary Islands will hold more anti-tourist protests
Nestor Marrero Rodríguez, secretary of ATAN (the Tenerife Association of Friends of Nature), who helped to organize Tenerife’s overtourism protests in October, also believes that the authorities are not doing enough to help the situation.
“In fact, it’s the opposite,” Rodríguez says. “New projects are still being planned which contribute to the current situation of degradation of the territory and perpetuate the poverty of Canarian society.
But he does concede that a manifesto has been created with a series of measures, such as the creation of a