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6 months ago
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ANOTHER anti-tourism protest is brewing up in Spain as demonstrators prepare to hit the streets of Malaga in less than a month.
Fuming over the impacts of the mass tourism model, locals in Costa del Sol are now demanding to end the “touristification” of the holiday hotspot.
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Rex
GettyPeople of Malaga are being priced out of their own neighbourhoods -and more properties are being converted to hotels and tourist rentals offering short stays to visiting foreigners,
Especially post the pandemic, a large number of remote workers are coming to Spain for a cheaper cost of living, The Local reports.
And high foreign that are often higher than what locals earn, residents of the place have been left to struggle to compete with them.
This has now bundled with a general anti-tourist sentiment that has been brewing in the minds of the locals who view foreigners as exploiting Spain’s resources.
Protesters will take to the streets on June 29 and are set to march with the slogan: “For decent housing and against the processes of touristification and precariousness of life”.
Demonstrators will aim to challenge the tourist model of the holiday hub, which they think has now become “unlivable”.
Some fed-up residents have put angry messages outside of the building and around the town centre, calling for tourists to “go home”.
Stickers on tourist apartments featured phrases including “stinks of tourists”, “go f***king home” and “this was my home”.
MASS PROTESTS
It comes after thousands of people took to the streets in Tenerife to demand restrictions on holidaymakers after telling Brits to “go home”.
The anti-tourist hordes filled a square in the capital brandishing banners including some that read “You enjoy we suffer” in English.
More than 15,000 people waved Canary Islands’ flags and blew horns to make a deafening noise in the capital Santa Cruz.
Protests also took place at the same time in other popular Canary Islands including Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.
Banners at the mass protest read: “Where is the money from tourism?” and “Tourist moratorium now.”
The marches were organised under the slogan “The Canary Islands have a limit.”
Anti-tourist protestors want the authorities to paralyse two projects including one which involves the construction of a five-star hotel by one of Tenerife’s last virgin beaches.
They are also looking for more protection from mass tourism – to help with the local environment, traffic and housing issues.
Other demands include the protection of natural spaces, a tourist tax and better working conditions for hotel cleaners, who joined today’s protest in Santa Cruz as they insisted to the local press: “We are not slaves.”
Organisers claim the march hit up to 50,000 participants.
Why are locals in Tenerife turning up against Brits?
RESIDENTS of the largest Canary Island seem to be at war with UK holidaymakers as they blast visitors with anti-tourism graffiti and emerging local campaigns.
Locals have been fuming that they are “fed-up” with “low quality” Brit tourists who only come for the cheap beer, burgers and sunbathing.
Now, they are demanding a tourist tax, fewer flights to the island and a clampdown on foreigners buying houses.
Some protesters are claiming that their anger is directed at the government rather than tourists as they ask for change.
They claim that AirBnBs and other holiday rentals are driving up the cost of living and that they are sick of the noise, traffic and rubbish that accompany the avalanche of vacationers that visit every year.
Jaime Coello, president of the Telesforo Bravo Foundation, said: “The quality of the tourist product is being destroyed by the investors and the regional government.”
Waves of anti-tourist graffiti that has been sprayed across the island to tell Brits they are not welcome.
Bitter messages outside tourism hotspots read “Your paradise, our misery” and “Tourists go home”.
“Locals are forced to move out and YOU are responsible for that,” said a furious printed sign.
Another read: “Tourists go home!”
The brewing chaos coupled with hatred for visitors is now scaring Brit tourists to go on a vacation in Tenerife.
And Jorge Marichal, a hotel chain boss in Tenerife, revealed that Brits were ringing up out of fear they would not be safe on their holidays to the island.
He said: “One of the problems I am facing is that clients are beginning to call and ask what’s happening here and whether it’s safe.”
While the hotel owner said he understands the pain of local people, he added that being “anti-tourist” is not the way to go in.
A growing anti-tourist movement has swept the islands in recent months
English (US)