Another summer of disruption? Spain's anti-tourism protests reignite ahead of Easter break
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Last summer, Spain erupted with protests driven by the soaring tourist numbers putting a strain on residents' daily lives.
More than 90 million foreign visitors descended on the country in 2024, and consultancy firm Braintrust estimates that the number of arrivals will rocket to 115 million by 2040.
Angered by the inadequate government measures to manage the flow, locals across Spain staged hunger strikes, plastered visitor hotspots with anti-tourism messages, and squirted tourists with water guns.
As the Easter holidays approach, the anti-tourism sentiment is brewing once again, and protests are ramping up.
Residents are demanding that authorities step up regulations before peak season sees tourist destinations overwhelmed again.
Why are Spain's residents protesting against tourism?
The unchecked influx of tourists to Spain in recent years has generated a rash of unwelcome effects for residents.
One major impact is the spiralling cost of housing as accommodation is snapped up for tourist lets and land bought for building new resorts.
Last April, demonstrators in Tenerife organised a
hunger strike
over two new
hotel
developments with some locals saying they had been forced to sleep in their cars or caves because they couldn't afford housing on the island.
'We have nothing against individual tourists but the industry is growing and growing and using up so many resources and the island cannot cope,' Ivan Cerdena Molina, who helped organise the protests, told local news outlet The Olive Press.
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'Airbnb and Booking.com are like a cancer that is consuming the island bit by bit.'
Other tourist hotspots like Barcelona and Madrid are also struggling with soaring rental prices for residents.
In June last year, Barcelona's city council announced a
plan to rid the city of tourist flat licenses by 2028
. The city hasn't granted any new licenses since 2014, when it froze the supply at around 10,000 units.
Spain is also planning to introduce a 100 per cent
tax on properties
bought by non-EU residents in its latest move to protect the housing market from foreign buyers.
Sales of homes to foreigners, including EU citizens, make up roughly 15 per cent of the housing market, according to the Spanish property registry.
'The source of our problems': Anti-tourist protests ramp up ahead of Easter holidays
Despite these moves, resentment continues to ferment with protests already planned ahead of the Easter break.
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In Majorca, locals will stage a demonstration on 5 April, demanding solutions to the housing crisis under the slogan 'Let's end the housing business'.
"The greed and avarice of hoteliers, politicians, real estate investors, and 'parasites' of all kinds" have also deteriorated the island's ecosystem, overloaded public services, and triggered gentrification, activists wrote in a letter.
They concluded by imploring tourists not to come to the island, calling them 'the source of our problems'.
Across the Canary Islands,
employees
in the hospitality sector are threatening to strike over the Easter holiday period in an ongoing dispute over pay.
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Spain's two principal trade unions - CCOO (Comisiones Obreras) and UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores) - have proposed a one-time payment or a 7.75 per cent wage increase for hotel, restaurant and bar staff across the Spanish archipelago to mitigate the prohibitive living costs for workers.
33.8 per cent of residents in the Canary Islands are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to Spain's National Statistics Institute, the highest figure for any region except Andalucía.
Last week, unrest broke out in Tenerife, fueled by anger over mass tourism.
Activists
vandalised a fleet of rental cars and warned they would escalate actions by targeting airports.
Next month, 15 activist groups from Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France are holding a summit in Barcelona to coordinate efforts to counter unsustainable tourism.
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The Majorca-based movement Menys Turisme, Més Vida (Less Tourism, More Life) has said it will
redouble efforts this summer
.
The alliance of groups campaigns against the adverse effects of excessive tourism, which it blames for exacerbating property speculation, displacing local residents, and inflating living costs.
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Local France
4 hours ago
- Local France
OPINION: Give up the search for loopholes - French bureaucracy always wins
To egregiously butcher William Goldman's classic line - 'There are no French admin loopholes, Highness, anyone who says differently is selling something'. France's complex admin means that foreign residents and future arrivals are often left looking for shortcuts, easy options and loopholes - an entirely understandable reaction when you consider the bureaucratic pain that France enjoys inflicting on its inhabitants. It's also a famously high tax country, which means that plenty of people are on the lookout for, shall we say, more forgiving tax arrangements. This one is perhaps less understandable - especially if it comes in the next breath after raptures of delight over France's excellent public services - but it's always going to be human nature to try. The thing is - there really are very few genuine loopholes when it comes to French residency and taxes, especially when it comes to non-EU nationals who come within the visa/residency card system. Advertisement Sure, you might think you've found a loophole - but these almost always end up causing you more problems down the line, especially if your goal is to make France your home. When it comes to people who just want to be here for a couple of years there is a little more wriggle room - but for those who intend to stay in France and will therefore eventually be seeking long-term residency and perhaps even citizenship, trying to exploit a loophole is almost always going to cause you further administrative pain in the future. In my experience the people who genuinely set out to cheat the French system are few and far between - a much more common scenario is people who have simply been given bad advice about a shortcut or loophole that they could take advantage of. At The Local we often get emails from readers who are experiencing problems with French systems - and the people stuck in the worst tangles are almost always those who have at one point been given bad advice. Here are some examples; The 80-year-old lady who had been breezily assured that there was no need for her to do a tax declaration in France, and is now living in fear of fines from the tax office for having failed to make the required annual déclaration des revenus . The British second-home owner who had been advised to get a post-Brexit carte de séjour as a way to 'cheat' the 90 day rule and now finds themselves required to make a French tax declaration and re-register their cars. The American tech worker who had been advised to get the 'more straightforward' visitor visa and then simply swap it for a working visa once they arrived and now finds themselves unable to work for months on end while the request to switch statuses is considered, rejected and appealed. Because France is a popular destination to move to, attracting all groups from retirees to young families, students to workers, a whole industry has grown up around giving advice on navigating the French immigration and tax system. Advertisement There's an entire sector of 'relocation experts', 'hand-holders' or 'concierge services' which specialise in helping foreigners to move to France. Many of these services are great and offer sound advice and insight based on experience with French systems. The good ones should also explain future ramifications of your decisions. However, some give wildly differing advice and it's not always easy to know who is right and who to trust. There's no doubt some of these services can be very helpful when it comes to finding a place to live and setting up services like utilities - I used one when I first moved and they were worth every centime in helping to navigate the notoriously tricky Paris rental market. However, if emails from readers are anything to go by, there also seems to be an increasing trend of these services offering legal advice on issues such as residency, visas and tax status. Advertisement While many are very knowledgeable and diligent with their guidance, the reality is this sector is completely unregulated - meaning that you have absolutely no comeback if you are given incorrect advice. More importantly, you will be then one then left struggling to deal with your irregular residency or tax status while the hand-holder has banked the cheque and moved on. Take this one email we received from an American reader who wanted to warn others of the "pain and damage" one expat visa adviser caused them. He said: "We contacted a well-known expat who is regarded as an expert in visa related issues in France. "We paid them €5,000 to organise a passport talent visa. At first, all was fine, but they soon stopped responding to our emails. 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What will your plans mean for your tax status? Will your chosen path make it difficult for you to get French citizenship one day? The French residency card and tax systems are designed to be used by individuals; beware of anyone suggesting that you will need a lawyer or accountant for every renewal/annual tax declaration - they're either just trawling for business or they're setting up a residency or tax status so complicated that you'll be forced to pay for professional advice for every dealing with French admin. And above all, remember the old saying - "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". If there truly were a quick and easy shortcut to long-term French residency with no taxes, then everyone would be using it - we're not handing over a third of our monthly income and spending hours in a queue at the préfecture because we find this a fun hobby. 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Fashion Network
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- Fashion Network
European textile and clothing imports accelerate
While remaining stable in 2024, at a slightly lower level than in 2019, European clothing and textile imports accelerated by 21% and 16% respectively in the first quarter, on the eve of the Sino-American trade war, according to data from the French Fashion Institute (IFM). In the three months preceding the announcement of Donald Trump 's tariffs, the EU imported 23.4 billion euros worth of clothing. And at a time when the European textile industry fears that Chinese production will be redirected from the U.S. to Europe, this first quarter already shows a 29% rise in Asian clothing imports. This rise unsurprisingly concerns the EU's leading supplier, China (29%), but also benefits its challenger Bangladesh (+33%), not forgetting India (+28%), Cambodia (+38%), Vietnam (+22%), Pakistan (+33%), Sri Lanka (+17%), Indonesia (+12%) and Thailand (+12%). Even Myanmar, still boycotted by some contractors since the coup d'état in 2021, is up by 9%. As if to underline the regional nature of the phenomenon, the EU's third-largest supplier of clothing, Turkey, fell back by 1%. And while Morocco grew by 9%, Tunisia contracted by 4%, while Egypt continued the upward trend of the previous year (+22%). The United Kingdom saw a 2% decline. In the textile sector, Europe imported 8.7 billion euros worth of materials in three months, including 5.7 billion from Asia (+28%). Here again, all countries in the region benefited to varying degrees, particularly Bangladesh (+42%) and Vietnam (+44%), while Japan (+5%) and South Korea (+10%) also did well. The biggest loser in the Top 20 is the United Kingdom, down 13%, while Morocco is down 9%. Sharp drop in exports to Asia The surge in imports has not been accompanied by a reversal of the situation on the export side. After two years of contraction, shipments of clothing and textiles fell by a further 2% and 4% respectively in the first three months of the year, with sharp falls specifically in Asian orders. Of the 9 billion euros worth of clothing exports, 2.2 billion went to Asia, which reduced its orders by 15%. This decline affected China (-15%), South Korea (-18%), Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, while Japan remained stable. Other notable contractions include the UK (-4%), Canada (-9%), and Australia (-11%). The U.S., on the other hand, accelerated its orders by 6%, following the 2% rise already seen in 2024. Textile exports followed this trend. Of the 6.4 billion euros worth of materials exported, 1.3 billion went to Asia, a drop of 14%. This decline was mainly driven by China (-19%), India (-13%), Vietnam (-21%), and South Korea (-22%). The United States, Europe's biggest textile customer, increased its orders by 2% to 735 million euros, while Morocco (+9%) and Egypt (+27%) posted strong increases.
Fashion Network
11 hours ago
- Fashion Network
European textile and clothing imports accelerate
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