• Publish Your article
  • Editorial Policy
  • Contact
  • Advertise
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
No Result
View All Result
UK Herald
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Sports
    England rugby stadium Twickenham given new name after more than 100 years in shock new deal

    England rugby stadium Twickenham given new name after more than 100 years in shock new deal

    Peter Morgan dead at 65: Former Wales and Lions rugby star who became a politician passes away as club pays tribute

    Peter Morgan dead at 65: Former Wales and Lions rugby star who became a politician passes away as club pays tribute

    Horse racing tips: Unexposed Group 1 contender can stun the big guns at 14-1

    Horse racing tips: Unexposed Group 1 contender can stun the big guns at 14-1

    Woman ‘raped seven times by two French rugby stars who left her riddled with bite marks & with horror injuries’

    Woman ‘raped seven times by two French rugby stars who left her riddled with bite marks & with horror injuries’

    Horse racing tips: Gary Moore’s charge can gain revenge after falling last time out

    Horse racing tips: Gary Moore’s charge can gain revenge after falling last time out

    Ian Buckett dead at 56: Former Wales rugby star who was ‘admired and feared equally’ dies as tributes pour in

    Ian Buckett dead at 56: Former Wales rugby star who was ‘admired and feared equally’ dies as tributes pour in

    Horse racing tips: Bash the bookies with these longshots including 9-1 fancy

    Horse racing tips: Bash the bookies with these longshots including 9-1 fancy

    Shayne Philpott dead at 58 – New Zealand All Blacks rugby legend dies after suffering ‘medical event’

    Shayne Philpott dead at 58 – New Zealand All Blacks rugby legend dies after suffering ‘medical event’

    Horse racing tips: This 7-1 chance appears to have been laid out for race he won last year

    Horse racing tips: This 7-1 chance appears to have been laid out for race he won last year

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • food
    • Health
    • Travel
    Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge review: ‘It doesn’t get bigger than this…’

    Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge review: ‘It doesn’t get bigger than this…’

    What is Bleach or Facial, Best for Skin?

    What is Bleach or Facial, Best for Skin?

    Tourists are flocking to a mind-bending Chinese megacity where Google Maps doesn’t work

    Tourists are flocking to a mind-bending Chinese megacity where Google Maps doesn’t work

    An ESTA change has just made travelling to America more expensive for Brits

    An ESTA change has just made travelling to America more expensive for Brits

    The best Maldives alternatives that are cheaper — and three are in Europe

    The best Maldives alternatives that are cheaper — and three are in Europe

    Italy strikes for Gaza: What tourists need to know amid travel disruption in Rome and Milan

    Italy strikes for Gaza: What tourists need to know amid travel disruption in Rome and Milan

    ‘Dystopian’ cruise ship divides travellers — and gives a glimpse into the future

    ‘Dystopian’ cruise ship divides travellers — and gives a glimpse into the future

    Airline launches flights from £9 to European hotspots including Majorca, Alicante and Seville

    Airline launches flights from £9 to European hotspots including Majorca, Alicante and Seville

    I feel like a stranger in the UK after 21 years abroad

    I feel like a stranger in the UK after 21 years abroad

    Is it safe to travel to Poland right now? Latest advice after Russian drone attack

    Is it safe to travel to Poland right now? Latest advice after Russian drone attack

    Trending Tags

    • Golden Globes
    • Mr. Robot
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Climate Change
    • Flat Earth
  • Health
  • Opinion
  • Science
  • Tech
  • Crypto
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Sports
  • More
    • Press Release
UK Herald
No Result
View All Result

Anti-tourism protesters have an important message — and it’s not for tourists

by Justin Marsh
June 15, 2025
0
0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterReddit


SEI255639181 f6e8
Water pistols have become the symbol of tourism protests since last summer (Picture: Reuters)

Protesters in holiday hotspots across southern Europe have swarmed the streets to condemn overtourism in an unprecedented show of unity.

Thousands attended marches in the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, while events also took place in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, as well as Venice and Genoa, in northwest Italy.

The Southern Europe Against Touristification coalition, comprised of activists from across the continent, wants to highlight the impact of mass tourism and how it is driving residents from their hometowns.

But demonstrators and tourism experts agree that holidaymakers aren’t the problem. The real enemy, they say, are the people profiting from it.

As one organiser in the Basque city of San Sebastián says, ‘people who go on vacation to one place or another are not our enemies…our enemies are those who speculate on housing, who exploit workers and those who are profiting handsomely from the touristification of our cities.’

Protesters in dozens of locations have echoed this message. And Zoe Adjey, senior lecturer at the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of East London, tells Metro that a coordinated response has been a long time coming.

Sign up to The Getaway newsletter

Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here.

‘This is very unusual, the tourism and hospitality industry is not the most unified. But it’s good, because as they are saying, the protests have never been about tourists,’ she says.

{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”name”:”Metro.co.uk”,”duration”:”T1M34S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2025\/06\/15\/12\/99392935-0-image-a-73_1749988492032.jpg”,”uploadDate”:”2025-06-15T12:54:19+0100″,”description”:”Protest against mass tourism in Barcelona.”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2025\/06\/15\/855319445005382246\/480x270_MP4_855319445005382246.mp4″,”height”:270,”width”:480}

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video

Up Next

Previous Page
Next Page





















window.addEventListener(‘metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded’, function(data) {
if (typeof(data.detail) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === ‘undefined’) {
return;
}
var player = data.detail.carousel.el_;
var container = player.closest(‘.metro-video-player’);
var placeholder = container.querySelector(‘.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder’);
container.removeChild(placeholder);
container.classList.add(‘metro-video-player–related-videos-loaded’);
});

‘They’re about businesses, and what they are doing with the money they get from tourists. Where is that profit going? It’s clearly not going back into the local areas.’

As policy analysts have long argued, Zoe says Europe’s growing tourism problem is a housing and affordability crisis framed through a false lens.

‘We’ve now got a situation where workers can’t afford to live within any sort of rational distance to their job,’ she says.

‘The person behind the bar needs somewhere to live – if short-term rentals are everywhere, pricing people out, well then there’s not going to be a bar. It’s a vicious circle.’

Zoe, who is from Portrush in Antrim, Northern Ireland, says she knows of people who will travel almost two hours for casual bar shifts when the town hosts the 2025 Open next month.

‘They’re going to be spending what they earn to get there and back. Something has got to change,’ she says.

SEI255638601 1 f7e0
Protesters swarmed the streets of holiday hotspots across Spain, Portugal and Italy on Sunday (Picture: Reuters)

Asked what can be done to fix the problem, Zoe says governments need to get serious about high-quality subsidised housing.

‘You need to be able to offer staff somewhere to live, and somewhere that’s decent,’ she says.

‘I’d like to see a policy in every bar and cafe that involves employing people who live within a five-mile radius. But if you tried to do that right now, you’d find hardly anyone living there.

‘Ultimately, it needs to be about employing local, not just buying local.’

Graffiti saying ‘tourists go home’ has become an increasingly common sight across the Mediterranean.

Tensions around tourism exploded last summer, when tens of thousands took to the streets of Spanish hotspots and ‘occupied’ beaches on the popular holiday island of Mallorca.

International travel spending in Europe is expected to rise by 11% to £617 billion this year, with Spain and France among the countries set to receive record numbers of tourists.

SEI255636502 0ab6
Barcelona has seen some of the most vocal demonstrations (Picture: Reuters)

Barcelona, which depends on tourism for 15% of its GDP, announced last year it would shut all short-term lets by 2028.

Jaime Rodriguez de Santiago, head of vacation rental platform Airbnb for Iberia, said earlier this week that restrictions scapegoated short-lets, which he said can help redistribute visitor flows to less crowded parts of a city.

Earlier today, tourist protesters surrounded the Generator Hotel in Barcelona and targeted holidaymakers with water pistols.

Locals in the Catalan capital also used flares after congregating with placards claiming tourism was pricing them out of housing and robbing them of their futures.

Staff at the hotel were forced to intervene and were seen shouting at the protesters to move away.

Elsewhere in Barcelona, police stepped in to stop protesters reaching the city’s famous Sagrada Familia and avoid clashes between demonstrators and tourists visiting the Gaudi masterpiece.

Shouts of ‘tourists go home’ and ‘one more tourist, one less local’ could be heard as activists marched through the streets.



Source link

Related Posts

Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge review: ‘It doesn’t get bigger than this…’

Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge review: ‘It doesn’t get bigger than this…’

by Justin Marsh
October 4, 2025
0

Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, has won a slate of awards (Picture: SOPA Images) With domed glass ceilings, tropical gardens, and twinkling lights, Qatar’s Hamad International Airport (HIA) gives the 65...

Tourists are flocking to a mind-bending Chinese megacity where Google Maps doesn’t work

Tourists are flocking to a mind-bending Chinese megacity where Google Maps doesn’t work

by Justin Marsh
October 1, 2025
0

{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Man's work commute is never what it seems","duration":"T53S","thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2024\/10\/18\/09\/91004847-0-image-a-8_1729241313916.jpg","uploadDate":"2024-10-18T09:48:19+0100","description":"When you live and work in China's mountain city of Chongqing, you can never be too sure about how high up you are when you...

An ESTA change has just made travelling to America more expensive for Brits

An ESTA change has just made travelling to America more expensive for Brits

by Justin Marsh
September 28, 2025
0

America just made the ESTA more expensive (Picture: Getty Images) If you’re travelling to America anytime soon then your trip just got a little more expensive. Whether you’re setting sail on a...

The best Maldives alternatives that are cheaper — and three are in Europe

The best Maldives alternatives that are cheaper — and three are in Europe

by Justin Marsh
September 25, 2025
0

A trip to the Maldives doesn’t come cheap (Picture: Getty Images) Lunar white sand beaches, turquoise water and tropical temperatures — it’s no wonder the Maldives is one of the world’s most...

Italy strikes for Gaza: What tourists need to know amid travel disruption in Rome and Milan

Italy strikes for Gaza: What tourists need to know amid travel disruption in Rome and Milan

by Justin Marsh
September 22, 2025
0

People gather near Termini train station during a nationwide strike called “Let’s Block Everything” in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and demanding a halt to arms shipments to Israel, in Rome (Picture:...

‘Dystopian’ cruise ship divides travellers — and gives a glimpse into the future

‘Dystopian’ cruise ship divides travellers — and gives a glimpse into the future

by Justin Marsh
September 19, 2025
0

This quirky on-board feature has got people talking (Picture: Royal Caribbean) An eight-night South Pacific cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas costs £739 per person. It’s decent bang for your...

Next Post

“Home Is Where Memory Lives”: NeeryVille Care Redefines Compassionate At‑Home Support

Popular News

Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of 'Peripheral Immune Tolerance'

Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of 'Peripheral Immune Tolerance'

October 6, 2025
Obama in London: Have Starmer and Labour already shown they were listening?

Obama in London: Have Starmer and Labour already shown they were listening?

October 6, 2025
Week-in-Review: The calling of Keir Starmer

Week-in-Review: The calling of Keir Starmer

October 4, 2025
Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge review: ‘It doesn’t get bigger than this…’

Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge review: ‘It doesn’t get bigger than this…’

October 4, 2025

News diary 6-12 October: Labour deputy leader ballot opens, Greater Anglia trains nationalised, Nobel Prizes announced

October 4, 2025
What is Bleach or Facial, Best for Skin?

What is Bleach or Facial, Best for Skin?

October 3, 2025
Animal health ‘fundamental’ to rebuilding trust with rural communities, says Labour MP

Animal health ‘fundamental’ to rebuilding trust with rural communities, says Labour MP

October 2, 2025
UK Herald

All Rights Reserved © UK HERALD - The Voice of UK

Important Links

  • Publish Your article
  • Editorial Policy
  • Contact
  • Advertise

...

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Politics
  • UK News
  • Business
  • Science
  • National
  • Entertainment
  • Gaming
  • Sports
  • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Food

All Rights Reserved © UK HERALD - The Voice of UK