A coalition of anti-tourism protest groups from Spain, France, Italy and Portugal will meet later this month to discuss the problem of overtourism and the best ways of deterring visitors.
One tactic tourists may have to contend with is protesters spraying them with water pistols, after the summit’s organiser defended it as a justifiable means to draw attention to their cause.
Daniel Pardo, who is organising a meeting of anti-tourism groups, said targeting tourists with water pistols was justified
Daniel Pardo, a member of the Spanish Assembly of Neighbourhoods for Tourism Degrowth, who organised the summit of 15 groups, said the tactic was worth using.
“It is curious but in the wake of that demonstration, there was some frankly aggressive media against us. But it is the same media that if we don’t do that, they ignore us. So, on the one hand, they come at you with moralism about ‘that’s violence, it’s wrong’, but only listen to you if you commit violence and you do wrong.
Pardo, 48, promised more demonstrations would take place this summer in new cities that had not held demonstrations against tourism before.
A protest against soaring housing prices as part of a nationwide demonstration last weekend in Madrid. Overtourism has been blamed for the housing crisis (Photo: Diego Radames/Anadolu via Getty Images)“Of course [there will be more demonstrations] this summer. In places where there weren’t any demonstrations.”
Protests took place in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and other cities, organised by groups demanding access to affordable housing.
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Pardo works in a museum in the centre of Barcelona near Santa Caterina market, a popular draw for tourists who are taken round by guides speaking in English.
In cities like Barcelona or Palma in Mallorca, much of the city is dependent on the “monoculture” of tourism, he said.
“We think that tourism is an extractive industry which establishes itself in a place, in this case, in a city and puts that territory entirely at the service of its extraction of profit, with a massive impact on the local population.”
Pardo called for governments to take more action to deal with the problem, which was afflicting many tourist destinations across the world.
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