Britons may face airport protests as anti-tourism groups ramp up action ...Middle East

BARCELONA – Anti-tourism activists do not rule out demonstrating at airports this summer as they warned holidaymakers to expect surprise, “shock” protests across Europe.

Eighteen protest groups from Spain, France, Italy and Portugal are meeting at a three-day conference in Barcelona to discuss anti-tourist action this summer.

The Southern European Network against Touristification, the alliance of protest groups, met to “design joint strategies and actions in the struggle against touristification”.

They warned that a series of co-ordinated demonstrations would take place in cities and holiday resorts across the continent on 15 June.

On Sunday, protesters will stage a demonstration outside Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, Antoní Gaudí’s unfinished temple.

Daniel Pardo, who organised the conference, told journalists at a press conference on Friday: “[Protests at airports] are a possibility but it will be up to each group in each area to decide what action they want to take.”

Groups from Bilbao, Cantabria, the Canary Islands, San Sebastián, Ibiza, Barcelona, Pamplona, Valencia and Mallorca in Spain; Genoa, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Rimini and Venice in Italy; Lisbon in Portugal; Marseille in France; and the Pyrenees took part in the protest conference.

Elena Boschi, 46, an English language teacher from Genoa in Italy and protest group member, said tourists should fear the prospect of demonstrations in holiday destinations because it would make them think about the plight of local people. Many locals cannot afford to pay rent because of soaring property prices caused by tourism.

“We don’t want to scare [tourists] but some fear makes them think a bit. It makes you think about what it is like to be a person living in these places who cannot afford to pay the rent because of the increase in Airbnb flats,” she told The i Paper.  

Ms Boschi, who lived in Liverpool as part of an Erasmus scheme, told the press conference: “[Last year’s protests] shared the same message: our cities and regions are not for sale and there is an urgent need to limit the growth of tourism, demand a change of course and decide on a path of tourism degrowth as a way out.”

Maria Cardona, 40, a bookstore owner from Ibiza who is part of CanviemElRumb (Change Route), a protest group, said: “We want the protests to be a surprise, a shock.”

She said protesters in Ibiza might have to resort to radical tactics but added that no plans had been finalised yet for the summer protests.

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Catalonia cracks down on short-term rentals amid tourist tax surge across Spain

Earlier this month, tens of thousands of demonstrators filled 40 cities in Spain to demand action over the country’s housing crisis, with protesters blaming the boom in tourist flats in many resorts and cities for the rise in rental prices beyond the reach of many Spaniards.

The threat of more protests in tourist resorts comes after a summer of mobilisations in holiday destinations across Spain last year triggered by the shortage of affordable housing.

On Thursday, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced a plan to spend €1.3 billion (£1.1bn) of EU funds over the next decade to build social housing amid soaring property prices and rising rents.

The plan is to offer about 15,000 new homes per year, cutting construction times by up to 60 per cent and reducing the estimated shortage of 600,000 homes.

Spain’s Socialist government is promoting rent controls in major cities and limiting short-term rentals to tourists and foreigners.

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