{"id":1182856,"date":"2026-09-02T17:43:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1182856\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T17:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:43:20","slug":"anti-tourism-protesters-revolt-at-popular-british-holiday-destination-as-they-lash-out-at-overcrowded-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1182856\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-tourism protesters revolt at popular British holiday destination as they lash out at ‘overcrowded’ beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around 100 Ibiza residents gathered at the picturesque Cala Saladeta beach on Sunday to protest against overtourism.<\/p>\n

The protesters argue that mass tourism has packed their beaches and overwhelmed the island, driven up the cost of living, and made life on the island increasingly unbearable.<\/p>\n

The rally was organised by the Ibiza Youth Association, a newly established nonprofit created by young locals who feel their culture and public spaces are being eroded by the island’s ever-expanding tourism industry.<\/p>\n

The group’s website said: “If you want to work, you will have to work mostly in the tourism sector. Young people live on their island, but without it being for them.”<\/p>\n

Hostility towards tourists has been intensifying across Spain and the wider continent in recent years. <\/p>\n

In Barcelona last summer, demonstrators made headlines by dousing visitors with water pistols as frustrations boiled over.<\/p>\n

Simon Grannville, a luxury travel specialist operating across Ibiza and six other Spanish cities from his base in Valencia, cautioned against viewing the unrest as simply anti-tourist.<\/p>\n

He told the New York Post: “In Ibiza, the seasonal rental market has pushed year-round costs to the point where the villa managers, drivers, and restaurant workers who make the island function through summer can’t afford to live there. <\/p>\n

“Some have ended up in their vehicles. The protests are that problem surfacing, not a referendum on tourism itself.”<\/p>\n

\"Ibiza<\/p>\n

The protesters argue that mass tourism has packed their beaches and overwhelmed the island<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

The island’s roads, water supply and waste infrastructure were never designed to cope with the peak-season deluge, he added.<\/p>\n

The tensions extend beyond crowding, however, with locals increasingly unable to compete with wealthy overseas buyers snapping up property. <\/p>\n

Kevin Schrenck, a Valencia-based travel adviser with family connections to the island, said the housing squeeze has become acute.<\/p>\n

“My brother-in-law is from Ibiza and it’s basically impossible for him to ever move back” on a typical local wage, Mr Schrenck said.<\/p>\n

\"Ibiza<\/p>\n

The tensions extend beyond crowding, however, with locals increasingly unable to compete with wealthy overseas buyers snapping up property<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

A cultural dimension also fuels the resentment, particularly in the Balearic Islands, where communities have long fought to safeguard their Catalan linguistic heritage following decades of suppression under Franco.<\/p>\n

Mr Schrenck said: “It’s not so much that everybody in Spain actively hates tourists. <\/p>\n

“It’s just more that they’re finally fed up with this economic system that prioritises foreign investors over the actual residents.”<\/p>\n

Mr Schrenck said residents are watching their hometowns get “transformed into a theme park” whilst struggling to afford to remain there.<\/p>\n

\"Ibiza<\/p>\n

Hostility towards tourists has been intensifying across Spain and the wider continent in recent years<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

The youth group behind Sunday’s demonstration demanded what they call “tourism degrowth,” insisting the island cannot keep pursuing ever-rising visitor numbers.<\/p>\n

They are also mobilising against plans to expand Ibiza’s airport.<\/p>\n

Italy also continues to wrestle with overcrowding at hotspots such as Venice and the Amalfi Coast, where viral footage has captured human gridlock in narrow streets.<\/p>\n

In France, the small Riviera town of St Tropez faces comparable summer-season pressures from tourists and influencers alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Around 100 Ibiza residents gathered at the picturesque Cala Saladeta beach on Sunday to protest against overtourism. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1182857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,512,104,26,263],"class_list":["post-1182856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-spain","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117202688907882477","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1182857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}