the Canarian reported<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe tourism project has come under fire for alleged environmental damage, illegal works, and violations of archaeological protections, the Canarian Weekly reports. A wave of protests has been taking place in Spain and in the Canary Islands against overtourism.<\/p>\n
In some confrontational incidents tourists relaxing on beaches have been surrounded by protestors, and people enjoying a meal in cafes have been squirted with water pistols. Also \u2018tourists go home\u2019 graffiti has been widely seen.<\/p>\n
Last month Spain\u2019s government announced a crackdown on Airbnb amid complaints locals are being priced out of living in their own towns and cities. The Spanish government ordered Airbnb to remove almost 66,000 holiday rentals from the platform which it said had violated local rules by failing to list licence numbers, listing the wrong licence number or not specifying who the apartment\u2019s owner was.<\/p>\n
Airbnb is appealing against the move. Spain is one of the world\u2019s most visited countries. Last year, the Southern European nation of 49 million received a record 94 million international visitors.<\/p>\n
Tourism has surged to unprecedented levels in recent years. But a housing affordability problem in Spain that is particularly acute in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona has led to growing antagonism against short-term holiday rentals, of which Airbnb is perhaps the best-known and most visible actor.<\/p>\n
The Spanish government says the two are related: the rise of Airbnb and other short-term rental companies, and rising rents and housing costs. \u201cObviously there is a correlation between these two facts,\u201d consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a linear relation, it\u2019s not the only factor affecting it, there are many others, but it is obviously one of the elements that is contributing.\u201d<\/p>\n
A recent Bank of Spain report said the country has a shortfall of 450,000 homes. In the tourist hot spots of the Canary and Balearic Islands, half the housing stock is tourist accommodations or are properties owned by non-residents, the report said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTourism is for sure a vital part of the Spanish economy. It\u2019s a strategic and very important sector. But as in every other economic activity, it must be conducted in a sustainable way,\u201d Mr Bustinduy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt cannot jeopardise the constitutional rights of the Spanish people. Their right to housing, but also their right to wellbeing.\u201d The country has seen several large protests that have drawn tens of thousands of people to demand more government action on housing.<\/p>\n
Homemade signs including one that read \u201cGet Airbnb out of our neighbourhoods\u201d at a recent march in Madrid point to the growing ire against short-term online rental platforms.<\/p>\n
Airbnb said that while its appeal goes through the courts, no holiday rentals would be immediately taken down from the site. \u201cA balance must be found between the constitutional rights of the Spanish people and economic activities in general,\u201d Mr Bustinduy said.<\/p>\n
Regional governments in Spain are also tackling the issue. Last year, Barcelona announced a plan to close down all of the 10,000 apartments licensed in the city as short-term rentals by 2028 to safeguard the housing supply for full-time residents.<\/p>\n
In response to Spain\u2019s recent order, Airbnb has said that the platform connects property owners with renters, but that it does not have oversight obligations, even though it requires hosts to show that they are compliant with local laws.<\/p>\n
Mr Bustinduy said that Spain\u2019s recent action reflects a desire in Spain, but also elsewhere, to hold tech companies like Airbnb to account.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a battle going on about accountability and about responsibility,\u201d Mr Bustinduy said. \u201cThe digital nature of these extraordinarily powerful multi-national corporations must not be an excuse to fail to comply with democratically established regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bustinduy, who belongs to the governing coalition\u2019s left-wing Sumar party, also took a shot at low-cost airlines. Spain has pushed against allowing low-cost airlines to charge passengers for hand baggage. Last year, it fined five budget airlines, including RyanAir and easyJet, a total of 179 million dollars for charging for hand luggage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe principle behind these actions is always the same: preserving consumer rights,\u201d Mr Bustinduy said. \u201cPowerful corporations, no matter how large, have to adapt their business models to existing regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bustinduy dismissed the idea that the Spanish government\u2019s action toward Airbnb could discourage some tourists from visiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brit tourists will see big march from angry local people as date set for protest this monthThousands in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[1011,2000,299,1339,104,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-157057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-easyjet","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-ryanair","12":"tag-spain","13":"tag-travel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114624242022904836","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157057","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=157057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Thousands](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_GettyImages-2215178154.jpg\")
Thousands in Tenerife protesting against mass tourism in the Canary Islands – a new march has been planned(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n