It is clear that things are going wrong throughout Spain.
Residents are increasingly frustrated by the negative effects of mass tourism on their daily lives, such as higher rents and higher real estate prices. They are taking to the streets to express their anger.
This year, demonstrations have sprung up across the world’s second most visited country – from Barcelona with his activists using water pistols in the north to Malaga in the south, of the Canary Islands archipelago off the coast of Northwest Africa to the The Balearic Islands from Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca in the Mediterranean Sea.
However, some protesters also leave more permanent reminders of their anger in the form of graffiti, street art and sticker campaigns.
“It’s Tourist Hunting Season,” “Tourists Go Home” and “Fuck Airbnb” are some of the scathing messages that have been photographed or printed on stickers on walls in the two largest cities alone this year – the capital Madrid and Barcelona.
Earlier this year, stickers with anti-tourism messages were put up in Malaga, such as “go fucking home” and “this used to be my home” around tourist areas where families used to live.
Meanwhile, someone put up fake signs in English on the island of Mallorca last summer warning tourists of “dangerous jellyfish” and “falling rocks.” But the small print in catalan it turned out that there was actually no danger and that they only wanted to prevent mass tourism.
Below you will find some protest artworks against tourism in Spain from this year and before:
