Getting drenched by a water pistol while on vacation might sound like a typical splash of holiday fun. Less so when the drencher is an angry native shouting: “Tourists go home!”
That less than friendly greeting was among the protests which erupted across several tourist hotspots this summer, as local people in destinations as varied as Spain, Venice and the Canaries gave vent to their frustrations at the impact mass tourism was having on their communities.
Scratch the surface, and it was clear that their beef wasn’t with the tourists themselves – even if the hapless holidaymakers took the brunt. Rather, it was directed at the combination of soaring rents and conversion of housing to holiday homes, along with the replacement of local stores and services with souvenir shops and outlets aimed solely at visitors. Priced out of their apartments and seeing their home neighbourhood become someone else’s playpen, the protestors’ reaction is not so surprising. Tourism, once touted as the saviour of communities, was looking more like a scourge.
