Vacationers in Europe, mark your calendars (and carry your raincoats). On June 15, activist teams in Southern Europe plan to prepare protests towards tourism. Though the precise form of those demonstrations will not be resolved, it’s a fairly protected guess that water rifles can be included.
At a seminar held in Barcelona final weekend, which introduced collectively about 120 representatives from Venice; Lisbon; Palermo, Italy; And a dozen different cities, leaders of the Southern Europe community towards vacationers, known as on a coordinated day of actions to boost consciousness of what they known as “the pressing must restrict the expansion of tourism.” The ways mentioned included marches, airports, obstructing vacationers entry into historic websites and blocking vacationer buses.
Guided by rising leases, housing shortages, air pollution and overpopulated public transport, the decision alerts a continuation – and a doable escalation – demonstrations that broke out throughout Europe in 2024.
Of protest on the well-known Las Rambles Boulevard final July, a handful of individuals pulled out water weapons and started writing touristsS The ways caught the eye of worldwide media, which is why this time activists have accepted toys as an efficient image of their resistance.
In Barcelona, ​​the place the municipal authorities has taken measures to scale back the influence of superurism (the town acquired 15.5 million tourists In 2024), as a restriction on the brand new building of the resort and a ban on Airbnb after 2028, tourism employees congratulated the information of the deliberate protests on June 15 with horror.
“It’s a pity that world tourism actions have chosen to announce their proposals in Barcelona when Barcelona is the town that makes probably the most for sustainable city tourism,” says Matow Hernandez, CEO of Tourism, Barcelona.
Worldwide journey It is expected to increase This 12 months evidently the summer time of 2025 will most likely see that different protests are spreading. An indication towards tourism is already scheduled within the Canary Islands organizers who offer They may transcend the kind of marches that took 60,000 on the road final 12 months to incorporate and occupy what they name “symbolic” vacationer websites.
Individuals within the Barcelona seminars restricted their assortment with their very own symbolic protest. On Sunday morning, the activists met outdoors the church of the Sagrada Familia (the preferred vacationer attraction within the metropolis), bypassing a vacationer bus stuffed with passengers, hung a banner asserting the demonstrations on June 15 from their entrance glass, and pulled it out with water weapons.
“We do not wish to damage anybody,” says Elena Boski, a trainer and English activist from Genoa, Italy. “We simply need them to bear in mind the influence that their presence has on these locations and the individuals who dwell in them.”
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