With the summer holidays now in full swing for many of us, countless families will no doubt be eagerly awaiting the chance to jet off abroad to soak up the sunshine amid an otherwise lacklustre few months of minimal sunshine and average temperatures. 

Yet while Spain has been a popular destination in previous years, Brits intending to visit this year could find themselves in for a nasty surprise, as anti-tourism sentiment has reached an all time high, with some protestors even plotting a huge summer of misery and disruption to visitors from overseas. 

Much of the sentiment stems from upset locals who are tired of their towns and cities being dominated by visiting tourists, and in turn rarely seeing a cut of the profits from the increased foot traffic.

An increase in illegal holiday lets and people purchasing second holiday homes has also bumped up the rent for locals living in Spain, which often leads to residents no longer being able to afford to live in city centres they call home. 

There is also a question of environmental stability to increased tourism numbers too, which has led protestors such as Extinction Rebellion to also target tourists heading overseas by staging airport blockades in a bid to get more people to recognise the growing problem of climate change.

Around 20,000 people took to the streets of Palma, Majorca on Sunday to protest the ‘tourist problem’ with some anti-tourism protestors even poking fun at English tourists with references to the Euro 2024 final, as well as pelting them with water and shouting abuse. 

Protesters railing against over-tourism in Majorca have defiantly warned their demonstrations are “just the beginning” in a stark three-word warning to holidaymakers.

Margalida Ramis, of an environmental group that is part of the Menys Turisme, Més Vida (Less Tourism, More Life) platform, which organised on event in Palma on Sunday, said protesters lack confidence the Balearic government will change the island’s tourism model.

The protest followed on from an earlier demonstration in Malaga, which saw upwards of 15,000 people take to the streets at the end of last month to campaign for restrictions on tourist numbers in a bid to control rising rents. 

Barcelona’s mayor Jaume Collboni also recognised the problem, when he recently revealed that the 10,000 tourist licenses for holiday lets in his city would not be renewed when they expired in 2028, reports The Guardian. With numerous other cities also expected to follow suit. 

The latest sea of protests in Spain, came just as activists from Just Stop Oil also launched their own mass protest on Wednesday, by targeting airports in a Europe wide-campaign to draw attention to the situation.

Although the disruption was this time minimal, several arrests were made and cities including Frankfurt and Oslo were among the destinations hit. 

Yet worse could still be yet to come, reports The Sun, with tourism protesters reportedly set to team up with Extinction Rebellion, Greta Thunberg’s group Fridays for Future and the Free Palestine movement throughout the long holiday. 

Student Joan, 25, told the publication that the action could potentially “last years” as she explained: “We will do whatever we consider useful. Blocking the airport may be useful or may not be. We will see.”