Tourism has been the hot topic on everyone’s lips in Spain in 2024. 

More specifically, there’s a debate raging about the country’s mass-tourism model and negative impacts it has on everything from the rental market and cost of living to language, culture and gentrification.

The growing anti-tourism movement in Spain has seen protests in Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Málaga and both the Balearic and Canary Islands.

For The Local’s full coverage of this, you can find all our tourism articles here.

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Obviously, as the world’s second most popular tourist destination behind neighbours France this has generated quite a bit of media interest both domestically and internationally.

With British tabloids reporting that tourists are essentially now unwelcome in Spain (not that they ever let the truth get in the way of a good story) and more protests and anti-tourist graffiti popping up in city centres around the country, a perception of Spain as an increasingly anti-tourist place, or anti-tourism, rather, depending on who you speak to, has taken hold.

Things came to a head most notably (and most worryingly) when protestors in Barcelona fired water pistols at tourists having dinner on the terrace on the Catalan capital’s famous La Rambla. 

Innocuous and relatively harmless though this action was, it was certainly evidence of an underlying tension about tourism in Spain.

And if forecasts are anything to go by, it will become yet a bigger issue in Spanish society in the future. 2024 is predicated to see the absolute number of visitors to Spain reach 100 million tourists – another record year.

It’s safe to say that media coverage both in Spain and internationally has painted a pretty poor picture of the Spanish tourism model (and protestors) in recent times. But do all Spaniards think tourism is bad, or are the water pistol toting protestors in Barcelona just an example of the extreme minority?

How does tourism change day to day life in Spain?

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Is tourism a good or a bad thing for Spaniards?

Detailed polling data released by YouGov can help give us a better idea of what Spaniards really think beyond the headlines.

Perhaps surprisingly, 69 percent of Spaniards surveyed had a positive attitude towards tourists visiting their cities or towns, and only 6 percent had a negative attitude. 

In large capital cities, however, the negative assessment increases to 12 percent – double, but still hardly an overwhelming majority of people. However, almost half of the respondents in large Spanish cities (48 percent) see tourism as a growing problem in their city.

On the other hand, residents of medium-sized capital cities generally think the opposite — YouGov found that 60 percent of locals did not see tourism as a problem in their city.

The changes to daily life in Spain due to tourism

Mass tourism undoubtedly has an impact on locals’ lives and how Spain’s major cities function. If you’ve followed the press coverage this year, you’re likely already familiar with the negatives.

When respondents were asked about the changes they have noticed in their cities or towns due to tourism, the answers were unsurprising: 43 percent and 35 percent respectively identified the cost of living and housing as the most noticeable. Short-term tourist rental accommodation like Airbnb, in in particular, is blamed for distorting the rental market and driving prices up.

In addition, around a third (29 percent) reported an increase in noise at night as well as congestion and overcrowding (26 percent) in Spanish cities.

Other negative impacts locals have noticed as a result of tourism in their cities are a higher rate of gentrification in their neighbourhoods (20 percent) and dirtier streets (22 percent).

On the other hand, some Spaniards see positives in the tourism model.

There’s a widespread perception that tourism has a positive impact on job creation (32 percent), and infrastructure improvement (19 percent).

Of course, anti-tourism protestors would question the quality of these tourism sector jobs, and likely say that any infrastructure improvements made of the back of tourism is done with holidaymakers not locals in mind.

When Spaniards were asked what additional measures they believe should be implemented to manage the impact of tourism, 47 percent answered ‘improve public transport’ and 46 percent said ‘limit tourist housing’, a figure that rises to 60 percent in large cities.

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