A group called Southern Europe Network Against Touristification (SET Network) is organizing protests against overtourism across Europe, with some protestors planning to wield water pistols in symbolic attacks on tourists at popular tourist attractions and disrupt airports and tour buses.
June 15 is the target date for protests in Italy, Portugal, and Spain, including destinations like Venice, Lisbon, Palermo, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. Protest plans were finalized in a recent meeting of activists in Barcelona, which has become a hotbed of pushback against mass tourism.
Majorca to Scale Back Beach Loungers
In response to growing local protests over overtourism, the city of Palma, Majorca’s capital, is taking steps to ease pressure on its beaches. City officials have announced plans to reduce the number of sun loungers on Palma’s beaches by 20 percent by 2026, amounting to nearly 1,700 loungers removed.
The move aims to free up more space for residents and restore a sense of balance between tourism and community use, as the island continues to manage record-breaking visitor numbers.
Protestors are Preparing
Protestors are expected to use a variety of tactics, including marches in tourist districts, picket lines at airports and tourist attractions, blockades of tour buses, “occupation” of tourist sites and a repeat of the water pistol attacks that occurred last summer in Barcelona’s Las Ramblas district.
Planned protest sites include Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica and the Gothic Quarter, Lisbon’s Praca do Comercio plaza and waterfront in Portugal, the famed bridges over the Venice canals and the historic district in Palermo.
SET Network members say the protests are aimed at highlighting the downside of overtourism, including vacation rentals reducing affordable housing stocks for residents, strain on public transit systems, pollution and environmental damage.
Some destinations have taken action to limit the impact of tourism, such as Venice imposing a fee on day visitors to the city and Barcelona banning new hotels and phasing out Airbnbs, but activists say that more is needed.
