Snippets of anti-tourism sentiment are beginning to appear in Spain’s holiday hotspots ahead of the 2026 season.
It comes after 2025 saw some of the largest anti-tourism protests ever, with hundreds of thousands of locals marching against the ‘excesses’ of the industry.
Demonstrations were held across the Canary Islands, Balearics, Barcelona, Alicante and Andalucia and the Costa del Sol.
Residents say the number of tourists coming each year has surpassed bearable levels, placing a strain on local services, including water supply and roads.
New Malaga graffiti
In the run up to the 2026 season, the Guiris Go Home Instagram page reshared new graffiti from Malaga city this week.
It depicts Homer Simpson saying ‘f*** tourism’.
Locals in Malaga blame tourism for its unprecedented housing crisis that has seen scores of families priced out of the city.
Over the past three years, 800 businesses have been converted into homes, the majority to be turned into tourist flats before a moratorium on new holiday apartments came into force in 2025.
Housing stock has plummeted, sending the cost of buying and renting a home soaring to unattainable levels. The latest report from this month shows that rent takes up, on average, 38% of a Malaga resident’s salary.
More protests against the housing crisis are expected on the Costa del Sol this year.
Benidorm Brits criticised
Elsewhere, a video showing British tourists enjoying the sun in Benidorm this week was met with cruel comments.
‘Go home!’ wrote one Spaniard named Sergio, while another said: ‘So embarrassing!’
One pleaded: ‘Stop the planes’, while another commented: ‘Please save us.’
However, fellow Brits rushed to defend their compatriots.
One said: ‘Not my thing and I’m that age and not a drinker but they love and they’re happy. Good for them because I’m fairly sure all the people leaving negative comments aren’t really that happy.
‘Normal working people who are probably retired and loving it and people can’t stand it. Hilarious.’
Canary Islands place on ‘do not travel list’
A major travel guide has placed the Canary Islands on its annual ‘No List’ for 2026 in a bid to urge travellers to think twice before visiting destinations under intense pressure.
The list, compiled by Fodor’s, highlights places where mass tourism is straining local communities and the environment. In the first six months of 2025 alone, the Canary Islands welcomed more than 7.8 million tourists, with airport passenger numbers topping 27 million – a 5% rise on the previous year.
Growing visitor numbers have sparked protests in Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, where residents have marched under the slogan ‘Canarias tiene un limite’ – ‘The Canaries have a limit’.
Locals say soaring rental prices, fuelled in part by short-term holiday lets, are pricing young islanders out of the housing market.
Environmental concerns have also intensified, with reports of large volumes of wastewater being discharged into the sea and beaches occasionally closed due to pollution.
Experts argue the issue is not tourism itself, but the concentration of visitors in a small number of hotspots.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
