Residents of Spain and multiple other popular European tourist destinations began protesting against mass tourism recently, reporting that the influx of summer visitors has driven up housing costs in major cities and pushed out locals.
AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)
Protestors in Barcelona and Mallorca, Spain, and in Venice, Italy, and Lisbon, Portugal, used water guns to spray tourists on June 15th.
According to CBS News, the protests began as a coordinated effort by activists concerned with overtourism throughout Europe’s top tourist destinations. Several thousand took to the streets in Mallorca — the biggest gathering of the day — while hundreds more protesters gathered in Barcelona, Venice, and Lisbon.
AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra
“The squirt guns are to bother the tourists a bit,” said Andreu Martínez in Barcelona shortly after spritzing a couple seated at an outdoor café. “Barcelona has been handed to the tourists. This is a fight to give Barcelona back to its residents.”
Other protesters said they weren’t spraying tourists, but were instead using their water guns as symbols of protest, a way to draw attention, or simply to keep cool during their marches.
The Associated Press spoke with an organizer from the Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, who said, “What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot.” The number of Barcelona protestors carrying water guns was in the minority, the AP reported.
The humble water gun has become the symbol of Spain's anti-tourism protests.
It all started at a tourism protest in Barcelona, Spain in 2024. pic.twitter.com/G25vzfDs08
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 18, 2025
Tensions have continued to grow between anti-tourism activists and short-term rental property owners (like Airbnb), who are believed to be one of the biggest drivers in the increased housing costs. CBS News reported that in 2024 2024, 94 million international visitors visited Spain, almost doubling Spain’s 48 million residents.
Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The response from Spain’s government included a court recently rejected an appeal by Airbnb that left in place an order that blocks nearly 66,000 rental listings that the government said violated local rules, according to The Associated Press.
The government has said that Airbnb’s short-term rentals have exacerbated Spain’s housing crisis as the country brings in a record number of tourists.
AP Photo/Pau Venteo
We’ll continue to keep an eye on any updates as this situation continues. In the meantime, stay tuned to DFB for the latest news!
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They may be crying a different tune if tourism falls and their economy tanks! Be careful what you wish for lest you get it!!
We are going on a transatlantic cruise next year, and the final port is Barcelona. We had already decided after last year’s protests that we will be booking our airport transfer with our cruise line and go directly from the ship to the airport rather than stay a few days in Barcelona as we had wanted. We certainly won’t spend any money where it’s not wanted when there are other destinations that do welcome tourist dollars.
So, I guess none of those protesters will ever go on a vacation, then hand over your passport and never leave the city they live in, otherwise they can’t complain.