Tourist hotspots such as Barcelona have seen anti-tourist graffiti (Image: SOPA Images, SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Anti-tourism protests in Spain look set to intensify this summer, as pressure group Menys Turisme Més Vida (Less Tourism More Life) unveiled plans for a major demonstration it anticipates will draw a “historic turnout”.
The announcement comes amid a wave of anti-tourist graffiti appearing across the Canary Islands, with local news outlet Canarian Weekly reporting a ‘kill a tourist’ slogan spotted in Tenerife. The graffiti was discovered by two expats hiking in Punta del Hidalgo, who subsequently claimed to have encountered further disturbing messages during a walk to Bollullo Beach on the island’s north coast.
Anti-tourism graffiti has been spotted in destinations such as Barcelona (Image: Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
In a separate incident last week, five estate agents in Majorca with international names were targeted overnight, their walls daubed with graffiti including the words ‘guilty’ and ‘Guiris out!’ Guiri is a derogatory Spanish term commonly directed at tourists from Northern Europe.
Menys Turisme Més Vida has announced a protest in Palma, a hugely popular destination for British holidaymakers on the island of Majorca, on July 26, timed to coincide with the peak school holiday period. Demonstrations are also planned in Menorca on June 13, echoing the same anti-tourism sentiment, reports the Mirror.
In a statement published on its website, the group said: “️We consider that the demands expressed during previous mobilisations have been ignored while problems such as the housing access crisis, tourist saturation, the destruction of the territory, the precariousness of living conditions and the pressure on public resources and services continue to worsen.
Antitourism protests – such as those seen in 2024 and 2025 – could be bigger this summer (Image: Europa Press Canarias via Getty Images)
“Under the slogan ‘Majorca at the limit’, the call aims to once again demonstrate the strength of existing social unrest in the face of an economic model that continues to break tourism records while the living conditions of a growing part of the resident population worsen.”, it added.
The organisation claims the demonstration has backing from 53 social, environmental, trade union, neighbourhood and cultural groups across the island, which welcomes nearly 13 million tourists each year, with Britons representing the second-largest proportion after Germany.
Majorca witnessed demonstrations last June which organisers say drew 30,000 participants, though varying accounts suggest figures ranging from 5,000 to 8,000. This included incidents of some individuals seated at outdoor cafés being confronted by demonstrators. A further significant protest occurred in Barcelona on June 15, 2025, during which smoke devices were deployed and tourists were sprayed with water pistols.
Menys Turisme, Mes Vida have been behind many high-profile protests (Image: Getty)
While reports suggest a tourism decline in the Balearics and Canaries, anti-tourism demonstrations appear not to have significantly affected visitor numbers. In April, the Canaries experienced an 8.3% reduction in arrivals compared to the previous year, yet this still meant 1.2 million foreign tourists travelled to the islands. It also marked the first decline recorded on the volcanic archipelago since the pandemic.
During the Easter period, the Balearic Islands recorded a drop of almost 20% in face-to-face tourist spending by card, despite a general rise in spending throughout Spain as a whole, indicating that holidaymakers were opting to take their custom elsewhere.
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This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
