But while some debate and issue non-binding resolutions, others have begun to come up with more or less original protests to let the world know that this country should not be a leisure centre to be plundered, should not be a paradise for real estate speculation and should not be a giant bar where people get drunk.
Crossing zebra crossings to make Sunday commuters think twice
The residents of O Morrazo are fed up with tourists and have to cross a pedestrian crossing over and over again to avoid cars passing by.
It is the most Galician protest in history. pic.twitter.com/qOxcqqGOJl
— Ma_WuKong (@Ma_WuKong) August 25, 2024
“We are fed up with cars parking wherever they want, with total impunity, there are no fines for them. We have reached the limit,” said one of the spokesmen of the most original protest against one of the consequences of uncontrolled tourism: the traffic problems.
A group of between 60 and 80 residents of the parish of O Hío in Pontevedra carried out synchronized cuts in three pedestrian crossings at around midday. The goal? Stopping traffic “legally”: if you are crossing a pedestrian crossing, cars must stop. So they should stop for half an hour. And let’s not forget that in O Morrazo they know a lot about pedestrian crossings.
A way of drawing the attention of the authorities so that they put in place the appropriate measures to avoid parking chaos in tourist enclaves.
Water guns to spoil the tourist’s party
“Barcelona”
Because locals protested against tourists: they kicked them out of bars and shot them with water pistols.
— Trends in Argentina (@porqueTTarg) July 8, 2024
Last July, various demonstrations were organized in Barcelonaone of the world’s epicentres of protests against mass tourism, which included some unusual initiatives. Among them, going to the main tourist sites in the city armed with water pistols to “cool off” tourists.
Now, how did the “armed” protesters know who was a tourist and who was not, so they could be sure who they should “shoot”? In fact, What is a tourist? Have those who were shooting never been “touristy”?
In any case, a symbolic act to attract media attention and expose the enormous problem that exists with mass tourism in cities like Barcelona.
Hunger strike against tourism
The Canarians took up their water pistols and opted for a more radical path: a hunger strike. Last April, the Canarias se Agota platform took a firm stand against a tourism model that “ravages our territory and exploits our people.” The activists were protesting against mass tourism and the negative effects on the Canarian population’s access to affordable housing.
The rebellion of stickers and graffiti
“A family lived here”, “we spit in your beer”, “tourism kills the city”, “your luxury, my misery”, or “tourists, go back home” are some of the graffiti and stickers that have begun to circulate in numerous Spanish tourist enclaves. The aim is to the tourist is aware the social situation that exists in your tourist destination and how tourism aggravates some of its problems.
In this sense, one of the graffiti referred to the average salary of 1,200 euros in the Canary Islands. I am sure that a good number of foreign tourists who have read this will find it inconceivable.
Walls against selfies
He selfie It is the quintessence of silly tourismand many places around the world are starting to get fed up with this grotesque practice of arriving at a monument, turning your back, smiling pathetically and taking a photo. There are quite a few people who carry out this practice and who don’t even look at what they are photographing (nor do they know what it is), they simply take the photo because everyone else does it.
Well, the Japanese people of Fujikawaguchiko decided that enough was enough of nonsense that caused mass gatherings and grotesque situations: “some tourists went so far as to climb onto the roof of a dental clinic to get the perfect photo,” according to pointed out The Guardian.
Finally, the authorities placed a giant screen 20 meters long and 2.5 meters high to avoid photos of Mount Fuji and Lawson’s shop.
In Europe we have also had a similar action in Hallstatt in Austria, whose landscapes apparently inspired Frozen. The authorities of the area decided to put a wooden wall at the point where most hunters selfies were concentrated.
Tourism only for the rich
This is not a protest, and it is not original, but it is worth mentioning to reflect on how solutions to end mass tourism can be counterproductive… and petty.
Former New Zealand Tourism Minister Stuart Nash pointed out in 2022 that the country would not seek to attract those who “travel through our country with 10 dollars a day “eating two-minute noodles” in clear reference to the trend of travelling around the country in a camper van.
Is this the solution to mass tourism and other “ills” of our society? That only a small percentage of the population can have access to this kind of activities due, mainly, to the rise in prices and to salaries “resisting” rising to the same level? From democratization to elitization of tourism and everything else? Again?
