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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
A third of people living in Spain say that there are too many international tourists in their country, reflecting the growing concern about overtourism affecting locals’ lives in popular holiday areas.
A poll carried out by YouGov revealed that almost half of Spaniards (49 per cent) believe that there are “large” numbers of international tourists in their local area, with 32 per cent adding that their local area receives “too many” visitors.
The poll was conducted among people from Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden to determine the attitudes towards tourism across Europe.
While Spain and France (18 per cent) were high on the list of countries that felt like they had too many tourists visiting their area, countries such as Britain, Denmark and Sweden were at the other end, with their figures standing at five to seven per cent.
Spain is considered one of the countries in Europe most affected by overtourism due to a growing number of residents locked out of the housing market because of a lack of housing that has been exacerbated by short-term holiday rentals.
This is reflected in the poll, as 37 per cent of people living in Spain believe that the holiday lets industry create more harm than benefits.
Interestingly, Britain was the next highest in this poll with 21 per cent of residents also saying short-term rentals do more harm than good.
About 45 per cent of Spaniards have a negative view of the holiday let industry overall, but the same attitudes do not extend to hotels that attract tourists to the area. Only 21 per cent of people living in Spain see hotels as unfavourable in comparison.
Holiday lets and the increasing number of tourists flocking to popular destinations have also impacted the cost of living for some residents, hiking up the price of rent and putting a strain on water supplies.
The volume of tourists travelling to popular holiday towns and cities via cruise ships has become a point of contention, especially on islands like Ibiza and Mallorca, which have implemented restrictions on the number of cruises docking at once.
However, only 20 per cent of Spaniards believe cruise ship tourism brings more harm than benefits to their country, while Germany topped the list, with 44 per cent of respondents feeling this way.
Protests across Europe have highlighted the strength of feeling against tourism by some locals. In July, residents of Barcelona squirted diners in tourist areas with water pistols during a protest.
The Spanish locals chanted “Tourists go home” with placards that read “Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism” in the demonstration against overtourism.
According to the poll, the majority of Europeans have sympathy for residents who live in popular tourist destinations.
More than half of the people from every country polled said that that they have a “great deal” or “a fair amount” of sympathy for locals living in touristy areas.
Around half of the Europeans surveyed also said they would support setting limits on how many people can access popular cities or destinations at one time, while 46 to 58 per cent believing that building new hotels should be banned in these areas.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
