Is anybody avoiding booking holidays to Spain due to the demonstrations?

Santorini has been in the British media today. Cruise ships seem to be the problem.

So has Portugal.

Is Greece next?
https://dailywrap.uk/santorini-locals-urged-to-stay-home-amid-tourist-surge,7052854064740481a
(Apologies for the iffy source - this is all over the equivalent of the red-tops in German speaking nations and not a jot of it in the UK media.)
Utter madness either way.

'So can you advise how I should modify my holiday behaviour?'.
That's asking, surely?

@Thursdaygirl you can avoid being like the woman we saw recently in a small traditional French bar in a seaside town (think equivilent of a rural "old man" pub in the UK) who threw a strop because she ordered an Aperol Spritz in English and the bar man didn't understand her so she just ordered it again in English, but more loudly.

Or the people who huffed and puffed as they hadn't bothered to learn what that sign in the window of more traditional French bars and restaurants saying "pas de CB" means.

It's weird as I have been hold I look "very British" in some places as well, and my ancestry is very boringly English, but have been asked for directions while on holiday all round Europe and the Middle East. I do tan easily and have sort of olive skin but very much on the blonde spectrum of colouring at the hazelnut end, hazel eyes, with blonde hairs on my arms and legs.

I remember also having a conversation once with a man on the train who absolutely insisted I was of Italian heritage, though I think he was just flirting!

I suppose if you go a long way back we are all part Roman...

My dp is half Italian and he looks very Mediterranean (I normally look like a boiled lobster, so it's a giveaway if I am with him) and he always gets spoken to in local dialect whereever he goes abroad

I didn't ask. I don't go abroad very often. 3 times in 15 years. But we are thinking of going next year.

I've never used an air b&b in my life though

They don't; I presumed you were asking because you were concerned about sustainable tourism, not just to avoid being targeted.

Yes, quite. We stayed in an AirBnb in Croatia which was half the house and the family lived in the other bit, separate entrances, pool and privacy and all that. Out of town and used the restaurants and shops in the local village as well as the independent ones in town. The money definitely went to locals and not to plutocrats. Seems like the hotel chains don't like the competition, and spread anti self-catering apartment propaganda to me.

How do they know you are even a tourist?

There is a running joke in my family as I always get asked for directions five minutes after arriving anywhere.

And how do the locals in Barcelona, squirting people with water pistols know if your using chains or shopping in independent stores etc?

Good point!

And how do the locals in Barcelona, squirting people with water pistols know if your using chains or shopping in independent stores etc?

Travel only once or twice a year, avoid airbnbs, and support local independent businesses, not chains.

Hotels are better than AirBnBs to an extent, but avoid the large international names which buy up local housing stock in cities and convert them into hotels owned by foreign millionaires, aim for locally owned hotels where possible.

My neighbour in our touristic Spanish city relies on AirBnB-ing her spare room to top up her low pension, our other neighbours are foul to her about it but I do think it’s better her getting the money than Mr Hilton!

We went to holiday resort in mainland Spain this year. I wasn't even aware of the protests before I went I'm ashamed to say. Didn't encounter any hostility apart from one odd incident. We were sat in an ice cream parlour in a shopping centre and there was a man in the same complex going up in a lift. He saw my DS and gave a rude gesture. DS is a young teen but very tall and looks older, and he was wearing a football top (Spanish team I think). So could be something to do with the football top, the man looked a bit drunk, or could have been to do with anti tourist sentiment - who knows?

The passport control queues in the airport here and in Spain were like nothing I've ever encountered. Its put me off flying next year.

Under tourism would be a major issue too though, and cause an abundance of people to lose their jobs, and businesses. We saw the effect during Covid, and it wasn’t pretty. There is a balance, and it is the government that need to create that balance, starting by capping the amount of large companies scooping up affordable local housing, and turning it into rows of apartments, air bnbs etc. Residents telling holiday makers to go home, and throwing water isn’t the way to go about it imo.

So can you advise how I should modify my holiday behaviour, to avoid upsetting the locals? Bearing in we are quiet people in our 50s???

I agree, don’t we get over tourism in the UK as well? It’s is becoming an issue in a lot of places now. We do get people who don’t learn English as well in the UK, and living here, rather than just a holiday, which is bad enough.
I always make an effort to learn the basics, before travelling everywhere though, despite English being the most widely spoken language in the world, you cannot be complacent. I think everybody should, before entering another country, as well as learning about their culture, and what is polite, or deemed offensive. It is ignorant not to.

Same in Cornwall 😬

I’m sure the majority of Spaniards are still welcoming tourists as it’s such an important part of their economy. The inhabitants of the islands just want to have a sustainable model of tourism which respects their rights to housing and avoids water shortages.

I also think it’s a reminder to be mindful of your impact as a tourist when you travel. It’s easy to avoid thinking about it when you think we’ll Im just one person, it doesn’t make a difference but there are too many tourists with that mentality.

You can stay in hotels rather than AIrbnbs, make sure money goes to local businesses and restaurants, go off the beaten track rather than going to the same overcrowded places again and again. A big one for me is speaking the language.

There are way too many British tourists who do not make enough effort to speak the language and be respectful. Neither do they educate their children on the importance of doing so. I say this because I’m a Spanish teacher and I find it incredible how many of my pupils go on holiday go Spain and still tell me it’s pointless learning Spanish. Says a lot about their parents attitude to it unfortunately as their ignorance has clearly been passed down already.

Protests

Increasing the economy isn't the only impact tourists have; it also degrades the environment, alters the culture and increases local prices.
Tourists who state that they spent money make it seem they ate doing locals a favour; it is a transaction, not a donation. The tourist does get something too. PP is correct; tourists are guests, and the destination is not just there for your pleasure.

Were you treated badly?

We’re just back from a week travelling around the Valencia/Costa Blanca region and it was wonderful. No sign of any demonstrations and certainly no hostility. We must have visited 6 different tourist cities/towns in the region. one of our best family holidays. I think it might be different if you were part of a stag/type group or group which might be mistaken for one, but, as a family with teens, we were made to feel as welcome as always.

It’s a well established myth though isn’t it? I’m from the North - yes we can type (joke) and always find people in London very friendly and helpful when asked for directions etc. My impression is that the lack of smiling etc at strangers, is due to the lack of personal space. I like a visit to London, but a couple of days is enough for me. Too many people, too close.