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

[SmileLady]

I added this on holidays board but no responses yet...

Just wanted some advice. I have only been to Spain 3 times in my 46 years. Times 1 &2 were educational trips when I was a student. But last year as a family we went to Mallorca for the first time in October and really enjoyed it. We stayed in a hotel, rented a car and did loads of day trips. The weather was terrible but we made the most of it.

We are a family of 7 (2 adult children, 3 younger kids, and us, of course). However, we are being put off by the demonstrations. We thought this time, we could maybe fly into Madrid, spend a few days in a B&B seeing the sites, and maybe get a train to Valencia and stay somewhere for a few days. Older children may not come straight with us, depending on work/sports.

However, DH now says we should respect the Spanish and not go if they don't want tourists.

Just to clarify, our ethnic origin is a very popular tourist island in the Med, and DH and I grew up working in the tourist industry, as did both our families. So I have seen the effect of limited tourism on the economy of an area.

Anyway, am I mad to still plan this trip?

YANBU. A colleague just came back from Valencia, said it was lovely.

I think they're protesting the conditions more (low pay, zero hour contracts, lack of job security) rather than the tourists themselves.

I would till go.

You are likely to sill be treated well in towns, les so in the airport. Especially when leaving, which I found almost funny...
We planned a trip to Barcelona ages ago and I am still going, although I am not very excited about it after the horrid way we've been treated in a Spanish airport in Spring. Will probably be my last trip to Spain for a while as I don't want to go where I am not welcome.

I've already booked Costa brava for August but am sort of dreading it now. Might be last time we go to Spain

I go to my place in Spain several times a year. Not encountered any anti British feeling whatsoever.

We are avoiding Spain this year for this reason.

Been to the Canaries and Balearics a number of times but wont go again until this is resolved.

I am in Gran Canaria at the moment. All the locals are very welcoming - and yes, they rely on the business.
However we are in an area where everyone stays in hotels. I should imagine they suffer more in places where homes are used as Air BnB

I wouldn't go. Partly because I don't want to go where I'm not wanted and partly because I'm not willing to give my money to a system that doesn't want me. I do understand where the locals are coming from however as so many areas have become unlivable for the locals due to tourism.

I'm a language teacher at a secondary school who had organised yearly trips to Barcelona or Valencia, but won't be organising them next year either as would be scared of having the kids caught up in an incident like where the locals started spraying tourists in Barcelona with water pistols.

I didn't realise it was an anti-British sentiment; I thought it was all tourists.
We would be travelling on our EU passports. But I don't want to go somewhere and feel uncomfortable as we will obviously be spending 1000's as a family of 7.

We relied on tourists when I was growing up, and we always looked forward to the season opening. My mum and dad always made the tourists feel welcome and they often rebooked and came again. We had a small B&B.

We've got a trip to Madrid booked and I'm still very much looking forward to it.

What happened in the airport?

I don't want any hassle as my youngest child is my niece whom I have custody of, and it's hard enough with all the paperwork as our names are all different.

I think you're right, it's against all tourists, not against the British specifically. Many of the signs that you see in the clips from the protests are written in German and aimed at German tourists.

I live in Spain. The media are blowing up a very small limited event because it’s interesting viewing. It doesn’t bear any resemblance to what you are likely to encounter during your trip. (And which airport staff in any country are polite and delightful? The staff at Gatwick are mostly rude no matter which passport you have, for example.)
Of course it’s fine if people prefer other destinations, too.

I'm currently in a small town on the Atlantic coast in the Galicia region. I've been in Spain about 3 weeks now. I have not encountered any protests or problems whatsoever. I do speak some Spanish though (lived in Central America for 4 years) so maybe that helps. Also, I drove here down from France so have not used any airports. The largest towns I've visited were Gijón and A Coruňa, no reasonable sized cities. Maybe that's one method to avoid protests / problems?

I’ve been to Spain (/the islands of) 2 or 3 times this year and will no doubt go a few more times before the year is out. I’ve not encountered any anti-tourist attitudes whatsoever. In fact, when I’ve chatted with staff in restaurants they’ve expressed that the tourists do need to keep coming.

(The only thing I did find is that the passport control staff were exceptionally unwelcoming and grumpy even compared to usual - but this may not be connected)

If you are staying in a hotel, yes I think you should go. What I think you should not do, be it Spain or anywhere else, is Air BnB or similar short term lets. A hotel does not deny a person a place to live or price them out, and probably is in use year round.

Barcelona was considering restricting short term lets, I hope they did or do, and everywhere else follows suit.

Thanks all. I always book B&B's and hotels. I cannot be bothered by cleaning up after myself when I'm on holiday!

However, I rent a villa when we go back 'home' as that's easier with friends and family visiting.

Regarding immigration officers at passport control, I try to remember that we are on holiday and in a good mood, they are doing an essential job at Border Control. Yes I have encountered stony faced officers in many places (not just Spain), but I still say Hello in whatever language I need for that country, and smile. Doesn't cost me anything and TBH if I was sitting behind a screen looking at god awful mugshots all day long I think I'd probably go a little grumpy too.

You only have to worry about immigration officers if they won't let you in, or have a query on your length of stay (Brexit) etc.

We won't be going.

I don't want to be squirted with water and yelled at when having dinner (and spending money in their local economy)

I can definitely see both sides of the debate. Maybe we will look at Italy instead as we've never bene there.

I normally go to the Canaries every couple of years but i am not going back due to the protests, looking at Greece and Italy. Probably be good to try somewhere new.

Thanks for this. However, how do the demonstrators know which tourists are staying in B&Bs and Hotels instead of private rentals?

And how can they be certain that the people they are squirting with water are tourists? Honestly, having grown up in a tourism economy, I find this madness as countries are so mixed now.

I think my DH is right, maybe look at somewhere else.

We were in a Spanish city last month and had no issues. There was a protest going on outside the the town hall but we just avoided it and everyone was very welcoming

Passport control peeps are grumpy and unsmiling across the world. It is in their job description. They have their pay docked if they smile. Engaging in conversation with a tourist is a sackable offence
Worst of all, they are tested to the limit every shift by their passport office counterparts who make sure everyone's passport photo is so ugly, passport controllers have to stick forks in their legs to make sure they don't laugh (see above).

Is Lanzarote affected by this? My sister is going there in 2 days time!!