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?

I was in Valencia and 200m from hotel was an Aldi. Completely different to ones in the UK.

One thing you can buy single bottles and cans of all beers. For example, you could buy a case of 15 beers or 1 single beer from the case. Plus it was the same for 250ml cans of tonic water. This model applies to majority of Aldi and probably Lidl across Europe. As some people live in bedsits/pokey flats and no room for a case of beer.

Thanks for all the comments. I am definitely going to look at other areas in Spain too. But it seems this is a systemic problem in Spain where tourism has been allowed to go unchecked with little regulation. I know from my own 'home island' that covid caused a lot of restaurants to close down when there were no tourists. So I don't know what the answer is.

I think there are two related but slightly separate issues here for Spain.

The first is the massive crowds of people in places like Barcelona. It is simply swamped with large groups of tourisrs, often driven by cruise ships. Airbnb is also exacerbating an existing housing crisis.

The issue in places like the Canaries and the Costas seems more to be with the fact locals are becoming fed up with these parts of Spain being seen as a cheap and cheerful holiday destinations attracting large groups of often badly behaved tourists who do not contribute much to the wider economy. And even of they are not badly behaved, large groups of people all in one small place can get overwhelming. The traditional package beach holiday model can overwhelm the host destination.

The main thing as a tourist is to visit mindfully. It is someone's home, not just a destination that exists for your pleasure.

Try and think about your impact on a place and engage respectfully.

We recently went to Beziers, a small French city on the Med near the Spanish border.

We stayed in a local hotel, ate out at least twice a day and visited local attractions and events. We also made the effort to speak French.

The locals were friendly and welcoming, eager to tell us about the best places to visit and eat. However we were very much in the minority. We rarely heard English voices in the week we were there - we met one American couple who were stopping off during a boating holiday on the nearby canal and a couple of Scottish lads who had visited the area for the rugby the previous year and had returned to see more as tourists (that area of France is mad for rugby).

I’m in Northern Spain right now and having a wonderful time - everyone very welcoming and nice.

Been to Spain a few times on work business and don’t get the fascination. So many other amazing places to visit. They want to make their bed - let them lay in kt

Im a Spanish resident and have seen my city suffer due to mismanagement of the tourism boom but we don’t blame the tourists themselves. It’s a discussion we have a lot among friends and the general consensus is that we are all also tourists whenever we travel anywhere else and we love traveling!

I didn’t actually know about these demonstrations though and haven’t seen anything so I’d probably still go.

I suspect it’s all about where and how you’re holidaying in Spain. The cities and Islands are protesting about over-tourism and lack of housing due to holiday lets. Madrid tends to be quieter this time of year because residents have travelled out of the city for their summer holiday. If you’re staying in a hotel then you’re contributing to the economy in a more sustainable way. Valencia and the Valencian region is on the coast so will be busier, but equally will be full of Spanish holiday makers as much Brits and other European nationals. Again staying in a hotel in Valencia is a better way rather than airbnb type accommodation.

There’s another twist to it, in that some regions are pretty much built on tourism (domestic as much as European) and ex-pat full time residents - we own a place on the Costa Blanca south of Alicante. No protests there, the area would flounder without the ex-pats and tourism and most apartments, houses etc were built as holiday homes. Plenty of things to do and see in that region, maybe try there guilt free 😊

We’ve just come back from Mallorca and it was very apparent. Many locals in the shops etc were quite rude and reluctant to serve us. We won’t be going back. We will respect that they don’t want us and go somewhere else for future holidays. However, it’s particularly bad there at the moment.

There’s an article in the Telegraph about it today. It mainly seems to be, Mallorca/Majorca, Ibiza, Tenerife and Barcelona. It’s behind a paywall so I can’t link but I’ve screenshot a couple of pages. Maybe if you avoid these places, you’ll be ok.

@MummyJ12 Lanzarote isn't on that list is it? 😱

No it isn’t 😊

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

Having just come back from 10 days in Majorca, I came away thinking the whole situation has been over-blown by the media. We had no problems at all and we’re going back in September

I had a very different experience, no sign of any problems

Was this in a known tourist spot? I know many shops and restaurants depend on tourists, or they would close down. I remember being on holiday years ago and locals being unfriendly both in Greece, and in Spain.
Some store owners would be sitting in the back, and huff amd puff that they had to come out and put your stuff through the till. Could this just be some miserable people you encountered that would have reacted that way anyway?
The one time I remember a friendly owner of a shop was when the man thought I was a local, and spoke in Greek. Dh had been in just before and he spoke in English to him, and was rude.

The Telegraph reports that the following are not welcoming tourism at the moment (worse to least)
Majorca
Barcelona
Amsterdam (Husband was there on business the other week though and there were no problems).
Venice
Split
Tenerife
Santorini
Capri
Provence
Corfu.

It is anti tourist rather than anti British. It’s just that Brits are probably the largest proportion of tourists in spain

Nope booked elsewhere this year. Even if there is any pretence that the demonstrations are not any tourists vs anti tourism (same difference in my book), who wants that vibe on holiday? Or bring sprayed with water or seeing graffiti. Be careful what you wish for.

I am not unsympathetic but the issues are with their own governments not effecting proper controls. I don’t travel abroad in peak times so don’t feel I am a cause- but why not choose to holiday in UK in our ‘summer’?

We were in Alcúdia. Stayed at Zafiro Palace. Spoke in our best Spanish although they answered us in English so we obviously aren’t nailing the accent!
We were sat at a restaurant one evening and a lovely English family asked for a table, they were turned away, then an equally lovely local family came along and were seated straight away without a booking. It was little things like that. The hotel staff were absolutely lovely though, it was just when we went out on an evening it was noticed. Some people in the shops followed us round until we left - the children were looking (not touching) around a couple of the shops.

Some store owners would be sitting in the back, and huff amd puff that they had to come out and put your stuff through the till. Could this just be some miserable people you encountered that would have reacted that way anyway?
Maybe @SweetCreamandCaramel! Definitely a possibility that we were just unlucky with coming across some naturally grumpy people who aren’t suited to working with people!

On the one hand, this is being blown out of all proportion by the media. On the other, the protesters have a fair point. Tourism, especially the Airbnb type, prices local people out of homes. I live in Cornwall and some towns are so full of holiday lets and second homes that any local community has ceased to exist. I don’t know what the answer is but I certainly wouldn't be put off visiting Spain and imagine the likelihood of encountering real hostility is minute..

We’ve been to Spain a fair bit over the years. We then discovered Turkey and haven’t looked back. Much better resorts, so much cleaner and the people cannot do enough for you. We have always found the Spanish to be quite off when they realise you’re English and this has happened a few times. We also love Greece, the people are wonderful and accommodating.

Thanks for your comments, but I find this quite patronising. I am assuming you didn't read my OP. I grew up on an island in the Med that is probably one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. I am well aware that people other than tourists live in these areas. I was one of them. I was one of the kids walking from school in May/June, with tourists with no shirts on walking past me.

I am always mindful, but as a person who grew up in a highly popular tourist destination, I am also a tourist when I visit other countries. You can't have it both ways. My 'home town' would go bankrupt with no tourists.

I hope wherever you decide to go OP, that you have a fabulous time.

I’ve just got back from a holiday in Spain. I had to Google to check what this thread was about. Absolutely no sign of any protests or anti-tourist sentiments where we were. Quite the opposite. We’re planning to go back to Spain later this year because we had such a lovely time.