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I am not a tourist in Madrid, but sometimes I probably look like one. When I am having a drink with my partner, we are talking about English – it is also from the United Kingdom – but the way we approach the bar is our best attempt to blend.
Being a local in Madrid is how to sail in a crowded taberna and always find a space at the bar. Is to establish a relationship with the server and be patient. They will arrive soon.
Then, when they finally ask you what you want, it is knowing that there are generally only two options of white wine – Rueda and Albariño – quickly order with a solid eyes and confidence, then collect your drink with a “ Gracia ”, drop the ‘S’.
These little details took me years to define and perfect. They are subtle, but they signal something important: even if I speak English, I live here and I am not a tourist. And it matters more than ever because, recently, being confused with a tourist in Spain began to feel very uncomfortable.
Through Spain, Italy and Portugal, anti-tourism demonstrations against the reshaping of cities to serve tourists rather than residents become stronger and always more coordinated. Just in 2024, nearly 100 million tourists visited Spain, and even more are expected in 2025.
When tourists are not welcome
In response, reading Graffitis “ tourists at home ” has become standardized – but even “killing tourists” appeared in parts of the Canary Islands. In Barcelona, some residents spurted tourists with water pistols in symbolic protest, although some really seem to attack tourists with water.
In my own Lavapiés district in Madrid, the “Fuck Airbnb” stickers and graffiti now mark the windows of many short -term rental apartments. But although such reactions do not represent everyone, they reflect an increasing frustration: the feeling that the inhabitants are powerless to be safe from their own communities.
Mass tourism is undoubtedly linked to the rise in power of housing costs, tensions on local infrastructure and unsafe and at low salary jobs – just like the financial advantages largely move to owners and platforms like Airbnb, many of which do not pay their taxes here, if necessary.
Local concerns are valid, but the question of surprise raises a deeper question: are tourists the problem, or are they simply the most visible symptom of something much more powerful?
Governments across Europe are experiencing the means to contact suzerrism. In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has promised a large construction of houses and the Ministry of Consumery has moved to Airbnb Fine for the advertising of apartments without license. But regional responses vary considerably.
Governments react.
Barcelona has taken a firm position, committing to eliminate all tourist rentals by 2028, including short -term license. Meanwhile in Madrid, the municipal council switched in the other direction, choosing to rezon whole residential buildings for tourism use. If this plan continues, around 6,000 residential buildings – plus thousands of commercial units on the ground floor – could be transformed into short -term holiday rentals, moving residents and merchants.
At the same time, the capital’s housing crisis is deepened. Over the past decade, the population of Madrid has increased by 750,000, mainly driven by migration. During the same period, rents increased by 80%, exceeding wage growth.
Even beyond Madrid, the Bank of Spain noted that almost half of the country’s tenants spend 40% of their rent in rent and public services, and also calculates a deficit of around 500,000 new houses. The director general of the economy, Ángel Gavilán, estimates the need to build 1.5 million social housing in the next 10 years to avoid deepening the current housing crisis.
While the Spanish government generally recognizes the economic contribution of world immigration, the construction of housing in Madrid does not follow the pace. The rents for businesses have also soaked due to the reduced offer because empty units are replaced by short -term rentals. The result is a chaotic housing policy focused on the profit that threatens to reshape the identity of Madrid – including bars without frills where the wine list has only two perfectly sufficient options.
Overcome overouchonism
Other parts of the world are also struggling with the challenges of surecuching and the exploration of new ways to manage it. In Japan, last year, a flood of tourists went down to the seaside resort of Fujikawaguchiko to photograph the emblematic Mount Fuji, disturbing daily life to such an extent that the residents gathered to build a wall blocking the view.
In response, Japan has introduced entry fees for those who wish to climb Mount Fuji, although control of access to the mountain view remains difficult.
To protect its cultural heritage sites, Japan should also introduce a double -price system where foreign visitors will pay higher entry fees than residents – a model already in place in monuments in India, such as the Taj Mahal in Delhi, or the Charminar mosque in Hyderabad.
But instead of simply blaming tourists or increasing their costs, we must take a closer look at how tourist benefits are collected and distributed. Although entry fees and prices are often justified as necessary to preserve cultural heritage sites, the income they generate must also benefit the wider community – supporting local housing, public transport and essential infrastructure.
A fair approach would guarantee that tourism contributes to the well-being of visitors and residents. The ultimate solution lies in the building – not just more houses, but also affordable hotels, railway lines and services that can absorb growing population and tourism. We have to decentralize both where people live and where tourists go.
Make an affordable popular city
Currently, the Madrid center can offer more bars and choice of wine than ever before, but it is done at the cost of affordable drinks and, even worse, an affordable place to live.
None of this is the tourist’s fault. Spain has spent decades to develop its tourism industry, which now represents around 15% of the national gross domestic product, or GDP, which is the total value of goods and services produced and is often used as the health measure of a national economy.
Millions of Spaniards depend on tourism for their livelihoods, and they want the sector to prosper. But that should not be done at the expense of local resources or the right to housing.
If Spain and other countries currently suffering from the effects of too many tourists, must remain welcoming for tourists, residents and immigrants, it must invest in tourist benefits in communities carrying its weight by designing and building a country for everyone.
Gracia.
Questions to consider:
1. Why are the residents of Madrid and Barcelona angry with tourists?
2. What do countries do like Spain and Japan in response to anger against tourism?
3. Have you been a tourist anywhere? How do you think you were seen by the residents who live there?
