Anti-tourism protests give second thought to next getaway

With anti-tourism protests breaking out in popular Mediterranean tourist destinations like Majorca, Ibiza, Barcelona and Venice, it’s making me think twice about where I want to spend my next getaway. And it’s also made me think about the type of accommodation to book. The anti-tourist protests by locals are directed at two fronts. One is literal overcrowding. Tourists were recently turned away at a famous Majorcan beach by police as locals were determined to occupy every square foot of it. Reports the UK Sun, "Anti-tourism protesters plan to bring the Balearic Islands to a standstill during the peak season for British holidaymakers. Activists hope thousands will join the biggest demonstration yet in the Spanish tourism hotspot on Sunday, July 21 — just as many UK schools break up for summer and families head for the sunshine." Needless to say, Brits like going to Spain. The other is that short-term accommodations like those on Airbnb, Vrbo and increasingly Booking.com are crowding out cheaper year-round housing for locals. Barcelona, which has seen rents jump 70 per cent in recent years, has just banned Airbnb’s. It’s obvious why a landlord would opt for short term vacation rentals over year-round housing because they can charge tourists more for that same property and have constant turnover. It was the opposite of where I stayed in Florida a few years ago. There, the owner, who had a block long campus of vintage cottages, converted to long term rentals because she couldn't handle the stress of constantly dealing with new tenants. My recent winter home has been in Spain, where protests have also sprung up in nearby Malaga. But, lucky me, I don’t stay in an Airbnb but in a “conventional” low key resort or apartment hotel. Suddenly, it’s made me feel more ethical! But my accommodation last fall in Athens was through Vrbo, a fantastic apartment two blocks from the Acropolis and within walking distance of teeming bars, restaurants, cafes and the city’s magnificent old town Plaka. Yes, I thought I might have gotten an evil eye from a neighbour. But I would book again, if available, and swallow my guilt. 

- Ron Stang, Windsor Ontario Canada, a frequent traveller