Holidaymakers are avoiding parts of Spain because they fear being ‘shot with a water pistol’ by anti-tourism fanatics, a travel agent boss has warned.
Mark Meader, vice-president of the US ASTA travel association, told representatives at a summit in Jaén, Andalusia, that scenes of activists firing water pistols at tourists had even discouraged some Americans from visiting Barcelona.
Combatting so-called ‘tourism phobia’ dominated discussions at the conference after Spain’s travel industry recorded a sharp slump this year, following a wave of anti-tourism demonstrations that swept across the country during the summer.
The downturn – fuelled by weaker spending from European and US visitors – has partly been blamed on the protests, which industry leaders say have ‘scared off’ potential travellers.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Barcelona, Mallorca and Tenerife, accusing mass tourism of driving up rents, pricing residents out of their neighbourhoods and overwhelming city centres.
In Barcelona, activists marched through popular tourist zones holding placards and squirting passing sightseers with water pistols in the latest show of anger at overtourism.
Holidaymakers are avoiding parts of Spain because they fear being ‘shot with a water pistol’ by anti-tourism fanatics, a travel agent boss has warned. Pictured: Protestors in Barcelona squirted water guns at tourists eating in popular spots in the city earlier this year
Thousands of people demonstrate against tourism policies on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain on April 20, 2024
A woman carries a sign that reads ‘neighbours in danger of extinction’ through Barcelona
The backlash has grown so significant that the UK-based travel body ABTA has issued guidance for its members on how to reassure worried clients about travelling to Spain.
Susan Deer, ABTA’s director of institutional relations, said British agencies were increasingly fielding questions from customers who had seen ‘a lot’ of anti-tourism coverage in the UK media over the past 18 months.
She stressed, however, that despite the headlines, visitor numbers to Spain have remained largely stable.
‘It has not changed travel habits,’ she said. ‘People have not wanted to stop travelling to Spain, despite the topics in the media. That has to do with destination management and the work of the agencies.’
Meader agreed that negative media coverage was also playing a role in discouraging tourists from visiting Spain.
He said travel agencies have a ‘good opportunity’ to educate the consumer in a complicated world but admitted the reports had still unsettled some tourists.
‘Some Americans have been afraid to go to Barcelona because they thought they were going to be shot with a water pistol,’ he added.
Pictured: Protests in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, in May
Pictured: An aerial view of people gathering in Madrid to protest soaring housing prices
It comes after Industry group Exceltur said in October that growth in Spain’s tourism industry has declined, warning the country’s contribution to this year’s economic growth will be weaker than expected.
Exceltur now expects all tourism-related activity in the world’s second most-visited country to grow by 2.8% in 2025, a revision down from 3.3% growth it estimated in July, and down from a 5.5% expansion last year.
The group estimated that the tourism industry will contribute 13.1% to Spain’s gross domestic product this year, below its initial estimate of 13.5%.
‘Tourism is no longer the main dynamiser of the Spanish economy,’ Exceltur Vice President Oscar Perelli told a news conference, adding that the sector will no longer far exceed Spain’s expected economic growth of 2.6%.
The number of international tourists may fall short of the 100 million projected by the World Travel and Tourism Council earlier this year.
Last year, Spain registered a record 94 million tourists. By August this year, 66.8 million tourists had arrived, up 3.9% from the same period a year ago.