May half-term holiday 2024: UK holidaymakers issued Spain travel warning as anti-tourism protests planned in popular destinations

UK holidaymakers heading to Spain over the half-term holiday have been issued a travel warning as trips could be disrupted. Mass ant-tourism protests are due to take place in several popular holiday destinations including hotspots in the Balearic Islands. 

Protests will occur in the party destination Ibiza on 24 May, followed by action in Mallorca on 27 May when many UK tourists will be heading abroad. Activists from the Prou Eivissa (Enough Ibiza) group said that the island “cannot take anymore” and it needed to draw attention to the “negative impacts” that “uncontrolled tourism” was having. Prou Evissa is calling for a law limiting vehicles entering Ibiza and incentives for hoteliers to reduce capacity.

Rising numbers of visitors to Mallorca has also prompted action in this holiday destination. The organisers of the protest are calling for “the right to housing, the protection of the territory, of our own language and culture”.

They are demanding “accountability from institutions, because we want to live in our home, to protect our lives and because we do not want Majorca to become a luxury resort”, activists told the Majorca Daily Bulletin. Earlier this month, Marga Prohens, president of the Balearic Islands, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the government “understands that limits are necessary, we must make possible coexistence between tourist activity and the well-being of the residents of the Balearic Islands”.

The planned protests come after thousands took to the streets in the Canary Islands in April to protest against mass tourism. Protestors held placards reading "People live here" and "We don’t want to see our island die". One of the protesters said during the march in Tenerife’s capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife: "It’s not a message against the tourist, but against a tourism model that doesn’t benefit this land and needs to be changed.”

Greece is the latest holiday destination to be rocked by anti-tourism sentiment. Anti-tourist graffiti has been spotted Athens, reading "Tourists go home" and "No Tourists No Hipsters". 

A large piece of graffiti that says "Tourists enjoy your stay in the cemetery of Europe” also covers most of the side of a house seemingly referring to Athens' reputation as the continental capital of antiquity and a place where more and more people are being priced out. Locals have fumed at the price of properties rising due to the spread of Airbnbs and other holiday lets in the Greek city.