Protests in Spain, Mexico target travelers as overtourism anger grows

Nan Palmero was at a rehearsal dinner in Mexico City’s trendy Roma Norte neighborhood, ahead of a wedding of two American friends, when he heard a “rumbling” outside.

From the restaurant’s second story, Palmero described seeing a large group of people moving through the streets, some holding placards, shouting “Gringos leave.”

He later learned that demonstrators smashed restaurant windows and damaged vehicles, including the new car of his friends’ wedding planner — a local resident — he said.

 “They wrecked her car, they smashed a window, they ripped off a mirror, they spray-painted the side of it. It was really pretty nasty,” he said.

Palmero, an avid traveler from San Antonio, Texas, said he had heard that an influx of digital nomads and foreign tourists had pushed up prices in some of the city’s most popular neighborhoods.

But he was not aware that residents were organizing demonstrations, like those that he had read about in Barcelona and other parts of Europe, he said.

“People … want to go and experience these beautiful and wonderful cultures around the world,” he said, adding that “we affect the thing that we’re trying to experience in a negative way.”

Protests against tourists have increased in frequency and size as residents — who got a snippet of their cities without tourists during the pandemic — have seen tourism return to, or even exceed, pre-pandemic levels, said Bernadett Papp, senior researcher at European Tourism Futures Institute in the Netherlands.

Residents typically choose protests, instead of other forms of lobbying, because they generate public awareness, which leads to media coverage and societal pressure for governments to act, she said. Barcelona and Amsterdam are examples of where this has occurred, she added.

Locals also protest because they do not know whom to turn to. “Tourism public policymaking is highly fragmented, making it difficult for residents to identify the appropriate decision-makers to engage with,” said Papp. “This is often intensified by frustration and a loss of faith in the government due to perceived inaction.”

Residents’ reactions tend to evolve as overtourism intensifies, said Tatyana Tsukanova, a visiting professor and researcher at EHL Hospitality Business School.

“They may tolerate it at first, then voice concerns, sometimes turn confrontational, and ultimately search for ways to adapt and push for constructive change,” she said. “And along this path, tourists often become scapegoats.”

In July of 2024, protestors in Barcelona, Spain, threw items, sprayed travelers with water guns and canned drinks, and used police-style tape to block hotel entrances and sidewalk cafes. The message from the crowd was clear: “Tourists go home.”

Barcelona, and the Spanish island of Mallorca saw water gun-toting protestors return in June, while there were demonstrations in other parts of Spain, Venice, Italy and Lisbon, Portugal, according to the Associated Press. Protestors in Barcelona set off firecrackers and opened a can of pink smoke, it said.

Travelers may be the visible factor to blame, but policy gaps are the root of the problem, said Tsukanova.

Research shows that direct confrontations with tourists can make travelers feel unwelcome, and thus lead some to reconsider trips, said Tsukanova.

However, this effect is usually short-lived, she said. Following protests throughout Spain in 2024, tourist arrivals increased 4.1% in the first seven months of 2025, according to its National Statistics Institute.

Protests can, however, generate awareness about the problems residents face, which can cause travelers to change certain behaviors, such as choosing hotels over short-term rentals, she said.

But there is little evidence that protests have long-term effects, said Tsukanova.

Papp said cities that respond to pressure caused by protests often do so with ad-hoc policies that are more symbolic than they are meaningful.

“Such measures, in turn, reinforce societal concerns and fuel negative perceptions of tourism,” she said. “It is a cycle.”

To prevent cities that are “not made for living, but for tourism,” destinations can reduce short-term rentals and impose significantly higher taxes on tourists, said Lionel Saul, visiting lecturer at EHL Hospitality Business School.

While academics are developing ideas for “regenerative travel” — a form of tourism that helps locals, rather than hinders, them — cities should include local communities in tourism development, he said.

Doug Lansky, a travel writer and frequent speaker about tourism development, agreed, saying that local voices are often missing from critical discussions, which hurts destinations in the long run.

“If these residents had a seat at the table — any table — where they felt that they voices were being heard locally, then they wouldn’t have to march in the streets,” he said.

Lansky is a proponent of “managed tourism,” citing limits such as timed entries to attractions, visitor caps, and the restriction, but not elimination of, short-term rental markets.

The trade-off, he said, is less serendipity than travelers had in the past.

“It’s not as fun … you’re not going to be wasting your day standing in line,” he said. But “it’s going to benefit all.”