‘Tourismphobia’: Protests, Bans, Fees, And Fines At European Hotspots To Keep Visitors Away

20.05.2024 - 13:33 / forbes.com / El Pais

Binibeca, a picture-perfect small town in Spain’s popular Balearic island of Minorca have everything required to please tourists: whitewashed houses with terracotta tile roofs, narrow cobblestone streets, winding alleys, quaint staircases, street names in white-and-blue tiles — and all overlooking the marine blue of the Mediterranean.

Although the town is, in reality, a replica of an authentic fishing village and was built in the 1960s, it’s often compared to Mykonos in Greece and, like the ultra-famous Greek island, it has a serious problem.

Tourists, many thousands of them, descend upon the little village of just 1,000 inhabitants, particularly during the summer, jamming the narrow streets, making noise, tossing garbage everywhere, entering private houses without permission, climbing onto private terraces for photos, and having parties in the streets and on the beaches.

Now Binibeca has decided “to rebel against tourist overcrowding, to restrict access to visitors and to vote for total closure due to the lack of aid from officials to manage summer saturation,” explains the Spanish daily El Pais.

“The town is closing because it is fed up with tourists” reports the digital daily Hoy Aragon. “Instead of waiting for action from the city council, the residents have imposed new regulations on visitors.”

To safeguard their well-being, they have decided to follow the example of other towns and apply a schedule for visits, from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and even have raised the possibility of completely closing to tourism if disruptive behavior persists.

Binibeca is only a recent example in a surge of actions by officials and inhabitants in destinations overwhelmed by tourists who have decided to take severe measures to discourage visitors.

Overrun by tourists and fed up with housing shortages, traffic, noise, pollution and litter, a number of the most iconic destinations in Europe have become both unlivable for local residents and overcrowded, unsafe and uncomfortable for visitors. The beauty, serenity and simplicity of many of the most bucolic and sought-after destinations in Europe simply cannot survive millions of annual arrivals and are swapping their ‘come-to-us’ tourism campaigns for ‘tourists go home” strategies.

“Overtourism is putting pressure on health services, waste management, water supplies and housing at the expense of residents,” explains Euronews. “Increased construction of hotel and housing developments is endangering historic sites, biodiversity and natural resources.”

For the first time in the history of the archipelago, tens of thousands of residents of the eight Canary Islands united last month to protest against mass tourism. Their slogans included “The Canaries have a limit,” "People