EFE
Several thousand people demonstrated this Saturday in the coastal cities of Malaga and Cadiz, in the Spanish region of Andalusia (south), against the saturation of visitors and the proliferation of tourist accommodations, whose high profitability increases the price of traditional rentals for residents.
According to the police, some 5,500 people denounced the "unsustainable" housing and rental situation in the Mediterranean city of Malaga and demanded a change in the tourism model that would allow it to "become a city worthy of being inhabited again.".
The demonstration was organized by the Tenants' Union, which raised the number of attendees to 25,000, with the support of almost fifty organizations such as Greenpeace, the CCOO union, Facua (consumers) and the immigrant NGO Málaga Acoge.
Representatives from left-wing political forces such as the Socialist Party and Podemos also participated.
The participants expressed a "widely shared unease: the impossibility of accessing housing," the "expulsion" of residents from their neighborhoods, and the closure of local businesses, a phenomenon that also affects other Spanish tourist cities and has entered the political debate.
The attendees carried banners with slogans such as "Tourism or life. For housing without abuse or speculation," some in English inviting tourists to stay in a hotel, and messages directed against regional and municipal authorities.
According to the organizers, in some areas of Málaga, such as the area around Plaza de la Merced, 68.9% of the homes are dedicated to tourism. The birthplace museum of the world-renowned Spanish painter Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is located there.
Prohibition, inspections and penalties
In the Atlantic city of Cadiz, some 3,000 people attended the march organized by the Cadiz Resists Platform against tourist saturation, which ended at the doors of the City Hall.
"We declare the urgent need to establish high-demand zones in our city to curb real estate speculation and protect the right to decent housing for all residents," according to the manifesto of the organizing platform.
Cádiz Resiste demands an indefinite moratorium on issuing licenses for Tourist Use Housing (VUT) and inspections and sanctions to stop the uncontrolled growth of these accommodations and to guarantee affordable housing for regular residents.
The mayor of Barcelona, the socialist Jaume Collboni, announced on June 21 that the city council will not grant any more tourist licenses to residential homes and will not renew existing ones in November 2028, so that, in five years, the 10,101 currently existing of this type will lose that status.
Many of the houses that private owners previously rented out to residents are now offered on the tourist accommodation market, as they provide a higher return on investment.
This has led to complaints from residents about the negative consequences of tourist overcrowding in central neighborhoods, such as noise and problems with coexistence. It has also driven up the price of both rental and ownership housing, making it more difficult for low- and middle-income families to afford it.
Cover photo: Europa Press.
