Travel warning for thousands of Brits facing misery across European holiday hotspots this summer
BRITS jetting off to four holiday hotspots this summer have been warned they could face misery upon arrival.
Locals across Europe are fed up with tourists driving prices - and have refused to rule out targeting airports to keep them away.
Spain, Italy, France and Portugal are expected to hold anti-tourist protest in the coming months.
Locals pledge the high volume of visitors has fuelled soaring rent and a lack of affordable homes.
They claim accommodation is snapped up for tourist lets and land is bought for building resorts.
At a summit in Barcelona, protester Elena Boschi yesterday told : “We want tourists to have some level of fear about the situation – without fear there is no change.”
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The teacher from Genoa, on the Italian riviera, added: “Our cities and regions are not for sale and there is an urgent need to limit the growth of tourism, demand a change of course and decide on a path to tourism de-growth as a way out.”
The summit was held by SET European Network Against Touristification, made up of protest groups representing 17 cities, islands and communities across southern Europe.
Representatives from each area gathered for a three-day summit to call for an end to “predatory tourism” which they say has left “beaches and natural areas visibly damaged.”
When asked about the possibility of demonstrations at airports, leader Daniel Pardo told the Mirror: “It is a possibility – but, it is difficult to say because each territory will decide how they want to take action, there is no one set strategy.”
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Locals from the Canary Islands have plotted mass protests, while its government is already ripping up the tourism rulebook.
Holiday hotspots like Tenerife are also bracing for a summer of unrest as residents rise up against what they claim is a “predatory model” of tourism that's pushed locals to the brink.
Activists have vowed to storm popular tourist attractions, disrupt public events and “confront political leaders” in a fiery new phase of protests kicking off May 18 — right as peak holiday season begins.
“From now on, we will take our fight to the very spaces where their predatory model is perpetuated,” declared pressure group Canarias tiene un límite (The Canaries Have a Limit).
“We will boycott public events, confront political leaders during their appearances and occupy symbolic tourist spaces to make it clear that we will not stop until real change is achieved.”
The movement — now spreading beyond Tenerife — insists it’s no longer business as usual for tourism in the region.
“The Canary Islands can no longer be a postcard backdrop for the enjoyment of a privileged few,” the statement read.
