'Like entering a theme park' - how can Malaga best manage tourism?

Kike España gazes crossed Málaga’s Plaza de la Merced.

It’s precocious greeting and it's inactive a peaceful spot astatine this clip of time - jacaranda trees capable the square, an obelisk monument sits astatine its centre and connected the acold broadside is the location wherever Pablo Picasso was born.

But it’s the city’s tourists, galore of whom are already gathering successful the big of adjacent cafés, who interest Kike.

“The concern is truthful saturated that Málaga has truly reached a turning constituent astatine which radical consciousness that the metropolis is collapsing,” helium says.

“It’s the aforesaid feeling you person erstwhile you participate a taxable park,” helium adds. “There is simply a watercourse of radical that are consuming the metropolis and not truly inhabiting it.”

Kike is an municipality planner and a section activistic with the Málaga Tenants’ Union, which has been campaigning for a alteration successful however the confederate Spanish metropolis manages tourism.

The organisation led a protestation successful precocious June successful which thousands of section radical took to the streets to dependable their interest astatine the antagonistic interaction that tourism is having connected their city, including pushing up lodging costs, gentrification and crowds.

And it’s not conscionable Málaga. Spaniards person been protesting passim the summertime for the aforesaid reasons successful different large tourer destinations, including Barcelona, Alicante and the Canary and Balearic Islands.

In April, a radical of activists connected Tenerife staged a three-week hunger onslaught against the gathering of caller tourer megaprojects. In Barcelona, demonstrators fired astatine overseas visitors with h2o pistols and among the slogans daubed connected their banners were: “Tourism kills the city” and “Tourists spell home.”

Spain archetypal established itself arsenic a tourer hub much than fractional a period ago, arsenic bluish Europeans started to flock to its coastline and islands.

Today, the manufacture represents astir 13% of Spanish GDP and, having bounced backmost from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is surpassing records successful presumption of some gross and arrivals.

In 2023, the state received 85 cardinal overseas visitors and much than 90 cardinal are expected this year, putting it adjacent down France, the world’s astir fashionable tourer destination.

José Luis Zoreda, president of the Exceltur, a tourism manufacture association, prefers to speech astir the magnitude of gross the manufacture generates – €200bn (£171bn) successful nonstop and indirect enactment this year, helium estimates – alternatively than the fig of visitors.

He besides highlights however tourism has ensured that the Spanish system has outperformed astir of its European neighbours successful the aftermath of Covid-19.

“We person been liable successful the past fewer years for the astir important percent of maturation of our economy,” helium says. “In 2023, we were liable for 80% of the full GDP maturation of Spain.”

So the sheer size of the tourism assemblage and its beardown maturation person driven the wide enlargement of the Spanish economy.

But determination is simply a increasing content that the outgo of specified occurrence is excessively precocious and the question of caller protests has created the consciousness of a tipping point. Many Spaniards are present convinced that the towns and cities they inhabit are catering much for visitors than for residents.

“Tourism was perceived arsenic a affirmative economical enactment that is simply a immense portion of our GDP, but the numbers person go truthful immense successful presumption of planetary arrivals that we are present seeing the antagonistic impacts, particularly successful cities,” says Paco Femenia-Serra, lecturer successful tourism and geography astatine Madrid’s Complutense University.

“Tourism is competing for abstraction and the fig of radical retired connected the streets is unbearable for galore residents.”

Besides making these places little pleasant, locals accidental tourism has besides pushed galore smaller businesses retired of the centre of cities. In their spot person travel franchise restaurants, bars and shops - and prices person risen.

But the most-cited occupation is that of housing.

Spain’s biggest tourer destinations person ample numbers of short-term rental properties aimed astatine tourists.

A caller survey by El País paper recovered that respective areas of Málaga had the highest proportionality of Airbnb properties in Spain. A 4th of each apartments successful the country astir the Plaza de la Merced are dedicated to tourer rental.

Owners of apartments are capable to complaint much for short-term rentals than they would complaint longer-term tenants and this has the effect of pushing up prices crossed the board. Locals accidental it is hard to find an flat for little than €1,200-1,300 per period successful the centre of Málaga. With the mean wage successful the surrounding Andalusia portion astatine conscionable €1,600 per month, they are being priced retired of their city.

“If the radical of Málaga don’t person determination to live, who volition supply services for the tourists?” asked Isabel Rodríguez, lodging curate for Spain's governing Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).

Speaking astatine a lodging forum successful the metropolis successful July, she continued: “Where volition the waiters who service america a solid of vino and a sheet of sardines live?”

As Ms Rodríguez’s comments suggest, Spain’s governmental people is present starting to grapple with the tourism conundrum.

Catalonia and the Balearic Islands person already introduced a “tourist tax”, charging a sliding sum of up to €4 per idiosyncratic per day, depending connected the benignant of accommodation used.

Palma de Mallorca has sought to bounds numbers of arrivals by sea, with nary much than 3 cruise liners allowed to dock astatine the metropolis per day, lone 1 of them carrying much than 5,000 passengers.

Measures are besides being taken to tackle the tourer accommodation issue. This year, the determination authorities successful Andalusia has handed municipality and metropolis halls the powerfulness to present their ain controls connected short-term rentals.

In the north-east, Barcelona has already announced its volition to revoke each of the 10,000 oregon truthful tourer accommodation licences presently successful circulation successful 2028.

Mr Femenia-Serra describes the reining successful of Spanish tourism arsenic “a precise tricky problem” fixed the economical value of the manufacture but helium believes restrictions are needed.

“If we privation to speech astir sustainable tourism oregon a little fig of tourists we should sermon limits connected enactment and higher restrictions and much regularisation of the sector, which until present has been benignant of escaped to act,” helium says. He suggests introducing limits connected the fig of flights to definite destinations arsenic a imaginable measure.

In Málaga, Kike España wants to spot caps connected rental prices and efforts to supply much lodging for locals arsenic contiguous measures to antagonistic the tourism crisis.

While helium insists that helium and his chap activists are not opposed to tourism, conscionable the mode it is being managed successful Spain, helium says helium besides hopes the protests volition continue.

“We are against metropolis models that lone absorption connected tourism,” helium says. “We cannot suffer each the vigor and complexity and heterogeneity of our cities.”