Anti-tourism protests have unfold throughout Alicante, Spain with locals saying "drunk" Britons have turned the town right into a "vacationer theme park".
Some 1,000 protesters took to the town streets as a part of the group 'Alicante The place Are You Going?'
Protesters held up banners "refugees welcome, vacationers go residence" and "No Airbnb".
Locals say they’ve been compelled out of their residence metropolis as a result of rising housing costs, which they declare are as a result of overtourism.
The area noticed 4.8 million vacationers vacation final yr, of which practically 1.3million have been Britons, the most important group by nationality.
Final week, Alicante council imposed a freeze on licenses for buildings devoted fully to vacationer flats.
Spokesman for the protest group Salvador Cobo mentioned: "Town has skilled a proliferation of vacationer residences and the corresponding rise in rental costs has led to the expulsion of many households and residents who can not preserve their houses within the metropolis or (afford) any housing as residences have been transformed from residential to vacationer use.
"This development is popping Alicante right into a theme park for drunken tourism and leaving the neighbourhood's residents with out their areas within the metropolis."
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Cobo mentioned the Spaniards don’t care what nationality of "drunken vacationers" enter the nation, however they "must put a restrict on it".
He added: "When holidaymakers come to celebration in a vacationer flat, which is subsequent to a household residence, it may possibly trigger disturbance."
The typical month-to-month value of a two-bedroom flat in Alicante is now between £611 and £786.
Jordi Arnes Fernandez, one other organiser of the demonstration, mentioned: "I have to stress we’re not in opposition to tourism, solely in opposition to mass tourism which is altering the character of the town and pushing up the worth of flats for native folks."
The demonstration in Alicante is a part of plenty of protests seen throughout Spain this yr.
Spain's Authorities has already ordered Airbnb to shut practically 66,000 vacationer flats, claiming they’re contravening rules.
Barcelona's mayor, Jaume Collboni, has promised to shut 10,000 vacationer flats within the metropolis by 2028.
Protesters have been seen throughout the Spanish metropolis in June spraying vacationers with water pistols.