Is the Fight Against Tourism Justified?

As anti-tourism protests break out throughout Europe and the world, scared tourists hastily cancel flights and reconsider their options. Although these events are overly sensationalized in the news, the growing frustration of locals in heavily visited areas such as Spain, Japan, and even Carmel-by-the-Sea is clear. 

According to the UN tourism sector, between 1975 and 2025, international tourist arrivals have grown almost sevenfold. Yes, the population has also increased drastically in these 50 years, but the scale of tourism has undeniably increased so that it is one of the most powerful and successful industries in the world. This growth can be attributed to emerging factors such as social media, greater access to travel, and economic growth.

However, the increase in tourism also has its drawbacks. This summer, protests broke out throughout Europe, with thousands of locals coming out to fight against mass tourism. These protests are no anomaly – events like this have always existed, and there will likely be more and more to come as frustration amongst locals rises. Beyond traditional protests, residents of popular travel destinations sometimes even take a more hands-on approach to deal with visitors. This can look like denying service to foreigners in restaurants (often discreetly, such as pretending to be full), graffitiing walls with anti-tourism sentiments, or even shoving past any tourists they see on the streets (a whole phenomenon in Japan, with perpetrators referred to as Butsukari otoko). 

While a lot of these more aggressive approaches are obviously unjustified, locals have good reasons to be irritated. Visitors come and go to the newest tourism hotspots, often unaware of the impact they are leaving behind on a place they're only visiting, whilst locals suffer the consequences. And that's not to unjustly put the blame on a single tourist; rather, the accumulation of tourists, and their collective treatment of a place, is the issue. In fact, a lot of problems that come from tourism are not a direct result of the actions of tourists themselves, but the volume of tourists that come each year. 

For example, any widely visited place experiences inflated grocery, restaurant, and even rent prices that locals have to deal with forever. In an interview with BBC, Palma local Sonia Ruiz admits that she is on the verge of homelessness due to the drastically inflated rent prices in her hometown: “I even stop people in the street and ask if they have something because the day is approaching when I will have to leave the apartment, and I just see me and my son homeless because there is absolutely nothing.” 

Inflation is not the only issue that protesters have pointed out. With over-tourism comes a loss of the local culture, they claim. Identical boutiques tailored to trendy vacation-wear replace family-owned businesses, while restaurants cheap out on quality and cash in. Another protester interviewed by BBC, 25-year-old Pere Joan Femenia, states, “Businesses are changing from ones selling traditional products to multinationals selling ice cream, and we are losing our identity. We want to preserve our culture.”

Although these affairs seem distant, the increase in tourism can hit close to home, too. Our very own Monterey Peninsula experiences millions of visitors each year, with people from all over the world coming to see it for themselves. The numbers are only increasing. 11th grader at Stevenson and Carmel native, Landyn Martis, says: “this increase has been great for business in many cases, and daily life is not always heavily impacted, but in others they come and leave an impact without positively supporting the community or local economy.” Martis uses the example of Big Sur, explaining how driving in Big Sur has become significantly more difficult, partially because of tourists, even some stopping in the middle of the road for a picture. 

The rate of tourism is only increasing. This is not inherently a bad thing; everyone deserves the privilege of traveling. However, the issue of over-tourism is undeniably present: the local environment faces it, locals going about their daily lives face it, and it sometimes gets to a point where some of the most beautiful places on earth are trashed and left behind in the fast-paced nature of the modern economy. But like most global issues, change starts small. 

When traveling anywhere, it is important to appreciate and give back to the local culture. Of course, there's nothing wrong with doing the touristy things, but acts like supporting local businesses over mass corporations, treating the space you are in and your surroundings with respect, and generally staying mindful can go a long way.