As part of a growing anti-tourism campaign in Spain, locals in Malaga have put up stickers on buildings calling for tourists to ''go home''. According to a report by the Independent, stickers on tourist apartments featured phrases including ''stinks of tourists'', ''a family used to live here'' and ''before this was my house''.
Several angry locals in Malaga are raising their voices against the growing influx of tourists and the problems caused by it, which they say have impacted their lives. Other messages have also appeared, highlighting the lack of affordable accommodation caused by mass tourism. Many complained of rising rents pushed by the lack of affordable housing, as several properties are rented only to tourists.
Dani Drunko, a bar owner in Malaga, told Malaga news site Sur he was recently told to leave his home of ten years because it's being turned into a short-term holiday home. He said, "I live in a neighbourhood of Malaga called Fuente Olletas and was told a few weeks ago the owner wouldn't be renewing my rental contract. And I had to leave because the property was going to be readapted for tourist lets. ''
''Every day I receive photos of new stickers and people that are making it go viral. There's a lot of movement because citizens are sick of the situation. I only proposed the idea of the phrases, I lit the fuse,'' he added.
However, he said he has ''nothing against tourists'' and stressed the community wants the issue of housing to be regulated.
''We would like to point out that we have nothing against tourists or tourism but are opposed to being kicked out of our homes to make way for tourist apartments and the fact that the town hall, which belongs to all of Malaga's people, doesn't do anything,'' he further said.
Local politician Dani Perez also took to X to highlight the situation. ''You walk the streets of Málaga and it is practically impossible to find a residential building that does not have a lockbox [for tourist rentals]. Malaga's mayor is not lifting a finger for the people who live here, expelling them from the city where they were born,'' he wrote.
However, local lawyer Juan Luis Gomez criticised the campaign, saying, ''The same people who are against tourism then won't work, as if we depended here for our livelihoods on the aerospace industry. It's one thing to regulate tourism and another to throw out tourism.''
Notably, Costa del Sol is a favourite spot for British holidaymakers in Spain. In 2023, a record 14 million holidaymakers from Spain and abroad visited and a fair few visitors decided to make the city their home, as per Euro News. Data from Spain's National Statistics Institute (INE) showed that eight out of 10 new residents moving to Málaga are currently foreigners.
