Continuous rise in price in hotels and rented rooms in Spain Due to tourism with visitors from other countries, they are forcing the Spaniards to stay home and not be able to enjoy their beautiful and sunny beaches.
The stranger tourism In Spain it is growing, resulting in hotel rooms being outrageous and not allowing locals to spend their holidays in their favorite seaside destinations, with this situation leaving them frustrated and angry.
In particular, The top 25 tourist destinations on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts in Spain They saw their local tourism decrease by 800,000 last year, while the number of foreign visitors in the country increased by 1.94 million.
This trend is sure to continue as the second most touristy country in the world, after France, expects a record of 100 million foreign visitors this year.
One Spanish, the 26 -year -old Wendy Davila confirms that “prices have increased outrageously. The whole Spanish coast is very expensive. ” The 26th annulled a very beautiful journey that had been closed with her partner at Cadeton the south coast of the country, for a cheaper choice in the city Bourgeois Inland, famous for its Gothic rhythm church and the tomb of 11th century El Sid.
“Today you are not on vacation where you want, but where you can,” adds Davila, who nostalgic for her childhood holidays on his beaches. Alicante in the Mediterranean.
Spain as a country depends very much on its tourism as it has a total population of 48 million and the number of tourists is doubled each year. This even contributes to more than 13% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Protests about the lack of housing caused by over -tourism are becoming more and more and could increase even further, as the Spaniards feel great to over -indebted for their favorite holidays. Hotel prices have even risen by 23% in the last three years, reaching 136 euros per night, on average while seaside rents have also increased by 20.3% since the mid -2023 and most of the accommodation has been rented from the first quarter of the summer.
“It is becoming more and more difficult for Spanish holidaymakers to book a seaside resort,” explains Tecnitasa Group President Jose Maria Basane.
Foreign tourists spent, on average, eight nights in Spain’s top seaside accommodation last year with the locals having the opportunity to spend half days with a quarter of the amount, Inatlas said. In 2024, the Spaniards made nearly 400,000 fewer trips to the big cities of the country, compared to a year ago, while foreign tourists there increased by almost three million.
The resorts are amending their forecasts for this summer, despite the flourishing of imported tourism, partly because areas where residents are used to vacationing, are expecting fewer bookings.
Promotion of inland and mountainous areas
Aware of dissatisfaction and inequalities, the Spanish government wants to encourage foreign tourists to explore the sights and in the most central and mountainous areas of Spain
“If we want to continue to lead international tourism, we need to decentralize our destinations,” Tourism Minister Jordi Hereou said in June, with the aim of highlighting the country’s lesser -known beauties. “We want Europeans and tourists from other countries to review the idea of Spain they love and visit so often,” he said.
The Spaniards have a long tradition of family vacations during the hot summer months, but they turn more to Airbnb rentals instead of hotels and have replaced Catalonia or the Balearic Islands for lesser -known destinations in Andalusia or Castille and Leon, where prices are low.
Last year, 1.7 million more Spaniards were vacationing in more economical areas of the hinterland. For example last year, in the mountainous city of El Boske, 100 kilometers from the beaches of Kadiz in the Atlantic, the number of Spanish tourists increased by 22%.
“There is probably an element of displacement,” says Juan Pedro Athnar, a professor and researcher at Madrid’s Esade Business School, who observes that the British and the French have more money to waste on their vacation.
For some Spaniards, it is now a priority to avoid summer tourist crowds.
For example, a nurse, Mria de la Tha, says she will stay in Madrid this summer and visit her family in Kadiz, south of the country, when the summer season is over. “I used to go to my father’s house often, but there are more and more tourists in Cadiz and when the population arrives, the population doubles,” says the 51 -year -old.