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Date Published: 20/08/2024

Anti-tourist banner appears on Costa Blanca beach

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The ‘tourists go home’ sign was displayed on a packed beach in Javea

Anti-tourist banner appears on Costa Blanca beach

The anti-tourism sentiment that has been brewing throughout Spain in recent months has spread to Alicante this week, with the appearance of a 15-metre banner warning holidaymakers to “go home” at the northern end of Barraca cove in Javea.

Self-styled anti-touristification action group ‘Garrot’ have claimed responsibility for the sign, saying it was placed in this particular area of the Marina Alta as the beach, a former hive of fishing activity, “clearly symbolises” the problem with visitor overcrowding.

Furthermore, the group insists that an influx of holidaymakers has driven locals away from this stretch of coastline; a beach which was once peaceful is now bustling, crowded and full of loud music, they added.

So there’s no confusion, the enormous banner carried the message in both Spanish and English and clearly read: “Tourists Go Home!”

"Mass tourism is not a blessing, but the opposite: a curse that sweeps away everything it touches," warned Garrot shortly after the message appeared.

“The price of housing skyrockets and residents cannot buy or rent a house, identity is lost, the environment is degraded, infrastructures are overloaded to the maximum (the health crisis and the towns that are left without drinking water are an example), small shops are closed (on the other hand, large supermarkets make a killing) and an absolute dependence is created on a model, that of tourism and construction at all costs, predatory and depleting natural resources.”

These feelings are shared by dozens of similar groups which have sprung up across the country, and it seems that the discontent is escalating. Earlier this month, locals and holidaymakers alike were horrified when graffiti appeared in Mallorca urging people to “kill a tourist.”

These hateful messages have sparked outrage, with the conservative People’s Party (PP), which governs the locality, strongly condemning the acts of vandalism, calling them “totally unjustified.”

In other news: British man acquitted of raping UK tourist in Benidorm hotel

Images: Garrot

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