Protests are taking place today and throughout the weekend in Venice, Genoa, and several other European cities. Local campaigners are rally against the damaging impact of mass tourism on their communities.
Part of a coordinated movement across southern Europe, the demonstrations highlight growing anger over what organisers describe as “touristification” – the transformation of cities and towns to serve tourists at the expense of local residents.
In Genoa, activists are staging a symbolic protest by dragging a large cardboard cruise ship through the city’s narrow medieval alleyways. The act is designed to illustrate the incompatibility between the cruise industry and everyday life in the historic centre. “We see tourism as a means to extract value from our cities,” a protester told The Guardian. “We are not some sort of mine. This is a place where people live.”
In Venice, demonstrators are demanding urgent regulation of short-term rentals and restrictions on new hotel developments. The rise in tourist accommodation, they argue, is pushing residents out and turning homes into commodities. “There are now more tourist beds than registered residents,” said Remi Wacogne of the housing watchdog Ocio. “Venice has become an ATM for a select group of investors profiting from rentals.”
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Residents say the city’s traditional identity is being eroded by rising living costs and the proliferation of souvenir shops and cash machines replacing local businesses. Many feel the city is being turned into a stage set for visitors, rather than a living, working place.
Tourists aren’t the target
Today’s protests are part of the largest joint action so far by the Southern European Network Against Touristification. Events also taking place in Spain, Portugal and France. The alliance was formed in April during a conference in Barcelona, where groups from across the region shared experiences of housing crises, environmental degradation, and the loss of cultural heritage.
While tourists themselves are not the target, activists are calling for a dramatic rethink of tourism policies. “The violence isn’t water guns at tourists,” said a protest organiser in Spain. “The violence is evictions, labour exploitation, and the destruction of community life.”
With protests continuing throughout the day in Venice, Genoa, and elsewhere, campaigners hope to send a clear message to local and national authorities: tourism must serve residents as well as visitors.
