Spaniards turn water guns on visitors in Barcelona and Mallorca to protest mass tourism

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Protesters used water guns against unsuspecting tourists in Barcelona and on the Spanish island of Mallorca on Sunday as demonstrators marched to demand a rethink of an economic model they believe is fueling a housing crunch and erasing the character of their hometowns.

The marches were part of the first coordinated effort by activists concerned with the ills of overtourism across southern Europe's top destinations. While several thousands rallied in Mallorca in the biggest gathering of the day, hundreds more gathered in other Spanish cities, as well as in Venice, Italy, and Portugal's capital, Lisbon.

“The squirt guns are to bother the tourists a bit,” Andreu Martínez said in Barcelona with a chuckle after spritzing a couple seated at an outdoor café. “Barcelona has been handed to the tourists. This is a fight to give Barcelona back to its residents.”

Martínez, a 42-year-old administrative assistant, is one of a growing number of residents who are convinced that tourism has gone too far in the city of 1.7 million people. Barcelona hosted 15.5 million visitors last year eager to see Antoni Gaudí’s La Sagrada Familia basilica and the Las Ramblas promenade.

Martínez says his rent has risen over 30% as more apartments in his neighborhood are rented to tourists for short-term stays. He said there is a knock-on effect of traditional stores being replaced by businesses catering to tourists, like souvenir shops, burger joints and “bubble tea” spots.

“Our lives, as lifelong residents of Barcelona, are coming to an end," he said. "We are being pushed out systematically.”

Around 5,000 people gathered in Palma, the capital of Mallorca, with some toting water guns as well and chanting “Everywhere you look, all you see are tourists.” The tourists who were targeted by water blasts laughed it off. The Balearic island is a favorite for British and German sun-seekers. Housing costs have skyrocketed as homes are diverted to the short-term rental market.

Hundreds more marched in Granada, in southern Spain, and in the northern city of San Sebastián, as well as the island of Ibiza.

In Venice, a couple of dozen protesters unfurled a banner calling for a halt to new hotel beds in the lagoon city in front of two recently completed structures, one in the popular tourist destination’s historic center where activists say the last resident, an elderly woman, was kicked out last year.

Protesters in Barcelona blew whistles and held up homemade signs saying “One more tourist, one less resident.” They stuck stickers saying “Citizen Self-Defense,” in Catalan, and “Tourist Go Home,” in English, with a drawing of a water gun on the doors of hotels and hostels.

There was tension when the march stopped in front of a large hostel, where a group emptied their water guns at two workers positioned in the entrance. They also set off firecrackers next to the hostel and opened a can of pink smoke. One worker spat at the protesters as he slammed the hostel’s doors.

American tourists Wanda and Bill Dorozenski were walking along Barcelona’s main luxury shopping boulevard where the protest started. They received a squirt or two, but she said it was actually refreshing given the 83 degree Fahrenheit (28.3 degrees Celsius) weather.

“That’s lovely, thank you sweetheart,” Wanda said to the squirter. “I am not going to complain. These people are feeling something to them that is very personal, and is perhaps destroying some areas (of the city).”

There were also many marchers with water guns who didn't fire at bystanders and instead solely used them to spray themselves to keep cool.

Cities across the world are struggling with how to cope with mass tourism and a boom in short-term rental platforms, like Airbnb, but perhaps nowhere has surging discontent been so evident as in Spain, where protesters in Barcelona first took to firing squirt guns at tourists during a protest last summer.

There has also been a confluence of the pro-housing and anti-tourism struggles in Spain, whose 48 million residents welcomed record 94 million international visitors in 2024. When thousands marched through the streets of Spain’s capital in April, some held homemade signs saying “Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods.”

Spanish authorities are striving to show they hear the public outcry while not hurting an industry that contributes 12% of gross domestic product.

Last month, Spain’s government ordered Airbnb to remove almost 66,000 holiday rentals from the platform that it said had violated local rules.

Spain’s Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy told The Associated Press shortly after the crackdown on Airbnb that the tourism sector “cannot jeopardize the constitutional rights of the Spanish people,” which enshrines their right to housing and well-being. Carlos Cuerpo, the economy minister, said in a separate interview that the government is aware it must tackle the unwanted side effects of mass tourism.

The boldest move was made by Barcelona's town hall, which stunned Airbnb and other services who help rent properties to tourists by announcing last year the elimination of all 10,000 short-term rental licenses in the city by 2028.

That sentiment was back in force on Sunday, where people held up signs saying “Your Airbnb was my home.”

The short-term rental industry, for its part, believes it is being treated unfairly.

“I think a lot of our politicians have found an easy scapegoat to blame for the inefficiencies of their policies in terms of housing and tourism over the last 10, 15, 20 years,” Airbnb’s general director for Spain and Portugal, Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago recently told the AP.

That argument either hasn’t trickled down to the ordinary residents of Barcelona, or isn’t resonating.

Txema Escorsa, a teacher in Barcelona, doesn’t just oppose Airbnb in his home city, he has ceased to use it even when traveling elsewhere, out of principle.

“In the end, you realize that this is taking away housing from people,” he said.

AP Videojournalist Hernán Múñoz in Barcelona, and Associated Press writer Colleen Barry in Venice, Italy, contributed.

Tourists sit in a restaurant as people protest against overtourism in the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Demonstrators bang pots and shout slogans during a protest against mass tourism in Lisbon, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

A police officer stands next to bar as people march during a protest against overtourism in the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

People march during a protest against overtourism in the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Tourists sit in a restaurant as people protest against overtourism in the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

People march during a protest against overtourism in the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. Signs read in mallorquin, 'For Sale'. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

People march during a protest against overtourism in the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. The placards in Mallorquin read, 'In Mallorca we want to live, not survive'. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

People march during a protest against overtourism in the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. Signs read in mallorquin, 'For Sale'. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

A plain clothed police officer, left, tries to stop a man shooting a water pistol during a protest against overtourism in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Pau Venteo)

A person wears a t shirt with the message reading 'Neighborhood auto defense - Tourists go home' during a protest against overtourism in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Pau Venteo)

A cardboard figure of a cruise ship is photographed during a protest against overtourism in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Pau Venteo)

People march near the Sagrada Familia basilica during a protest against overtourism in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. Main banners read 'Decrease level of tourism now', Mass tourism kills neighborhoods' and 'Tarragona without cruise ships' (AP Photo/Pau Venteo)

People march during a protest against overtourism in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Pau Venteo)

A protester with a water gun takes part in a protest against overtourism in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Pau Venteo)

People shoot in the direction of tourists with water guns during a protest against overtourism in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Pau Venteo)

FILE - Tourists sit on a public bench at Plaza Mayor in downtown Madrid, Spain, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - People sunbathe on a beach in Barcelona, Spain, March 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

ADELBODEN, Switzerland (AP) — The big surprise of the World Cup slalom season scored his second win Sunday adding to his fast-rising reputation before the Winter Olympics.

Paco Rassat raced to the fastest time in the second run to rise from fourth place, and push two Norwegians down the podium steps after they had been fastest in the morning run.

United States-born Atle Lie McGrath was edged out by 0.18 seconds and first-run leader Henrik Kristoffersen dropped to third, trailing 0.20 behind Rassat.

The 27-year-old Frenchman had a career-best result of ninth in World Cup races before this Olympic season started.

Rassat now has two wins, a third place and two sixth places this season and shapes as a medal contender for the Milano Cortina Olympics. The men’s slalom is on Feb. 16 at Bormio.

“To win on this crazy hill at Adelboden, It’s something really unbelievable," Rassat told Swiss broadcaster RTS, describing his season as “a magnificent surprise.”

Rassat also took the lead in the seasonlong World Cup slalom standings, ahead of his France teammate Clément Noël, the defending Olympic champion. Noël tied for eighth Sunday.

McGrath was runner-up in the Adelboden slalom for the third time in four years.

“It’s kind of crazy,” said McGrath, whose father Felix skied for the U.S. at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. “I’m of course super happy, it’s such a challenging slope and mentally it’s one of the toughest places to perform because of this amazing crowd.”

Another packed finish-area crowd at Adelboden observed a minute’s silence before racing for the victims of the fatal fire in a bar in nearby Crans-Montana on New Year’s Day. Crans-Montana hosts men’s and women’s World Cup races in three weeks’ time.

The World Cup overall standings leader, four-time title holder Marco Odermatt, does not ski slalom and his huge lead was cut a little by Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who placed fourth. Pinheiro Braathen was second to Odermatt in the classic giant slalom Saturday.

The men’s World Cup circuit stays in central Switzerland for the storied Lauberhorn meeting at Wengen, for a super-G on Friday, the classic downhill Saturday and a slalom Sunday.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

France's Paco Rassat speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)

France's Paco Rassat reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Finland's Eduard Hallberg speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Norway's Atle Lie McGrath speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen ahead of an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)