'Gentrified out of existence': Madrid protest adds weight to Spain's anti-tourism wave

Residents of the central, multicultural neighbourhood of Lavapiés in Madrid took to their streets on Saturday to demonstrate against the 'destruction of their neighbourhood' and to demand better regulation of tourist accommodation.

Many fear that if nothing is done, Lavapiés will become a "museum neighbourhood and not for the people" who live there.

The demonstration was called against unregulated tourist accommodation, particularly the proliferation of illegal holiday rentals and their impact on rising house prices, as well as buildings bought by vulture capital funds, the lack of green spaces and facilities for children and the elderly, as well as police harassment of migrants in the area.

Citing a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants' Union, Spanish daily El Diario reports that in Madrid there are "almost 17,000 illegal tourist flats".

READ ALSO: Madrid to suspend holiday-let licences as rent prices spiral

Leah Pattem, journalist and founder of the Madrid No Frills website, told The Local: "I’ve lived in Lavapiés for more than 10 years and, in this time, I’ve seen a lot of change."

"You have always been able to hear multiple languages being spoken on the streets, often discussing local issues. But, in the last few years, especially since the pandemic, gentrification has become the core of the conversation, especially around police violence."

Organised by 40 organisations under the slogan Lavapiés al límite (Lavapiés at the limit), protesters walked through the streets of the popular, multicultural neighbourhood, and stopped at various landmarks.

Lavapiés showed up en masse for yesterday's Lavapiés al Límite rebellion against gentrification! Over 30 collectives and 1000+ neighbours performed a tour of resistance, chanting, singing and dancing through our streets 🪧✊🏾❤️‍🔥💪🏾 #lavapiesallimite pic.twitter.com/2KMxbLMF4Q

— Madrid No Frills (@madridnofrills) June 2, 2024

This comes amid growing concern around Spain about the socioeconomic impact of mass tourism on cities and locals. In recent weeks, there have been protests in Cantabria, Girona, the Balearics and the Canary Islands, with further demonstrations planned in Málaga.

READ ALSO: Mass protests in Spain's Canary Islands decry overtourism

Organisers in Lavapiés were well aware of their place in the rising anti-tourism sentiment around the country. "After the Canary Islands, Cantabria and the Balearic Islands, it's Madrid's turn. The fuse is lit this Saturday in Lavapiés" was how the Tenant's Union advertised the march on social media leading up to Saturday's protest.

👩🏽‍🤝‍👩🏿 Ayer salimos contra gentrificación y la violencia racista en Lavapiés. 🪧

¡Lavapiés, no se vende! ¡Lavapiés, se defiende! ✊🏾💜#LavapiésAlLimite 🏚️ pic.twitter.com/IpbXkKAsh2

— Reich (@reichcc) June 2, 2024

In particular, locals are unhappy about the number of short-term tourist rental properties. The increase in Airbnb properties, used by traditional tourists but increasingly remote workers and digital nomads, inflates the local property market and force locals out.

"Everything is ‘more Airbnb, more Airbnb, more Airbnb, more Airbnb’ one local, Teresa Ortiz, told El Diario, adding that her rent had increased by €150 in recent years.

Property speculation is also having an impact on local business. "The shops that open close in a month," Ortiz said, warning against gentrification in the area.

Many locals, not only in Lavapiés but in cities across the country, fear that local shops, often family run, are in danger of being bought out and turned into Airbnbs or trendy coffee shops catering for the tourists and remote workers that stay in the accommodation taking over the neighbourhood.

"There are thousands of individual tourist apartments, many of which are visible as they’re on street level, that have replaced local businesses," Pattem said.

READ ALSO: Why Madrid is struggling with its explosion of illegal holiday lets

"We are also experiencing daily evictions, for example, the entire building of Calle Tribulete 7 has been purchased by a vulture fund. We have at least eight entire blocks in the neighbourhood in the same situation," she added.

"We just want a neighbourhood for the neighbours, and for Almeida, the right-wing mayor of Madrid, to stop gentrifying us out of existence."

READ ALSO:

• Girona calls for 'expat census' as anti mass tourism sentiment in Spain grows
• Cafés in Spain on war footing against remote workers hogging space

Anti-tourist sentiments, sometimes verging on anti-wealthy foreigner sentiment, appears to be the rise in Spain, with everything from gentrification, rent increases caused by the rise in profitable holiday lets and the feeling that residents are becoming second-class citizens in their own cities all getting bundled together into a complex issue.

Tourism has long made up a significant proportion of Spain's economy, and provides employment for many Spaniards. Often the gripe is not with the traditional 'hotel on the coast' model of tourism, but in the post-pandemic period the frustration has increasingly been, firstly, with the sheer numbers of tourists coming to Spain (the country welcomed over 84 million visitors last year) but also the rise of tourist rental accommodation in Spain's major cities.

As more and more landlords turf out their tenants and turn their properties into Airbnbs, the housing stock available to locals not only decreases in terms of availability but increases in terms of price. In the increasingly online post-pandemic world of work, these properties are taken by tourists or remote workers, often with higher foreign salaries and spending power, usually from Northern Europe or the US.