Protest group targets Barraca beach: “Mass tourism is not a blessing but a curse”

The anti-tourism protests that have been spreading across Spain have reached Xàbia. Over the weekend, members from the collective ‘Garrot’, an anti-tourism action group based in the Marina Alta, held a protest on the rocks overlooking the popular beach of La Barraca, unfurling a banner that called for a halt to over tourism and calling for tourists to go home.

The choice of location of protest was very deliberate, not only because of its saturation during the summer months but also because it has a very special meaning for the people of Xàbia. The name ‘barraca’ means ‘hut’ in English and this sheltered cove was used as a refuge by the local fisherman who built the huts to store their boats and equipment. The Garrot group says that the beach has been “colonised by tourists” and has lost its identity, with loud music and some of the huts now being used as tourist rentals, excluding local people from enjoyed this once-peaceful corner of their town.

They have even targeted the famous “blue door” of Portitxol, sealing it with red-and-white tape to deter the influencers who queue daily for a photo in front of an iconic image that has gone viral worldwide. The group says that this simple door has become an icon of tourist over-crowding in the region -“a backdrop of posturing” – and that these actions are only the beginning of the series of protests that they intend to carry out to defend the identity of the Marina Alta and regain control of it.

Among the main concerns of the group is the huge increase in the price of housing, accusing real estate companies and developers of speculating with the lives of local people who can no longer afford to live in their home towns and blaming successive governments for “embezzling our resources” for the benefit of construction companies and the rich. They also claim that the thousands of swimming pools in the Marina Alta region – there are almost 38,000 – are filled with water that should be “bathing our cultivated lands and flowing from the town’s springs”. Indeed, as the ongoing drought shows no sign of ending, there are even towns across the region which have been left without tap access to drinking water.

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They also claim that the Marina Alta is suffering an accelerated process of over-tourism where services, businesses and infrastructure are more focused on satisfying tourists that on serving local residents – “tourism impoverishes, denying us a decent present and future” – adding that the region is being transformed into a “theme park for tourists” which sacrifices the culture and rights of residents in favour of the economic interests of a few whilst diluting the region’s cultural and linguistic identity.

They also claim that the health service continues to collapse due to the lack of doctors who are put off by high housing prices, terrible working conditions, and the over-loading of the system due to the increase in patients during the summer period, accusing over-tourism of “robbing local resources and services”.

The group have accused local and regional administrations of being complicit, prioritising short-term economic growth without considering the negative impact of the quality of life of local residents. They claim that there is a lack of effective measures to regulate tourist rentals, protect local business, and preserve cultural traditions.

Ultimately, the message from the Garrot group is that “mass tourism is not a blessing, but the opposite: a curse that sweeps away everything it touches”, resulting in sky-high property prices, lost identities, a damaged environment, an overloaded infrastructure, the closure of local businesses and an absolute dependence on a model of tourism and construction at all costs, depleting natural resources.