Are Spanish tourism protests having an impact on hotel demand over the summer season?

Tourism is big business, bringing millions of inbound visitors not just into entire countries each year, but sometimes tens of millions into just a single city. This brings pressure on local housing markets and services. 

All those people need somewhere to stay and sometimes visitors looking to have a good time on holiday can be less than sensitive to local communities. 

Consequently there is a growing tension in many of the world’s most popular destinations between the income tourism (or what some see as overtourism) brings, and the costs it incurs.

This has led to a growing number of protests in hotspot cities, especially in Spain, as locals seek to raise awareness of some of the more damaging effects and to try and change legislation to manage the growing throngs of visitors. 

It’s hard to hear as a traveler that you’re not welcome, so are holidaymakers listening and, if so, what impact is this having?

Spanish anti-tourism protests some of the most prominent in the world

While the backlash against mass tourism has been seen in multiple communities around the world, it is Spain that has captured the most media attention. This is largely due to it being a tourism powerhouse, attracting 94 million visitors in 2024 according to Reuters. It also has some of the most active local anti-tourism groups, especially in Barcelona and the Balearic Islands.

Outside Spain, other well-known examples include popular cities, like Venice, Italy, Lisbon, Portugal, Amsterdam, Netherlands, as well as more destinations across Italy and Greece. 

In some major cities in Spain this has brought opposition to tourism, especially vacation rentals, to global attention, with wide reporting on the movement across major outlets, from the BBC to CNN. 

Consequently, consumers are now paying attention, although that focus on local concerns picks up noticeably around the summer period when travelers are closely considering their vacation choices, with Spain’s sunny beaches and postcard cities hugely popular for summer tourists.

Looking at the most mentioned city from media reports, Barcelona, alongside Spain as a whole, in Google trends shows that searches spike for the terms ‘Barcelona protest’ and ‘Spain protest’ during June and July in both 2024 and 2025 thus far. 

We can therefore see how the concerns of Spanish citizens over mass tourism have entered the wider consciousness, especially so with tourists looking to book their summer vacation.

Do the protests signal a dip in demand for Spanish hotels?

We may now be seeing that rising consciousness of tourism’s impact feed through to consumer behavior, as there is a drop in Year-on-Year (YoY) demand indicators in Spanish destinations where there has been notable anti-tourism sentiment.

For this analysis we are looking at forward-looking daily demand in Barcelona, Granada, Ibiza, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, and Tenerife, as all have been mentioned in media reports showcasing protests against mass tourism.

While this is indicative data built of a composite of different indicators, including occupancy, unavailable hotels and searches, there does appear to be a pattern that may be linked to the change locals are demanding. 

Although most of these destinations are seeing YoY increases in demand in off-peak periods in the second half of this year, the critical July and August period is weak across all of these locations. 

There is a mean average decline in daily demand indicators during the months of July and August to the tune of:

• -6% in Barcelona. 

• -4% in Granada. 

• -2% in Ibiza. 

• -3% in Malaga. 

• -7% in Palma de Mallorca. 

• -1% in Tenerife. 

What may further reinforce the link between opposition to tourism and weaker performance this year is that the two locations that have arguably had the most vocal protest movements, and consequently column inches written about them, Barcelona and Mallorca, show the biggest declines in demand compared to 2024. 

After August, there is a general pattern of rising YoY demand in the second half of the year, with indicators more likely to be up YoY in these destinations in October and November than in July and August. 

Although this data is more volatile further out from the date-of-stay, this difference may also be indicative of tourists taking into account local interests and seeking to make more bookings off-peak to reduce their impact.

Spanish tourism protest hotspots see worse demand picture

However, could this just be part of a wider shortfall in demand for Spain overall and how do these destinations compare to wider national performance?

Comparing the two, the data suggests that protest-hit locations are underperforming relative to the national level during these key months when people are paying most attention to anti-tourism sentiment. 

Spain has, thus far, continued to be a growth destination in 2025. Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu predicted a +9% increase in visitor arrivals in Q1 2025, which has subsequently proved overoptimistic, but nonetheless the country still experienced a +5.7% increase in arrivals and over this period and +7.2% growth in spending, according to government statistics.

Looking at our data for those critical peak months, there is general growth in demand indicators in Spain, meaning that national demand outperforms the destinations we have highlighted in this analysis in summer. 

Across H2 2025 demand is marginally up overall, but for July and August there is a mean average increase of +3% in daily demand indicators, with a peak day of YoY demand indicator growth July 26, when indicators are up +21% YoY.  

Combining national and Lighthouse data and it hardly seems like a picture of tourists turning away from Spain en masse, but seemingly more selective behaviors among consumers, who are looking more closely at where and when they choose to travel.

We can further highlight the general distance between Spain’s overall performance and destinations experiencing prominent protests by comparing hotel search volume data for the country overall with Barcelona. 

Across every month in H1 2025 Spain as a whole performs better for hotel search volume. While the total YoY volume change for Spain is still negative in four out of the six months, Barcelona is substantially worse, seeing declining volume in every month.

The biggest gap came in June when there was a 21% difference in YoY change, as Barcelona had -13% less searches than in 2024, but Spain saw +18% growth. 

Some of the better performing destinations in our available data for July and August are also smaller destinations and lesser-known names around Spain, such as San Sebastian and Cambrils, or in the case of the Canary Islands, the least visited island of Fuerteventura is showing a YoY rise in demand indicators, while Tenerife is down. 

Are the protests also impacting hotel pricing in Spanish cities?

Looking once again at Barcelona and Mallorca as the two most well-known anti-tourist movements, real-term prices across the whole of 2025 are down YoY in Barcelona, and very slightly up in Mallorca. While advertised prices in both July and August have fallen compared to 2024 on both locations.

In Barcelona, actualized and advertised prices for a standard hotel room are down YoY -3% for the whole year and the same again for July and August. In Mallorca, prices are up 4% for the whole year, but down -2% in July and August.

Inflation in Spain is currently running around 2% at the time of writing, making these declines slightly more severe in real terms.  

It is important to note that Spain is coming off a huge, record-breaking year of inbound tourism, and so this may be part of a more modest picture setting in.

But, the wider pattern of underperformance in peak months and slightly better comparative demand and pricing in off-peak months across Spain’s most popular tourist destinations may well indicate that protests are having an impact. 

This is especially so when compared to the wider national picture, which does not suggest a picture of declining arrivals to Spain. 

This will be encouraging to local activists, but concerning for impacted hospitality businesses and something to monitor in key cities around the globe.

Use forward-looking search data to fully understand demand in your market

Many cities are now seeing their citizens turn against the tourist tide for reasons spanning overcrowding to housing costs, and the explosion of short-term rentals - with properties being used for Airbnb tourist apartments instead of residential rentals for locals, which has led to a housing crisis in many cities.

To thrive in an environment where consumer sentiment and demand can shift rapidly, real-time, forward-looking insights are paramount. You need to embrace a proactive, data-driven approach to revenue management. 

Factors like anti-tourism sentiment can dramatically impact demand indicators and pricing power. This makes the adoption of dynamic pricing, automation, and the use of forward-looking demand data essential elements of your strategy.

You can detect shifts in traveler behavior - such as a preference for off-peak travel or alternative destinations - and adjust your pricing and marketing strategies, rather than reacting after the opportunity has passed or the impact is already felt.

In a market where local concerns can directly influence global travel patterns, real-time, quality data is the ultimate competitive advantage.

With Market Insight's forward-looking demand signals and real-time pricing intelligence with Rate Insight, you can proactively monitor and respond to these dynamic forces.

To equip yourself with the best tools to navigate the complexities of modern tourism, get in touch with our team.