Italian anti-tourism protesters have targeted key safes of holiday properties in a bid to scare off visitors who they say are pricing them out of local housing.
Activists calling themselves ‘Robin Hood’ pulled down several safes from properties in Rome, denying travelers access to their holiday accommodation.
Letters were attached to lampposts around the city under Robin Hood felt hats, describing the vandalism as ‘the first’ attack on ‘the rich’.
‘If you’re looking for the key vaults and can’t find them, read this. We are in revolt,’ read a note, shared by local media.
‘We have removed these key storage boxes to denounce the selling out of the city to short-stay holidaymakers who are alienating local residents and leaving residents on the streets.’
It comes after a summer of fierce backlash against tourists to Mediterranean hotspots, with locals decrying what they see as lax regulation of tourist accommodation that has made it harder to find affordable housing.
Robin Hood hats were attached to lampposts around Rome with a letter lamenting tourism
Locked boxes, like the one pictured, have been ripped from walls outside vacation properties
The rise of rental companies such as Airbnb has led some landlords to move away from renting to residents in favor of letting rooms or apartments to short-stay visitors.
This reduces the overall supply of housing, which pushes up the cost of rent.
The activists said rents had risen ‘exponentially’ in recent years.
“This is only our first action against the Holy Year of the rich,” their letters read.
More than 35 million tourists visited Rome last year, making it a record year and an all-time attendance.
The year before, as Rome rebuilt from the pandemic, some 15 million arrived – with 30 million overnight stays climbing 176 percent from 2021.
Next year, Rome and Vatican City will also host its jubilee ‘Holy Year’, which is expected to attract around 30 million visitors from around the world and put extra pressure on local residents.
But some residents worry that keeping tourists away will affect their livelihoods or tarnish their city’s reputation.
Protesters clashed with police in Venice in April over a new ‘tourist tax’ levy, requiring visitors to pay a €5 ‘entrance fee’.
Demonstrators, armed with signs and banners, lined the Italian city’s historic canals to show their disdain, met by baton-wielding riot police.
Critics maintain that the €5 (£4.30) fee, initially in place through the summer, is unlikely to make a significant dent in the roughly 30 million trips made to Venice each year.
People clash with police as they protest against the introduction of the registration and tourist fee in Venice, Italy, April 25, 2024
Members of social centers confront police officers during a demonstration in Piazzale Roma against the introduction of an entry fee to the city for day-trippers, in Venice, April 25
In a surprise statement, former mayor Massimo Cacciari went so far as to suggest that tourists should flatly refuse to pay the ‘absurd’ entrance fee, arguing that they already ‘pay for everything’.
In a statement to Adnkronos news agency, Cacciari noted that day visitors already pay “three times as much as residents” for public transport in the city, and that travelers all contribute to the longevity of Venice’s restaurants and museums.
Representatives also argue that the fee will not solve the fundamental problems, but will only tarnish the city’s public image.
Simone Venturini, the councilor in charge of tourism, defended the policy as part of a wider strategy to try to tackle the problems of overtourism, while admitting it was ‘no magic wand’.
‘Less day travelers do not mean less income, because overnight tourists are more important for the economy of the city.
‘We will see the results in the medium to long term and in the meantime we will assess how it is going.’
Spain has seen the biggest conflict over the issue this summer, with anti-tourism protesters going so far as to spray visitors with water as they dined on popular streets.
Under the slogan ‘Enough! Let’s put restrictions on tourism’, some 2,800 people – according to the police – marched along a waterfront district of Barcelona to demand a new economic model that would reduce the millions of tourists who visit each year.
Protesters carried signs reading ‘Barcelona is not for sale’ and ‘Tourists go home’ before some used water cannons on tourists eating outside.
Chants of ‘Tourists from our neighborhood’ rang out as some stopped in front of hotel entrances.
Anti-tourist graffiti has also appeared around holiday destinations this summer. In Mallorca one read ‘Kill a tourist’.
Messages of ‘Tourists go home’ were stenciled on walls in Barcelona and in the Balearic Islands.
Protesters sprayed water cannons at tourists eating at popular spots in the city
A symbolic cordon has been placed around a bar-restaurant in an area popular with tourists
For the six months to the end of June, 42.5 million international visitors traveled to Spain, with June alone recording a 12 percent rise to 9 million as the busier summer period ramps up, according to Spain’s data agency INE.
This means that 2024 is shaping up to be another record year for tourism, already the world’s second most visited country behind France.
It is expected to beat last year’s peak of 85 million tourists, when numbers exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
As in Italy, data shows that visitors are increasingly choosing to stay in rental apartments, rather than hotels, increasing demand for apartments and encouraging landlords to buy up housing at the expense of residents.
The number of visitors to Spain in the first half of the year who stayed in that type of accommodation rose by 30 per cent, while those staying in hotels rose by 11 per cent.
