Alex Trelinski
ORGANISERS claim that over 700 people joined an Alicante protest on Saturday against mass tourism which is pushing up property prices.
The event saw demonstrators walk around Alicante city centre chanting slogans that ‘Alicante is not for sale’ and that ‘housing is a right and tourism a privilege’.
The protest was organised by neighbourhood group Donde Vas(Where are you going?).
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The demo ended at the Casino del Puerto, for the reading of a manifesto which denounced that Alicante ‘has become a theme park’.
It stated that the city ‘lives off tourism, when in reality it is tourism that lives from it, and Alicante has a limit’.
The manifesto highlighted that access to decent housing has become an unattainable luxury for the majority, aggravated by job insecurity in the tourism sector including by low wages, temporary contracts and ‘terrible’ working conditions- especially among women and migrants.
Donde Vas warned of the dangers of a model of ‘tourist monoculture’, which augurs an unsustainable future and exacerbates environmental crises, benefiting only a business elite.
It claimed feel invisible in the face of institutions that, according to them, ignore their needs, while prioritizing the economic interests of tourism.
The manifesto concluded with a call for reflection: “We cannot allow Alicante to become a city empty of residents, families and neighbourhood, where the right to our city is sacrificed for the sake of economic benefit.”
“It’s time to pause and reflect on where we’re going and how we want to share our urban space.”
