The European war on tourism has now spread to Portugal and Switzerland.
In a Portuguese town once described by Lord Byron as a “glorious Eden”, locals are calling for “guerrilla action” to combat the number of visitors.
Meanwhile, Swiss people have complained that rare flowers such as edelweiss are being trampled by tourists trying to get the perfect Instagram photo of the Matterhorn peak, and have been forced to fence off pastures.
Tensions have also continued to rise in Spain, where several protests against tourists have been held in recent months.
At the latest demonstration, a group of young people from Mallorca took to social media to complain that restaurants only offer menus in English.
In Sintra, a Portuguese town once described by Lord Byron as a “glorious Eden”, locals are calling for “guerrilla action” to be undertaken to combat the large numbers of visitors.
Sintra residents complain that the town has become congested by “mass tourism” and has become “just a congested amusement park,” according to The Times.
Pena Palace alone, the World Heritage site’s main attraction, receives millions of visitors each year, causing traffic chaos in the winding surrounding neighborhoods.
In Sintra, there are signs that draw attention to the problems of mass tourism in the region.
They have organised their own form of protest by buying food from local bakeries and eating it on benches next to the offending establishments.
Anger is the order of the day in the municipality of Sintra, located in the Sintra Mountains in southern Portugal, which is home to fewer than 400,000 people.
Residents complain that the town has become congested by “mass tourism” and has become “a mere congested amusement park”, according to The Times.
Pena Palace alone, the World Heritage site’s main attraction, receives millions of visitors each year, causing traffic chaos in the winding surrounding neighbourhoods, with taxis backed up for hours.
Tourists park incorrectly, drive the wrong way down one-way streets and even crash into property walls, turning the area into a “tourist hell.”
Now, after years of calling on authorities to tackle the problem, members of a local action group have said “Enough is enough!” and are calling for action to be taken to combat mass tourism in the region, with one saying “guerilla action is needed.”
Meanwhile in Switzerland, locals have complained that tourists are trampling on rare alpine plants such as edelweiss in their rush to take selfies in front of the iconic Matterhorn peak.
Another flower, the rare, pink Thlaspi rotundifolium, which grows in very few places, has also been trampled by tourists arriving at Riffelsee via the Rotenboden train station to enjoy the famous view.
Speaking to The TelegraphBotanist Adrian Möhl said: “People don’t do it with bad intentions. They just don’t realise they are stepping on plants.”
But officials in Zermatt, the mountain resort in the southern Swiss canton of Valais where the Matterhorn is located, have been forced to fence off pastures to ensure tourists stay on the trails.
Jakob Graven, a gardener who cares for the plants, told The Telegraph that the situation had “improved a lot” but said the edelweiss had disappeared “from the region because they had been trampled”.
Work is underway to recover the plants, he told the newspaper.
In Switzerland, locals have complained that tourists trample rare alpine plants such as edelweiss in their rush to take selfies in front of the iconic Matterhorn peak.
Authorities in Zermatt, the mountain resort in the southern Swiss canton of Valais where the Matterhorn is located, have been forced to fence off pastures to ensure tourists stick to trails in order to protect local plants, some of which have disappeared.
In Sintra, residents, both local and foreign, are less sympathetic than Möhl and increasingly angry about the challenges that mass tourism presents to the region.
Even running everyday errands has become a challenge: One resident told Portugal’s SIC news channel that she wakes up at 5 a.m. just to walk her dog and tend to her garden to avoid the hordes of people descending on the city.
Meanwhile, a British expat living in the region said: The times that it is ‘very scary’ to think what would happen if there was a fire or an emergency’ that required an ambulance.
“It takes me two to three hours to make a 20-minute round trip to the nearest store,” he said.
A local protest group is calling for authorities to take action against the problem.
“Leaving Sintra without inhabitants and turning it into a mere amusement park is not the way to quality tourism that does not serve the environment, the culture, the landscape and the authenticity of this unique place,” he told the Times.
In a statement, the group said it was calling for “a systematic review of all major projects” such as hotels and property developments.
“Sintra belongs to everyone and needs everyone,” says its manifesto.
If authorities agree to the group’s request, Sintra would not be the first place in Portugal to introduce measures to crack down on tourism.
Porto recently announced a pilot plan to limit tuk-tuks and tourist buses in the city centre, and will phase out a tourist train next year.
Lisbon City Hall, for its part, has approved a measure that will increase the tourist tax on overnight stays from two euros (1.70 pounds) to four euros (3.40 pounds).
The iconic Italian city of Venice introduced an entry fee this year, with tourists required to pay five euros (£4.20) to visit.
However, the scheme has been branded a “total failure” by some in Italy after it generated more money than expected, showing it has not worked to combat overtourism.
People take part in a demonstration to protest against overtourism and housing prices on the island of Mallorca in Palma de Mallorca on July 21, 2024
People hold a sign reading ‘Tourism yes, but not like this’ during a demonstration to protest against overtourism and housing prices on the island of Mallorca on July 21, 2024.
The growing anti-tourism sentiment is shared by many locals living in European tourist hotspots, and protests have taken place on Spanish islands such as Mallorca and Tenerife this year.
Cities like Barcelona are taking steps to reduce the number of holiday rentals as residents complain about rising living costs.
In Soller, Mallorca, protesters have said they will continue to boycott restaurants that only have English menus and will eat their own food in full view of the establishments.
“We will do this until the menus are no longer in English only,” the group said in a social media post, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
