‘Anti-tourism’ movement arrives to Spain’s Costa Blanca: ‘Tourists go home’ banner is seen for the first time in resort popular with Brits

A BANNER opposing mass tourism has appeared for the first time on a Marina Alta beach in Alicante province.

The 15-metre-long display was unfurled at the northern end of Javea’s Cala La Barraca on Sunday.

It was done at the initiative of the local anti-touristification group, Garrot.

A Garrot spokesperson said that the beach ‘clearly symbolises’ the ‘perversion and trivialisation’ of mass tourism.

It pointed out that local residents had been pushed out from what used to be a peaceful coastal area a few years ago.

Garrot stated that the Marina Alta is being transformed into a ‘papier-mache’ scenario where local people are losing their quality of life by ‘leaps and bounds’.

“Tourism is not a blessing but a curse that devastates everything it touches,” it said in a statement.

“Housing prices skyrocket with neighbours unable to buy or rent a property as the environment degrades and infrastructures are degraded to the extent areas are left without drinking water’.

Garrot said the area has become totally economically dependent on tourism which involves construction at ‘all costs’ and depletes natural resources.

It also criticised municipalities for purely looking at short-term growth without taking long term consequences on board.