Angry locals block famous beach as mass tourism protests escalate at vacation hot spot

Some 100 residents staged an occupation of a beach in Ibiza recently to protest overtourism amid growing frustration over mass tourism in Spain — and more action is apparently planned. 

The group gathered at Cala Saladeta, a popular tourist beach, last week, according to Balearic public broadcaster IB3.

The protest was organized by the Ibiza Youth Association, a local youth group.

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Ibiza is one of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

The island is visited by many tourists, with its population swelling during the summer months.

Known to locals as Eivissa, Ibiza received nearly 1.2 million tourists in the second quarter of 2025, according to data from the Balearic Islands Statistics Institute.

Organizers rallied “against tourist overcrowding,” IB3 reported, and activists handed out watermelon as part of a demand “that residents be able to enjoy the island’s public spaces.”

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The group said in its manifesto that “our land and our culture are being directly pushed out of public spaces, and increasingly out of private spaces, as well, displayed solely as tourist attractions,” according to local outlet CadeNA SER.

The manifesto also decried a tourism model catering to “wealthy foreigners and famous partygoers,” while arguing that housing, food and other living costs have become unaffordable for residents.

“[Young people are] fed up with not being able to enjoy [the island] as tourists do, because we believe we can no longer continue giving up spaces to the visitors brought by this extractive tourism model, which makes our lives in Ibiza more precarious,” the manifesto added, per Cadena SER.

The island’s coves, which attract tourists during the busy summer season, were also a focus of the group’s manifesto.

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The coves “should become our coves again, clean and peaceful,” the manifesto said.

“We want to reclaim places of tranquility.”

“We have decided that we want to reclaim places of tranquility, including during the summer,” the statement added.

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In response to the recent protests, Ibiza Island Council President Vicent Marí said the island has been a “pioneer” in combating tourist overcrowding, according to Cadena SER.

The Ibiza demonstration comes amid broader tensions surrounding mass tourism across Spain.

In recent years, Barcelona residents have taken to the streets to protest mass tourism, with some demonstrators spraying visitors with water guns.

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On Mallorca, another of Spain’s Balearic Islands, viral videos showed pickpockets targeting tourists near the island’s capital of Palma.