Tired of overtourism pushing up rental prices, Málaga locals have found a novel way to vent their anger
Incensed after finding out his rental home of 10 years was about to become a tourist apartment, Dani Romero took to social media. What followed swiftly snowballed into a movement, as residents in Málaga began plastering stickers – reading “A family used to live here” or “Go home” – outside tourist lets across the southern Spanish city.At the core of what one Spanish broadcaster called “the sticker rebellion” is not a rejection of tourism, said Romero.
Fuelled by frustration, he took to the social media page of the bar he owns, posting his own take on the blue AT – Apartamento Turístico or Tourist Apartment – signs that advertise tourist lets in the city. “ATtack against the citizens of the city,” he said, as he invited others to come up with their own rebrand of these short-term rentals.Answers soon rolled in, all of them cleverly playing off the AT sign. “This used to be my home,” reads the translation of one response.
A recent survey of residents in Málaga found that access to housing ranked as their principal concern, with 60% of those polled describing rental prices as “very expensive”.While about 80% of those surveyed described the impact of tourism as “very positive” or “positive,” the most recent data available showed that in 2021, the number of foreign nationals moving to the city rose by 2,600 while the population of Spanish nationals dropped by nearly 1,000.
Those lucky enough to own their home were not immune either, he said, as the influx of tourists had steadily replaced fruit shops and fishmongers with souvenir stands and luggage storage. “I don’t have anything against tourism. Tourists visit my bar and I’ve been a tourist,” said Romero. “But we have to regulate tourism – me and half the city can’t live like this.”
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