In the city of Malaga in southern Spain, thousands of people participated in a protest against mass tourism. According to the organization, 25,000 residents walked through the center yesterday, and El Pais newspaper estimated the number at 15,000.

Protesters carried banners and placards reading “Malaga is not for sale” and “This is not tourism, this is an invasion.”

“The situation is untenable. Buying a house is impossible,” said one protester in El Pais. An engineer told the same newspaper that she recently saw a windowless garage for rent for 600 euros a month.

The local tenants association called for a protest. Partly due to the increasing number of visitors and holiday homes, there is a significant housing shortage in the city and it faces a lot of inconvenience.

Malaga has over 12,000 registered holiday homes. Only Madrid and Barcelona have more. In addition, many individuals illegally rent living spaces to vacationers.

There have also been recent protests against tourist excesses in Mallorca, the Canary Islands and Barcelona. The turnout was greater in Malaga.