Mass tourism protests have been prevalent on the Spanish islands of Tenerife, Majorca and Ibiza this summer as residents there grow increasingly concerned about rapidly rising rents in its housing crisis as well as the huge environmental damage caused by cruise ships and extensive tourist hotels.
The same sentiments were shared in the mainland cities of Barcelona and Malaga.
There is also the fear that excessive tourism will destroy what makes their communities unique.
“We’ve had enough,” one protester told DW. “Everything revolves around tourism. Our livelihoods are in danger and we can’t find a place to live.”
However, further east, an entirely different picture is being painted on the Italian island of Sardinia. The second-largest in the Mediterranean, the island is home to 1.6 million people and it welcomed 7.5 million tourists in 2023.
In comparison, Tenerife is home to roughly 962,000, the most populated island in the Canary Islands and welcomed 5.6 million tourists, a figure that contributed to part of a record-breaking year of tourism in the archipelago.
In Sardinia, the local government works with restaurant operators, hotels and B&Bs to make tourism more sustainable. The model first began over 30 years ago, when the first concepts emerged for saving water, avoiding waste and relying on local food and other products.
Today, Sardinia has nine certified villages on “The Most Beautiful Villages of Italy” list, which recognises the best in the country for conservation and artistic heritage.
Relying on local produce is a big concern for the Spanish islands, Florian Wupperfeld, a world-leading social sustainability and placemaking expert and CEO of LCD Ventures, a UK-based destination innovation company, told Express.co.uk.
On Formentera, for example, there is no fishing industry, Mr Wupperfeld highlighted.
“It is all imported from Madrid – there is no economy, they don’t produce anything. All they have is tourism.”
He contrasted this with Sardinia, where, in comparison, building regulations have been maintained so that the island’s architecture remains consistent. For example, it is forbidden to build less than 300 metres from the shoreline, even in areas above sea level. This includes the installation of kiosks, walkways and any other services, even if they are removable, Agora magazine reported.
Ten years ago, the Sardinian authorities began limiting access to beaches, such as Spiaggia Rosa, and other popular destinations to protect the island’s nature and its image.
Almost all holidaymakers now obey the signs placed on the beaches asking them to avoid walking across the sand dunes that protect the beaches from erosion, as well as the threat of substantial fines.
Raimondo Mandis, from Sardinia’s Ministry of Tourism, told DW that while it was a difficult switch at the beginning, “there is a different approach from many of our operators and enterprises to embrace such a philosophy.
“Sustainability is saving something for the next visit.”
With six protected marine areas, two national marine parks and three regional parks, the area of Sardinia is largely protected, or at the very least, observed.
“There is no Planet B. There is no Sardinia B. The commitment is that of increasing the areas with protected nature.”
Wupperfeld’s LCD Ventures says it offers “data-driven, human-centric placemaking services with a strong focus on social sustainability to address the decline of social infrastructure in cities”. The organisation added that it “works with world-leading hospitality, culture, retail, and real estate companies, as well as cities and tourism boards, to improve the quality of life for residents, revitalise urban areas and sustainably boost tourism.”