Panic in Spain as country braces for ‘record-breaking 100m tourists’

Overtourism tensions could boil over in Spain as industry figures warn that a new record for holidaymakers could be set this summer. The European country hosted a record-breaking 97million foreign arrivals last year, and saw 9.1million visitors descend this April alone - the most ever for that month.

Tourism bosses such as Fede Fuster, president of the Benidorm tourism association, have welcomed the prospect of Spain beating France to become the world's biggest holidaymaker destination. Mr Fuster told the BBC: "I think this is going to be a great year. I'm optimistic, we're talking about reaching 100million tourists in Spain. If we keep growing like this, we're going to be number one very soon."

The upwards trend, which Mr Fuster linked to the Middle East conflict, as travellers are diverted from riskier destinations including Turkey and Egypt, could, however, heighten hostility between locals angry about the mass influx and undiscerning foreigners.

Holidaymakers were squirted with water pistols and refused entry to shops in cities such as Barcelona as protests erupted across the country last summer.

Residents frustrated by the congestion, housing market pressure and strain on local infrastructure associated with the heavy footfall also took to the streets of popular Balearic Island destinations Majorca and Menorca on numerous occasions last year.

While local officials tried to bring the temperature down with measures including limiting cruise ship arrivals and introducing strict rules on unruly tourist behaviour, the backlash doesn't appear to have meaningfully dented global demand.

Anti-tourism groups have scheduled a fresh wave of protests for the coming months, among them plans to "collapse" Majorca's capital city of Palma on July 26.

David Comas, spokesperson for the Menys Turisme Més Vida ('Less tourism, more life') group, which organised previous demonstrations, warned that the archipelago was heading for a "decisive" summer.

"We foresee it will be a very difficult summer for Majorcans," he said in a statement. "[Majorca] has been transformed into a theme park where the right to be able to live is violated."

Protests organised by the group in recent years are thought to have drawn up to 50,000 participants, calling for changes, including a 50% reduction in rental prices for locals and action to address the island's increasingly unstable labour market.

Mr Fuster said: "We say we are the industry of happiness, but we also have to realise that we impact the normal life of citizens. The way we welcome people and we care about them and our happiness, the way we live, I think that's something the tourist really appreciates - that's the key.

"That's why we have to work a lot in these places, mostly in cities, where there is a feeling of not welcoming tourists. It's very important for us because if we lose that, we're dead."