Laurence Dollimore
CADIZ is the latest city to join the fight against excessive tourism that is currently sweeping Spain.
The ancient city is the capital of Cadiz province in Andalucia, southern Spain, which has long been a paradise for surfers, who head to the beaches of windy Tarifa all year round.
But it is also filled with cultural gems, including Cadiz city itself, the sherry capital Jerez de la Frontera and Puerto de Santa Maria.
However locals in the capital claim tourism is becoming overwhelming, accusing visitors of ‘stealing our city, neighbourhoods and businesses.’
Now, a new activist group, Cadiz Resiste, has been set up to ‘fight’ for the city of Cadiz.
Leading member Daniel Franco, reading from its manifesto, explained this week: “Cadiz Resiste was born from exhaustion, from contained rage in the face of a very palpable fact: they are stealing our city, our neighborhoods and businesses, the very possibility of making a life in Cadiz. What is at stake is our own identity.”
More than 50 members attended a meeting with Franco, where they called a mass protest for June 29 – the same date as an identical demonstration in Malaga city.
The manifesto continues: “There are many people concerned about the expulsion of neighbours from their homes at the expense of a speculative logic that makes housing a market good rather than a fundamental right…
“We are witnessing the conversion of our city into an amusement park, a place of passage for tourists.”
The manifesto calls on local and regional leaders, including Andalucian president Juanma Moreno, to take their concerns seriously.
It adds: “Although we are not against them coming to visit our beautiful city, we do take a strong position against touristification, against completely uncontrolled and deregulated mass tourism.
“We find ourselves facing a tragic dilemma: either we continue down the path of building hotels – like the one in Campo de las Balas – and granting more permits for housing for tourist use, finishing off what little remains of local life and evicting the men and women of Cádiz, or we get down to work and fight for our city by setting the limits that are necessary to regulate tourism.”
Local Jesus Ruiz told Diario de Cadiz: “This platform is born from the fatigue of the residents of Cadiz over the touristification that is plaguing the city and that is harming us in every way.
“Young people want decent work in their city and older people want to continue living in their homes, in their neighborhoods, because this housing emergency that we are suffering shakes all ages.”
