Yzabelle Bostyn
THESE popular Spanish travel destinations are being blacklisted by travel experts.
Travel experts Fodor have revealed 2025’s ‘no travel’ list which ‘aims to shine a light on destinations suffering from untenable popularity.’
Their website read: “These locations are popular for good reason—they are stunning, intriguing, and culturally significant. However, some of these highly coveted tourist spots are collapsing under the burden of their own prominence.”
They highlighted the tendency of local governments to prioritise visitor experience over local people as a major issue.
But instead of a full boycott, they advocated for tourists to be aware of the issues facing communities when it comes to booking a holiday and act appropriately, including avoiding Airbnb and not visiting chain restaurants.
Some three Spanish locations were included in the list, including Mallorca, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.
Under the title ‘European destinations where locals don’t want you’, the Spanish locations were listed alongside the likes of Lisbon and Venice.
In the case of Barcelona, the travel experts called out Airbnb for rental prices which have risen some 68% in the last decade.
Though the local government has pledged to revoke all short-term rental licenses by 2028, activists say this is not enough when faced with a problem ongoing ‘for over 15 years.’
They also referenced the summer of unrest in Europe as ‘tensions boiled over as protests erupted across the continent.’
“It’s a jarring change,” the travel experts wrote, “many of these destinations have been aggressively marketing to visitors for years and have reaped the economic advantages.”
They pointed out that the Canary Islands, where the tourism industry makes up 35% of the GDP, generated €16.9 billion ($17.8 billion) in 2023.
That same year, Barcelona tourists spent €9.6 billion ($10.2 billion) in the city, an increase of 26.1% compared with 2022.
However, they called this exponential growth of tourism shortsighted.
