Why empty pools and angry protests could greet holidaymakers in Europe this summer

The Easter break is like the Community Shield of holidays – or perhaps the Queen’s Club Championship, or the Baftas – in that it offers a glimpse of what we can expect for the headline event to come.

Thankfully, there was no repeat of last year’s travel chaos caused by strike action, both at home and abroad. But after the Easter break we do now have a clearer picture of where the tourist troubles will be centred this summer, with protests, drought measures and airport queues affecting British holidaymakers across the Continent.

The school summer holidays are still 100 days away – plenty can, and will, happen before then – but let’s take a look at five key themes that have emerged so far, and consider how they could affect your holiday.

A swimming pool ban in Spain?

Spain is experiencing its worst droughts for 200 years, with Catalonia suffering from particularly severe water shortages. The Sau reservoir, east of Girona, once attracted tourists for its submerged church and village, but these are now entirely visible above the waterline: a symbol of what Catalan President Pere Aragonès has called “the new climate reality”.

Drought is also affecting Italy and, in particular, Sicily, which experienced serious wildfires during the 2023 summer season. This interactive map from the European Drought Observatory highlights the scale of the problem.

In Andalucia, local councils in the Costa del Sol and Malaga City have banned private swimming pools from being filled with mains water, meaning they must be filled with well-water or groundwater instead. This covers tourist rentals, although hotels and sports centres are exempt from the rule – for now.

The upshot for holidaymakers heading to Spain this summer? There is a risk that your swimming pool will be filled with non-mains water, which would require filtering (24 to 72 hours) before it can be used. Some pools may close entirely. You will probably also have to wait to go home from the beach before showering sand off your body, as public water taps have been turned off across the country.

Some accommodation owners in the south of Spain fear holidaymakers will cancel if use of a swimming pool is not guaranteed. Samantha Austin, whose company looks after around 50,000 tourist flats around Spain’s south coast, told the local newspaper, The Sur in English: “I have many clients waiting to hear from me as they’re deciding whether to come or not. If there is no pool, they are going to change their destination this year. We are having cancellations and we are going to have more.”

Lengthy queues at popular airports

British holidaymakers complained of lengthy queues at Palma de Mallorca Airport. One family returning to Manchester Airport told the Majorca Daily Bulletin that they queued for two hours to proceed through security checks and passport control. This came after a half-hour wait to have their passports stamped on arrival. Tui and Jet2 warned passengers that they might experience longer than usual waits caused by maintenance and a suspected “work-to-rule” policy, when staff do the minimum amount of work required by their contract.

In Faro, British holidaymakers reported lengthy delays to proceed through security. Yvette Hughes posted on X: “What the hell is going on. Three and a half hour’s queueing through security.” She suggested that passengers had not received any information on the cause. Another, Parson James, said he had been waiting for three hours to get through customs on arrival, and the football broadcaster Jeff Stelling also posted on X complaining of staff shortages and e-gates not working.

A lot could change at these airports between now and the summer, so the above shouldn’t be a serious cause for concern for people heading to the Algarve or Mallorca. Something to watch out for, however, is that the impending 100ml liquids rule change could cause some confusion for outbound passengers. This is because some UK airports have been issued a June 1 deadline while others, such as Gatwick and Heathrow, have extensions into 2025.

Locals living in caves and cars

Activists in Tenerife say that locals are having to live in their cars – or in some instances, caves – due to a cost of living crisis perpetuated by mass tourism. Ivan Cerdena Molina of the Tenerife Friends of Nature Association (ATAN) told Olive Press: “We have nothing against individual tourists but the industry is growing and growing and using up so many resources and the island cannot cope.

“It’s a crisis, we have to change things urgently. People are living in their cars and even in caves, and locals can’t eat, drink or live well. The benefits of the industry are not trickling down to everyday people, whose salaries have not increased in years. The quality of life here is collapsing.”

There have been similar complaints in Ibiza, where local professionals have resorted to living in their cars due to a rise in accommodation costs, as well as in Santorini.

“In Ibiza, accommodation is very expensive, and it’s getting more and more expensive,” César Nebrera, a chef, told the BBC. “And the cost of renting is completely out of kilter with what you earn. So living like this is an alternative. It’s less comfortable, but it allows me to keep living on the island.” Other locals are living in tents or basic shared accommodation, in order to make ends meet.

It is a problem that British tourists should be conscious of when chatting with workers on Spanish islands this summer; your friendly chef, waiter or hotel porter may be staying in much more basic accommodation than you are.

‘Tourists go home’

The issues created by mass tourism, including the cost of living crisis mentioned above, are bringing some islands to a tipping point. Protests are planned on April 20 across five of the eight Canary Islands (under the banner of “The Canary Islands have a limit”), in which activists will call on the government to curb tourism growth and introduce a more sustainable model of tourism that benefits residents and the environment.

In Malaga, ahead of the Easter holidays, protest groups put stickers on tourist accommodation saying “Go ****ing Home”, plus phrases like “a family used to live here”, “before this was my house” and “stinks of tourists”. Amsterdam has recently relaunched its Stay Away campaign, targeted at keeping rowdy British stag groups away from the city.

British tourists can expect more of this as the summer season approaches and the anti-tourist sentiment intensifies in key holiday spots across the Continent. Don’t be surprised if more protests are scheduled when July and August come round.

Troubles on home soil

On home soil, there were multiple examples of British tourists getting it a bit wrong at beauty spots. On the south coast, tourists were seen posing for photographs inches from the cliff edge at Birling Gap. Pictures also emerged from Snowdon showing a large number of walkers snaking up to the summit of the highest mountain in Wales to capture the perfect photo. This is a rising trend in the national park, where mountain rescue has complained of groups attempting to climb to the summit in high heels.

Over the Easter holidays, there were also a number of examples of British passengers causing problems on planes. One man, on a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Alicante, prompted an emergency landing after drinking a bottle of Disaronno. Another flight from Manchester to Dalaman was forced to divert to Serbia, where an unruly passenger was filmed being removed by police. Don’t be surprised if there are more reports along these lines in the late spring and summer, as the stag and hen season kicks off to destinations like Prague, Krakow and Ibiza.