{"id":80667,"date":"2025-09-14T12:50:31","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T09:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=80667"},"modified":"2025-09-14T12:50:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T09:50:31","slug":"overtourism-overwhelms-santiago-locals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/overtourism-overwhelms-santiago-locals\/","title":{"rendered":"Overtourism Overwhelms Santiago: Locals Forced Out as Rents Soar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For centuries, Santiago de Compostela stood as a sacred endpoint for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. Today, the medieval heart of this Spainsh city has become a hotspot for mass tourism, welcoming over half a million visitors last year\u2014five times its population. But as the crowds swell, locals are vanishing, historic homes are being converted into short-term rentals, and the city\u2019s centuries-old soul is slipping away.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Streets filled with tourists, not neighbors<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Local associations tried to restore order by handing out \u201cgood manners\u201d guides urging visitors to keep noise down, respect traffic rules, and protect the cobblestones from metal hiking poles. Yet the effort has barely made a dent. Narrow alleys once lined with family shops are now dominated by ice cream parlors, souvenir stores, and hostels, while hardware shops, bakeries, and newsstands have all but disappeared.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Rental crisis drives young residents away<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The explosion of Airbnb-style rentals has sent housing costs soaring\u2014rents rose 44% from 2018 to 2023. The city banned short-term rentals in the historic core, but enforcement struggles and loopholes have allowed illegal listings to persist. Young locals say finding an affordable place is \u201cmission impossible,\u201d and many are returning to their parents\u2019 homes or moving to nearby towns.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Pilgrimage loses its spiritual spark<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Pilgrim arrivals are on track to set another record this year, but the surge is eroding the Camino\u2019s quiet, reflective atmosphere. Local surveys show half of Santiago\u2019s residents now oppose a tourism-driven economy\u2014up from just over a quarter ten years ago. Even returning pilgrims notice the shift: \u201cThe Camino used to feel deeply spiritual,\u201d said Spaniard Ale Osteso. \u201cNow it\u2019s more about crowds and less about meaning.\u201d<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 Santiago de Compostela: Europe\u2019s Pilgrim\u2019s Crown \ud83c\udff0\u2728\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HJFqoSx442M\" width=\"315\" height=\"560\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For centuries, Santiago de Compostela stood as a sacred endpoint for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. Today, the medieval heart of this Spainsh city has become a hotspot for mass tourism, welcoming over half a million visitors last year\u2014five times its population. But as the crowds swell, locals are vanishing, historic homes are being &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9192199,"featured_media":80668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,17],"tags":[79971,79969,79972,79970,79968,79973,79974,27051,519,39564],"class_list":["post-80667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-europe","tag-airbnb","tag-camino-de-santiago","tag-cultural-heritage","tag-housing-crisis","tag-overtourism","tag-pilgrimage","tag-rent-prices","tag-santiago-de-compostela","tag-spain","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9192199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80669,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80667\/revisions\/80669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}