Anti-tourism sentiment has recently surged in Cape Town, as local activists express frustration with the influx of selfie-taking digital nomads.
The South African city has experienced a significant increase in remote workers from affluent nations who relocate frequently to enjoy the sun and immerse themselves in diverse cultures.
Although local authorities have welcomed this trend of individuals coming in and out of the city, activists claim that digital nomads are driving up property prices and displacing residents from their own homes.
The Times reported that a recent event by Nomad Week, an initiative run by the city and Work Wanderers, a firm that according to its LinkedIn page offers ‘luxurious accommodation, chic co-working spaces, bucket-list activities, community, and networking opportunities’ to digital nomads, became a flashpoint for anti-tourism sentiment.
The activist group, Dismantling the Ivory Tower, slammed the week-long event as ‘a celebration of displacement’ in a new era of colonisation armed by ‘booking apps instead of gunboats.’
And it’s not just activists who are up in arms over the rush of remote workers.
South African influencer Naledi Mallela took to her TikTok earlier this month to call out digital nomads.
In the video, she said: ‘I need you guys to stop it! Stop it right now, stop coming to South Africa! No, I’m being serious! I have no problem with the fact that you guys are realising that South Africa is a beautiful country and we have cheap s***.
‘But the problem with you guys coming here is that everything is getting expensive! Like every single second TikTok an American is here, someone is going to a safari, everything has become expensive, Nandos costs 600 [South African Rand] for a full chicken’, she added.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town’s mayor, defended the nomads as ‘a blessing to our economy’ and said the city’s biggest scourges were poverty and unemployment.
But even he admitted there needed to be a ‘level playing field’ to balance the interests of locals and digital nomads.
He told South African newspaper Daily Maverick: ‘You can’t come into a very tourism-rich market and basically run a small hotel… if you’re running a permanent Airbnb, that’s what it is, but you’re not taxed like a hotel, you’re taxed like a private house.’
Hill-Lewis said the city was putting a process in place to convert ‘permanent Airbnbs’ from residential to commercial taxes, which he said would bring in more money for the region.
‘I think that’s only fair. There has to be an equal playing field’, he said.
A study conducted by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) revealed that the number of countries offering digital nomad visas has risen significantly since 2020.
The UNWTO looked at 54 destinations last year and found that 45% offered these visas for up to one year, while 39% exempted digital nomads from tax payments.
The 2023 report recommended that host countries carefully evaluate the costs and benefits of implementing digital nomad visa programmes, noting that their effect on tourism is still difficult to measure.
It comes amid rising anti-tourist rhetoric and actions across the world, particularly in Europe.
Anti-tourism activists promised to wreck havoc across Spain this summer as they ramp up their campaign against holidaymakers by blocking beauty spots and torching hire cars ahead of planned international summit to discuss protest tactics.
Visitors to the party paradise of Ibiza were left disappointed last month after a popular viewing point was dramatically blocked off with boulders in the latest sign of growing local resentment towards mass tourism.
The famous Es Vedra viewpoint, where thousands gather to watch the sun sink behind the mountainous island each evening, is now off-limits after frustrated landowners declared they’d had enough of being overrun by crowds.
A blunt sign now warns visitors: ‘Private Property. Restricted Access.’
But the blocked roadway was seemingly tame compared to the violence and chaos that erupted in Tenerife last week, where furious activists reportedly torched and smashed a fleet of hire cars in a shocking act of protest.
Disturbing footage circulating online shows masked vandals dousing around 20 rental vehicles with flammable liquid before setting them alight in the popular Costa Adeje resort – a favourite among British holidaymakers.
Angry demonstrators targeted visitors last year, blaming them for soaring rents and a cost of living crisis that’s driving locals out of their homes. Some campaigners have even threatened to take their protests to the next level by blocking airports.
The anti-tourism movement is gaining momentum across southern Europe with at least 15 activist groups from holiday hotspots in Spain, Portugal, Italy and France set to meet in Barcelona next month to plot their next steps.
The Neighbourhood Assembly for Tourist Degrowth – a key player in the anti-tourism push – said it wants to ‘strengthen the network of the territories of southern Europe against tourists.’
The recent vow for more protests follows a summer of major demonstrations across Spain’s popular resorts, with anger particularly mounting over mass tourism.
