Few scenes better capture the essence of a European summer than the terminals of our airports in the early hours of the morning. Britons necking pints like a football match is on, German couples eagerly murmuring about their cycling tour across Croatia, and passengers sleeping peacefully on corridor floors. This holiday season, millions will embark on an annual pilgrimage to the hotspots of Mallorca, Corfu and Albufeira to enjoy a much-anticipated break in the sun.

But it’s increasingly likely that they will face some kind of hostility there. In Barcelona, demonstrators might spray them with water pistols or tape off the entrance to their hotel. In Tenerife, visitors might see “tourists go home” graffiti on the side of the road as they drive their rental car down to the beach.

Recent protests, however, are focusing on the financial backers of overtourism, rather than individual holidaymakers. Two weeks ago in Portugal, hundreds of protesters marched along the winding roads of Parque Natural da Arrábida in an attempt to block the privatisation of five beaches by a luxury real-estate firm. Residents of Setúbal, a working-class coastal city just south of Lisbon, invoked their memories of learning to swim in Arrábida’s frigid waters and insisted their children should enjoy the same right.

Demonstrators chanted that “Arrábida is not for sale” and held signs that read “No to new kings”. The language clearly resembles that emerging from Albania, in response to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s plans to build a luxury hotel on the island of Sazan and develop the nearby Zvërnec peninsula.........

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