Three Spanish holiday hotspots named in damning survey as tourists complain
Despite their great popularity, three iconic Spanish holiday destinations are being seen as 'over rated' by British tourists
Holiday expert Rob Brooks recently asked his TikTok followers to name the most over-rated holiday destination.
While influencer-magnet Dubai took the top spot, with visitors describing it as “flashy, soulless, full of shopping centres and motorways,” three Spanish destinations also came in for some brutal verdicts.
In Rob’s list of “honourable mentions,” Ibiza, Marbella and Tenerife were listed as among the most over-rated by 2% of the respondents, while Benidorm collected 3.3% of the votes.
Speaking on his Rob On The Beach TikTok channel, he said that while some people love Benidorm, many others think the famed Costa Blanca resort is “all fried food and stag dos.”
Commenters on Rob’s video had differing views on Benidorm, with some describing it as impossible to love, while others sang the praises of the picturesque Old Town.
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Commenters had some negative opinions on Tenerife too, with one saying that “anywhere in the Canaries is truly awful.”
Rob said that for all these destinations, it’s about having realistic expectations: “Every destination has its pros and its cons, but when you go somewhere with huge expectations you kind of set yourself up to fail.”
The dance music mecca, Ibiza, has long been criticised for being overcrowded, dirty, and stressful, with a growing number of illegal holiday lets. The massive demand for tourist accommodation means that many locals are forced to live in substandard housing.
In a statement, the Menys Turisme Mes Vida (Less Tourism More Life) pressure group said: “We say enough to the destruction of the territory, to the precariousness, to the housing crisis, to the loss of rights.”
With many of Ibiza’s essential workers, such as police officers and doctors, living in crude encampments, locals are increasingly angry about the pressure from tourists. “I know one person working two different jobs but living in a tent,” one Ibiza local told Sky News.
“Someone else is paying 850 euros for a single room, now possibly having to share it because the landlord wants to put a bunk bed in… People sleeping on balconies, paying 500 euros a month. There are key workers desperate for accommodation, doctors pleading—‘I work in a hospital saving lives and I have nowhere to live.’”
Similarly, the number of visitors to Tenerife soared by two million last year, and anti-tourism protesters on the island have vowed to return with greater force this coming summer. Demonstrations began in 2024, with thousands of locals marching in protest across the Canary Islands, complaining that the destination was “reaching its limit.”
Across Spain, tourists are being made to feel increasingly unwelcome due to property companies buying up flats for use as Airbnbs.
It’s for that reason, alongside the simple realities of rising prices and overcrowding, that a growing number of British tourists now feel these Spanish destinations are highly over-rated.
