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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ashifa Kassam European community affairs correspondent

‘I have no neighbours’: overtourism pushes residents in Spain and Portugal to the limit

A cluster of colourful residential properties near the coast
Alfama, Lisbon’s oldest district, remains a popular destination with international tourists. Photograph: Sean Pavone/Alamy

When her husband, who had cancer at the time, took a tumble in the couple’s sixth-floor flat last year, Maria frantically wondered who she could call for help to lift him.

In another building, another era, she might have dashed next door to ask a neighbour. But it wasn’t an option in her 11-unit building in central Lisbon, where tourist flats had proliferated and turned long-term residents into a rarity.

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