Don’t expect a warm reception if you plan to visit Barcelona soon: some of the locals really don’t want you there.
Around 3,000 protestors took to the Spanish city’s streets on Saturday and, according to MSN.com, “threw items and sprayed travelers with water guns and canned drinks, while shouting ‘tourists go home.'”
Their beef with travelers? Overtourism.
Hundreds of angry locals in Barcelona spray tourists with water guns to protest against mass tourism.
Protests have erupted across Spain, with locals calling for limits on the number of tourists.
Tourism accounts for 15% of the Spanish GDP.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) July 8, 2024
Thousands of mass tourism protesters marched through Barcelona over the weekend, some shooting water guns at travelers who were dining in popular neighborhoods. The demonstrators are angered by mass tourism and its impacts on Spain’s most visited city. https://t.co/NoTIYByuVa pic.twitter.com/3VNWyRjau5
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 8, 2024
The city’s mayor said rental rates have skyrocketed 68% during the past ten years. That means it’s less affordable for some locals to find places to live.
It seems that the issue behind that is people putting up their homes on vacation rental sites. But those rentals will be banned in the city by 2028. That, theoretically, should help with the problem.
Another issue is the massive influx of cruise passengers visiting Barcelona Cruise Port. In 2000, it welcomed 560,000 visitors. Last year, around 2.2 million cruisers were processed at the port. The port is now the fourth largest in the world.
I worked in the tourism industry during college. Some of my family members also worked in tourism or still do. We know the importance of visitors spending money in destinations — and recommending those cities to others. I don’t think it’s wise to bite the hands that feed you. Unless the tourists are misbehaving, why take out your frustrations on them? I think the protestors’ beefs should be with the people who rent out their homes — and something is already being done about it with the 2028 law.
Considering that tourism contributes to 15% of Spain’s GDP, chasing away all the tourists might not be the smartest idea in the world.
Final Approach
Thousands of protestors verbally and physically harassed tourists visiting Barcelona, telling them to go home. Why? Because some of the locals are sick of so many people visiting their city.
What do you make of all this?
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Even with the significant increase in the number of ship visits coupled with increasingly larger ships, cruise passengers represent less than 4% of total visitors in Barcelona. It’s easy to blame cruisers as they’re a very visible “block” of tourists and banning them is a very “simple” solution, but no one living in Barcelona would say that a 4% reduction in visitors will solve their concerns. If we look at when “over touristed” cities in Europe like Barcelona and Amsterdam (also actively trying to reduce tourism) began to see huge increases in tourists it coincided with two major events 1) the rise of ultra-low-cost airlines beginning with Ryanair in 1984, easyJet in 1995, Wizz Air in 2003, and Vueling in 2004 and 2) 1995 when the Schengen Agreement eliminated passport controls for 7 countries in Europe including Spain and the Netherlands. It’s impossible to roll-back these two factors or to address the additional factor of a huge rise in middle-classes in countries like China and India introducing tens of millions of additional tourists looking to visit Europe each year. So cities like Venice banned cruise ships in the heart of the city and (surprise!) they’re still seeing climbing numbers of tourists so now they’re moving on to adding fees to enter the city.
But how did they know those people were even tourists? I was planning to come through Barcelona next year, how do I avoid being flagged? Stay out of Taco Bell?
From what I’ve seen, protestors, in general, really just don’t seem to care. It’s their way or else you’re just part of the problem.
It appears that some individuals have ample free time to engage in protests and harass tourists in Barcelona. While it’s tempting to assume that all tourists are citizens of the city, we should be cautious.
Personally, I have other plans for my free time and surely won’t be spending it in Barcelona.
It will be interesting to observe whether there are any unexplained increases in unemployment in the service sectors there a year from now. Perhaps the same group of protesters will still be active and offer squirts from their water pistols and soda bottles to refresh the unemployed.
*all protestors are citizens of the city
I wonder if these are the same paid Pro-Palestian and climate change activists imported from the US.
was in barcelona last wed-Saturday and saw none of this
There are so many lovely places elsewhere in Spain and other surrounding countries that appreciate the tourists and dollars they bring to a city. Skip Barcelona. I’m quite certain that when the tourist dollars start to dry up, these same protesters are going to complain that their tax and economic base did not improve but actually worsened. Being an expat living abroad in Europe for 15+ years, my experience is that most (even heavily traveled) cities and countries are not reacting in the same manner as Barcelona. Hopefully this gives other places besides Barcelona the opportunity to campaign and welcome tourists. And in turn for tourists to be respectful as guests in someone else’s country or city.
3,000 people on a protest in a city of 1.7 million or 4.5 MM including surroundings. Media is giving them more attention than they deserve. I was in Barcelona on Saturday and did not see them. There are stupid behaviors in every city in the world… this is one of them.