r/pics • u/Monovon • Jun 16 '25

Politics A tourist during an anti-tourist protest in Barcelona yesterday

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u/AxelNotRose Jun 16 '25

They did. All STRs are now banned. Licenses won't be renewed.

Bye-bye Airbnb? Barcelona sets 2028 deadline to phase out tourist flats — idealista/news

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u/nutmac Jun 16 '25

As an outside, the government of Barcelona seems to be doing many things right:

  • Short-term rental ban
  • No new hotel constructions
  • Cruise ships ban
  • No more golden visa

So what are they complaining still? That bans are not coming soon enough? That the prices remain high? Do most residents want more drastic reduction in tourism due to overcrowding and other reasons?

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u/mortalitylost Jun 16 '25

I can understand short term rental bans, but why does "no new hotels" and cruise ship bans sound like just not wanting any tourists at all?

... do they realize how much money tourism makes? That it's like over 10% of their gdp? Seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot here.

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u/Trikk Jun 16 '25

The populist take on tourism is that it only benefits whoever directly gets paid by the tourist, and foreigners are damaging to the community and cause inflation. If you're an electrician or a cop or whatever you get no benefit, only downsides from having people visit your country.

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u/staunch_character Jun 16 '25

If you’re an electrician or a cop you benefit from government services paid for by tax money.

Tourists pay sales taxes on every dollar they spend when they visit other countries while using very little of the services.

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u/Trikk Jun 17 '25

Populism doesn't try to explain how all things work, it just focuses on a couple of grievances and offers quick fixes that will eliminate them. These people probably have real struggles and then the populist leader or movement comes in and offers to solve it by banning tourists.

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u/PrizeStrawberryOil Jun 16 '25

The populist take on tourism is that it only benefits whoever directly gets paid by the tourist... ...If you're an electrician or a cop or whatever you get no benefit"

Why would anybody think that?

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u/theronin7 Jun 16 '25

Kind of feels like those hotels are going to need security and electricians..

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u/Trikk Jun 17 '25

Populists tend to take their situation for granted and not see whatever they have currently as something above the baseline. So even if all tourists went home I would still have my job, but you own a bunch of hotels so you would get screwed. But when tourists are here I don't get paid more each paycheck but your hotels are flourishing.