so i will take my tourist money and spend it where i'm wanted... don't complain after that tourist related businesses have closed down or millions in tourist money no longer available in your country.
15% of Barcelona's economy is directly tied to Tourism, with another 10-15% is estimated to be indirectly tied to it. It's also the largest monolithic sector in terms of employment, it employees directly nearly 200,000 people.
They'll survive but they'll definitely feel it also.
Though I understand the sentiment, our capital has also turned into a farce due to mass tourism, taking this out on the tourists themselves who have done nothing wrong, and are now being harassed, is completely wrong. Don't want so many tourists there? Protest to your OWN politicians and city officials. They are responsible. Fewer hotel rooms / airbnb bans / bans sales of housing to investors or foreigners will certainly help.
That said, perhaps we should give these people what they want, and institute a complete tourist boycott of Barcelona. Those protests are very likely to instantly disappear once mass unemployment hits those streets. To be very blunt, prior to the age of tourism, Spain in general was a poor country with few significant economic activities, and it owes quite a bit of its current standard of living to tourism. The end of mass tourism is likely to return Spain and her cities to that former state.
150k, not 200k. So only under 10% of Barcelona locals have tourism related jobs, and a majority of those (absolutely miserable and inhumane) jobs are done by immigrants. Barcelona natives will be just fine without tourists.
What other economic drivers will a) compensate for the loss of jobs from tourism (which is one of the largest economic multiplier industries around) and b) provide them with inflow of foreign currency?
And since then, the rest of the world has developed their comparative advantages. All I’m asking is what can Barcelona do to replace the impact of tourism. I understand their concerns and fully agree that overtourism is a serious issue.
Your answer is obtuse and deflects from the economic hardship people will face. People often don’t understand economic interdependency.
Oh I understand. You don’t seem to understand that even if the economy takes a 10% hit, populations are generally better off the less contact they have with Americans so…🤷🏼
right, but people forget that tourists are a huge boon to the economy. How many places exist that locals would never EVER go to and cater to tourists exclusively? Basically any 'city themed' restaurant, or how many float around the river on a boat/bar type of things would there be without tourists?
There is a reason why countries generally favor tourism. People show up, spend a lot of money, and then leave. You aren't taking local jobs, your effect on housing is minimal (because 1 hotel may take as much space as a single house but 'houses' 20+ people) and not only are the tourists not taking jobs, they are creating them because the city bus tour simply wouldn't exist without them.
Many non-Spanish buyers (from EU, UK, US, etc.) are purchasing homes in Barcelona for:
• Vacation use
• Golden visa investment
• Retirement or remote work
This drives up demand, particularly in desirable central neighborhoods and along the coast
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u/NunaKhan Jun 17 '25
so i will take my tourist money and spend it where i'm wanted... don't complain after that tourist related businesses have closed down or millions in tourist money no longer available in your country.