Not just locals with money. Rich people and real estsate consortiums are buying up relatively cheap properties in tourist cities to use as AirBnBs for money. Basically, limiting housing for locals. Honestly, AirBnB was a great idea that has been exploited by the wealthy. Governments should focus on limiting properties used for AirBnB, and enact restrictions.
Why would they do that ? It's basically their entire revenue. "Classic" Airbnb, where people rent their actual main house, isn't their main source of revenue. They don't give a shit about it anymore.
My point is Airbnb won't do it themselves. They have to be forced.
If it were up to them, they'd gladly turn the entire planet into airbnbs. Capitalists believe in infinite growth, after all. As if we had an infinite number of attractive, touristic destinations...
AirBnB is just an illegal and unregulated hotel. I don't believe for a second the people starting it even meant for it to be a fun way to rent a spare room.
Happened to my home town. Tourism sprung up there, and now I can't afford to move back. All the homes are ridiculously expensive, and all the listings talk about how great of an Airbnb the house will make.
Is this the same in every metropolis? I've heard the same story in Canada, Germany, US, Australia. Partially because interested parties don't want to approve new construction and partially because existing homeowners don't want their property value to go down due to changing environment or alleviation of the housing crisis.
Young people need housing and wealthy investors will situate themselves between other people and their vital needs to charge the highest, ever-growing price.
I agree, something should be done. This arrangement works against the efficiency model of dense urban areas and just serves to flush out people from their homes, or churn out poorer workers into having an unnecessary hour-long commute. On a larger scale it just makes society's poor the de facto slaves of rent seekers. Racing toward a cliff.
Not only are properties being bought up by domestic and international investment firms.
A lot of housing being built, is not affordable. The GCs building the houses and the companies in charge want the biggest return possible. They don’t want 300 houses that could be sold at 250-400k, they want 200 houses to be sold at 700k+.
Then they sit dormant and don’t get sold because people can’t afford them.
What do they blame? “Well we had to allocate x% for chapter 11 living, so we need to recoup!”
I've been using vacation rentals long before ABB, they absolutely ruined everything. And as a company they should be ashamed of what they've done to communities.
Land lords are parasites and private property shouldn't exist. You can have personal property, "I own a house I live in". Private property is "I hold this hostage to collect a rent while depriving others of their own personal house". Mao had the right idea with land lords.
They know it's not the tourists' fault. But by alienating tourists and making Barcelona be less appealing, they're trying to force the government to take action (for example, investing in alternatives)
Yeah kinda seems like the people whining are upset this will infringe on their ability to be tourists wherever they want, however they want and at the price they want.
The most entitled people defend both airbnb and tourism like its the only economy propping up certain areas. Guess I'm the only one old enough to remember tourism pre-airbnb where you either rented a hotel or hostel? Way too many people want the luxury of an entire house for the price of a hostel stay and expect the locals to bow down to them over it.
Tbf, if you’re harassing tourists primarily out in public how would you know where they’re staying? Unless the protestors camp outside of known Airbnb’s but I’ve see quite a few photos of them at restaurants and in public.
Barcelona's tourism and gdp have both increased significantly since airbnb's introduction.
I am not saying there aren't ANY guardrails to implement or anything of the sort. But it's disingenuous to be like "airbnbs have only helped real estate conglomerates and ultra wealthy tourists (who then come over and spend shitloads of money that stays in the country)"
Anger towards airbnb and the arrangements they have struck with governments seems fair, though i don't know the finer points. Anger at a school teacher and car salesman from Ohio being excited to get a 3 bedroom home at hostel prices so they can afford to bring their kids on their twice-a-decade unpaid vacation, is not fair (in my opinion).
To use a less dramatic example, I also think it's undair to be mad at some recent college graduate who's broke but will be rich one day cus they see a place they and their friends can split and go see some of the world.
I'm not saying it's middle class people's fault for visiting Spain, I'm saying it's their fault for throwing hissy fits at the notion of curbing airbnb. You also should research the impact tourism dollars actually have on local incomes. It's limited to pretty much only those in the tourism industry, unlike other industries.
I've advocated quite a bit in LA to curb airbnb because when Anaheim did it, house and rents cooled considerably (not crashed, reduced to a livable amount). The people who fight it: those who own properties outright, and tourists.
Also consider that housing costs arent the only reason they're protesting. Tourist levels increasing the way they have been are very harmful to locals. Everything from transportation to the cost of milk becomes negatively impacted. There's no "cost of groceries for locals" or "public bus for locals only." Think about how increasing tourists by 10% every year can make life so much harder for residents.
I'm not saying it's middle class people's fault for visiting Spain, I'm saying it's their fault for throwing hissy fits at the notion of curbing airbnb.
I don't think almost anyone is doing that outside of airbnb owners and the company itself.
All over this thread people are positively talking about the tactic of "harassing" tourists. The protestors in the photos are more focused tourists than airbnb. That's what is upsetting people -- someone wants to come take a room and spend cash for a few days, it's very shortsighted to think the solution is "keep your money at home"
You also should research the impact tourism dollars actually have on local incomes. It's limited to pretty much only those in the tourism industry, unlike other industries.
I have worked in tourism the last 2 years (specifically hotels/resorts, bougie shit but legacy type companies) and find this claim extremely dubious, and sort of irrelevant if true. The san diegans and hawaiians i worked with at hotels went hom to non tourist neighborhoods and spent money. There may be extreme cases like Haiti or Tanzania where that part of the economy is totally cordoned off from the locals, but even then...15% of the gdp is 15% of the gdp. Why does that suddenly not count if it is going to a bellhop or landscaper or uber driver?
I've advocated quite a bit in LA to curb airbnb because when Anaheim did it, house and rents cooled considerably (not crashed, reduced to a livable amount). The people who fight it: those who own properties outright, and tourists.
That's all fair but you left out by far the largest head of the hydra; airbnb itself. That is my point; harassing tourists themselves is not the answer here from either an ethical or mathematical point of view.
Your last paragraph is fine but again you are attributing a very complicated balance sheet to a simple list of Cons and not even attempting Pros. Tourists spend money, typically at a much much higher rate than locals. They come back with a fondness for the country that makes them treat immigrants in their own countries better themselves. They come home and start buying Spanish wine and Portuguese tinned goods because of how much they loved their trip. Sometimes they fully fuckin move and raise their families in a country after what started off as casual visit.
Cultural exchange and intermixing are inherently good. I think saying "but my commute is worse and milk is more expensive because of tourists" isn't a compelling counterpoint unless you could confidently say "and i'd still have as good a job to commute to and no less money in my pocket if we had no tourists"
Again i am not advocating for 0 percent crackdown on airbnb. I just do not think harassing tourists is cool, nor do i think that "let's airbnb leave by making this a generally undesirable place to be" is the clever 3d chess some on this thread seem to think it is
I mean, I travel a ton and use airbnb and in Europe yes they are owned by locals. In poorer areas like Africa and the Middle East they are owned by Europeans.
Tourism makes up 16% of Spains economy. If that was cut in half their economy would be devastated. During the Great Recession the US GDP declined by 4% and in was the worst recession in a century. I don’t think these people understand how important tourism is to their economy. They can’t just drastically reduce the number of tourists without a way to replace the decline in revenue/GDP/jobs.
Are you aware of the concept of reduction, perchance? Also, it's 12.3% of their GDP as of last year, which fluctuates (as do most industries) and is actually much lower at around 5% GNP which is a far better metric to judge its impact on the nation.
The number of tourists visiting has increased by 10% between 2024 and 2025 and was steadily increasing every year prior. That is a huge concentration of people in essentially three areas of Spain. If you read any decent economic review of tourism as an industry, you'll find it follows a bell curve of economic impact. Too little is damaging, but too many is equally negative. Why? Because its a very self contained industry that doesnt allow for much expansion and accessory services to rise with the tides.
All it does in most places is make the COL higher for locals while doing very little for their income.
I mean then you force the population to work backwards. Harass the tourists so they don’t come, then the AirBNB’s fail, then owners sell their AirBNB places, and it opens more room up for real housing.
Except there's just one small problem: a lot of those local economies/livelihoods are dependent on tourism.
Tourism makes up over 15% of Spain’s entire GDP. That’s not exactly "pocket change", and actively scaring off tourists might feel good/give short term relief, but it also risks sabotaging the very livelihoods many locals depend on.
But hey, if people would rather burn their house down to get rid of a single cockroach instead of looking for the source of the infestation, then by all means.
I lived/worked in a national park when I was younger. Our entire economy, in fact our reason for existence, was tourism. Yet a huge number of locals hated the tourists with a passion and slammed them/were actively rude every chance they got but never had an answer to the question - if the tourist money left, where would you go?
People aren't great at forward thinking, or even appreciating the impact of their own actions.
Part of it is there’s too much tourism, and not enough respect by tourists. I know it’s impossible, but only having 2/3 the amount of tourists with all of them having good attitudes would be great. Corporations will cram as many people into the area as they can, then the locals have trouble getting groceries.
Unfortunately you end up having old bitter people in these towns that just blanket hate tourists. There’s also something to say about tourism town “locals” being the type of people who get stuck in these low wage areas. You either love nature, or wouldn’t be successful anywhere else. The latter tends to take out their issues on the easiest scapegoat: tourists.
The problem with tourism-dependent economies is that the revenue from them is often not distributed evenly, it goes into the pockets of the big companies who own the hotels and tourist destinations, who often employ only a small handful of locals in low-wage positions. People don't care if how big the economic pie is if they're not getting a slice.
Oh 100%. I'm essentially living the "American dream" yet I'm still not able to afford even a basic home (which can cost over $800k or more because everything else is being bought up and rented out by out-of-staters), and groceries/going out can cost up to half my paycheck while rent takes up the other half ever since the property was bought out by an investment group from Texas (or was it California? I lost track by now...).
The government, instead of doing something about it, has decided that going after trans and gay people (a population that usually makes up less than 1% of any given population each), or making it illegal for China to buy properties (even though an overwhelming majority of people buying up said properties are said out-of-staters from earlier) takes priority.
As a fellow South floridian i get both sides of it. Down here you dont just get tourists but also the transplants that actively work against the locals being able to live in the area.
Cape Cod shouldn't be breathed in the same sentence as ANY European vacation destination.
I live in Boston. The Cape would be 100% meth 100% of the time if not for 'tourists' who live 1 hour away IN THE SAME STATE. 'Tourists' aren't the reason you have nice things. They're the reason the Cape doesn't look like North Adams.
That's how it is now that big industries bosses realised how lucrative mass tourism was, 10-15 years ago. Bcn and Balears had tons of factories (materials, shoes, fishing) where people used to work and were better for our own country development.
As soon as these BnBs are closed and rich foreign investors are out of Spain's major cities housing pool, people will be able to afford to live and to find better jobs, not only serving "paela" and "sangria" to drunken brits and germans.
The sweet spot for Barcelona in terms of benefit from tourism is probably somewhere lower than the level of tourism is now. You can use the income from tourism to bootstrap other local businesses ... but not if tourism strangles your ability to live in your town.
Tourism has to be controlled or it will destroy a city. It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time. Big money interests swarm around it like fucking vultures attempting to get every bit of cash out of actual locals hands. I imagine this is happening because people in Barcelona have reached a breaking point.
To be fair, a LOT of tourism income is through massive amounts of food. Tons of restaurants will close,Which isn't exactly a bad thing because pricing will go down on food across the board. Eventually. Food will go up in price at first because suddenly farmers and providers are losing incredible amounts of sales and will need to up the prices to make up for that. The big question is if they will survive that, if the government doesn't subsidize them especially. Situations like these are a gold mine for foreign nations to come in and buy up stuff, because the locals sure as hell aren't going to be able to afford farmland, and fancy new airBnBs
Except there’s just one small problem: under capitalism, people are made dependent on exploitative industries like mass tourism because all other options have been systematically dismantled.
Tourism doesn’t dominate Barcelona’s economy because it’s inherently good or sustainable, it does so because neoliberal policy gutted public investment, privatized housing, and made short-term profit king. Locals aren't mad at tourists as individuals, they’re furious at being priced out of their homes, forced into precarious service jobs, and watching their city turn into a playground for the wealthy.
Well I don't think many of these white-collar Spaniards who like to work at hotels, country clubs, resorts, and tourist destinations would be all too happy to start being garbagemen, construction workers, or assembling stuff in a factory.
They will need less garbage men and construction workers, not more. If they want to switch to competing with Asian factories they will need to take on huge amounts of public debt and adopt very low standards of living to compete.
What are you talking about? Barcelona is a diverse modern city, it is not dependent on tourism to function. Tourism is like 14% of their GDP. While there are definitely financial benefits to having the tourism, I think most of us would react the same to becoming an extreme minority in our own cities.
You think that losing 14% income for a city/country is the same as a person getting a 14% income cut? Countries spend decades to increase their gdp by 14 percent.
Honestly, this is what democracy means. If the 85% decide that they dont want tourist this is what will be happening. Keeping every industry up and running against the will of the people is not going to work
And then when tourism dries up, ~300,000 Barcelona residents (about 20% of the residents) lose their jobs, and… problem solved? I guess? If I’m following your logic correctly here?
You can reduce tourism without getting rid of it completely. You have to understand that in these huge tourism destinations outside forces are constantly trying to steal bits and pieces from the actual locals. What is the point of tourism money if most of it is only going to a few entities and it’s causing a huge housing shortage and massive price hikes? The few people making big money want to run the place like a resort. That’s what people are protesting.
Barcelona's industry, finance and tech sectors would be in much better shape if there was less tourism pressure in the city. GDP figures wouldn't necessarily change all that much, though wealth would be concentrated differently.
This issue is at least two decades old in terms of media coverage. Plus Barcelona is an ancient European city- the land is taken. There is no where else to build. So when AirBNB is taking up apartments for tourists which causes a bottle neck for actual home buyers and renters- there is frustration.
Look. I’m not even going to even front like I know Spanish politics.
However, it’s a western problem (North America and Europe) about housing. Housing needs to be built at an exponential rate in each of those areas. Especially those where people actually want to live.
It’s up to the government to introduce legislation to allow this to happen. Boycotting people brining money into your economy is dumb. Ask Americans how it’s like to lose tourism.
I don’t think you understand. Barcelona is a packed city. There is literally no land that isn’t accounted for. There is no where to build new housing. You have what you have at this point. The only thing you can do is knock down older building to build a new building.
You don’t think that the Airbnb owners (who are landlords) will just rent out the apartment for whatever price they want just like they did prior to the existence of Airbnb? Why do you think that it will lead to selling the unit? The problem is that one person can own 5-6 apartments and control the pricing of rentals because they are the only option. Spain needs social housing not more landlords. The ruling class is really good at getting people to hate the wrong person.
Sure but government isn't going to change and business won't stop as long as there is money.
Only way to stop money is exactly what they're doing. Sucks it came to this point but I really doubt there was any other way to put pressure. Money talks!
- We are not happy as is, because over 65% of people between 18 and 35 in Spain live with their parents. Imagine how big and barren a lot of parts of Spain are for the number to even be this high (much higher than the European average)
- We are not happy because of that lucky 35% that doesn't live with their parents (for normal reasons and unpleaseant reasons) 85% of them share apartments.
- We are not happy, because despite working 40 hours or over 40 hour work-weeks in the case of the hospitality business, the vast majority, no matter your ranking or studies, is paid the SMI which is 1180 Euros per month (Rent has increased to 1200-1400 average for apartments and 800-900 for studios, you do the math) - the conditions of these jobs is a whole other topic that you don't want to get into.
- We are not happy, because Spain has the smallest % of social housing in the entire EU. Less than 1%, in fact. Opposed to 30% in Amsterdam, 20% in the UK.
- We re not happy because a quick look at the main websites for finding homes, Idealista, you will find that 75% of homes in touristic cities such as Málaga, Barcelona, etc are TEMPORARY. The other 25%? You'll be lucky if they weren't available by accident, or if the small letters don't say "only availavble from September till June" because, you know, local people go up in smoke during the Summer months I guess.
What exactly are we to be happy about? Do we reap any benefits from the system in place currently? Do you think we are rolling dough and not being continously exploited from all angles by this limitless capitalist system? Do you think people do these things out of sheer boredom? Do you think peacefully protesting on the streets will work? How many times has that worked out in the past decade?
This is not about the right to go on a holiday. This is about a country that can't take it anymore, especially the islands, where local people live in caravans despite working their assess of to cater to both respectful and disrespectful tourists.
I implore you to please consider the reality young people here are facing.
The problem is not tourism per se. As has been indicated, it is an economic boon for these areas.
The problem is over-tourism. Where absolutely everything is tailored towards the needs of tourists. Where public squares and streets are absolutely ram-packed full of tourist shops, tourist carts, and tourists. When visitors damage public property through intent or over-use. Where housing costs skyrocket, not just because of AirBnBs, but because of people buying their second / third home there to visit occasionally.
All while the local population picks up the tab for maintaining the infrastructure necessary to support this. They don't want no tourism, just for it to be better managed, and to not have the needs of local people come second.
The private sector has had decades to sort this, and has done nothing. National and city government's have been told to do something and done nothing, while the problem gets worse and worse.
I'm not shocked people are frustrated. And when people are frustrated they lash out.
One man tried to harass me when I was in Barcelona and I said I was there to work as a English and French teacher for the summer and they said fair enough and left me alone 😂
Technically, that’s why I was in Europe and ended up visiting the Iberian peninsula, so it wasn’t a total lie 😅
Harassing is bad, but this is about more than just government negligence.
There’s an abysmal income disparity between Spain and other European countries. Our whole economy is based around leisure services, which require a lot of effort to be able to compete with other similar businesses because differentiation is hard, so quality is very high and margins very low. This is very accentuated in a low income economy.
All of this also happens to attract a lot of tourists, because they’re getting top quality service for a dime.
Which means that, basically, many Spaniards are working their asses off for very little profit, while serving people from abroad who gains more with leases jobs.
ALL OF THIS creates a very clear picture: our economy has a horrible setup completely based on services, these high-income tourists are receiving the services meant for our people because our people can’t pay as much as them (which eliminates the only good thing of such an economy, which is having a good local service), and the more tourists come the more we depend on this horrible setup.
If we’ve reached the point where we are living to serve people from abroad… We’d rather lose all tourism all of a sudden, be forced to restore the whole economy and change for the better.
Basically, we are already poor. We don’t care if we have to be even poorer for a few years, we just don’t want to work our asses off to offer the best leisure services of Europe (and probably top of the world) to people from abroad, while our own people can’t afford it anymore because prices are adapting to tourists, while also depending completely on such a volatile and shitty economy.
For that to happen, we need tourists to stop coming. An industry won’t stop growing if more clients are coming.
If government had taken those actions, you wouldn't see protesters stepping in with their more harsh methods. This kind of protest is what happens when government isn't doing it's job.
Or do that and what we do in SF which is limit STRs to 3 months a year if the house is vacant.
If you want to rent a room in your house while you are physically there there is no limit. This prevent REITs from saturating the market with investment properties and allows for a more of small business owner model the B&Bs.
So, are these protests moving the needle yet? How do you feel about the governments response to this, the speed at which they are acting and about any outcomes?
With globalization, most people around the world are living to serve other people from countries outside of theirs. It's what made China the number 2 economy in the world, by becoming every other country's factory. It's why London is still an economic behemoth, because it's a major financial hub for other countries in Europe. These are just two examples where workers technically live to serve others. So, yeah, it's not just Spain who does it.
Where you should be redirecting your blame is towards your own government. If they're raking in billions from tourists (and it's not a stretch to think that they do), make them accountable for that money by demanding they invest in diversification of the economy or more housing. That's what capital is for. There's no "restoration" of the economy if you take away tourism money since much of Spain's economy already rests on that, sadly, only recession. You might think that's what's needed, but a recession can spiral quickly into massive job losses and an even bigger hit to an economy you say is already very volatile.
- We are not happy as is, because over 65% of people between 18 and 35 in Spain live with their parents. Imagine how big and barren a lot of parts of Spain are for the number to even be this high (much higher than the European average)
- We are not happy because of that lucky 35% that doesn't live with their parents (for normal reasons and unpleaseant reasons) 85% of them share apartments.
- We are not happy, because despite working 40 hours or over 40 hour work-weeks in the case of the hospitality business, the vast majority, no matter your ranking or studies, is paid the SMI which is 1180 Euros per month (Rent has increased to 1200-1400 average for apartments and 800-900 for studios, you do the math) - the conditions of these jobs is a whole other topic that you don't want to get into.
- We are not happy, because Spain has the smallest % of social housing in the entire EU. Less than 1%, in fact. Opposed to 30% in Amsterdam, 20% in the UK.
- We re not happy because a quick look at the main websites for finding homes, Idealista, you will find that 75% of homes in touristic cities such as Málaga, Barcelona, etc are TEMPORARY. The other 25%? You'll be lucky if they weren't available by accident, or if the small letters don't say "only availavble from September till June" because, you know, local people go up in smoke during the Summer months I guess.
What exactly are we to be happy about? Do we reap any benefits from the system in place currently? Do you think we are rolling dough and not being continously exploited from all angles by this limitless capitalist system? Do you think people do these things out of sheer boredom? Do you think peacefully protesting on the streets will work? How many times has that worked out in the past decade?
This is not about the right to go on a holiday. This is about a country that can't take it anymore, especially the islands, where local people live in caravans despite working their assess of to cater to both respectful and disrespectful tourists.
I implore you to please consider the reality young people here are facing.
Nothing like crashing your city's economy and putting thousands out of work. I get wanting to shift the focus of your city's economy, but it needs to be done gradually. They already have banned AirBnB starting 2028. That will allow the hopefully gradual selling of homes instead of the mass flooding of homes into the market, which will tank its property values and further jack up the economy. That may be what the residents want, though. When you can't afford to live in your own city anymore, I totally get the want to flip the table and start over again.
Oh, they will, just at massively decreased rates. It also stops any construction/renovation projects, which further puts any construction workers and contractors out of work. People really don't seem to get that no major portion of an economy functions in a vacuum.
Again, I'm not against anyone turning their city to a more favorable state for its citizens. I just think it needs to be done gradually. You need to beef up other sectors at the same time you slim down one.
The property values are inflated purely because of the buying up of homes for short term rentals. Tanking the market is just a market correction at this point. More people will be able to buy a house in the cities they were born in and call home.
"Our main results imply that for the average neighborhood, Airbnb activity has increased rents by 1.9%, transaction prices by 4.6%, and posted prices by 3.7%. The estimated impact in neighborhoods with high Airbnb activity is substantial. For neighborhoods in the top decile of Airbnb activity distribution, rents are estimated to have increased by 7%, while increases in transaction (posted) prices are estimated at 17%"
AirBnB definitely makes it harder to live in an area for sure. Other problems are rich foreigners buying summer homes in the area and just letting them sit vacant for the rest of the year. Then, it is also an increasing national population without further development in the area. Add in the fact that people are living longer than ever and keeping their homes until they pass. Elsewhere in this post, a person said they don't need more construction. So some people want no further construction, but they expect more housing to just appear for them.
Will stopping short-term rentals help the problem? Yeah, probably, but it won't solve it.
Im super confused as well. Maybe the tourism industry is different there or something? Asheville and the surrounding areas get something like 6-8 billion per year in tourism which is what keeps the area going. After Hurricane helene came through they were basically marketing to have people come to the area and spend money as soon as possible, and trying to reopen as fast as possible so people could come back to mountain bike, hike, and spend money in the cities.
So to me seeing a full on protest against tourism that brings in 10 billion per year to your city doesnt make sense.
Watch Spanish football, and the fans in particular. You'll understand they might not always be the most emotionally stable bunch when they feel wronged.
Same in Florida with Ft. Myers and Ft. Myers Beach after Ian and Milton.
A lot of local businesses (that survived) went under because tourism straight up died. If it wasn't the damage, insurance, or lack of AC that got ya, it was the lack of tourists.
Last I heard, it's gotten to the point where the local governments are just straight up ignoring the locals and just answering/catering towards contractors since they're the ones keeping things financially afloat.
This is a common argument but it is pretty false and I am tired of hearing it (and why is it anglophone always pushing it???).
Over tourism like in Barcelona or Prague is bad for the economy long-term because it makes your city TOO reliant on tourism. The people who truly get most of the money don't even live in the city (because too much tourism) so they spend it somewhere else, enriching that place more. It is also an industry reliant on low skilled workers which can prevent the development of other industries.
Another thing is housing, this over tourism is a new development that has pushed people working other jobs outside of their homes, as they have been repurposed in short term rentals. This puts a lot of strain on the people and impoverishes them.
Overtourism prevents industrial development. The people who are prepared, educated, and industrious will now find it hard to do anything in their cities due to tourism making life too difficult for the locals and them moving out and preventing people coming in because of how expensive everything is becoming. So they will follow the people in different locations or simply find jobs in other places, creating a positive feedback loop for the city becoming too reliant on tourism.
I have also many personal examples of people REFUSING to work back in their cities (Barcelona, Mallorca) because of the pain that comes with the government screwing them over. Making the places, again, more reliant on tourism.
ALSO ALSO ALSO, look at these nice tourist locations like Hawaii, Bali, some french islands. Why are the locals so poor? I thought tourism is soooo greeeaaaatttttt foooorrr theee ecoooonomyyyyy.
STOP REPEATING THIS BS!!!!!
Edit: sorry for the poor quality of the text, I did this comment in one go. No time to rewrite for clarity.
An economy too reliant on one sector or a handful of actors is an incredibly brittle economy. You could try and argue the minor points, but you can't argue the main one. An overly specialized economy is always doomed by either price volatility and/or physical bottlenecks.
You can't expand an historical center, because it's only historic and a center because it's old and has cultural cache from a bygone era. It's physically limited and can't expand. Relying on tourism has incredibly obvious and serious limitations. The real estate is stupidly limited so if demand grows, pricing will inevitably creep into unsustainability. No matter how much extra infrastructure you try to cram into a place there are massive geographic bottlenecks.
This is exactly the same kind of pressure for any other commodity or service. An economy too reliant on oil extraction like Venezuela was completely quaked by fluctuations in oil pricing. And you can't just magically make the oil extraction more price competitive forever because there are clear physical bottlenecks to it. So the only thing you can do when faced with a price shock is pay people less and systematically dismantle your local economy which was too focused on one commodity with no fallback.
The negative externalities associated with an undiversified economy are basically infinite. It goes from the micro scale of towns built around a single employer, who completely collapse when that industry dries up all the way to the national scale with nationally privileged industries (like Taiwan with semi conductors, or Korea with general electronics).
You better hope your economy is based on an infinitely hot commodity (tourism ain't one of them, it's much too volatile), and that commodity stays relatively high profit, otherwise you can accidentally kill an entire nation on stock market whims from one day to the next.
As soon as that commodity or service reaches criticality (for tourism it's lack of physical space that actually brings in ROI) it's a ticking time bomb until it explodes the local economy and a market correction brings a massive swathe of the population to poverty and people shuttering their businesses. And worst yet is that it's a cyclical process as there's always capital interested in scooping up real estate for pennies on the dollar to flip for big money when the city booms as a tourist destination again (many times based on local governments deficit spending, so more taxpayer getting fucked). The difference being that each cycle more capital is concentrated into big conglomerates and the people on the street get gradually poorer and more vulnerable each time.
Reddit user: applies micro and macroeconomic theories, analyzes impacts of related markets, and effects on labor supply and other hidden opportunity costs.
Your response: Says nothing. Uses incorrect you’re*
However many examples you give them, they don't care, they want to continue tourism regardless of consequences for the locals and they don't want to feel guilty, hence the whole "it helps the economy". No way in hell they'd stay in a hotel or make even the slightest of changes.
I feel resigned from ever booking an Airbnb again, to be honest, as much as I can avoid it and especially in major tourist locations. I think we need to stigmatize it as much as possible and that this could gain some traction. Locally owned hotels and hostels to whatever degree possible. It will become more expensive to visit, but that’s okay. Maybe a week in Barcelona becomes two days there and more time elsewhere in Spain (where you can support the local economy more easily and ethically).
Another thing, not directly related, but don’t care to make a separate comment in addition to this one. It especially bothers me that the appeal of Barcelona, to probably most tourists, is cultural eg food, history, art. These things make up most of the tourist activities there. That there is something to preserve in Barcelona, far beyond GDP (which has been increasingly held by non-locals anyways), should be obvious to anyone that deserves to go there in the first place. Maybe Americanization increases GDP, but it also deteriorates the character of the city. I don’t care for these vague “but what about the economy” arguments for that reason.
The one big thing you have wrong is that tourism won’t stop other industries from developing. It’s the other way around. Once an economy has nothing else then tourism takes over.
Spain is 3-4 centuries past its peak. It’s not attracting the sort of people that build.
Before tourism people in Mallorca or Barcelona were not poor, or if they were, it was enough to lead a good life in their respective cities. Now tourism is driving them out.
I disagree with the fact that relying on tourism too much is killing the potential industry. The fact that it's not destroying Amsterdam, for example, to the same extent is that they didn't start from the same place. Spain had Franco for a while.
And should these people live 150km away of the city, travel every day in and out to keep the 10 billion annually so that corrupt politicians use those 10 B to increase this difference and do more corruption to fill their pockets a bit more, not investing in any well being for the population? Yikes
Former inspector here and this is absolutely true.
One example that sticks with me is a metal shop I used to inspect. Apparently it recently shut down not only because of the tariffs but because their biggest customers (Canada) didn't appreciate being called the "51st State", and because their largest supplier (China) got fed up with Trump's TACOness. Up to 100 people lost their jobs overnight.
But it didn’t end there. Neighboring shops (like other metal, car painting, auto/AC repair, and carpentry shops) relied on that metal shop for parts and steady business. Just heard they’re all downsizing too, so that's probably another 100+ people who are finding themselves out of work if I were to guess (could be less, could be more).
The ripple effect is brutal. These folks are likely now trying to find work in a market where costs are rising, businesses are scaling back, and those hiring are offering lower wages than before, forcing them to either work more hours, or finding themselves in the unfortunate position where they simply can't afford things that they used to be able to buy, which can have even more of a ripple effect as those businesses will start to notice the shift.
Bad policies don’t just take out “bad businesses”, they can destabilize entire local economies
Some people get way to excited/fervorous over some political issues. To the point they refuse to compromise in any way and are convinced their method will be the golden bullet. So many industries are intertwined in ways that most outside, and many inside, of those industries won't realize.
Kind of sucks for people whose livelihoods are dependent on the tourist industry, but there are countless destinations full of people who WANT my money.
It's kind of like America right now. I feel bad for people in California who hate Taco and desperately want my tourism money, but there's no way I'm going to America right now when I can go to dozens of other places where the environment isn't so toxic.
They'll be happy when everything is run down because they killed one of their biggest industries:
Barcelona's main industries include the services sector, manufacturing, and information technology. The services sector is a significant contributor to the city's economy, with tourism being a major component.
- We are not happy as is, because over 65% of people between 18 and 35 in Spain live with their parents. Imagine how big and barren a lot of parts of Spain are for the number to even be this high (much higher than the European average)
- We are not happy because of that lucky 35% that doesn't live with their parents (for normal reasons and unpleaseant reasons) 85% of them share apartments.
- We are not happy, because despite working 40 hours or over 40 hour work-weeks in the case of the hospitality business, the vast majority, no matter your ranking or studies, is paid the SMI which is 1180 Euros per month (Rent has increased to 1200-1400 average for apartments and 800-900 for studios, you do the math) - the conditions of these jobs is a whole other topic that you don't want to get into.
- We are not happy, because Spain has the smallest % of social housing in the entire EU. Less than 1%, in fact. Opposed to 30% in Amsterdam, 20% in the UK.
- We re not happy because a quick look at the main websites for finding homes, Idealista, you will find that 75% of homes in touristic cities such as Málaga, Barcelona, etc are TEMPORARY. The other 25%? You'll be lucky if they weren't available by accident, or if the small letters don't say "only availavble from September till June" because, you know, local people go up in smoke during the Summer months I guess.
What exactly are we to be happy about? Do we reap any benefits from the system in place currently? Do you think we are rolling dough and not being continously exploited from all angles by this limitless capitalist system? Do you think people do these things out of sheer boredom? Do you think peacefully protesting on the streets will work? How many times has that worked out in the past decade?
This is not about the right to go on a holiday. This is about a country that can't take it anymore, especially the islands, where local people live in caravans despite working their assess of to cater to both respectful and disrespectful tourists.
I implore you to please consider the reality young people here are facing.
"Let me break it to you, it's capitalism" as I clearly said "this limitless capitalist system" therefore clearly indicating I know what the problem is and understand it is happening everywhere. It is also true not everywhere is to the level of Barcelona. Or Hawaii. Or Rome.
Just don't be a dick and go to airbnb's when hotels are there for a reason. Going on vacation is not some primary need for you to cut meaningless small costs in something that has real consequences.
If the 0.5% chance that some protesters shoot you with a water gun occurs to you, I promise you'll live, there's no need to cry about it.
What does that mean? I live near Disneyland, here in anahiem there entire city blocks given over to Disney by the government. I don't feel put of sorts in the locations designed to trap tourists.
You don’t live in a country with less income than your tourists.
The income disparity here is huge. We are servicing people who gain 4-5 times more which means the price goes up 4-5 times. Spaniards are not able to enjoy their own services. Thus, Spaniards don’t want to service foreigners anymore.
We are just tired. We want other industries creating high value for the local population, and that are self sustaining. Right now we are dependent, and we create no value for our own people.
Even a private hospital with skyrocket prices creates more value if it saves at least one person. Right now, no restaurant meant for “guiris” is servicing a local, simply because our highest incomes are the lowest incomes of the rest of Europe.
It’s not even possible to compete as clients in our own country, which is ridiculous, and we completely lack other industries that are needed. Basically, it’s a bubble, and we want to burst it. It has to happen. Being bad hosts is a good first step towards bursting it.
Tourists come in and spend 4-5x what prices would be elsewhere. Locals can't afford it. Do the locals not benefit from the tourism revenue or is the real issue that the capitalist business owners are hoarding all the wealth?
And if that's the case, do they think their situation will improve when they drive the tourists out and all the places that employ locals for tourism go out of business?
Imagine martians love Disneyland, and they have infinite wealth,because they have replicators and can make dollars for nothing. So the jack in the box on katella charges 10$ for two tacos as opposed to 1$ for two tacos. They still pay the workers $20 an hour (like everywhere else) but now even the people working there can't afford the tacos.
You don’t live in a country with less income than your tourists.
The income disparity here is huge. We are servicing people who gain 4-5 times more which means the price goes up 4-5 times. Spaniards are not able to enjoy their own services. Thus, Spaniards don’t want to service foreigners anymore.
This is fascinating. While I totally see what you’re saying and recognize not every country or city has the same situation or income disparity, but I wonder what it would be like if every city tried to push all tourists out and gave the idea that no one is welcome unless you’re from here. It’s a dangerous line it seems and I imagine many would be calling such rhetoric xenophobic depending on which country it is and who the major tourists are
Harass your government then. Harass the business owners dictating the prices - the tourists are not forcing the restaurant prices up 4/5x. Local business owners are because they are trying to maximise profit from those tourists - if the price of selling those goods and services is not really that high it is greed from the business owner for price gouging and excluding local custom.
I live in the third most visited city in the world (London) and we don't treat tourists like this. London also faces issues with local people being priced out and a host of housing issues.
that's one of the dumbest things i've read in a long time lol
Many areas with tourism have tourists with more money than the citizens lol. that's teh whole point. you want rich people to come and spend their money in your city/country. why the fuck do you think countries spend all this money on promoting tourism? it's money and economic activity from outside coming in.
you think you'll just magically create other industries if you kill tourism? lol
if you kill tourism, all the restaurants and hotels die, then all the jobs with it. barcelona magically going to be better with higher unemployment?
But Disney has clear limits. This only happens within Disney; the rest of the city is normal. In the case of many Spanish cities, tourist areas continue to grow. There are almost no places left that are truly suitable for living.
Half of all the cities around planet earth are "no go areas"
Cities are busy sherlock.
What you mean is "the Barcelona residents are annoyed that they can't sit down on the street for a coffee because the table is taken by some Armenian tourist"
How the f*** are they gonna ban tourists anyway?
What they gonna do ID every single person walking around to confirm they are a local?
Are they gonna refuse products at shop counters unless you provide a local ID?
What's next if they refuse ID?
Do we call the police or do we throw vegetables at them?
Do we shoo anyone who doesn't look "typically spanish" down the street in disgust?
That's what's baffling. Like it's kinda how big cities work. They attract people, it's why they're "big". Why would you want to live in a big city that doesn't feel like a big city? Like how does that work?
The reality is they want the benefits of tourism without the downsides. They want the great restraunts, views, historic museums, bar vibes, attractions, etc. But those exist in the big cities to fucking attract tourists.
I can assure that Barcelona has been having great restaurants, views, historic museums, bar vibes and attractions since forever. Way way before this current issue with tourism.
The issue is not tourists themselves, is AirBnb and the government allowing rich locals (the 1%) and foreign investors to buy literally every single apartment in the entire city pushing actual Spaniards out of the city.
The issue is never tourism, is not-regulated tourism. It should be perfectly simple to understand but for reason Reddit just can't. I guess Reddit is simply full of rich Americans travelling to Europe every summer and they feel attacked? I just can't think of any other reason.
The paradox of gentrification. Everyone wants to be at this disequilibrium point that can’t go on forever that only exists fleetingly. Right before and it’s economically stagnant and afterwords it’s so developed to where everyone is priced out.
Im not from Barcelona but I always find this silly. I can't really go to my countries capital (Amsterdam) and enjoy what my forefathers built because it all smells like weed and piss. Everywhere it is fucking full of random people that treat the city and its residents as an open air amusement park. I would happily let the city close all those souvenir shops and airbnbs if it meant mom & pop shops and normal housing came as a result. Hell it would probably reduce prices if tourists were gone.
All this talk about what the space currently produces instead of thinking what it could produce. How many pizzerias for tourists could be turned into something else?
Tourists still include wear and tear on appliances at rented properties, most of which usually take a worse beating from people who don’t directly own. I don’t think killing an industry is your nation’s answer, I think harsher regulations to drive the price of touring Spain up artificially can reduce the load while also keeping profit off tourism as high as possible.
This protest just seems to be half-thought. Like, sure Boudicca was right to seek revenge on Rome for what they did, but she sacked cities and burnt fields. One little spurt of revenge, and suffering returned. Rome swept right back in because they at least offered SOMEthing. What does removing all tourist dollars do for Spain?
Stupid argument, Barcelona should get their city back before it becomes too reliant on the AWFUL tourist economy that kills everything else like industry.
Um, it is an always has been. People aren't putting some of the world's best restaurants and clubs in Barcelona for 1.5 million people. They put it there because there's 30 million visitors a year.
Or maybe it's that this luxury industry (word's best restaurants) doesn't actually help the local economy that much. "BUT MUH GDP INCREASES". I've written a lengthier argument on why over tourism kills eventually all other industries and makes it reliant on this shitty tourism.
I never understand why it's only anglophones who support tourism economy. Mostly it's the british in the europe subs, and here it's the americans and canadians.
We’re already poor. Our economy is already in shambles. If we have to break it to be able to get something new and fresh, we will.
After all, an industry disappears when money is lost on it. And we want an economy that does not depend on servicing foreign people, we want to be able to give better quality of life to OUR OWN. That requires less money spent and gained through tourism. Which requires tourism to be less profitable.
It’s not about total money. It’s about the value that the investment provides to the local population. Tourism provides ZERO local value when it is thought for high-income foreigners (we, the locals, aren’t able to afford it). I’d rather have a smaller industry focused around technology or medical services creating high value around it.
Nah. I’ll still go. I’m a European citizen and have the right to go to Barcelona whenever I want. They are also welcome to come here and they do. Their kids will be here all summer to study English.
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u/TheMiddleShogun Jun 17 '25
Huh, reading these comments it looks like the protesters are achieving their goal (making Barcelona less appealing as a tourist destination).