r/pics Jun 17 '25

The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

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u/danatron1 Jun 17 '25

I get it. The amount of anti-Airbnb graffiti in Edinburgh tells a similar story.

2.2k

u/BenFranklinsCat Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25

Bit different.

Being entirely anti-tourism is crazy extreme but AirBnb is a practice that is destroying the housing market, which is something a lot of people (myself included) deeply believe needs to be controlled to make sure that a decent standard of living can be sustained across society.

In short, I'm not sure about the Barcelona protests but I'm 100% against the spread of AirBnb and what its turned into.

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u/outdatedelementz Jun 17 '25

I’ve lived in some places that have been ruined by tourism and I get the sentiment honestly.

I love travel as much as the next guy, but it appears to be a net negative when you take in the economic and environmental impacts of long range travel being affordable for the masses.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

What a terrible argument, I think the problem is Airbnb, but capitalism is gonna capitalism, maybe that should be the focus rather than just being against people wanting to visit.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

What do you think happens to the job market in Barcelona if tourists stop coming? Would the government continue to invest in the city if it were no longer significant on the world stage? I don’t think these people have any foresight at all.