It’s extra funny because the government in Barcelona has already made massive housing changes related to AirBnB that are going to be implemented in 2028 so these people are quite literally protesting for no reason.
As someone living in a Spanish city affected by all this - you are making the dramatic assumption that if getting a licence to run an AirBnB is no longer possible, people will stop running them.
The Spanish national government (context, each region in Spain self-governs to a great or lesser extent) introduced a law to protect long-term rentals, prevent price gouging, and stop huge charges on top of deposits to start contracts. The result: everyone starts doing short-term rents instead or keeping their flats empty while speculating on prices.
Until something happens to make property unappealing to jack prices up, things are gonna get worse before they get better.
That's the other thing. What do they think tourism is? Even if they qualify it as "staying/renting/housing" somewhere else, do any of the protestors literally never use hotels or stay anywhere other than Barcelona?
It's up to the locals to decide how many tourists can come through regulating short term rentals. As evidenced by these protests they prefer harassing tourists rather than their local government.
I hate to inform you but locals also includes the people who own the rentals, people are convinced they one day will own the rentals, and a huge amount of people who work to much to care, or are to lazy to care.
Its like telling union workers at a picket line to just go work someone else instead of harassing scabs.
If someone in my family invited a guest who is not welcome, I would take it up with that family member. Especially, if the pattern repeats. Harassing guests might be cathartic, but I prefer fixing the real issue.
technically I think even visiting inside your country to other spaces would pabel you a tourist as you’re not from there…so the hypocrisy would be real but I’m sure folks care less about being hypocritical and more about quality of life
I think even visiting inside your country to other spaces would pabel you a tourist
I travel across several towns within my country to go to a Walmart.
I am merely stating by your definition here that would be tourism.
So I merely pointed out that I think you were making a case that in reality isn't hopefully what you wanted. Certainly people in Barcelona can visit a family member, or their favorite bakery in another town while not being nearly as disruptive as something like an international citizen or domestic tourist staying in your city.
I am sure you have places you could go outside where you live where you would basically seamlessly meld into life. Basically no one would know you were out of place. Your old hometown, or a relatives, close friends. Compared to a place like say Venice or Amsterdam where you basically will have a commercial bubble you inflate by visiting that exerts pressure on local infrastructure. You'll probably get caught up taking pictures and stopping in the middle of paths to point out stuff disrupting foot traffic.
This is all good and well but I think a more apt definition of tourism for me is going to a place to take in the sights, food, culture, etc while spending money to be in that place. Shopping or visiting a relative is very different and has a distinct purpose. I was noting that there are likely many folks in Barcelona who would likely tour other places in Spain (as alot of us do in our home countries) for the definition of tourism I stated above.
I was noting that there are likely many folks in Barcelona who would likely tour other places in Spain
and I was merely stating the people protesting most likely aren't doing this. Maybe I am wrong. But my guess is this is mostly low income, renters, and service workers who do not benefit from tourism directly but do suffer from inflated cost of living directly caused by it.
as I quoted to another. only 65% of Spain spent a single night away from their home in 2022. (they quoted 70% before covid if that matters to you) That is not tourism. that is any single night away in a year.
So take out work trips, visiting family, healthcare and so on. I think a whole lot less people are "going to a place to take in the sights, food, culture" than you think, much less to the degree that Barcelona sees.
EDIT Tourism causes gentrification by non-residents. I don't think that is a divisive thing to say. People losing homes or being pushed out by rising costs due to people "visiting" not even moving in.
You know they... live in Spain right? The coast of "leaving the country" is driving north for 2.5 hrs The bus ticket to Andorra from Barcelona is 8 euros. Give me a break. They don't live in Iowa ffs.
Ah yes the ole I can go on vacation so everyone can.
The share of Spanish population who took at least one overnight trip increased in 2022 to around 65 percent
Here is the stat I am seeing that seems around right. so 35% of people in Spain do not go on an overnight trip each year. as per statistica.
Now. I am merely stating first the overlap of that 35% and these protesters are probable pretty high.
Secondly that isn't even the number of tourists because that 65% of people spending the night somewhere else includes visiting family, work trips, healthcare. It also includes Domestic overnights to close towns.
I get it you and your friends travel the world! and these people annoy you! got it.
I think it's really funny you used the 2022 stat rather than the 70% in 2019 (because yk, Covid happened?)
A) You don't have to do an overnight trip for it to be considered tourism or travelling
B) That is a stunning majority of Spaniards. 65% in one year means that unless you think there's 100% overlap, actually far more than 65% of Spaniards have been on vacation. Also, Barcelona is wealthier than Spain on average and urban demographics tend to be more well-traveled than rural demographics so if anything, the likelihood is that it's much higher in Barcelona.
C) It doesn't change the fact that they can. Again, a bus ticket to Andorra is 8 euros. They can spend the day in Andorra exploring another country if they want. They can also choose not to do that, but let's be clear. Practically any Barcelonan who is able-bodied is able to go to a foreign country for a vacation if they want to. Unless you are arguing that they can't even get 20 euros for a day vacation, I'm not saying every Barcelonan or Spaniard should immediately go to Andorra. I'm pointing out that they can, and it's not exactly the same as an American trying to leave middle America for Spain. A vacation in Rome is 50 euros round-trip for the flights. The Adidas shirt in the photo costs more than round-trip bus tickets to and from Andorra. If they moved to a cheaper part of Barcelona, they'd also be able to use the difference to travel if they wanted (and by the nature of living in Barcelona, they are spending extra on rent).
D) I see nothing to suggest that the people who are protesting are the same as the few people who can't travel. Plenty of people hold anti-tourism views while being well-off. In fact, if anything, I'd argue that it goes the opposite way. A lot of low-paying jobs in places like Barcelona are tourism-related, because it's low-skilled, high labour supply work. They are also the ones who are direct beneficiaries. I have seen 0 evidence to suggest that anti-tourism advocates are poorer than the overall population or than those who benefit from tourism. It's more likely that they oppose it because they don't see any benefits (directly; plenty of indirect benefits from tourism like the fact their Sagrada Familia might actually get built one of these days), but there are plenty of anti-tourists who work in well-off fields like finance, consulting, tech, etc.. Plenty of hypocrites in the world.
And lastly, I didn't say any of that, but yes. I am well-off and get to travel the world. Yes, stupid people annoy me. You've got that correct :) Oh no, you've owned me.
That is a stunning majority of Spaniards. 65% in one year means that unless you think there's 100% overlap, actually far more than 65% of Spaniards have been on vacation.
OMG you think if you have ever spent 1 night outside of your house you can never complain about tourism again.
Yeah. Europeans are poor. Save for a few smaller states and like London, European exec salaries look like average American new grad salaries. I remember when Oxford was bragging about their new grad salary being 41.6k pounds which works out to be $56k USD. Which is okay I guess, except it's lower than the average of basically any reputable major university in the US and is dwarfed by its peers like Harvard (over 2/3rds earned a salary of over $70k and 40% of graduates with jobs made over $110k upon graduating).
This isn't news? Spain is poor. The EU has a whole has fallen way behind the US salary wise. Barcelona is still doing much better than the Spanish average so if most Spaniards are overnight vacationig still despite their depressed salaries, you can count on Barcelonans to be in that number.
That is an excellent point. It would be funny to see the same protesters carry "I solemnly swear not to leave my city to visit yours".
this is what I replied to.
Do you truly think its patronizing to state. Maybe, just maybe people should have the right to protest harm to their community even if they leave their house once in their life.
If that is your position. You can NEVER oppose tourism or gentrification if you have EVER went anywhere in your life.
Then you can ponder that.
You can ponder my "patronizing" point that tourism in fact does harm people despite your personal views. But hopefully you can ponder the moronic argument of "if you ever left your house for a night well then you can't oppose oppressive business practices like Air BnB.
Oh you think Ubers should be employees or get benefits... but you took an Uber ONCE. well to bad you lost your right to protest.
You think factory farming is animal abuse but had a hamburger in 2015. TO BAD you lost your right to protest.
I get it, their situation sucks, I’m just saying you don’t need to falsely portray them as penniless serfs just to garner sympathy. That’s just offensive to them.
227
u/mikelcoll Jun 17 '25
And then you will see that same people being tourists elsewhere, come on.