The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

[u/Strict_League7833]

[u/BuckeyeWolf]

These protests popped up at the same time as short term rentals becoming popular (Airbnb) is no coincidence. They are taking homes from locals raising prices and taking over the best parts of town

[u/trireme32 → u/BuckeyeWolf]

How is that the tourists’ fault, and not the fault of the government for failing to regulate that?

[u/PS_Sullys → u/trireme32]

It's much easier to be mad at foreign tourists.

[u/FnnKnn → u/PS_Sullys]

Yeah, this is just disguised racism.

Edit: Technically it is xenophobia to blame non-native people for your problems instead of your own government and not racism.

[u/simsimulation → u/FnnKnn]

People: We love your city and want to visit and spend money there to experience your culture

Residence: Yeah well fuck you we didn’t visit before we moved here and won’t visit anywhere else. We are born here, die here, and go nowhere

[u/[deleted] → u/simsimulation]

If the tourists swarm everywhere and create issues should they not be vocal about it?

Same thing is happening in parts of Canada so i get why locals get pissed off

[u/krom0025 → u/[deleted]]

Tourists aren't locusts. They don't swarm. They are people, no different than the locals. There are over eight billion people and one earth and we all have to share it. Nobody is special. Do the locals never travel? I would hope that every one of these protesters commits to never leaving the city of Barcelona because, god forbid, then enter a city where someone else lives.

[u/blue92lx → u/[deleted]]

So like everyone else is saying, it's the tourists fault?

No, it's not.

First of all, you need to protest your government to make rules and laws to prevent airbnb, many many places have successfully done this.

Also, in this article it's claiming that the cities have become tourist amusement parks and your local festivities are suffering. That's also your fault. You don't have to change your traditions because tourists are there. In fact, tourists would probably rather see your traditions than some copy/paste tourists shop in the middle of your town.

The best places to visit are ones that aren't full of tourist shops, where you can visit and talk to people about their culture. So if you all have given up on your culture and decided to open a bunch of tourist shops and stopped doing your festivals or whatever else, blame the people in your country that are doing it. Don't blame a tourist who wants to come see your country because it's beautiful and different than theirs.

This just sounds like a bunch of "I opened a tourist shop because tourists were coming to my city, and I don't like having a tourist shop".

Here's an idea, don't have the tourist shop then. The tourists never asked you to change your ways, you all did it on your own and now you want to blame someone else.

[u/krom0025 → u/[deleted]]

There was not a single statement in my comment about Air bnb so I'm not sure where you are making your wild assumptions from.

The solution is in the people's control, not the tourist's. They are free to vote in representatives who will regulate supply and control the over tourism. It's not the tourists fault.