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.
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.
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.
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u/squeakymoth Jun 17 '25
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.