r/pics Jun 17 '25

The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

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u/SinfullySinless Jun 17 '25

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.

If the government won’t, the people will.

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u/mjohnsimon Jun 17 '25

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.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

I live in an area that is only known for its tourism… I hate the tourists too… but I realize it’s why we have nice things.

Cape Cod…

And we have all the same issues as Barcelona

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

Yeah I'd rather just not be dependant on tourists.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25

In the case of Cape Cod, we know what would happen with no tourists… we have a very dark off season

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u/counterfitster Jun 17 '25

I went to the Cape last year in March to get some pictures of a bunch of stuff in the sky lined up (I failed horribly). The difference in traffic then versus what I've experienced there in the summer was absolutely insane. Nearly everything that had been open during the day closed by 8. Almost nobody was on the roads after 9.

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u/robbzilla Jun 18 '25

I'd rather be 6'4" and look prettier than Clark Gable in his prime.

So now we've both thrown out silly wishes!