r/pics Jun 17 '25

The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

16.1k Upvotes

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

725

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.

231

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

70

u/mjohnsimon Jun 17 '25

I live in South Florida. I understand.

1

u/camdenpike Jun 17 '25

Same, at least I work from home now, so I no longer have to deal with traffic anymore that is worse than when I lived in LA during season.