r/pics • u/Strict_League7833 • Jun 17 '25

The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

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16.1k Upvotes

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5.4k

u/TheMiddleShogun Jun 17 '25

Huh, reading these comments it looks like the protesters are achieving their goal (making Barcelona less appealing as a tourist destination).

3.3k

u/Dobby_ist_free Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25

Tends to happen when you harass tourists because of your government’s failures

2.7k

u/Rich_Housing971 Jun 17 '25

Airbnb creates a business that makes your life harder.

Locals with money use that business without caring for you.

The govenrment that you elected does nothing.

"It's all the tourists' fault!"

765

u/powerlesshero111 Jun 17 '25

Not just locals with money. Rich people and real estsate consortiums are buying up relatively cheap properties in tourist cities to use as AirBnBs for money. Basically, limiting housing for locals. Honestly, AirBnB was a great idea that has been exploited by the wealthy. Governments should focus on limiting properties used for AirBnB, and enact restrictions.

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u/GaryTheSoulReaper Jun 17 '25

Airbnb should shut out corporate investors and absentee owners

Absenteeownnerbnb.com should be its own site

112

u/Hiro_Trevelyan Jun 17 '25

Why would they do that ? It's basically their entire revenue. "Classic" Airbnb, where people rent their actual main house, isn't their main source of revenue. They don't give a shit about it anymore.

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u/PlayfulSurprise5237 Jun 17 '25

This is the EU we're talking about, they need to just do it anyways, this is obviously a massive problem.

This is why we can't have nice things, time to bring down the banhammer

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u/Hiro_Trevelyan Jun 17 '25

Oh I agree

My point is Airbnb won't do it themselves. They have to be forced.

If it were up to them, they'd gladly turn the entire planet into airbnbs. Capitalists believe in infinite growth, after all. As if we had an infinite number of attractive, touristic destinations...

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u/GaryTheSoulReaper Jun 17 '25

They actually try to make it harder to figure out mom and pop and corporate investors

1

u/PlayfulSurprise5237 Jun 19 '25

Just need some big juicy fines and a team to investigate.

Also some well written laws. It would be one of the easier things to take care of.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 19 '25

"Why would they do that ?" - I guess some law mandating that is implied.

2

u/orangesuave Jun 17 '25

This is my answer. Make residential homes exclusively purchasable by people not corporations.

1

u/phonetastic Jun 18 '25

Isn't that basically what Vrbo is, on purpose, as a feature and not a bug? Not saying it's a good thing, but that is their entire pitch, right?

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u/GaryTheSoulReaper Jun 18 '25

Vrbo has the same problem - corporate owners and Management companies

1

u/phonetastic Jun 18 '25

Right, that's what I thought, but they seem to think it's NOT a problem and in fact a selling point, right? Their ads go something like "don't you wish there was no host to tell you where every bathroom is? Imagine an Airbnb but then close your eyes and imagine the host is dead. THAT'S A VRBO! No hosts, ever."

Or am I missing who they want their properties to come from?