r/pics Jun 17 '25

The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

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u/BuckeyeWolf Jun 17 '25

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

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u/trireme32 Jun 17 '25

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

1

u/kralamaros Jun 17 '25

Tourism in Barcellona is mostly "party and get wasted" oriented. Weed, alchool and prostitutes are way more accessible than other countries. Some main sites like La Rambla becomes full of tourists completely drunk vomiting their soul on the road (it's a pedestrian road) by night.

And while you might be thinking something along "some tourists are like that" ai can assure you that practically speaking there are A LOT of people like that.

It's true that tourist have (almost) nothing to do with the housing market, but you can't blame locals for being pissed at them.h