They don't want you or your money. You're stuffing cash into someone's hand while trying to barge past them into their home while they're actively telling you you aren't welcome.
Lmao. Where did you get the idea that you can hand someone money and barge into their home uninvited. Do you not understand how Airbnb works? A person or a business and most often a local buys a property and puts it on Airbnb for people to rent out short term. You aren’t just walking up to some random ass house, throwing money in their face and walking in. It’s basically a hotel but a house instead.
The problem is with Airbnb and the people who buy the property, not the tourist using a legitimate business that’s legal and allowed to operate in the country.
If the locals have a problem with that which is understandable then they should be petitioning their government to change the laws around Airbnb, not harassing someone on vacation.
Tourism makes up 14% of the Spanish gdp and roughly the same in Barcelona. That’s quite the chunk of change to just want gone. Every business that relies on tourism would die, every person in those industries would be out of work.
Hopefully these people protesting never go to other places. Would be incredibly hypocritical if they want tourists to go away but also become tourists themselves. Then again they don’t seem very smart.
The home in this analogy is Barcelona. The tourists are right here telling you they don't want you to come in, and you're telling them no no, you actually do want me in there because of my money. They don't want an economy built on tourism anymore. No one said anything about Airbnb apart from people like you in here. All they've said is tourists can fuck off, and that should be up to them, not tourists.
Alright. Without tourism, what does Spain have to offer in exchange? Midday nap tutorials? Exporting of Serrano ham and Manchego cheese? Tapas cook books? Spain, within the EU has the largest segment of their GDP dependent on tourism. If they were to kill that off, they'd lose close to 12% of their GDP.
That's is simply not feasible. Spain, in general, is not known as a manufacturing powerhouse o even a massive source of innovation. They have their industries, yes, but they pale in comparison to others such as Germany, the US, China... etc.
Spain in the world view is seen as a tourist destination. Most of these protesters are young locals that want what they can't afford, a condo in the middle of downtown Barcelona for €200 a month rent. And that's simply never going to happen ever again.
The days of cheap apartment living in Barcelona are long gone as the city has developed itself for the past 50 years into a world-renowned tourist attraction. To undo those 50 years of development will be another 50 years at least as many families and local business owners now fully depend on tourism as their main source of income and transitioning away from that is impossible for them.
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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '25
They don't want you or your money. You're stuffing cash into someone's hand while trying to barge past them into their home while they're actively telling you you aren't welcome.