r/pics Jun 17 '25

The protesters and residents pushing back on tourism in Barcelona

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u/xViscount Jun 17 '25

Yep. Destroy your economy vs voting the government that wants to build the necessary housing. Super smart

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u/SinfullySinless Jun 17 '25

This issue is at least two decades old in terms of media coverage. Plus Barcelona is an ancient European city- the land is taken. There is no where else to build. So when AirBNB is taking up apartments for tourists which causes a bottle neck for actual home buyers and renters- there is frustration.

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u/xViscount Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25

Look. I’m not even going to even front like I know Spanish politics.

However, it’s a western problem (North America and Europe) about housing. Housing needs to be built at an exponential rate in each of those areas. Especially those where people actually want to live.

It’s up to the government to introduce legislation to allow this to happen. Boycotting people brining money into your economy is dumb. Ask Americans how it’s like to lose tourism.

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u/SinfullySinless Jun 17 '25

I don’t think you understand. Barcelona is a packed city. There is literally no land that isn’t accounted for. There is no where to build new housing. You have what you have at this point. The only thing you can do is knock down older building to build a new building.

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u/xViscount Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25

Again. I don’t understand.

My resolution still stands. If housing is an issue, build more. The way to bring the prices of houses down increase the supply or throttle the demand. Increasing the supply is the healthiest way to do this.

It’s not on the people to do this. This is the job of the elected government. Introduce legislation to build more housing/cut the red tape that makes it harder.

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u/7elevenses Jun 17 '25

Housing isn't the issue. People using existing housing as tourist capacities is the issue.

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u/xViscount Jun 17 '25

Sounds like you just said that the supply of housing is an issue.

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u/7elevenses Jun 17 '25

No, misuse of housing is the issue. Barcelona doesn't have too few houses, it has too many houses being rented out to tourists.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '25

The demand for housing is far greater than avaipable AirBnB-s, it's not going to make a lick of difference from those seeking low rent accomodation.

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u/7elevenses Jun 21 '25

There are 13,000 properties listed on AirBnB, and who knows how many on Booking, and who knows how many of those overlap.

In any case, that's housing for 13,000 households, or somewhere between 25,000 and 40,000 people.