Anti-Tourismus-Demonstranten in Barcelona schießen mit Wasserpistolen auf Besucher
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/08/travel/barcelona-tourism-protests-scli-intl/index.html
Anti-Tourismus-Demonstranten in Barcelona schießen mit Wasserpistolen auf Besucher
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/08/travel/barcelona-tourism-protests-scli-intl/index.html
49 comments
“Demonstrators marching through areas popular with tourists on Saturday chanted “tourists go home” and squirted them with water pistols, while others carried signs with slogans including “Barcelona is not for sale.”
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the city in the latest demonstration against mass tourism in Spain, which has seen similar actions in the Canary Islands and Mallorca recently, decrying the impact on living costs and quality of life for local people.
[ … ]
According to official figures, almost 26 million visitors made an overnight stay in the Barcelona region in 2023, spending €12.75 billion ($13.8 billion).
However, the Assemblea de Barris pel Decreixement Turístic says that these visitors increase prices and put pressure on public services, while profits from the tourism industry are unfairly distributed and increase social inequality.”
It’s just water, but that’s still assault. Spanish law even goes so far as to include “mental suffering” as a possible element in assault (as opposed to only physical).
Are there any numbers or estimates, e.g., “reduce tourism by half, and rent and food prices go down by __%”?
It’s quite interesting, [this book](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century) suggests when middle classes are squeezed, the first thing they do when they have had enough is blame immigration.
With the cost of living squeezes and then assets like property being at an all time high I suspect we are seeing this play out and history repeating itself. Unfortunately we are currently experiencing a wealth drain from middle classes to the wealthy and these sort of anti immigration protests are the result.
Has Barcelona considered building more housing and hotels so they can both benefit from tourist money AND have affordable housing ?
Attacking (used loosely) the same people who provide the incomes for so many locals seems counterproductive but making fun of visitors has been a favorite pastime for decades there. Barcelona is one of the most overrated places in the world and really don’t understand the appeal of visiting. Madrid is generally cheaper, has more to see and locals aren’t actively hostile to visitors.
How do the protestors differentiate between tourists and people who live in the city?
Protesters speedrunning a broken nose.
Yikes, I do love Barcelona as a city but isn’t this assault
Tourism is a great source of income for the F&B industry, retailers and even small businesses so I dont understand the logic here
While I get the idea that tourist areas become insanely expensive for residents but say they make the tourists leave…that would hit that local
Economy hard wouldn’t it? Really this seems like a failure of their government to balance the tourist driven economy and still maintaining livability for the residents. Assaulting tourists, yes it’s water but it could
Escalate, seems like a bad way to go about it. Guess it’s just cause tourists are easier targets
Tourism’s like a double-edged sword – helps economy but annoys the locals. Guess every city’s got its breaking point
Embassies there should provide water pistols to their citizens for self defense.
Air BnB is part of the problem too.
When visiting Barcelona, I carry a super-squirter.
Hmm…these girls seem too young to remember what Barcelona was like before tourism (before the Olympics). It was basically an industrial shithole of a city! So, be careful what you wish for!
Everyone should stop visiting Barca. Give em 5 years of deep recession and then go back to welcome arms once everyone has grown up.
You know you’re living in one of the most privileged places/times in history when your main gripe is too much tourism.
I’d pay good money for a spanish chick to squirt me with a water gun
Guess they don’t like the welcomed tax money that helps repair roads and upgrade infrastructure.
Eh I don’t have to spend my money in Barcelona.
> decrying the impact on living costs and quality of life for local people
Legitimate grievance, also not really the fault of visitors themselves that tourism is badly managed by the government in various ways (lack of legislation around holiday lets and conversions to hotels for a good example)
Additionally: unless part of doing this is committing to never going on holiday anywhere yourself it’s a bit hypocritical
(Yes, tourists are annoying – I know, I live in London. It’s also not their individual fault that crowd management is done badly most places, the government doesn’t have good rules about holiday lets/doesn’t enforce the ones it does have, or that they make the tube more crowded when the central line “doesn’t have enough trains)
Nasty people who better not be traveling to other countries for vacation.
“Yes, peasants, turn on the other peasants. Gooood, gooooooood. If you fight each other enough, surely your problems will go away. Mwahahahahahaha!”-Global elites
People are so easily manipulated into dividing themselves, and by extension giving the elites free rein to do as they please. Surprise, surprise, that will just make shit worse for the rest of us. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Honestly, I’d ask them all to squirt me and then promise I’d tell everyone how much fun it is to be in Barcelona and that they should ABSOLUTELY visit in summer.
If they wanna play, I’d just ask the waiter for a couple pitchers of water for the table
They’re going to be the same people begging for tourists to come back once things goes to actual shit
Ok, let their tourism industry die then. According to a quick google search it’s worth about 12 billion euros annually, guess they can do without that.
Sounds like a dick move.
“I went to Barcelona, and a water gun battle broke out! The whole city was into it! It was awesome, and with how hot it was, it was very refreshing. What a fun city. Will definitely be going back to Barcelona” – Tourist.
I’m glad I visited Barcelona in the Spring. It wasn’t pissed-off locals season yet!
AirBnb and the like is the problem here. Culturally interesting neighborhoods have transformed into tourist traps devoid of the local culture. Residential neighborhoods are owned by rent-seeking blood suckers.
Not very smart of them :
“14% of the city’s GDP came from tourist activity and 9% of employment in the city is in that sector “
Yay! Non-Americans in the news for doing something incredibly entitled and stupid!
Why are they angry at tourists for this, I honestly don’t get it.
Should they not be angry with their government for allowing the situation? Isn’t this the governments job to prevent this, I don’t think it’s a tourists job to have in depth knowledge of the housing market of a country they visit in order to balance their housing market.
But the tourists only pay what they are being charged… it’s the.. local Bartheloneans that raise the prices because they know the tourists will pay it. It’s just coincidental that if the locals want the same product, they have to pay those princes that were likely inflated by their own neighbors and family. :headscratch:
Fk tourists- local population
Why’re we in a recession?- local population 2 year later
During a heat wave? It would make them feel welcome!
Wait so they want tourist out yet they take their money?
Boy these protestors are clueless.
First, protest your government & then most importantly. Take your protest to the ports & airports… yahhhh know, where most of all the tourists come in 🤣🤣
Its ironic and funny because spain used to colonize others
Getting rid of tourism in Barcelona is getting rid of the economy…
I’m curious on what the reaction would be if tourists began to bring water guns with them and did it back. Could create a whole new tourism trend.
Isn’t tourism one of the main sources of income for Barcelona?
Cancelled my 2025 plans because of this. I don’t want to have to deal with it. So yay for you one less family spending money in your town.
I’m sure none of those protestors go on vacations to an Airbnb.
Squirt squirt!
I’d like to see Barcelona without tourism, even more broke than it currently is.
Hahaa so silly. Let’s hope their stupid actions will bring the region back to poverty levels from 1980’s .
This going to get violent one day, either by the Catalans or the Tourists and nobody will win.
I preferred Madrid to Barcelona anyway.
Harassing the tourist rather than the politician responsible for zoning/housing is shit.