A British man living in Spain is concerned that disrespectful visitors are ruining his city
A British man who moved abroad for a better life in Barcelona has said that too many visitors and inconsiderate tourists are ruining his adopted city.
Campbell Peter Bluett, 32, moved to Barcelona in 2020 to work in the bar industry after falling in love with the Spanish mindset which he says aims to “enjoy life and stress less and keep things in balance”.
For Mr Bluett, the UK was too grey, close-minded and had “tunnel vision”. There was “a lack of movement, working endlessly and never getting anywhere”, he said, with little room for personal or professional growth.
“I don’t connect with that mindset, and so I found my home elsewhere. I have a family of friends from all over the world here [in Spain] with me, and they also make this place home,” he said.
He is currently working on opening his own bar and brunch café in Barcelona while offering training to hospitality businesses.
Mr Bluett (left) with a colleague at a Barcelona bar where he previously worked
However, despite still enjoying Barcelona, he says he has come to witness the negative impact of tourism on the city, fuelled by its party culture.
“A lot of people come for the party and don’t respect the city in terms of taking care of it, and can be noisy in the small barrios [districts], which bothers the neighbours. You’ll see signs in the streets that say ‘silence at night’”, Mr Bluett told The i Paper.
He is concerned that undisciplined visitors are ruining Spanish authenticity and uniqueness, and showing a lack of respect and cultural indifference.
“There’s a big contrast between the locals and the visitors because most people that come and go don’t treat this beautiful city with respect,” he said. “Local communities feel disrespected by the negative impact the level of tourism and expats are having on the city, from a perspective of a local.”
Barcelona is struggling with surging numbers of tourists (Photo: Jorge Mantilla/NurPhoto/Getty)
Visitors and expats rarely make an effort to speak the local Catalan language or Spanish, he said. He said he knew foreigners who had been living in Barcelona for over 10 years who could barely say more than hola (hello).
Protests against overtourism took place across Spain throughout last year, and last month thousands of people took to the streets in Spanish 40 cities including Barcelona demonstrate over the country’s housing crisis, which they blame on overtourism.
Mr Bluett, who lived in London for 21 years before moving abroad, initially to Gibraltar before relocating to Barcelona three years later, said tourism was also having serious consequences for the rental market.
“I’m lucky enough to have found a friend to live with who offers a fair price of €400 (£340) for a room in a two-bedroom shared apartment in the Gothic quarter. But this is not a common find,” he said.
Mr Bluett carrying out hospitality training
However, since moving to Barcelona, he has been forced to move house 13 times across all districts including Eixample, Raval, Sants-Badal, El Poble-Sec and Sant Antoni, as prices surge thanks to holiday rentals.
A huge number of properties in Barcelona have been turned into Airbnbs and other short-stay accommodations, with prices ranging from €800 (£678) to €2,000 (£1,695) for similar spaces to the one he rents, or even smaller.
Mr Bluett said Barcelona had been constantly changing and now had a huge number of expats and digital nomads.
“But as the city is not as large as other top hit destinations like Tokyo, London, New York, this small city has to pack a lot of people in it, which can get intense in peak seasons”, says Mr Bluett.
Even though prices of living dropped during the pandemic, with landlords uncertain of having their regular income during lockdown, they have since surged.
“Soon after [the pandemic] things skyrocketed and there is a deep underlying issue of the property market becoming monopolised by rich sharks buying outbuildings and converting them into small expensive studios or flats to be used for Airbnb visitors or as short-stay accommodation for Erasmus exchange students or travelling nomads,” he says.
“This action makes it tough for locals or international locals to survive in an economy where wages are low and prices continue to rise.”
Mr Bluett fears that the people who are the “beating heart and soul of this city are sacrificing their comfort to home visitors that are here to walk all over” Barcelona.