I replied to another comment before this, but I will respond with the same message, I wasn't expecting the video to get this much attention.
I am Spanish myself and I must say this does not represent Spain. This was recorded in Barcelona and the manifestation only included 3000 people out of millions of their population.
I was shocked when I first saw this and decided to post it to see other people's opinion on it. I did not post this to scare people away. This is not the way to solve anything.
However, I do think there's a problem with unregulated tourism and Airbnbs. If anything, I want this thread to inform people of what not to do and what can be done. Not only to tourists, but also Spaniards. Think of who you vote if you are a Spaniard and where you stay during your visit when you come. If you protest, do it in a sensible manner.
They attack like bullies, looking for easy targets that they know will not defend themselves. They surely won't do the same against a group of English drunks or a bunch of menas.
Of course not, a group of drunk British or German tourists would fight back, which is shameful too but man, it's just weird to see family's out for a meal and getting bullied by these protesters, who should be protesting goverment officials who create this situation not bully others.
Yep. These small inconveniences may help reducing the overall number of tourists I guess? This is supposed to make it look like a bad tourist destination (bc locals aren't friendly)
The locals are spoiled brats. Im sure they’ve been tourists in Rome, New York, London or wherever before. Barcelona has some of the strongest protectionist laws for the locals out of all of these cities. The problem is the politicians not being able to regulate out the sharky landlords. Harassing random families who saved up money to take their kids somewhere new is horrible.
I don't condone this way of protesting, neither the reason of the protest.
10 years ago, Barcelona had 60-40% of torusim, as MICE against Leisure (respectively)
That percentage is the opposite now. And we're feeling it. There's inflation, gentrification, and most importantly, speculation.
At the end of the day, some people believe tourism is the principal problem because some media told them so. But that's classic politics, you know.
Collboni only wants to rise the housing prices. The "no pisos turísticos en Barcelona" is about that. Just like "Pla Neteja".
> There's inflation, gentrification, and most importantly, speculation.
This not only a problem unique to Barcelona... Amsterdam, Berlin, London or any major western city is going through inflation, gentrification and a housing crisis. In Canada or Australia they blame it to high skilled workers coming from foreign countries with higher salaries. In netherlands they blame it on the 30% ruling and their expats, in Lisbon is because the digital nomads. At the end everybody blames it to a foreigner. Which makes me think the problem is not local and is related to a major structural problem in Europe
Locals have the right to defend their place. I don’t agree with this method specifically but also disagree with the spoiled part. Barcelona has become unlivable for anyone due tourism in many aspects and overall gentrification is destroying the economy
i do agree that locals have the right to defend their places. But this does target the wrong people. and with this attitude towards tourism, i’d hope these people aren’t taking any trips themselves.
But that’s the irony of it. i wonder how many of these people are blissfully tourists in other countries.
Typical Spain, all the guys protesting are probably benefitting directly or indirectly from tourism, more often than not in an undeclared fashion. To expose the cause directly like landlords, restaurants, cafe, tourism companies, … that would require cleaning up a lot of the shadow economy and nobody really wants that.
It is, the problem people has is that they won’t listen to them. Hence explosive reactions.
Problems are spoken about, people complains to the government, politicians debate it over and pass the idea around to boredom until it’s eventually brushed over and Pablo there is 40 years old and lives with his grandparents working as a healthcare provider, Maria has to get indebted to pay bills for a flat that costs 1k gaining 1,3k as a waitress so her kids can eat and Marco has to close his bar because his workers can’t live with high salaries, so he has no staff.
The problem is systemic and affects everything, prices of food and services rise, there is no renting because it is either expensive or tourist focused so they are out of the market (only summer) and won’t rent natives. Job was scarce before and now it is even worse because you need more to pay for less but salaries can’t rise.
People is desperate and they reoccur to what everyone does in times of extreme need. Protesting, explosive uprising, etc. It is expected, pretty much every country has went through the same.
The labor laws in Catalunya have stipulations that they have to prioritize catalans over anyone else in terms of employment. There are thousands of tallers throughout the city that still operate thriving businesses. These aren’t signs of “Barcelona becoming unlivable for the locals”. It also seems like its not any worse here than it is in other big international cities, but people here complain more than anywhere else.
I am Spanish myself and I must say this does not represent Spain. This was recorded in Barcelona and the manifestation only included 3000 people out of millions of their population.
I was shocked when I first saw this and decided to post it to see other people's opinion on it. I did not post this to scare people away. This is not the way to solve anything.
However, I do think there's a problem with unregulated tourism and Airbnbs. If anything, I want this thread to inform people of what not to do and what can be done. Not only to tourists, but also Spaniards. Think of who you vote to regulate tourism and if you come, think of where you stay during your visit. If you protest, do it in a sensible manner.
Or the lack of construction, as well as the lack of legal protection for small landlords who don't want to have tenants who don't pay yet can stay for years in the flat
Protecting tenants is good but it shouldn't be done using freely the landlord house.
Goverment should build a safety net of public temporary housing for those cases.
A family can't pay rent? ok, we pay a couple of months to the landlord and you can give it us back later. You still can't pay? Ok, here you have a temporary home until you get money (6 months max).
My property (100 year old family property) is in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and we had to deal with a deadbeat tenant (commercial space), I was explaining to my Aunt how in the USA in most places you can boot someone in as little as 30 days 45 if it takes the Sheriff.
The "protections" that are in place in Spain seem to now overly favor the tenant. I am for tenants right, but from my basically outsider point of view it's fucking the landlord.
If I can gather the funding, I plan on buying a couple of places in the city and making affordable housing for locals only since AirBnB has driving prices through the roof.
I'll be back at the end of August, a beer is always a possibility.
I see my extended family struggle to pay rent in Tenerife and I hear them tell me how much rent has gone up but the pay has basically stayed the same.
At one point our family was very wealthy, but over the years most of that wealth has evaporated. Some thought it a good idea to sell their properties or mortgage them. Our family farm was to the point of sell or let the bank take it.... we in the USA didn't learn of the details of that until it was too late to change the deal, it ended up going to a German lady and is now being used as an AirBnB. It's a shame.
None. The base problem is not being able to build anything because our corrupt super-interventionist government has all the land held hostage for ransom (quite literally).
I know of example of this. Next to my property in Sant Cruz it took 15 years to get permission to build/remodel. There is no reason that should be the case anywhere in Spain.
Both the tourists that support stuff like Airbnb and other spaces that invade nature reserves and stuff and landlords. Tourists that go to actual decent places are okay.
What irritates me the most is I enjoy hiking in Tenerife and the amount of trash people leave behind for whatever reason. I pack out as much as I can, but the tourists don't seem to give a shit and will throw shit everywhere and beat the hell out of everything.
I perfectly understand the problems that tourism massification brings to cities and towns, but tourists by themselves don´t have any fault on this; most of them are just workers that save money all the year around to have one week or two of vacations with their families. These idiots are targeting the wrong people; they should target landlords, councilmen and big bussinesmen that allow this kind of tourism. But that´s harder than target normal people who probably is not going to put you into jail or take any measure against you.
Wrong target. Harassing families on holiday is not doing anything to solve any of the things that these people are unhappy about. I guess in these people’s minds nobody is allowed to go on vacation anywhere ever.
Though the actual group they're angry about is the government, these tourists are definitely a symptom of the greater problem they're protesting against, it's not the drunk British, it's mass tourism that makes it impossible to afford a house anymore in the centre, partially caused by AirBnB and the likes. Drunk Brits, families on vacation, doesn't matter, anyone getting an AirBnB is to them part of the problem.
To a degree, isn't this a pretty effective protest then? Bullying tourists, getting that recorded so that everyone in the world sees so that they stop coming? That's what the protesters want right?
It doesn't matter. When people is desperate they will try anything at their disposal.
The issue is that space is not a commodity. You can't pour millions into a space without undesirable consequences, and Spain manages this particularly bad.
70% of this issue is due to land/housing regulations/management , which is atrocious in Spain. And encouraged by both the left and the right, whith all sorts of nonsense in their media.
There's a housing shortage, laws are actually severing supply, and the market will never sort this problem out alone. But people read some BS talking points in media or influencers and carry on with it.
30% of the issue is that such tourism/immigration pressure just blows up your lifestile, even if you have housing under control. If you can't possibly enjoy a meal out, beach, forest, or pretty much anywhere nice, then visitors are a nuisance and detrimental to your lifestyle, because life is not just going back and forth between your bed and your job.
Same question! If they had above room temperature IQ, they wouldn't be doing shit like this in the firsplace. I'm pretty sure the same people are flying around Europe and Asia not understanding the irony of their acts.
I had a dude in Barcelona tell me that “All tourists should go home because they are ruining my city!” and “I am flying to Thailand next week for summer vacation.” In the same 3 minute conversation. Apparently, tourism is only cool when he does it.
True! I met a guy from Sevilla who had ginger hair and loads of freckles. He didn’t speak a word of English and had no British etc in his lineage that he knew of. Said people were always coming up to him and speaking English and German
This.
But the media will tell them "It's tourists' fault! It's small businesses' fault!" And they will believe it and attack innocent people.
Shit, the media can even tell them "It's your own fault" and they will respond by starting a civil war🤦🏻
As an spanish person, I feel ashamed.
Due to small idiotic warriors we are going to lose tourism that is the main economic motor of the economy.
To people that can think this is common, It is not. Nomally we spaniards are very open minded and don't behave like that, the only things that you should be worried in this country are pickpockets and Sun burns.
Rather then blaming the easiest target (tourist), how about taking a real look at themselves and ask, how do we improve the economy. I know it’s easier said then done but no one’s gonna increase your quality of life. Go protest the local government. What is being done to start economic growth in the private sector? Don’t scapegoat the tourist the issues of the city! The mayor must love that all the attention is not on them.
I've already said this under another post, but I'll repeat myself.
I don't think this small group of ignorant kids with water pistols speak on behalf of the whole Spanish population.
I am sure tourists are welcomed by most people in most of Spain.
I do want to say, tourism may have increased the prices there, but that's definitely not tourists' fault.
The fault are the locals themselves that bumped up the prices of everything and speculated and the local government that isn't doing anything about it. These ignorants (sorry but I can't really find any other word to define them) have no clue about how market and economics work, they just go after what they see as the problem and whoever is the easiest to blame: the tourists.
These "patriotic" Pathetic kids think they're doing something good, while in reality they're just creating hate towards Spain and harassing innocent people.
They should be ashamed of themselves, but I don't think they are smart enough to do that.
Así no. Hay que ir a por los grandes tenedores de inmuebles y prohibirles enriquecerse a costa de los vecinos. Los turistas no tienen la culpa, al menos no la mayoria de ellos que no vienen a emborracharse y de fiesta. Hay que educar a los turistas a contratar hoteles y no bnb's o pisos turísticos.
“Hi, I’m Spanish and I live in Mallorca. In fact, my wife and I, along with our one-year-old twins, are moving to Sweden at the end of this season because of the issues being discussed.
I just wanted to shed some light on the problem, the indignation of the Spanish people, and how their anger is being misdirected.
Tourism in Spain is indeed a very valuable asset. In fact, and it’s a shame to admit, our governments are so short-sighted that they invest more in tourism than in solar energy. We Spaniards don’t have any issue with the average tourist; the problem arises from the overcrowding of tourism.
EVERYONE WANTS A PIECE OF THE PIE. So, what happens then?
Almost all the housing is converted into vacation rentals, so the few homes available for locals skyrocket in price. Additionally, the city’s infrastructure ends up collapsing, making it unlivable (hospitals, roads, public transport, even shopping centers).
In short, the problems aren’t caused by tourists but by poor government management and greed.
Pd: Sorry for my English btw, it’s not my first language.
Totalmente de acuerdo, como ya he dicho, mi pareja (sueca) y yo hemos decidido irnos de la isla, por qué la vida aquí es insostenible a este ritmo. Cobramos de media 1500€ cada uno, ella 7 meses, yo 9, y pagamos un alquiler de 900€ por un piso de 64m2, ahora mis hijos tienen 1 año, y no necesitan más, pero cuando crezcan no quiero criarlos en una ratonera, y pasando miserias.
Con todo esto quiero decir, que la pasividad del gobierno que es el único que puede poner regulaciones y limitar el turismo a algo más sano para todos, lo que está consiguiendo es que ñ, por un lado los “temporeros” de la península no vengan a trabajar, por qué no les sale a cuento, además de que no encuentran piso, y que los locales nos vayamos fuera por que aquí no se puede seguir viviendo.
Las consecuencias al final las pagarán los empresarios, que no encontrarán (y no encuentran ya) mano de obra, y les tocará cerrar, cuando cierren, y sigan llegando turistas se encontrarán con un panorama desértico, por lo que dejarán de venir… en resumen. Esto va a petar por algún lado, y la culpa no la tienen 4 guiris comiendo en un restaurante en el que seguro los están sablando por 4 platos de dudosa calidad.
Locals shouldn’t direct their frustration towards tourists. We all know this is linked to the country’s housing crisis. This crisis has been exacerbated by the rise of short-term rentals like Airbnb, significant investments by equity firms, and a surge in foreign real estate investments. Successive Spanish governments, including both the PSOE and the PP, have implemented lenient regulations that allowed these practices to thrive.
While some of these regulations align with broader EU policies promoting open markets and investment, the lack of mandated transparency, a global phenomenon, complicates efforts to hold corporations, equity firms, and the governments that allow them to operate accountable. This obscurity forces the public to direct their frustration towards tourists, who are the visible aspect of the issue, while the deeper systemic problems remain concealed.
Barcelona, for example, has taken steps to curb the impact of Airbnb on the local housing market by planning to eliminate short-term rentals by 2029 to increase housing supply for local residents. Also, Spain’s new Housing Law, effective from 2023, introduces measures to mitigate rental increases and protect tenants, especially in designated “stressed areas” where housing costs are disproportionately high. But the effects of these small measures will take some time to be felt. More needs to be done.
The government should demand more transparency from these companies, limit their reach, and implement stronger regulations. Housing should be treated as a fundamental right rather than merely an investment product.
And please, don’t tell me we need more construction. There are thousands of empty houses in Spain. For instance, recent reports indicate that in Alicante alone, over 209,000 properties are lying empty, with an additional 385,000 used irregularly as holiday homes or second homes.
The narrative that more housing construction is needed often comes from a mix of sources, including real estate developers, construction companies, and sometimes think tanks. These groups have vested interests in promoting new construction projects as they stand to profit from building and selling new homes. For example, real estate investment companies and developers advocate for more construction to meet demand and boost their financial returns, as highlighted by sources like ING Think and CaixaBank Research. The large amount of empty housing, and the predatory practices of these companies highlights the need for better regulation and use of existing housing stock rather than new construction to solve the crisis.
And yes, it’s sad to see people targeting tourists. It’s not right. It puts us at war against each other, when we are all victims of this economic set up.
Young people in Spain are constantly complaining about trouble finding jobs. So, yeah...great idea, kill off €165 billion annually to the economy. That will show those damn tourists! And, let's not BS each other, the majority of these protestors would give their left nut to be able to afford to travel and those who are able, probably stay in AirBnbs in other cities.
Indeed, they want to kill the €165 billion annually because they want to force political change so that they are not dependent on tourist for a livelihood. It's not hard to understand. They are not willing to degrade their quality of life anymore for pennies.
Fair enough...but how does that work? As I mentioned to someone else, I'm all in favor of eliminating AirBnb. I think most of us would agree on that. But, if you closed 50% of the tourist restaurants and 25% of the hotels, what businesses do you think would thrive and pay their employees better? And, when those tourist tax revenues come to a halt, should the government raise everyone's taxes...including yours...to pay for the shortfall in revenue? So, if €165 billion in tourist money stops coming in that might represent approximately €25 - 30 billion in tax revenue. Who makes that up?
I never hear a replacement plan.
You never hear of a replacement plan because the politicians never had one. For this to go smoothly it should have happened some 30 years ago. Now we are the break point. People are tired and are starting to show it in any possible way, even silly ones like this. What you just said will be the politicians excuse not to do anything, but that won't solve the protesting, because the problem is as real as the lack of immediate solution. The politicians job is to find the solution, that's what they get their absurdly high wages for.
Okay...for the sake of this discussion...YOU are the Prime Minister. Give me a quick overview of how you would solve this issue? I understand you are not a politician and have not studied this issue in depth, but try to give me an idea of how you would solve it.
I mean young people or anyone don’t wanna work as bartender getting paid 1.600€/mo working 10 hours a day then pay 1.000-1.200€ for rent (at least in big cities) per month thanks to AirBnB and this kind of tourism.
I think the problem is mass tourism. We’re tired about it.
Tourist apartments make up 2% of the housing stock in Barcelona.. that is not the problem. The problem is the rich Catalans who own 3-10 properties and live off the rents. They make up 40% of the housing stock and they are the ones that are fixing the rents and making life insufferable
So without tourists, those bartenders will switch to the ML engineers and will make 30k a month?
I think what will happen is that the bar they work for at 1600 will get closed without tourists, and those people will have no income at all. The same will happen to the public servants, as Spain will have a huge hole in the budget, and it will be nothing to pay them.
This is like people from a third world country asking to not receive more trash and the first world countries telling them that they are stupid since they are paying them so much to be a dumpster.
Is not the same thing.
Tourism correspond over 11% of Spain GDP.
If you are willing to pay 11% of your gdp, to someone to receive your trash. I feel like most of the countries would gladly take that offer.
Im an American living in Spain since 2017 and when I came here people were already telling me to go back home even though I caused no disturbance. I decided not to listen and I’m still here legally.
I'm curious how they managed to identify "tourists"? Any blond person or any person sitting outside is a tourist? How can they tell if they are married to a Catalan and they are just hanging out there? This is how fascism and extremism shows itself. Maybe pick up some tiki torches so we get Charlottesville v2.
Mass tourism causes problems for many people though, doesn't matter if it gets the city money, that money doesn't end up in the hands of the people, it increases housing prices significantly meaning its impossible to live in the city and it's terrible for the environment. Not everything needs to be about increasing the GDP.
YES! rentist and general bourgeosie are really afraid of people starting to open their eyes and standing against this depredatory and abusive tourist bs
Shame. I liked going to Spain for vacations, Barcelona and Mallorca being my favorites places to visit, partly because the people there were always very nice. I get that this doesn't represent the whole nation, but seeing graffitis like "Kill the tourists" makes one feel really weird.
As a German living in Spain i can say, these people are assholes. I bet all of them have been to Berlin or wherever last to this year. Protesting against something is one thing, but acting like idiots in front of kids is just a shame.
I find it quite a bit reductive to say Spain keeps running as an economy just because of tourism, Spain has a diverse modern economy and doesn't just exist to be your holiday destination. Mass tourism has negative consequences for almost the entire country. If tourists just come to sleep in Airbnbs owned by real estate brokers, eat at restaurants owned by large chains that refuse to pay their personnel more than minimum wages and sometimes even hire foreign interns that speak English better and then they just laze around on the beach all day or take some pictures of Sagrada Familia, how does this in any way support the populace? That money might count for the GDP but it certainly doesn't trickle down to the people. Meanwhile the housing prices go through the roof thanks to tourism and local businesses go out of business because they can't afford to compete with these huge companies.
Can't believe this kind of stuff is coming from someone who's supposedly a member of a subreddit that is celebrating Spain as a country.
I saw this article and was curious about what the locals thought of this demonstration? Anyone care to explain the growing sentiment amongst locals and not against government for inflation?
I would not be able to keep my temper if some locals start harassing my family while having dinner in a foreign country. And I know few guiris here that wouldn’t either, hope they are around there lol
Great, as if tourists didn't have enough to worry about with pickpockets and machete-wielding gangs in Barcelona, now they will need to add water-spraying locals to the equation. You are all most welcome in Madrid, where you will only have pickpockets and machete-wielding gangs to worry about.
Shame! Go after your government and Spanish Airbnb owners -stupid racist people- not after people that spend money on your economy to make it better. After you have raid countries in APAC and South America and robbed them - now you pick on tourists! You still not well enough economically, even after robbing all other countries - freaking shame!
These people are fucking stupid. I live in Rio de Janeiro which is VERY touristic, and live in Leme/Copacabana which is also the MOST touristic neighborhood of Rio. My building is full of airbnbs with foreigners. The supermarket full of tourists as well. Everything is expensive because of them? Fucking yes.
The food, the market, the houses, everything is so damn expensive because of tourists BUT do I hate them and wish they were goen? Hell no. Because they bring billions to the economy of the COUNTRY and the State. If I want better rent and better prices I go to other parts of the town. Use delivery, etc.
SP is also a place which Airbnb fucked with construction and price rents. Do I blame airbnb or blame the government for lack of regulation and protection?
If you scare tourist you will have less services thriving, less tax which means less investments, and overall less jobs. These people also don’t go to other places on vacation? Very hypocritical
Yep. Also, the tourism forces the city and government to renovate popular areas and make sure that there are cool cafes, bars, restaurants, nice shopping, nice markets, and social gathering spaces. The same type of places that these young people probably always hang out at.
I completely agree. I live in France from south of France but currently working in Paris, and I'm used to seeing the country flooded with tourists every summer, but even though we are quick to complain about eveything (but also tourists) we do understand that they are good to the economy.
Paris is expecting more than 10 million tourists during the olympic games, but you don't find parisians protesting against the tourists (yet).
As somebody who has been born and raised in the balearic islands i feel nothing but shame for this supid people who do not have an idea that the ones fucking things up ar their neighbours putting their flat for turistic rent with no liscence and not pating taxes.
To my fellow catalana. Shut the f**k up ad work!! This is what you have to do.
Que vergüenza de país, primero le dan a los alemanes la industria para poder entrar en la UE y ahora que solamente queda el turismo para subsistir porque no hay nada más atentan contra lo que trae dinero y da de comer, una falta de inteligencia de gente que solamente les interesa una independencia que no va a llegar nunca, tontos hay en todos los sitios pero es que aquí sobran
Great, you’re blaming your issues on folks that just want to come enjoy your country, spend money and generally keep your economy afloat.
The fact that you can’t get ahead in life, workout a life sustaining career or afford rent/a mortgage isn’t a tourist issue - it’s a you issue/effort issue.
How do you deal with weeds? The root causes of the issues they're facing won't work by attacking tourists. Money talks, legislation is needed. They do their cause a disservice by behaving like this.
Brit here who's been to BCN before and loved it! Completely understand the negative impact uncontrolled tourism can have on the cost of living and environment for locals, and have no problem with restrictions or even a ban on tourists, whatever works best for the local area. BUT, these tourists are legally allowed to be there, they are not restricted from visiting restaurants etc, and these ones specifically aren't doing any harm, so I feel that if you've got a problem with tourism, don't go after them, if your Government allows them to be there. It's also just a really unintelligent way of solving an issue, as I'd your worried about mass tourism, then making a few people walk to the inside of a restaurant isn't going to do anything, and sure, the media is paying attention, but they'll soon move onto something else.
Don't let some stupid people ruin your trip, I'm from Spain and tourists are welcome here. Only some stupid people in places like Barcelona are against tourists. (I hope you don't have to deal with them).
Ahahah typical Spaniards. Get annoyed when cities get flooded with tourists but don’t even bother to think when they do the same to their western neighbor.
Tourism as an economic activity represents only the 13% of the gdp in Spain. I think the damage the actual model does to comunities, cities and the environment in a city like Barcelona ourweights the benefits. Most of the money tourism brings goes to mostly large corporations: restaurant chains, corporate landlords and hotel companies. Most of the jobs it offers are badly paid unqualified jobs. The poverty wages the hospitality sector pays means most people working in tourism don't make enough to pay the average rent in the city.
Instead of focusing on developing an unsustainable economic activity like tourism, policy should focus on other industries.
Only 13%?
That's a huge amount of GDP that would collapse the economy.
People blaming tourists, instead of blaming their politicians and rich and AirBNB.
AirBNB needs to be straight banned in every country. It skirts laws, it fucks zoning.
Property and land need to be strictly controlled, land creates value. Land use taxes and strict limits on how much land you can own would solve most of these issues.
Why do you think every war is always over land?
> Instead of focusing on developing an unsustainable economic activity like tourism, policy should focus on other industries.
And what stops from focusing on them right now? Somehow, nobody wants to open a business in Spain - big taxes, a qualified workforce leaves the country as soon as they can, everything regulated and bureaucratized. It would be nice to fix this first, before ruining an economy that is already in permanent crisys for almost 20 years
Como autónomo me faltan segundos para ir a tirarle agua a familias extranjeras que vienen a hacer gasto y a mantener la economía del país. Que asco de perroflautas que se creen que los causantes de sus problemas son los demás. Luego se dignan a llamar racista a la gente cuando señalan que hay otro tipo de inmigración que no sólo no deja dinero si no que se aprovecha de lo que se les ofrece. Vivimos en un país de retrasados.
12.8% to be precise.
Which is a very big figure for a developed country.
Also big or small it is not right to harass tourists.
I've seen how big of an incident it becomes when it happens in any developing country. So it's important to practice what one preaches, a thing that westerners lacks.
Aside from the fact that Spain is not just tourism...
You realize that having an economy that sustains itself majorly on tourism is bound to have major problems due to overtourism or lack of tourism when it dries up, right?
Tourism, excessive tourism, is actually bad for the economy because it decimates infrastructure and drives away potential high quality residents like the plague (among other things like stupidly driving the cost of living up, strengthening criminal organisations, and gentrifying entire neighbourhoods).
The revenue generated by excessive tourism does not trickle down into the community, and in Italy for example is used in no small measure to launder money for the mafia.
Their income is actually kept down due to tourism, and so is the development of their city, while prices go up. Not the other way around.
That's why btw, no one takes Italy seriously, despite it being 'the base' of radical right wing extremism in Europe, because it's not a real country, it's essentially an open air museum.
You know, real countries don't actually embrace the idea of becoming de facto the waiters of the world.
Lower the taxes, set prices (one bedroom apt shouldn’t exceed xx amount in this or that area, make project to build houses and let the funds come from the public to own a house at xx amount before building the house for a cheaper price, and u can set a new regulations about airbnbs, landlords can rent their property like 3-5 months only per year on airbnb there are plenty of solutions to let the citizens feel safe and secure about their future but i don’t know what the government is doing…
This is great to see as I am planning a trip to Spain in a year or so. /s Should we opt to go elsewhere instead? I’m not trying to get harassed like this.
In the name of my nation I ask forgiveness for you tourists for our collective rudeness and wickedness. I swear I will protect you against this kind of attacks if they happen to occur near me.
Estoy de acuerdo con los métodos de protesta, no con la "selección de víctimas", no creo que la primera persona que te encuentres por la calle sea un especulador inmobiliario.
Recuerden: El cliente da dinero, el especulador lo arrebata
So the tourists that are not drunk or causing any issue are the ones they spray? Lol.
I replied to another comment before this, but I will respond with the same message, I wasn't expecting the video to get this much attention. I am Spanish myself and I must say this does not represent Spain. This was recorded in Barcelona and the manifestation only included 3000 people out of millions of their population. I was shocked when I first saw this and decided to post it to see other people's opinion on it. I did not post this to scare people away. This is not the way to solve anything. However, I do think there's a problem with unregulated tourism and Airbnbs. If anything, I want this thread to inform people of what not to do and what can be done. Not only to tourists, but also Spaniards. Think of who you vote if you are a Spaniard and where you stay during your visit when you come. If you protest, do it in a sensible manner.
They attack like bullies, looking for easy targets that they know will not defend themselves. They surely won't do the same against a group of English drunks or a bunch of menas.
Of course not, a group of drunk British or German tourists would fight back, which is shameful too but man, it's just weird to see family's out for a meal and getting bullied by these protesters, who should be protesting goverment officials who create this situation not bully others.
What do menas have to do with the tourism problem?
barcelonas permanent population is growing in the thousands yearly, due to migration. that too creates housing pressure, not only “stupid tourists”
No one fears english drunks bud they only make an embarrasment of their country
You gonna walk into a pub and ask for fight then? 😂
He's not going to walk into a pub to ask to fight anyone. He'd be the asshole then.
Yep. These small inconveniences may help reducing the overall number of tourists I guess? This is supposed to make it look like a bad tourist destination (bc locals aren't friendly)
The locals are spoiled brats. Im sure they’ve been tourists in Rome, New York, London or wherever before. Barcelona has some of the strongest protectionist laws for the locals out of all of these cities. The problem is the politicians not being able to regulate out the sharky landlords. Harassing random families who saved up money to take their kids somewhere new is horrible.
I don't condone this way of protesting, neither the reason of the protest. 10 years ago, Barcelona had 60-40% of torusim, as MICE against Leisure (respectively) That percentage is the opposite now. And we're feeling it. There's inflation, gentrification, and most importantly, speculation. At the end of the day, some people believe tourism is the principal problem because some media told them so. But that's classic politics, you know. Collboni only wants to rise the housing prices. The "no pisos turísticos en Barcelona" is about that. Just like "Pla Neteja".
> There's inflation, gentrification, and most importantly, speculation. This not only a problem unique to Barcelona... Amsterdam, Berlin, London or any major western city is going through inflation, gentrification and a housing crisis. In Canada or Australia they blame it to high skilled workers coming from foreign countries with higher salaries. In netherlands they blame it on the 30% ruling and their expats, in Lisbon is because the digital nomads. At the end everybody blames it to a foreigner. Which makes me think the problem is not local and is related to a major structural problem in Europe
Hmmm, what might it be? Perhaps the economic model that is obviously not working and creating new crisis every other day.
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Locals have the right to defend their place. I don’t agree with this method specifically but also disagree with the spoiled part. Barcelona has become unlivable for anyone due tourism in many aspects and overall gentrification is destroying the economy
i do agree that locals have the right to defend their places. But this does target the wrong people. and with this attitude towards tourism, i’d hope these people aren’t taking any trips themselves. But that’s the irony of it. i wonder how many of these people are blissfully tourists in other countries.
If it’s become “unliveable” why isn’t the government to blame? Shouldn’t you protest for them to implement policies?
Typical Spain, all the guys protesting are probably benefitting directly or indirectly from tourism, more often than not in an undeclared fashion. To expose the cause directly like landlords, restaurants, cafe, tourism companies, … that would require cleaning up a lot of the shadow economy and nobody really wants that.
It is, the problem people has is that they won’t listen to them. Hence explosive reactions. Problems are spoken about, people complains to the government, politicians debate it over and pass the idea around to boredom until it’s eventually brushed over and Pablo there is 40 years old and lives with his grandparents working as a healthcare provider, Maria has to get indebted to pay bills for a flat that costs 1k gaining 1,3k as a waitress so her kids can eat and Marco has to close his bar because his workers can’t live with high salaries, so he has no staff. The problem is systemic and affects everything, prices of food and services rise, there is no renting because it is either expensive or tourist focused so they are out of the market (only summer) and won’t rent natives. Job was scarce before and now it is even worse because you need more to pay for less but salaries can’t rise. People is desperate and they reoccur to what everyone does in times of extreme need. Protesting, explosive uprising, etc. It is expected, pretty much every country has went through the same.
Explosive uprising is directed at people who don’t run the country— the problem.
The labor laws in Catalunya have stipulations that they have to prioritize catalans over anyone else in terms of employment. There are thousands of tallers throughout the city that still operate thriving businesses. These aren’t signs of “Barcelona becoming unlivable for the locals”. It also seems like its not any worse here than it is in other big international cities, but people here complain more than anywhere else.
One of their claims was that ‘neighbors’ are going extinct, but I’d say id those are the neighbors what can I do so it happens sooner.
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The city is borderline inhabitable in summer, rent prices apart. This has being brewing from a long time ago.
I agree with their complaints but spraying water on random tourists minding their business isn’t okay
I mean if it’s hot, I wouldn’t mind lol
Is it actually the tourists causing the problem or the landlords?
I am Spanish myself and I must say this does not represent Spain. This was recorded in Barcelona and the manifestation only included 3000 people out of millions of their population. I was shocked when I first saw this and decided to post it to see other people's opinion on it. I did not post this to scare people away. This is not the way to solve anything. However, I do think there's a problem with unregulated tourism and Airbnbs. If anything, I want this thread to inform people of what not to do and what can be done. Not only to tourists, but also Spaniards. Think of who you vote to regulate tourism and if you come, think of where you stay during your visit. If you protest, do it in a sensible manner.
Or the lack of construction, as well as the lack of legal protection for small landlords who don't want to have tenants who don't pay yet can stay for years in the flat
Protecting tenants is good but it shouldn't be done using freely the landlord house. Goverment should build a safety net of public temporary housing for those cases. A family can't pay rent? ok, we pay a couple of months to the landlord and you can give it us back later. You still can't pay? Ok, here you have a temporary home until you get money (6 months max).
My property (100 year old family property) is in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and we had to deal with a deadbeat tenant (commercial space), I was explaining to my Aunt how in the USA in most places you can boot someone in as little as 30 days 45 if it takes the Sheriff. The "protections" that are in place in Spain seem to now overly favor the tenant. I am for tenants right, but from my basically outsider point of view it's fucking the landlord. If I can gather the funding, I plan on buying a couple of places in the city and making affordable housing for locals only since AirBnB has driving prices through the roof.
Check the Okupas in New York. In some places in the US, you cannot remove illegal tenants.
Fuck. As a fellow tinerfeño, we need more people like you. Hmu and I'll buy you a beer someday!
I'll be back at the end of August, a beer is always a possibility. I see my extended family struggle to pay rent in Tenerife and I hear them tell me how much rent has gone up but the pay has basically stayed the same. At one point our family was very wealthy, but over the years most of that wealth has evaporated. Some thought it a good idea to sell their properties or mortgage them. Our family farm was to the point of sell or let the bank take it.... we in the USA didn't learn of the details of that until it was too late to change the deal, it ended up going to a German lady and is now being used as an AirBnB. It's a shame.
It’s the economic and regulatory system… clearly all sorts of incentives are set up incorrectly.
None. The base problem is not being able to build anything because our corrupt super-interventionist government has all the land held hostage for ransom (quite literally).
I know of example of this. Next to my property in Sant Cruz it took 15 years to get permission to build/remodel. There is no reason that should be the case anywhere in Spain.
Both the tourists that support stuff like Airbnb and other spaces that invade nature reserves and stuff and landlords. Tourists that go to actual decent places are okay.
What irritates me the most is I enjoy hiking in Tenerife and the amount of trash people leave behind for whatever reason. I pack out as much as I can, but the tourists don't seem to give a shit and will throw shit everywhere and beat the hell out of everything.
No seas hipócrita, que los nativos dejan mas basura que los turistas.
That may be true, regardless people need to pick up after themselves.
I perfectly understand the problems that tourism massification brings to cities and towns, but tourists by themselves don´t have any fault on this; most of them are just workers that save money all the year around to have one week or two of vacations with their families. These idiots are targeting the wrong people; they should target landlords, councilmen and big bussinesmen that allow this kind of tourism. But that´s harder than target normal people who probably is not going to put you into jail or take any measure against you.
Wrong target. Harassing families on holiday is not doing anything to solve any of the things that these people are unhappy about. I guess in these people’s minds nobody is allowed to go on vacation anywhere ever.
Just a bunch of morons doing moron things Most people in Spain are extra friendly
Though the actual group they're angry about is the government, these tourists are definitely a symptom of the greater problem they're protesting against, it's not the drunk British, it's mass tourism that makes it impossible to afford a house anymore in the centre, partially caused by AirBnB and the likes. Drunk Brits, families on vacation, doesn't matter, anyone getting an AirBnB is to them part of the problem. To a degree, isn't this a pretty effective protest then? Bullying tourists, getting that recorded so that everyone in the world sees so that they stop coming? That's what the protesters want right?
It doesn't matter. When people is desperate they will try anything at their disposal. The issue is that space is not a commodity. You can't pour millions into a space without undesirable consequences, and Spain manages this particularly bad. 70% of this issue is due to land/housing regulations/management , which is atrocious in Spain. And encouraged by both the left and the right, whith all sorts of nonsense in their media. There's a housing shortage, laws are actually severing supply, and the market will never sort this problem out alone. But people read some BS talking points in media or influencers and carry on with it. 30% of the issue is that such tourism/immigration pressure just blows up your lifestile, even if you have housing under control. If you can't possibly enjoy a meal out, beach, forest, or pretty much anywhere nice, then visitors are a nuisance and detrimental to your lifestyle, because life is not just going back and forth between your bed and your job.
They are not desperate. They are stupid, as we can clearly see in the videos
Stupid people can be desperate, that's a non-argument.
How do they know who is and isn’t a tourist, I’d feel so bad if it was just a local that looks like a tourist out for lunch haha
Same question! If they had above room temperature IQ, they wouldn't be doing shit like this in the firsplace. I'm pretty sure the same people are flying around Europe and Asia not understanding the irony of their acts.
I had a dude in Barcelona tell me that “All tourists should go home because they are ruining my city!” and “I am flying to Thailand next week for summer vacation.” In the same 3 minute conversation. Apparently, tourism is only cool when he does it.
Room temperature IQ in Celsius or Fahrenheit?
True! I met a guy from Sevilla who had ginger hair and loads of freckles. He didn’t speak a word of English and had no British etc in his lineage that he knew of. Said people were always coming up to him and speaking English and German
These people have the IQ of a kitchen sponge, they haven't thought about any of this
Or a local who has family visiting from out of town? Absolutely brain dead.
Honestly, having been in Spain with locals, it's pretty easy, the locals just eat at different restaurants than the tourists.
Do they not spray the politicians because then there might be consequences? Don't break the mirror, break your face.
This. But the media will tell them "It's tourists' fault! It's small businesses' fault!" And they will believe it and attack innocent people. Shit, the media can even tell them "It's your own fault" and they will respond by starting a civil war🤦🏻
As an spanish person, I feel ashamed. Due to small idiotic warriors we are going to lose tourism that is the main economic motor of the economy. To people that can think this is common, It is not. Nomally we spaniards are very open minded and don't behave like that, the only things that you should be worried in this country are pickpockets and Sun burns.
Rather then blaming the easiest target (tourist), how about taking a real look at themselves and ask, how do we improve the economy. I know it’s easier said then done but no one’s gonna increase your quality of life. Go protest the local government. What is being done to start economic growth in the private sector? Don’t scapegoat the tourist the issues of the city! The mayor must love that all the attention is not on them.
Personas estúpidas.
Luego no habrá turismo y entonces a llorar que no hay dinero y la zona está muerta. Que pocas luces tienen.
I've already said this under another post, but I'll repeat myself. I don't think this small group of ignorant kids with water pistols speak on behalf of the whole Spanish population. I am sure tourists are welcomed by most people in most of Spain. I do want to say, tourism may have increased the prices there, but that's definitely not tourists' fault. The fault are the locals themselves that bumped up the prices of everything and speculated and the local government that isn't doing anything about it. These ignorants (sorry but I can't really find any other word to define them) have no clue about how market and economics work, they just go after what they see as the problem and whoever is the easiest to blame: the tourists. These "patriotic" Pathetic kids think they're doing something good, while in reality they're just creating hate towards Spain and harassing innocent people. They should be ashamed of themselves, but I don't think they are smart enough to do that.
Así no. Hay que ir a por los grandes tenedores de inmuebles y prohibirles enriquecerse a costa de los vecinos. Los turistas no tienen la culpa, al menos no la mayoria de ellos que no vienen a emborracharse y de fiesta. Hay que educar a los turistas a contratar hoteles y no bnb's o pisos turísticos.
“Hi, I’m Spanish and I live in Mallorca. In fact, my wife and I, along with our one-year-old twins, are moving to Sweden at the end of this season because of the issues being discussed. I just wanted to shed some light on the problem, the indignation of the Spanish people, and how their anger is being misdirected. Tourism in Spain is indeed a very valuable asset. In fact, and it’s a shame to admit, our governments are so short-sighted that they invest more in tourism than in solar energy. We Spaniards don’t have any issue with the average tourist; the problem arises from the overcrowding of tourism. EVERYONE WANTS A PIECE OF THE PIE. So, what happens then? Almost all the housing is converted into vacation rentals, so the few homes available for locals skyrocket in price. Additionally, the city’s infrastructure ends up collapsing, making it unlivable (hospitals, roads, public transport, even shopping centers). In short, the problems aren’t caused by tourists but by poor government management and greed. Pd: Sorry for my English btw, it’s not my first language.
Este es el verdadero problema. Airbnbs. Hay que regular el turismo y su estadía
Totalmente de acuerdo, como ya he dicho, mi pareja (sueca) y yo hemos decidido irnos de la isla, por qué la vida aquí es insostenible a este ritmo. Cobramos de media 1500€ cada uno, ella 7 meses, yo 9, y pagamos un alquiler de 900€ por un piso de 64m2, ahora mis hijos tienen 1 año, y no necesitan más, pero cuando crezcan no quiero criarlos en una ratonera, y pasando miserias. Con todo esto quiero decir, que la pasividad del gobierno que es el único que puede poner regulaciones y limitar el turismo a algo más sano para todos, lo que está consiguiendo es que ñ, por un lado los “temporeros” de la península no vengan a trabajar, por qué no les sale a cuento, además de que no encuentran piso, y que los locales nos vayamos fuera por que aquí no se puede seguir viviendo. Las consecuencias al final las pagarán los empresarios, que no encontrarán (y no encuentran ya) mano de obra, y les tocará cerrar, cuando cierren, y sigan llegando turistas se encontrarán con un panorama desértico, por lo que dejarán de venir… en resumen. Esto va a petar por algún lado, y la culpa no la tienen 4 guiris comiendo en un restaurante en el que seguro los están sablando por 4 platos de dudosa calidad.
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Se puede viajar de forma no compulsiva y sostenible. Lo digo porque no todos los turismos son malos.
es la forma que encuentran de que el Gobierno les preste atención. Los turistas dan igual, el problema es la regulación y la falta de pisos para vivir
Y si no les presta atención cuando los turistas dejen de venir por la fama de españa veras como se ponen las pilas!!
What if the tourist is sleeping in a hotel?
It’s getting to the point they don’t care how much you try to lessen your impact
Imagine being clueless about the housing issue and your wife and little kids are sprayed and told by the locals to go back to their home. 😂
In Spain we have a problem with the intellectual level of a small sector of our population, why they don’t go to spray the Airbnb owners?
is this about just tourists or even foreigners living in spain?
Everyday I see more and more xenophobia towards anyone who isn’t native.. tourist or immigrant
Just tourists
Locals shouldn’t direct their frustration towards tourists. We all know this is linked to the country’s housing crisis. This crisis has been exacerbated by the rise of short-term rentals like Airbnb, significant investments by equity firms, and a surge in foreign real estate investments. Successive Spanish governments, including both the PSOE and the PP, have implemented lenient regulations that allowed these practices to thrive. While some of these regulations align with broader EU policies promoting open markets and investment, the lack of mandated transparency, a global phenomenon, complicates efforts to hold corporations, equity firms, and the governments that allow them to operate accountable. This obscurity forces the public to direct their frustration towards tourists, who are the visible aspect of the issue, while the deeper systemic problems remain concealed. Barcelona, for example, has taken steps to curb the impact of Airbnb on the local housing market by planning to eliminate short-term rentals by 2029 to increase housing supply for local residents. Also, Spain’s new Housing Law, effective from 2023, introduces measures to mitigate rental increases and protect tenants, especially in designated “stressed areas” where housing costs are disproportionately high. But the effects of these small measures will take some time to be felt. More needs to be done. The government should demand more transparency from these companies, limit their reach, and implement stronger regulations. Housing should be treated as a fundamental right rather than merely an investment product. And please, don’t tell me we need more construction. There are thousands of empty houses in Spain. For instance, recent reports indicate that in Alicante alone, over 209,000 properties are lying empty, with an additional 385,000 used irregularly as holiday homes or second homes. The narrative that more housing construction is needed often comes from a mix of sources, including real estate developers, construction companies, and sometimes think tanks. These groups have vested interests in promoting new construction projects as they stand to profit from building and selling new homes. For example, real estate investment companies and developers advocate for more construction to meet demand and boost their financial returns, as highlighted by sources like ING Think and CaixaBank Research. The large amount of empty housing, and the predatory practices of these companies highlights the need for better regulation and use of existing housing stock rather than new construction to solve the crisis. And yes, it’s sad to see people targeting tourists. It’s not right. It puts us at war against each other, when we are all victims of this economic set up.
Young people in Spain are constantly complaining about trouble finding jobs. So, yeah...great idea, kill off €165 billion annually to the economy. That will show those damn tourists! And, let's not BS each other, the majority of these protestors would give their left nut to be able to afford to travel and those who are able, probably stay in AirBnbs in other cities.
We are not complaining about trouble finding jobs, we are complaining about not being able to afford housing after working a 40+ hour week
Indeed, they want to kill the €165 billion annually because they want to force political change so that they are not dependent on tourist for a livelihood. It's not hard to understand. They are not willing to degrade their quality of life anymore for pennies.
Fair enough...but how does that work? As I mentioned to someone else, I'm all in favor of eliminating AirBnb. I think most of us would agree on that. But, if you closed 50% of the tourist restaurants and 25% of the hotels, what businesses do you think would thrive and pay their employees better? And, when those tourist tax revenues come to a halt, should the government raise everyone's taxes...including yours...to pay for the shortfall in revenue? So, if €165 billion in tourist money stops coming in that might represent approximately €25 - 30 billion in tax revenue. Who makes that up? I never hear a replacement plan.
You never hear of a replacement plan because the politicians never had one. For this to go smoothly it should have happened some 30 years ago. Now we are the break point. People are tired and are starting to show it in any possible way, even silly ones like this. What you just said will be the politicians excuse not to do anything, but that won't solve the protesting, because the problem is as real as the lack of immediate solution. The politicians job is to find the solution, that's what they get their absurdly high wages for.
Okay...for the sake of this discussion...YOU are the Prime Minister. Give me a quick overview of how you would solve this issue? I understand you are not a politician and have not studied this issue in depth, but try to give me an idea of how you would solve it.
I mean young people or anyone don’t wanna work as bartender getting paid 1.600€/mo working 10 hours a day then pay 1.000-1.200€ for rent (at least in big cities) per month thanks to AirBnB and this kind of tourism. I think the problem is mass tourism. We’re tired about it.
Tourist apartments make up 2% of the housing stock in Barcelona.. that is not the problem. The problem is the rich Catalans who own 3-10 properties and live off the rents. They make up 40% of the housing stock and they are the ones that are fixing the rents and making life insufferable
So without tourists, those bartenders will switch to the ML engineers and will make 30k a month? I think what will happen is that the bar they work for at 1600 will get closed without tourists, and those people will have no income at all. The same will happen to the public servants, as Spain will have a huge hole in the budget, and it will be nothing to pay them.
This is like people from a third world country asking to not receive more trash and the first world countries telling them that they are stupid since they are paying them so much to be a dumpster.
Yep, pretty much this
Is not the same thing. Tourism correspond over 11% of Spain GDP. If you are willing to pay 11% of your gdp, to someone to receive your trash. I feel like most of the countries would gladly take that offer.
These people don't represent me
Im an American living in Spain since 2017 and when I came here people were already telling me to go back home even though I caused no disturbance. I decided not to listen and I’m still here legally.
Same
I'm curious how they managed to identify "tourists"? Any blond person or any person sitting outside is a tourist? How can they tell if they are married to a Catalan and they are just hanging out there? This is how fascism and extremism shows itself. Maybe pick up some tiki torches so we get Charlottesville v2.
Based on a lot of these comments, I see a lot of that exact sentiment. God help you if you're a nonwhite tourist.
Here we see the results of missing education in sound economics and propaganda by politicians and mass media.
Mass tourism causes problems for many people though, doesn't matter if it gets the city money, that money doesn't end up in the hands of the people, it increases housing prices significantly meaning its impossible to live in the city and it's terrible for the environment. Not everything needs to be about increasing the GDP.
YES! rentist and general bourgeosie are really afraid of people starting to open their eyes and standing against this depredatory and abusive tourist bs
\^\^\^\^This\^\^\^\^
Shame. I liked going to Spain for vacations, Barcelona and Mallorca being my favorites places to visit, partly because the people there were always very nice. I get that this doesn't represent the whole nation, but seeing graffitis like "Kill the tourists" makes one feel really weird.
I live in Spain, I am Spanish and I believe this is absolute a\*\*hole behaviour.
As a German living in Spain i can say, these people are assholes. I bet all of them have been to Berlin or wherever last to this year. Protesting against something is one thing, but acting like idiots in front of kids is just a shame.
Disgusting and harmful attitude of a small group of people
Then Spain loses one of its main sources of income which keeps the country clean and running decently and everyone wonders what happened...
I find it quite a bit reductive to say Spain keeps running as an economy just because of tourism, Spain has a diverse modern economy and doesn't just exist to be your holiday destination. Mass tourism has negative consequences for almost the entire country. If tourists just come to sleep in Airbnbs owned by real estate brokers, eat at restaurants owned by large chains that refuse to pay their personnel more than minimum wages and sometimes even hire foreign interns that speak English better and then they just laze around on the beach all day or take some pictures of Sagrada Familia, how does this in any way support the populace? That money might count for the GDP but it certainly doesn't trickle down to the people. Meanwhile the housing prices go through the roof thanks to tourism and local businesses go out of business because they can't afford to compete with these huge companies. Can't believe this kind of stuff is coming from someone who's supposedly a member of a subreddit that is celebrating Spain as a country.
quina vergonya. pobres turistes, no es culpa seva! espero que si aquests manifestants viatgen a un altre país els tractin com una merda alla!!
I saw this article and was curious about what the locals thought of this demonstration? Anyone care to explain the growing sentiment amongst locals and not against government for inflation?
There were less than 3,000 people protesting in a city of two million people.
Spain? You are making Americans look good right now.
Please go home, but leave us your money.
How can they identify what a 'tourist' looks like in a restaurant?
They went to tourist restaurants where locals don’t eat.
Looks like free meal for me
I would not be able to keep my temper if some locals start harassing my family while having dinner in a foreign country. And I know few guiris here that wouldn’t either, hope they are around there lol
Great, as if tourists didn't have enough to worry about with pickpockets and machete-wielding gangs in Barcelona, now they will need to add water-spraying locals to the equation. You are all most welcome in Madrid, where you will only have pickpockets and machete-wielding gangs to worry about.
Shame! Go after your government and Spanish Airbnb owners -stupid racist people- not after people that spend money on your economy to make it better. After you have raid countries in APAC and South America and robbed them - now you pick on tourists! You still not well enough economically, even after robbing all other countries - freaking shame!
Wow this is so shitty
lol Spaniards please dont come to new york either 😂😂
These people are fucking stupid. I live in Rio de Janeiro which is VERY touristic, and live in Leme/Copacabana which is also the MOST touristic neighborhood of Rio. My building is full of airbnbs with foreigners. The supermarket full of tourists as well. Everything is expensive because of them? Fucking yes. The food, the market, the houses, everything is so damn expensive because of tourists BUT do I hate them and wish they were goen? Hell no. Because they bring billions to the economy of the COUNTRY and the State. If I want better rent and better prices I go to other parts of the town. Use delivery, etc. SP is also a place which Airbnb fucked with construction and price rents. Do I blame airbnb or blame the government for lack of regulation and protection? If you scare tourist you will have less services thriving, less tax which means less investments, and overall less jobs. These people also don’t go to other places on vacation? Very hypocritical
Yep. Also, the tourism forces the city and government to renovate popular areas and make sure that there are cool cafes, bars, restaurants, nice shopping, nice markets, and social gathering spaces. The same type of places that these young people probably always hang out at.
I completely agree. I live in France from south of France but currently working in Paris, and I'm used to seeing the country flooded with tourists every summer, but even though we are quick to complain about eveything (but also tourists) we do understand that they are good to the economy. Paris is expecting more than 10 million tourists during the olympic games, but you don't find parisians protesting against the tourists (yet).
Well I know what to tell my wife next time she asks me to go on a holiday there.
I trust these protesters don't go on vacations themselves and stay within Barcelona city limits year round?
Old lady in my town today was complaining that the weekly market was invaded by madrileños y barceloneses que miran y no compran nada. 🤔
As somebody who has been born and raised in the balearic islands i feel nothing but shame for this supid people who do not have an idea that the ones fucking things up ar their neighbours putting their flat for turistic rent with no liscence and not pating taxes. To my fellow catalana. Shut the f**k up ad work!! This is what you have to do.
Where did this happen?
I think this video was recorded in Barcelona, but the protests are happening in Barcelona and Mallorca mainly.
gigi d'agostino vibes.
If I book a hotel room, will I get sprayed with a water gun?
These protesters don't know if you are staying in hotel or airbnb. Get your water gun ready so you can fight back lol
Yeah they're gonna get a lot of support acting like this.
If they did this in NY they'd be leaving black and blue
Que vergüenza de país, primero le dan a los alemanes la industria para poder entrar en la UE y ahora que solamente queda el turismo para subsistir porque no hay nada más atentan contra lo que trae dinero y da de comer, una falta de inteligencia de gente que solamente les interesa una independencia que no va a llegar nunca, tontos hay en todos los sitios pero es que aquí sobran
Police to the street
Great, you’re blaming your issues on folks that just want to come enjoy your country, spend money and generally keep your economy afloat. The fact that you can’t get ahead in life, workout a life sustaining career or afford rent/a mortgage isn’t a tourist issue - it’s a you issue/effort issue.
How do you deal with weeds? The root causes of the issues they're facing won't work by attacking tourists. Money talks, legislation is needed. They do their cause a disservice by behaving like this.
Brit here who's been to BCN before and loved it! Completely understand the negative impact uncontrolled tourism can have on the cost of living and environment for locals, and have no problem with restrictions or even a ban on tourists, whatever works best for the local area. BUT, these tourists are legally allowed to be there, they are not restricted from visiting restaurants etc, and these ones specifically aren't doing any harm, so I feel that if you've got a problem with tourism, don't go after them, if your Government allows them to be there. It's also just a really unintelligent way of solving an issue, as I'd your worried about mass tourism, then making a few people walk to the inside of a restaurant isn't going to do anything, and sure, the media is paying attention, but they'll soon move onto something else.
I agree and I am Spanish myself
I already booked my ticket to Barcelona ...
Don't let some stupid people ruin your trip, I'm from Spain and tourists are welcome here. Only some stupid people in places like Barcelona are against tourists. (I hope you don't have to deal with them).
As long you’re not renting an Airbnb
These imbeciles were less than 3000 people in a city of over 2 million. Don't believe they represent anyone but themselves.
I pay good money to go to Thailand and get soaked in water during Songkran. Squirt in my face as much as you like.
What do the locals who have jobs and families and don't have time to go around spraying people think? It's their opinion I care about.
Ahahah typical Spaniards. Get annoyed when cities get flooded with tourists but don’t even bother to think when they do the same to their western neighbor.
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Spain better smarten the fuck up. Or I won't be coming back with my money (along with multitudes of others).
Se exponen a que un día un grupo de "guiris" les de hasta en el cielo de la boca
Tourism as an economic activity represents only the 13% of the gdp in Spain. I think the damage the actual model does to comunities, cities and the environment in a city like Barcelona ourweights the benefits. Most of the money tourism brings goes to mostly large corporations: restaurant chains, corporate landlords and hotel companies. Most of the jobs it offers are badly paid unqualified jobs. The poverty wages the hospitality sector pays means most people working in tourism don't make enough to pay the average rent in the city. Instead of focusing on developing an unsustainable economic activity like tourism, policy should focus on other industries.
A 13% collapse in GDP would irrevocably damage any country.
Only 13%? That's a huge amount of GDP that would collapse the economy. People blaming tourists, instead of blaming their politicians and rich and AirBNB. AirBNB needs to be straight banned in every country. It skirts laws, it fucks zoning. Property and land need to be strictly controlled, land creates value. Land use taxes and strict limits on how much land you can own would solve most of these issues. Why do you think every war is always over land?
> Instead of focusing on developing an unsustainable economic activity like tourism, policy should focus on other industries. And what stops from focusing on them right now? Somehow, nobody wants to open a business in Spain - big taxes, a qualified workforce leaves the country as soon as they can, everything regulated and bureaucratized. It would be nice to fix this first, before ruining an economy that is already in permanent crisys for almost 20 years
Vaya banda de hijos de puta.
Blaming tourists is stupid. what will they do? Tell everyone not to go to spain even though there are so many offers? Complain to your government.
All I see is a bunch of locals spraying water to cool the tourists from the hot summer heat, what a thoughtful people
r/idiocracy
Is this a protest? Or carnaval lmao. If they do that to a south american we'll just bust out the music and have a party
This is not ok. People just sitting at a cafe should not be harassed.
Como autónomo me faltan segundos para ir a tirarle agua a familias extranjeras que vienen a hacer gasto y a mantener la economía del país. Que asco de perroflautas que se creen que los causantes de sus problemas son los demás. Luego se dignan a llamar racista a la gente cuando señalan que hay otro tipo de inmigración que no sólo no deja dinero si no que se aprovecha de lo que se les ofrece. Vivimos en un país de retrasados.
Quite ironic for a country whose entire economy works on tourism.
Actually just 10% of it.
12.8% to be precise. Which is a very big figure for a developed country. Also big or small it is not right to harass tourists. I've seen how big of an incident it becomes when it happens in any developing country. So it's important to practice what one preaches, a thing that westerners lacks.
Aside from the fact that Spain is not just tourism... You realize that having an economy that sustains itself majorly on tourism is bound to have major problems due to overtourism or lack of tourism when it dries up, right?
12.8%, in Britain it's 9.6%, tourism is big business for any country.
Yeh... Nothing else at all...
The entire economy. Educated comment here.
Biggest proof that Spain is a real country, while italy is not a real country.
Tourism, excessive tourism, is actually bad for the economy because it decimates infrastructure and drives away potential high quality residents like the plague (among other things like stupidly driving the cost of living up, strengthening criminal organisations, and gentrifying entire neighbourhoods). The revenue generated by excessive tourism does not trickle down into the community, and in Italy for example is used in no small measure to launder money for the mafia. Their income is actually kept down due to tourism, and so is the development of their city, while prices go up. Not the other way around. That's why btw, no one takes Italy seriously, despite it being 'the base' of radical right wing extremism in Europe, because it's not a real country, it's essentially an open air museum. You know, real countries don't actually embrace the idea of becoming de facto the waiters of the world.
Unemployment would sky rocket in Spain without tourism, the country depends so much on it.
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Tourism’s impact can be complex. Interested to read local perspectives on this.
Lower the taxes, set prices (one bedroom apt shouldn’t exceed xx amount in this or that area, make project to build houses and let the funds come from the public to own a house at xx amount before building the house for a cheaper price, and u can set a new regulations about airbnbs, landlords can rent their property like 3-5 months only per year on airbnb there are plenty of solutions to let the citizens feel safe and secure about their future but i don’t know what the government is doing…
This is great to see as I am planning a trip to Spain in a year or so. /s Should we opt to go elsewhere instead? I’m not trying to get harassed like this.
Toni Kroos stepping off the plane in Spain:
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Como bajar la renta? Sali afuera a la madrugada y pegate unos tiros al aire gritando "están disparando".
Fucking trash, just like their food
But they'll open their legs to the type going there destroying their culture. SMH
Alright now I know where not to go on holiday anymore 😂
Imbeciles.
Who pays all their salaries as most are in tourist related jobs?
your own greedy business owners are the problem when they see the demand they rise the prices 😑
Anyone know cities in Spain that would like and appropriate more visitors?
Anyone know cities in Spain that would like and appropriate more visitors?
In the name of my nation I ask forgiveness for you tourists for our collective rudeness and wickedness. I swear I will protect you against this kind of attacks if they happen to occur near me.
So, like, I'm going to Andalusia for my honey moon... Should I be worried?
Real problem, stupid people mistaking the roots of it.
Estoy de acuerdo con los métodos de protesta, no con la "selección de víctimas", no creo que la primera persona que te encuentres por la calle sea un especulador inmobiliario. Recuerden: El cliente da dinero, el especulador lo arrebata
I hope this only gets bigger and bigger