2024-07-08 17:07:43
Thousands of Barcelona residents protested on Saturday night, waving placards and water pistols at holidaymakers, expressing their anger and outrage at Spain’s over-tourism, Greek newspaper ProtoThema reported.
With the motto “Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism,” people demonstrated outside a Barcelona beach district, demanding the state stop the flow of tourists who visit the country every year.
They held placards reading: “Barcelona not for sale” and “Tourists go home”. Some angry protesters sprayed water pistols at foreign diners at restaurants in Barcelona.
Barcelona’s ever-rising housing costs, which have risen by 68% in the past decade, are one of the protesters’ main concerns, along with the impact of tourism on local trade and working conditions in the city of 1.6 million people.
Rents rose 18 percent in June from a year earlier in tourist cities such as Barcelona and Madrid, according to real estate website Idealista. For years, the city has been plastered with anti-tourism graffiti and messages such as “tourists go home” aimed at visitors, which some locals blame for driving up property prices and shaping the economy.
Barcelona Mayor Jaume Colboni announced in June a plan to phase out all short-term rentals by 2028. Authorities are trying to curb rising housing costs and make the city viable for residents.
Many still believe that not enough is being done to balance the needs of tourists, who bring millions to the city each year, with those of locals.
“I have nothing against tourism, but here in Barcelona we suffer from an excess of tourism that has made our city unlivable,” said Jordi Guiu, a 70-year-old sociologist. The northeastern coastal city, with internationally famous landmarks such as La Sagrada Familia, welcomed more than 12 million tourists last year, according to local authorities.