THE ongoing protests against tourism in Spain reached Barcelona on Saturday, as thousands of locals took to the streets of the Catalan capital to demand change.
Some of the demonstrators symbolically ‘sealed off’ hotels and restaurants along their route down the hugely popular La Rambla street, while others chanted ‘Tourists, go home’, while carrying placards with similar messages.
Around 3,000 people took part in the protest, which had been organised by more than 150 collectives, social movements and civic organisations.
They were demanding action to be taken to curb the number of tourists in the city due to what they say are problems the sector causes, such as high property and rental prices, antisocial behaviour on the streets and overcrowding.
(Photo by Eric Renom/LaPresse)
“We want the city’s economic model to prioritise other much fairer economies,” said Marti Cuso, a spokesperson for the Gothic Quarter’s residents association, and an activist.
“And for that we consider that we have to decrease tourism,” he added, in comments reported by Euronews.
“What worries me is what tourism and speculation entail, the speculation they are doing with the housing of the Spaniards,” a local resident told Euronews. “Spaniards have the right to decent housing.”
Barcelona is currently Spain’s most-visited city, receiving an enormous 32 million visitors on average every year.
The City Council recently announced an ambitious plan to withdraw all licences for short-term rentals – tourist accommodation such as Airbnb – by 2028.
The demonstrations in Barcelona on Saturday came in the wake of similar protests in a series of Spanish destinations earlier this year, such as Malaga, the Canary Islands and Palma on the Balearic Island of Mallorca.
