Barcelona is being swamped by tourism. Locals are not taking it lying down.
| Barcelona, Spain; and Palma, Mallorca
Most hot summer days, Barcelona locals avoid La Rambla if they can. It鈥檚 too crowded, with tourists cramming the famous, tree-lined avenue as they take in some of the most-visited sites in the world: the Sagrada Fam铆lia cathedral, the Gothic Quarter, the Barceloneta beach.
But on a recent Saturday afternoon, it is the tourists who are pushed aside as residents take over the boulevard.
They gather in the thousands to reclaim a city they say they have lost to tourism. 鈥淏arcelona is not for sale!鈥� reads one banner in English. 鈥淭ourism kills the neighborhood,鈥� reads another in Catalan.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onTourism is making some of the world鈥檚 great tourist destinations unlivable for their own residents. Places like Barcelona are trying to find a balance between affordability for locals and welcoming accommodations for guests.
Tourists take photos of the crowd from balconies and alleyways. Some have to dodge the spray of toy water guns pointed at them by protesters shouting, 鈥淭ourist, go home!鈥�
In hot spots around the world, including the Mediterranean, residents say they have reached a tipping point as tourism has reached new post-pandemic heights. Many are protesting a model of mass tourism they say overwhelms public spaces, drives up housing prices and pushes locals out, and turns neighborhoods into exhibits on display.
鈥淭he excesses and the problems of tourism have entered into people鈥檚 daily lives much more than before,鈥� says Claudio Milano, an anthropologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. That happens when a place becomes overly dependent on the tourism industry, and local economies are restructured to meet the needs of visitors rather than of residents.
The issue is not the number of tourists, he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the weight of tourism in our economy.鈥�
The business of tourism
Over the course of a lifetime, Mar铆a Carmen Pujad贸 has watched her city鈥檚 oldest market, which , transform around her.
Once a neighborhood hub where locals came to buy produce, fish, and meat, the Mercat de la Boqueria is now a sightseeing attraction. Vendors sell smoothies, potato chips, chicken tenders, and other globalized items ready for tourists.
Ms. Pujad贸 inherited her olive and canned goods stand from her parents and spent most afternoons here as a child, watching her father banter with regulars. Every year, she says, these longtime customers disappear.
鈥淭here are many vendors here who have turned only to tourism,鈥� adds Ms. Pujad贸. Her stand straddles the old world and the new. Behind her is a display of canned fish and goods tourists never touch, she says. Up front, she sells skewers of olives tourists eat on the spot.
鈥淚 have to maintain the few customers I鈥檝e had my whole life,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut of course I have to put things out for tourists as well.鈥�
It鈥檚 a balance cities around the world are struggling to find.
In June, in a bid to ease Barcelona鈥檚 housing crisis, Mayor Jaume Collboni announced an end to the city鈥檚 10,000 tourist rental apartments by 2028. Tourists staying in overnight accommodations reached nearly 10 million in 2023, . A found that 62% of Barcelonans say the city is reaching or has reached its capacity for tourism, though 71% believe tourism is beneficial for the city.
鈥淥ur objective is not to knock out tourism,鈥� says Karen Pratt, a longtime Barcelona resident originally from the United States, as she marches with other protesters. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an important part of our economy, but it should not be the most important part.鈥�
That would mean reversing a process of deindustrialization that began in the 1960s and has intensified along with globalization, says Ernest Ca帽ada, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of the Balearic Islands. It would also mean moving investment away from the tourism industry, which he says tends to create precarious and seasonal jobs.
Destinations around the world are trying to find ways to ease tourist pressure, too. Earlier this spring, Japan opened for visitors to Mount Fuji, while a nearby town is building a screen of the famous mountain. Amsterdam has . Venice, Italy, implemented to the city last fall. Copenhagen, Denmark, is trying out a carrot rather than a stick approach. A new pilot program who act sustainably, from collecting trash to biking and using public transport.
鈥淭he problem isn鈥檛 tourism,鈥� says Dr. Ca帽ada. 鈥淚t could be tourism, it could be mining. The problem is the overdependence on any one economic activity.鈥�
Other extractive industries like fishing and forestry are regulated, points out Pere Marin茅, a representative of the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Barcelona. 鈥淭his is at least as important, because it鈥檚 people鈥檚 lives.鈥�
Finding a middle ground on tourism
A little more than 100 miles off the coast of Barcelona, on the Balearic Islands, residents say they are facing collapse. This summer, islanders have staged sit-ins on their own beaches, cramming together on towels to demonstrate their frustration with feeling squeezed out by tourists.
鈥淚 understand that we need tourism 鈥� I work at the airport,鈥� says Marina Vaquer. 鈥淏ut we cannot handle the current numbers. We feel nowadays that we don鈥檛 have any space in our own home.鈥�
Zoltan Langhaus, a teacher from Germany visiting Mallorca on holiday, says he can understand why it feels like too much. 鈥淚鈥檓 from Berlin and we have similar problems,鈥� he says.
Teachers, waiters, and others often cannot afford to live on the island with their salaries. According to the property website Fotocasa, the average rent for a small apartment in the Balearic Islands has almost tripled over the past decade. But with tourism making up 45% of the island鈥檚 gross domestic product, reducing the island鈥檚 dependency is no easy task.
Back in Barcelona, Sebasti谩n Ram铆rez steps out of his front door onto La Rambla, the avenue as cramped as ever. As a walking tour guide, he appreciates visitors who come to learn about the city and its history. But even he says the city has reached its limit, and is considering moving out of the city center.
鈥淭ourism is easy money. You already have the city, the infrastructure. It鈥檚 very tempting,鈥� he says. Yet today he and his neighbors are asking themselves new questions.
鈥淲hat is the middle ground of how to survive? How can we live in a sustainable economy where we all live well without having to resort to extremes? Because all this is disproportionate.鈥�
