Locals squirt tourists w/ water guns: Barcelona mass tourism protests

[Anonymous]

Will the locals do my laundry and put my meds in a refrigerator, since they now want me to stay in a hotel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a little weekend house on the Shenandoah River. It's a small community of homes -- maybe just shy of 100, not all of them river front (most not river front). Unsurprisingly, several river front properties have been purchased and turned into AirBnbs fairly recently. A couple of homes were even built, brand new, as AirBnbs. I think in the last 5 years or so.

I actually worry about the folks who live there year-round doing something drastic (maybe even violent). The resentment has been brewing for years and is really bad at this point. The big complaint is speeding (our roads are gravel, speed limit is 15, and people have kids and pets out playing), but there is simmering class tension at the root of it. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that rage is building regarding the Airbnbs.

So this does not surprise me. Airbnbs are stressing communities all over the world.

When we went to Sedona in the spring, a few tour guides made neg comments about Airbnb’s. I don’t think people dislike tourism overall but overtourism and Airbnbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a little weekend house on the Shenandoah River. It's a small community of homes -- maybe just shy of 100, not all of them river front (most not river front). Unsurprisingly, several river front properties have been purchased and turned into AirBnbs fairly recently. A couple of homes were even built, brand new, as AirBnbs. I think in the last 5 years or so.

I actually worry about the folks who live there year-round doing something drastic (maybe even violent). The resentment has been brewing for years and is really bad at this point. The big complaint is speeding (our roads are gravel, speed limit is 15, and people have kids and pets out playing), but there is simmering class tension at the root of it. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that rage is building regarding the Airbnbs.

So this does not surprise me. Airbnbs are stressing communities all over the world.

If there is any class tension rage building, your little non-primary residence is right in the bulls eye of it. You think you are better than people who can only afford to spend a few nights in your paradise, but you are not.

We have owned our house there for over 30 years. My DH is on the board of the HOA (which does nothing but road upkeep). We know almost everyone, and were up there for a week last week dog sitting for a neighbor whose spouse had a stroke. We have done volunteer hard labor on the roads when they needed work and the coffers were running dry. We are part of the community, contribute to it more than most, and have do so for decades.

Not the same thing as the exploitive Airbnb situation at all. So take your assumptions and ignorant aggression elsewhere.

DP. This self-righteous post does not actually respond to the good point unpacking what you even mean by “class tensions”? Okay, so you (or your DH it sounds like) is a good noble aristocrat and how dare people visit his kingdom?

Yeah, if you want to call a literal hunting/fishing shack purchased 30 years ago a kingdom. We are not rich people.

The class tensions are pretty clear in the Airbnb debate. Anyone commenting on a thread about what happened in Spain should have a modicum of understanding of such things or sit down.

Not everyone was so lucky as to purchase a vacation home 30 years ago and now be sitting on huge equity so keep your self-delusion that you are salt of the earth in check please.

This. I read the original post about the second home as a self-aware poster who realized they were contributing to the tensions. Certainly not someone on the "righteous" side of the debate. Sorry I was wrong!

[Anonymous]

No one wants Barcelona to turn into Venice. They should start requiring tourist visas and capping them.

This. If the locals are having to ration water, but let the tourists have as much as they want, that's a big problem. The city is not prepared for the big numbers of people there. They need to cap the tourism. Lots of tourists don't like to be in overcrowded tourist places anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:If hotels would make more comfortable options for a family of four without having to get two rooms, I would absolutely use them over Airbnbs. But it almost always makes more sense cost wise for us to do an Airbnb, which gives us extra money to spend throughout the city on other stuff.

Way to prioritize your pocketbook over the far more critical housing rights of locals.

What else do you expect people to do?

They expect you to not travel to places where you cannot afford to stay in however many hotel rooms needed for your family.

It’s not an affordability issue. It’s just nice to have an apartment with living and dining areas, etc.

Local workers would like to have an apartment with living and dining areas available for them to live in year round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In cheap countries, the price we pay for three nights accommodation in an Airbnb is equivalent to what locals pay in a month. So it’s no wonder landlords choose go the Airbnb route. I would too. It’s not a charity after all.

So that means you are okay with the cities you visit have no locals living in them. Do you know what happens when cities become depleted of their native populations and are replaced by day-tripping tourists? They become a theme park selling made-in-China totchkes and filled with the same chain restaurants you find anywhere.

It's unbelievable how blase people are about "so what" when it comes to the impact you are collectively making on these places you claim to love.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In cheap countries, the price we pay for three nights accommodation in an Airbnb is equivalent to what locals pay in a month. So it’s no wonder landlords choose go the Airbnb route. I would too. It’s not a charity after all.

So that means you are okay with the cities you visit have no locals living in them. Do you know what happens when cities become depleted of their native populations and are replaced by day-tripping tourists? They become a theme park selling made-in-China totchkes and filled with the same chain restaurants you find anywhere.

It's unbelievable how blase people are about "so what" when it comes to the impact you are collectively making on these places you claim to love.

Yes - see their post that locals should just move further out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In cheap countries, the price we pay for three nights accommodation in an Airbnb is equivalent to what locals pay in a month. So it’s no wonder landlords choose go the Airbnb route. I would too. It’s not a charity after all.

So that means you are okay with the cities you visit have no locals living in them. Do you know what happens when cities become depleted of their native populations and are replaced by day-tripping tourists? They become a theme park selling made-in-China totchkes and filled with the same chain restaurants you find anywhere.

It's unbelievable how blase people are about "so what" when it comes to the impact you are collectively making on these places you claim to love.

This.

Venice, Rome, Barcelona, Porto, etc. Locals have been pushed out by airbnbs/tourists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In cheap countries, the price we pay for three nights accommodation in an Airbnb is equivalent to what locals pay in a month. So it’s no wonder landlords choose go the Airbnb route. I would too. It’s not a charity after all.

So that means you are okay with the cities you visit have no locals living in them. Do you know what happens when cities become depleted of their native populations and are replaced by day-tripping tourists? They become a theme park selling made-in-China totchkes and filled with the same chain restaurants you find anywhere.

It's unbelievable how blase people are about "so what" when it comes to the impact you are collectively making on these places you claim to love.

This.

Venice, Rome, Barcelona, Porto, etc. Locals have been pushed out by airbnbs/tourists.

Yes, although the issues in the first 3 of.these places have been around for well before Airbnb became an option.

[Anonymous]

Airbnb is a scourge across the planet. Housing was never meant to be turned into de facto hoteling.

The world will be fine without AirBnB. Barcelona and Madrid had plenty of tourists long before the arrival of AirBnB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Airbnb is a scourge across the planet. Housing was never meant to be turned into de facto hoteling.

The world will be fine without AirBnB. Barcelona and Madrid had plenty of tourists long before the arrival of AirBnB.

Yes but PP’s need to spread out is much more important than the waitress at the cafe around the corner from the air bnb to have year round housing.

[Anonymous]

I think this issue is complicated. Air BnB make up about 2% of housing in Barcelona or just under 7% of the rental marked in Barcelona and studies show that they have increased rents by almost 2%, while there is no doubt that these rentals impact the housing market it is ridiculous to put the majority of blame on them (although certainly easily).

There are greater forces impacting the price and availability to rentals including just a lack of housing in general (even when accounting for airBnB suddenly disappearing), greed and the fact that salaries in Spain have simply not increased at a rate necessary to account for the COL in modern Spain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't see what the best solution here is. Are hotel rooms sitting empty because everyone is staying in AirBnbs? Not to my knowledge, so the issue is the demand for a place to sleep is so high that the hotels alone can't meet it.

But, any tourist, no matter where they stay, is spending money in the local economy. Restaurants, taxi drivers, etc all benefit directly from tourists. Is the goal to drive them away and deflate the economy? Spain has a 26% youth unemployment rate. Do they really want to make this worse?

No, hotels still make up the bulk of tourism stays in Barcelona (by far)

[Anonymous]

Tourism bring money argument only works so far.

Barcelona is Barcelona because of its people, more than anything. Is Rome still Rome if there are no Romans? Is Venice still Venice without Venetians? Is Kyoto still Kyoto if there are no more Kyotonians?

Modern day tourism is awful. You just have mass hordes flocking to a place for selfie photos because they saw nice pictures online. They often partake very little in the local culture, learn absolutely zero at museums because all they're doing the whole time is taking selfies, and world sites are treated like playgrounds for millions.

If none of these places have local people and local culture, all cities like Barcelona become are empty buildings with zero culture. They're just Disney world.

The world will be fine without Airbnb. Barcelona existed for millennia without Airbnb. The other huge problem too is that you have multiple cruises dumping 10,000+ people per stop, multiple times per day. Those people often spend no money because they get food and everything else on the ship. They clog up the streets and transit to get around for a few hours just so that they can take photos and leave. Cruisers are locusts who destroy the planet and local cultures wherever they go.

How would you feel if fleets of busses dumped 40,000 people per day, every single day, 365 in your neighborhood while people walked around all over your yards, clogged up the roads taking selfies, jam packed all of the busses and trains you needed to get to work, made huge lines at all of your favorite local eating spots, and made life so miserable you'd want to leave?

That's what they face everyday due to huge cruise liners dumping a city's worth of people multiple times per day every single day.

[Anonymous]

Set your policies better, don't take out your frustration on foreigners walking your streets. It just seems like mis-direction and xenophobia to me.