Latest news with #BarcelonaProtests
Times
28-06-2025
- Times
I've found the simple, tried-and-tested solution to overtourism
The water pistols are back. On Sunday a wave of co-ordinated anti-mass tourism protests took place across southern Europe, from Lisbon to Venice via Palma de Mallorca. The Barcelona marches saw several hundred turn out. Flares were thrown into hotel lobbies. A hostel was taped off like a crime scene. Tourist or not, if you happened to be sitting at a café terrace in the Spanish city's Gothic Quarter that day, you had a high chance of getting spritzed. It's hard to argue with the demonstrators' points. Tourism, particularly the proliferation of short-term lets such as Airbnbs, is pushing up rents, exacerbating the housing crisis and forcing locals out of their own neighbourhoods. It is also changing the character of some of Europe's most magnificent cities. Historic restaurants and family-owned businesses are vanishing; in their place emerge yet more gaudy fast-food chains, bubble tea shops and vape stores. If that's your vibe, you may as well spend the weekend walking up and down Oxford Street. Much needs to change, clearly, but the emphasis hasn't always been in the right place. Mitigation tactics appear to come in one of two forms: either a) curbing visitor numbers through headline-making policies such as tourist taxes, limiting cruise ship arrivals or even a complete ban on short-term rentals, which Barcelona plans to enforce from 2028; or b) suggesting travellers try 'destination dupe' alternatives instead (Catalan neighbour Girona is the go-to when it comes to Barca-alikes, which I'm sure they love there). But I'm not convinced tourists are going to stop wanting to visit these cities in significant numbers. They are popular for a reason — the art! The architecture! The mini beers and salty snacks! — and shouting or graffitiing 'go home' or 'go elsewhere' is unlikely to work. So here is my proposal: send them to the suburbs. One city that is trying to pre-empt and stave off overtourism is the small but increasingly popular Ghent, whose tourist board is promoting what it calls 'spreading' — trying to distribute visitors throughout the city rather than having them concentrated in the historic centre. As anyone who's visited Ghent will know, it's a good 40-minute walk from the main train station to the city's central attractions, so it would make complete sense that more visitors stay overnight throughout this vast urban stretch instead of just the medieval core, which is what most tourists do (especially considering the city's impressive cycling infrastructure). The scheme is encouraging tourists to spend more time in less visited areas such as Dampoort, and wants more hotels to open city-wide. • 16 of the world's most underrated cities To take the example of an already overtouristed city, I can vouch for staying beyond Paris's Boulevard Périphérique. The suburb of Pantin, where I lived for six months (mainly because of the low rent), has all the edge of other northeastern areas within the ring road (the star turns being a host of canalside bars, dance theatre the Centre National de la Danse and the charming independent cinema Ciné 104). But you also get the sense of staying somewhere a lot more authentically French. Who needs the Pompidou Centre when you've got a massive hypermarché on your doorstep? For some cities, such as Barcelona, where tourism has reached such excessive levels that even the suburbs are sick of visitors, this might not be appropriate. But I have a back-up solution: commute. Faced with absurd hotel and Airbnb rates over Valentine's Day, I gave this a go in comparably overrun Amsterdam. We ended up in someone's garage in a seaside town called Zandvoort. The daily 20-minute train ride through a national park and Haarlem was gorgeous, and in the evenings we felt like the only Brits in town, doing our bit for the local economy at a time of year when it sees little custom. Similarly, this weekend, I'm off to a hotel in the mountains outside Alicante in Spain, and plan to pop into the city for tapas and a museum visit or two. I won't take it personally if they spritz me. What are your favourite city suburbs to stay in? Let us know in the comments
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Yahoo
How the humble water gun became the symbol of Barcelona's anti-tourism movement
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of tourists were sitting at an outdoor table in the Spanish city of Barcelona, trying to enjoy their drinks, when a woman raised a cheap plastic water gun and shot an arc of water at them. Her weapon of choice — the cheap, squirt-squirt variety — is an increasingly common fixture at anti-tourism protests in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods. How did the humble water gun become a symbol of discontent? From refreshing to revolutionary The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the 'degrowth' of the city's successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Some brought water guns to shoot one another and stay cool in the summer heat. 'What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot," Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press. Then, some turned their water guns from each other to tourists. The images went around the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause. The guns reappeared in April when the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital. Guns drawn On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona's top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church. The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: 'One more tourist, one less resident!' They left a trail of stickers on hotel doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: 'Tourist Go Home!' Still, the number of Barcelona protesters carrying water guns was a minority — and in the gun-toting group, many were only shooting in the air or at each other. One dad was toting his baby in a front-pack, water gun in hand. Outside the protests, Barcelona locals are not toting water guns or taking aim at tourists. And many in the city still support tourism, which is a pillar of the local economy. 'A symbol' Can the water gun really change the minds of tourists, authorities or the businesses that drive the industry? Depends on who you ask. Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a water gun, said the gun "really isn't to hurt anyone.' 'This is a symbol to say that we are fed up of how tourism industry is transforming our country into a theme park,' Sánchez said. Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was 'to bother the tourists a bit." Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said he didn't shoot any suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a water gun would bring more attention to their cause. 'I don't think the tourists will get it," he said. "I think this is to send a message to authorities.' A squirt can hurt your feelings The marchers had no monster, pump-action water cannons most kids use for backyard battles in the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o water guns that send a slim jet of water not that far away. Some tourists who were sprayed took it in stride, even claiming it was refreshing on a day with temperatures pushing up to around 30 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit). But there were moments of tension. When several marchers squirted workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as he slammed the hostel door shut. Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those spritzed on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The 'Tourist go home!" chants didn't help either. 'I still like Barcelona," she said. "I have met a lot of people who were kind.'
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Yahoo
How the humble water gun became the symbol of Barcelona's anti-tourism movement
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of tourists were sitting at an outdoor table in the Spanish city of Barcelona, trying to enjoy their drinks, when a woman raised a cheap plastic water gun and shot an arc of water at them. Her weapon of choice — the cheap, squirt-squirt variety — is an increasingly common fixture at anti-tourism protests in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods. How did the humble water gun become a symbol of discontent? From refreshing to revolutionary The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the 'degrowth' of the city's successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Some brought water guns to shoot one another and stay cool in the summer heat. 'What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot," Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press. Then, some turned their water guns from each other to tourists. The images went around the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause. The guns reappeared in April when the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital. Guns drawn On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona's top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church. The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: 'One more tourist, one less resident!' They left a trail of stickers on hotel doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: 'Tourist Go Home!' Still, the number of Barcelona protesters carrying water guns was a minority — and in the gun-toting group, many were only shoot in the air or at each other. One dad was toting his baby in a front-pack, water gun in hand. 'A symbol' Can the water gun really change the minds of tourists, authorities or the businesses that drive the industry? Depends on who you ask. Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a water gun, said the gun "really isn't to hurt anyone.' 'This is a symbol to say that we are fed up of how tourism industry is transforming our country into a theme park,' Sánchez said. Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was 'to bother the tourists a bit." Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said he didn't shoot any suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a water gun would bring more attention to their cause. 'I don't think the tourists will get it," he said. "I think this is to send a message to authorities.' A squirt can hurt your feelings The marchers had no monster, pump-action water cannons most kids use for backyard battles in the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o water guns that send a slim jet of water not that far away. Some tourists who were sprayed took it in stride, even claiming it was refreshing on a day with temperatures pushing up to around 30 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit). But there were moments of tension. When several marchers squirted workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as the slammed the hostel door shut. Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those doused on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The 'Tourist go home!" chants didn't help either. 'I still like Barcelona," she said. "I have met a lot of people who were kind.' Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Associated Press
16-06-2025
- Associated Press
How the humble water gun became the symbol of Barcelona's anti-tourism movement
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of tourists were sitting at an outdoor table in the Spanish city of Barcelona, trying to enjoy their drinks, when a woman raised a cheap plastic water gun and shot an arc of water at them. Her weapon of choice — the cheap, squirt-squirt variety — is an increasingly common fixture at anti-tourism protests in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods. How did the humble water gun become a symbol of discontent? From refreshing to revolutionary The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the 'degrowth' of the city's successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Some brought water guns to shoot one another and stay cool in the summer heat. 'What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot,' Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press. Then, some turned their water guns from each other to tourists. The images went around the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause. The guns reappeared in April when the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital. Guns drawn On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona's top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church. The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: 'One more tourist, one less resident!' They left a trail of stickers on hotel doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: 'Tourist Go Home!' Still, the number of Barcelona protesters carrying water guns was a minority — and in the gun-toting group, many were only shoot in the air or at each other. One dad was toting his baby in a front-pack, water gun in hand. 'A symbol' Can the water gun really change the minds of tourists, authorities or the businesses that drive the industry? Depends on who you ask. Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a water gun, said the gun 'really isn't to hurt anyone.' 'This is a symbol to say that we are fed up of how tourism industry is transforming our country into a theme park,' Sánchez said. Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was 'to bother the tourists a bit.' Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said he didn't shoot any suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a water gun would bring more attention to their cause. 'I don't think the tourists will get it,' he said. 'I think this is to send a message to authorities.' A squirt can hurt your feelings The marchers had no monster, pump-action water cannons most kids use for backyard battles in the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o water guns that send a slim jet of water not that far away. Some tourists who were sprayed took it in stride, even claiming it was refreshing on a day with temperatures pushing up to around 30 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit). But there were moments of tension. When several marchers squirted workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as the slammed the hostel door shut. Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those doused on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The 'Tourist go home!' chants didn't help either. 'I still like Barcelona,' she said. 'I have met a lot of people who were kind.'
The Sun
15-06-2025
- The Sun
Furious anti-tourist protesters blast holidaymakers & hotel workers with water guns & hurl smoke bombs in Barcelona
HUNDREDS of fed-up locals have descended onto the streets of Barcelona - blasting holidaymakers with waterguns and launching smoke bombs. Under the slogan " Tourism steals our bread, homes, and future", the demonstrations in the Spanish capital came amid a huge wave of anti-tourism protests across the country. 11 11 11 11 11 Similar protests occurred this time last year, with both demonstrations being organised by the Assembly of Neighbourhoods for Tourism Degrowth. A spokesperson for the group said they had encouraged members to bring water pistols, which he said had become "a popular symbol of resistance against the plundering of the tourism monoculture". Daniel Pardo Rivacoba added that the tourism industry was "incompatible with life", and demanded " tourism degrowth now". Astonishing images showed scores of furious activists calling for the decline of tourism in their city and across Spain. Pointing their loaded water guns in the air and at holidaymakers, they called for the boycott of AirBnB and the end of rampant tourism. Some were seen refilling their weapons using public water fountains, while others even taped up hostels in an attempt to keep tourists locked in their accommodations. Riot police lined up to monitor the situation and keep the marches in check. Demonstrators also used smoke flares and vandalised shops such as the Louis Vuitton store in Passeig de Gràcia. The march set off from Jardinets de Gràcia just after 12:30pm local time. Workers rights amid soaring overtourism were at the centre of the rally. Anti-tourist protesters take over sightseeing coach in Majorca with smoke bombs ahead of mass march tomorrow Unions representing migrant workers, street vendors and cleaners took part in the huge protests. Spokesperson Pardo also said that the tourism industry "subjects the people who work in it to the worst working and salary conditions". He cited the housing crisis as another devastating impact of mass tourism. The controversial expansion of Barcelona-El Prat Airport has also been a flashpoint for locals. A spokesperson for one of the campaigns against this expansion, called Zeroport, emphasised that this message was being delivered to politicians and not to tourists. Ariadna Cotèn said: "Tourists are not really to blame for this situation happening in Barcelona." But her message didn't stop the hundreds of raging tourists who shouted in English for tourists to "go home". 11 11 11 They held placards with messages such as "one more tourist, one less neighbour", and "tourism is killing Barcelona". Anti-tourism protests also unfolded on Sunday in holiday hotspot Ibiza, Donostia-San Sebastián, Palma, Granada, and the Pyrenees. But they have also spread across Europe - with some taking place in Lisbon, Portugal and across Italy this weekend. It comes just one day after Spanish protesters held up a sightseeing bus in Palma de Majorca ahead of the major anti-tourism demonstrations. The raging locals said the popular Spanish island is overwhelmed by tourists and driven by profit over local needs. These demonstrations came after Spain's first major overtourism protests of the year kicked off in April after thousands of people across 40 cities took to the streets. Majorca, one of the centres of the protests last year, hosted the first mass protests of the year. Nearly 40 organisations from the Balearic Islands are believed to have marched in Palma. What is overtourism? Overtourism refers to the phenomenon where a destination experiences a volume of tourists that exceeds its manageable capacity The term is often used to describe the negative consequences of mass tourism, which includes overcrowding and environmental issues As a result, popular destinations have become less enjoyable for both visitors and locals Local communities, in particular, bear the brunt, facing rising costs and a depletion of resources In response, national and local governments have started to implement measures to reduce overtourism Some solutions include: Safeguarding historical and heritage sites Promoting off-peak travel Tourism caps and regulations Promoting lesser-known destinations Later, in May, thousands flooded the streets of the Canary Islands in Spain's third wave of protests of the year. Demonstrations took place across the Spanish archipelago's islands, including Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura. The march carried the slogan: "The Canary Islands are not for sale, they are loved and defended." Other banners read: "The Canary Islands have a limit and so does our patience" and "Enough is enough!" Spain's anti-mass tourism movement began gaining serious momentum in April 2024 - particularly in popular tourist destinations. Locals have been demanding an end to the problems associated with mass tourism, including pollution, traffic chaos, the lack of affordable housing and low wages for tourism workers. 11 11
