With these difficult times they should be grateful of all the tourists bringing business. Spaniards are weird....but have a good soccer team. Residents of Barcelona took out their frustrations against the increased mass tourism by visiting popular spots around the city this weekend and spraying people with water guns, demanding they go home.
"Enough, let’s put limits on tourism," was another rallying cry for the thousands of people – around 2,800, according to Catalan News – who turned up on Saturday evening at the city center and started marching around to major tourist hot spots in the city.
Organizers claimed that the protest provided an outlet for the "discomfort that exists in Barcelona" regarding increased mass tourism, which local officials have blamed for higher cost of living and housing, making it difficult for locals to live in the city.
Neighborhood associations, housing activists and ecologists joined the gathering and argued that "enormous negative impacts" to employment, society and the environment have made it "impossible" for locals to live in Barcelona.
Euronews reported that the organizers have also claimed that the rising number of tourists – around 12 million people a year, many arriving via cruise ship – has also put pressure on health services, waste management and water supplies.
Barcelona’s Mayor Jaume Collboni announced a plan to eliminate all of the city’s roughly 10,000 short-term rentals by 2028, but the housing activists argue that the legislation will pave the way for more hotels instead.
Locals in one Mediterranean hot spot load up water guns to protest mass tourism: 'Go home'
European cities have started blaming mass tourism for the increased cost of living and tighter supply of housing, which have both made it difficult for locals to remain.
www.foxnews.com
