Critics of overtourism mainly denounce its impact on housing prices. Last year Barcelona received more than 12 million tourists.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Barcelona on Saturday against overtourism in the Catalan capital, which receives millions of visitors each year.
With slogans such as “Enough! Limit tourism,” around 2,800 demonstrators, according to police, demonstrated to demand a change in the economic model of the city, the most visited in Spain. “We have nothing against tourism, but against overtourism, because it makes the city uninhabitable,” explained Jordi Goyo, a 70-year-old sociologist from Barcelona.
Critics of overtourism mainly denounce its impact on housing prices, as rents have increased by 68% in the past decade, according to Barcelona City Council, but also the harmful consequences for local commerce, the environment and the working conditions of local workers.
“Local businesses are about to give way to a business model that doesn’t meet the needs of the neighborhood. People can’t pay the rent and they have to leave,” complained Isa Miralles, a 35-year-old musician who lives in the Barceloneta neighborhood.
Barcelona welcomed more than 12 million tourists last year, according to municipal data. To make it easier for locals to find housing, the city council recently announced its intention to eliminate local housing by 2029.
From the Balearic Islands to the Canary Islands, passing through the major Andalusian tourist cities such as Malaga, movements against excessive tourism are multiplying in Spain.
