A heads-up about Barcelona August 10th

I read about these protests in some European papers today. I was in Barcelona during the week of July 17th and saw none of that. I tend to believe that these stories are media exaggeration or some isolated incidents and a small group of protesters who throw paint bombs and deface buildings and property. One attack that got lots of media attention was of graffiti being painted on a tour bus but the people on the bus at first thought it was a terrorist attack. The reason the organizers of your friend's tour told her nothing is that there was nothing to tell. There is an anti-tourist movement in every place with a extremely high number of tourists.

Be careful in Spain especially if you are NOT traveling on your own but instead are part of a tour group. Visitors on their own are not the target.

Anti-tourism activists have been targeting Barcelona, Majorca,
Valencia and San Sebastián with protests – some of them involving
violence. The goal seems to be to rail against the negative impact of
mass tourism on local life and living standards.

In Barcelona, which welcomes some 32 million visitors annually, a
sightseeing bus was attacked at the end of July as it arrived at FC
Barcelona’s iconic Nou Camp stadium. Masked assailants slashed the
tyres and daubed graffiti on the sides of the bus....

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/spain-attacks-anti-tourism-british-tourists-visit-barcelona-majorca-valencia-san-sebastian-a7886371.html

Barcelona attracts millions of holidaymakers each year for its
sun-soaked beach front and bustling nightlife, but some locals are
growing fed up with tourists.

In late July, a group of masked men targeted an open-top tour bus,
slashing its tires and scrawling graffiti onto its sides. Some
terrified tourists on board first thought it was a terror attack.

The message, in Catalan, read “Tourism Kills neighbourhoods”. The
action was claimed by a group of radical leftists affiliated to the
separatist Catalan political party, the Candidatura d’Unitat Popular
(CUP; Popular Unity Candidacy).

Their actions appear to be gaining momentum across Spain.

http://www.euronews.com/2017/08/04/spain-anti-tourist-demonstrations-spread-from-barcelona-to-mallorca

Alison,

Your friend may choose to return to Barcelona or not -his choice!- but her words regarding an "anti-tourist movement" are simply out-of-context and totally overblown, including some details that are plainly wrong. While perception is subjective, facts are not, sorry to say!

BACKGROUND

Barcelona, much like Venice in the past, or Paris, London, Berlin, San Sebastian, Palma de Mallorca or Rome right now, is receiving far too many visitors as can be read in news articles that are constantly popping up here and there. The current geopolitics of the southern bank of the Mediterranean Sea and of many other world destinations, with all the social instability, uprisings and terrorist attacks in the traditional vacational resorts there, has pushed many holiday-makers to these and other European destinations, drastically increasing the influx of visitors.

While Barcelona has excelled in achieving a sustainable growth for over 25 years, which has been possible by balancing the needs of the tourists with the needs of the residents -cities, after all, are not theme-parks!- this business model is slowly but gradually becoming untenable in its current form.

This massification is causing problems for residents and tourists alike, from the gentrification of certain neighbourhoods to saturation in certain infrastructures to queues to unacceptable rising costs which are pushing people out of their neighbourhoods. While tourism is an important addition to the city's coffers, fortunately, its GDP -like the ones of the cities mentioned earlier- for the most part, depends on other industries, therefore when the dilemma arises, the City Hall is trying to find a balance between tourism and residents well-being, but subserving the later. But for God's sake, this is a civilised country, and we resolve our challenges by legislating and seeking best practices to "manage" the negative side-effects of too many visitors, not by attacking anyone.

FACTS

There are no "gangs of young people" doing anything, nor anyone "picketing" anywhere.... there have been TWO incidents this summer, more mischiefs than attacks, perpetrated by the branch of youngsters of one of the political parties, so as to pressure the City Hall to act upon this growing problem. In both cases the actions were addressed to cause a sensation -note in both cases the media had been alerted so they could film it and later be broadcasted in the news- but not to harm anyone, and actually, no one got hurt. In one incident, a ho-ho bus was stopped and some graffiti was painted on the front part of the vehicle. In all, a 30 seconds' incident. On the other, the tires of the bicycles parked in the street of a shop that rents them to visitors were trashed. Most are not condoning this behaviour and, in fact, nearly ALL of the actors, from the City Hall to the Government, to the whole political spectrum to several associations and the public in general, have condemned these actions. The Government of Catalonia just announced yesterday the culprits will be identified and prosecuted because, as I said earlier, we like to resolve problems in a civilised manner.

-end part 1-

Since last summer, there have also been sporadic noisy but PEACEFUL demonstrations of neighbours in some very saturated neighbourhoods complaining about the high number of illegal tourist apartments in their areas -tourists apartments need to comply with certain regulations and be registered in order to be able to operate- and about certain Internet portals (ie Airbnb) allowing advertising of these illegal apartments in their websites -failing to comply with local laws on this issue-, dodgy travel agents allowing apartment over-bookings, uncivil tourists misbehaving in all sorts of manners -many contravening the City Regulations and making cohabitation very difficult- and so on and so forth. Unfortunately, some visitors don't understand this is not a spring break resort but a fully functional city, with residents and businesses that are entitled to be able to continue with their normal lives.

CONCLUSION

So, no, there's no "anti-tourism" movement, there's a growing concern that the model has to change and some limitation will possibly have to be put in place so as to minimize the massification and continue making visits by tourists compatible with the other needs and functions of the city and its residents, and also importantly, continue to be pleasant and enjoyable for the tourists. In a recent poll by the Tourism Office, 56% of the tourists interviewed on a sample cited 'other tourists' or 'too many tourists' as a problem for them when visiting certain attractions.

The city continues to receive record numbers of visitors and 90%+ of them positively rate the warmth of its citizens. Furthermore, this city and this nation, Catalonia, have always received "visitors" from all over since its foundation in the 9th century (some of them unwanted, it must be said!), and this has turned this society into a big motley crew, very open, easy-going and welcoming one... and so we continue to be, welcoming visitors and sharing our riches and heritage with them.

This is not to exclude that there might be some individuals, either because their particular circumstances are heavily affected by this problem to an untenable point, or just because their level of tolerance and civility is too low, that might perform actions such as the mentioned above but which will be swiftly punished -don't you doubt that- if they were to involve any criminal act because that's not "our way" of solving issues.

But again, we all have our share of intolerants on this and other issues in our home countries and we don't overblow it, do we?

Please let's stick to facts, understand the underlying issues as they're are, and let's not ramble.

-end of post-

PS: Apologies for the long post, but this issue is important enough to be clarified before misinformations continue to spread.

And not all visitors treat the city or citizens with respect. Some younger visitors gather in Barcelona as a place to go party, like Florida over spring break.

Enric and Bill, thank you for your very excellent posts.

Well said! Kudos, Enric.

Thank you, Enric and Bill. This forum is incredibly fortunate to have you contribute and provide valuable insight.

"Some younger visitors gather in Barcelona as a place to go party, like Florida over spring break."

It's not just young people who misbehave (and not saying that your posts suggest that -- just adding another thought). I have seen some behavior from older people that is just unacceptable. They may not party like they are on spring break but their behavior can be awful.

I have a question about Airbnb rentals. We have a reservation for an apt. in Barcelona in September, how can I be sure our apt. listing is legitimate? It has a HUTB license number; does that mean it's ok? I just don't want to have a last minute cancellation due to our apartment being an illegal rental.

Thank you Enric and Bill, for your excellent information.

Thank you Bill! It looks like we are in the clear :-)

... never too soon!... I was browsing a Spanish paper earlier today and came across this: http://www.publico.es/fotogalerias/masificacion-turistica-realidad-masificacion-turistica-14-imagenes.html Sadly that's what's happening in some destinations around the World, and there's no one in particular to blame, surely no one means any harm, but it's instead a "consequence".

Enric, I really appreciate your response to share the overall, balanced picture. We will be traveling to Madrid & south in early Fall, and I saw the news about these two items earlier this week.

I didn't panic - just started looking for other news to see if it was just isolated. We traveled to France last year and other than three armed security gentlemen wearing bullet-proof vests checking my husband's passport on a train, everything was fine.

Eric, you were very informative except for the part about trying to negate the facts that my old friend did actually see and experience while she was there. There's a difference between saying that you personally have not had those same experiences vs implying other people did not have their experiences, which she did. She was at a Mensa convention, she gathers massive amounts of facts before drawing conclusions, and if there's a rough bunch of experiences with multiple anti-tourist actions, posting some kind of emotionally dismissive thing is not factual nor is it helpful. If it's not a big, ongoing anti-tourist movement, then maybe it's a small one that is temporary, but her friends from Barcelona put it in those words and said it had been worsening since the Olympics. They could live in a different part of the city and be seeing different things than you. One of them is a longtime historian and professor who also lives there, so I'd tend to listen to his explanation with some level of interest and belief.
Bill, thanks for the info, it's helpful comparison info, and the point of the original post is that there is some discussion about it and that people are asking questions and gathering specific facts that could affect their trips before getting into situations with no knowledge of it. She loved the city and probably would have still gone if she had known about it beforehand, but it would have been better to know something about it before she had traveled. I get that there's a strong Rick Steves focus to not let strikes and protests spoil or cancel a trip, but there's a big difference between going into it with no knowledge and going into it with preparation for it. Looks like the next will be a 24 hr continuous strike of the security people at airports.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/13/barcelona-airport-crisis-worsens-as-security-staff-plan-24-hour-strike

"After two weeks of chaos, Barcelona airport faces a worsening situation as security staff begin a continuous 24-hour strike. ....
"Waits of up to three hours have led to more than 1,000 passengers missing their flights over the past two weeks. Travellers have been arriving several hours early for fear of missing their planes, compounding the problem."

I hope everyone does do well and does manage to see what my friend described as a beautiful city with amazing people and views, as easily as possible.

Thanks for your answer Allison, but I am not going to get drawn into an argument about this.

As per your observation, I can only say I'm passionate about the city, and I know it inside out, all neighbourhoods, by the way. And I am perfectly aware of the shortcomings of the city, but what you mention is not one.

One thing travellers don't seem to do enough is keep frequent tabs on the local news for upcoming travel spots. I often look to a more destination specific travel forum to pick up things happening currently and have been able to make a few travel decisions based on other people's questions, or locals making posts for travellers to be aware of. Sometimes I use both sources. I find as a solo woman traveller, it helps me feel more prepared.
There is a referendum being held October 1, and even though expected to be peaceful, political action can incite less peaceful acts by certain groups. Perhaps current activities are just a small group that are taking advantage of the upcoming referendum, or just suffering from heat and frustration about the increase in rent and ownership, but I would not be surprised to have more isolated actions between now and after the referendum. I don't think locals want to say it and I don't say this should keep people away, but impartial logic should just tell you this may be so. Historically, the youth have always been willing to take things to the street. I'll just say 'Paris' and you can recall frequent student protests. And there is also an element that will take advantage of any situation to make trouble.
So, I'll add that as another 'heads up'.

I scoured the article by Karl McLaughlin in The Independent (UK) that referred to violence at these protests, yet found not a single incident listed where violence occurred. Destruction of property, yes. Civil disobedience and disruption, yes. But these are not necessarily violent. In today's media landscape (aka Fake News) everything is emotive, so one must always scrutinise the source.

@David: well said. That's indeed the case.

@Maria: I feel a bit offended... are you saying I might be biased just because I'm a resident? If that's the case I must tell you you frankly don't know me at all... maybe a chat over a coffee when you visit would make you see things differently... :))

PS: And yes, I can tell you all about what's wrong in this city too.

@enric, no particular person in mind when comments made. It is my perception from spending time on various forums. Locals love their cities, warts and all, and will defend it to others even if they will criticize it themselves. Over coffee, couldn't we discuss the positive aspects of the city, or explain catalan culture? So much more positive and interesting.

@Maria... oh sure, that's more fun and thrilling indeed, but I meant I have no problem in mentioning as well what could be better. This is (yet) not heaven, LOL!

PS: I grant you that... and being a small nation of just 7.5 million, this is a very Catalan trait as well: defending the family. I might not speak to my sister, but be wary of saying anything bad about her! Same goes with the culture/territory... sometimes it seems we're the only ones entitled to bitch about it, hahaha!...but this wasn't the case this time.