\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-2160278014-e1720551608949.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
In a protest blending whimsy and frustration, thousands of Barcelona residents turned against mass tourism on Saturday. They were armed with an unlikely weapon: the water pistol.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Las Ramblas district\u2014a popular tourist site\u2014turned into an impromptu waterpark as protestors squirted water guns at unsuspecting tourists enjoying their al-fresco meals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Video footage from CNN<\/em><\/a> shows a pair of boys hobbling away from a water-gun attack, ice cream still in hand. Another woman, with her hair soaked, awkwardly scurried away from the barrage as the protestors yelled at her and her tourist peers to \u201cgo home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While the protest methods may be light-hearted, the protestors\u2019 sentiments were not. The Assemblea de Barris pel Decreixement Tur\u00edstic (ABDT), which organized the protest (but told Fortune<\/em> that the water guns were spontaneous) argue<\/a> that citizens \u201csuffer directly\u201d from the record-breaking influx of tourists that visit the city every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since the pandemic, tourists have visited the historic city in record numbers<\/a>\u2014in 2023, 23 million visitors<\/a> stayed overnight in Barcelona, dwarfing the city\u2019s population of 1.62 million. These visitors also spent \u20ac12.75 billion ($13.8 billion), or about 15% of the city\u2019s income, according to Barcelona\u2019s City Council<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet, the ABDT argues the average citizen doesn\u2019t enjoy these profits, and instead faces soaring housing costs, precarious employment, and a lower quality of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n Housing costs<\/strong><\/p>\n Rent prices have soared in the Spanish city by 68% over the past decade, while the cost of purchasing a home has increased by 38%, according<\/a> to Jaume Collboni, Barcelona\u2019s mayor. He and other city council officials blame the explosion of the short-term rental market in the city for driving up costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last month, during a city council press conference, Collboni revealed Airbnb-style short-term housing rentals would be banned from the city by November 2028. The move would make about 10,101 apartments available for long-term rentals.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are confronting what we believe is Barcelona\u2019s largest problem,\u201d Collboni said at the event. He added the housing affordability crisis has particularly affected young people, and has become a major driver of inequality in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n The mayor who served in the eight years before Collboni, Ada Colau\u2014who had a history of left-wing activism before taking office\u2014also took a number of steps to curb short-term rentals. These policies include limiting the number of hotel beds permitted in the city, banning new hotels in the historic center, and forcing landlords who want to rent their apartments on Airbnb<\/a> to obtain a tourist license through city hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBarcelona has tried to introduce some bold strategy,\u201d Anna Torres-Delgado<\/a>, a research fellow and expert in Barcelona tourism at the University of Surrey, told online magazine<\/a> Reasons to be Cheerful<\/em>. \u201cIn some ways it has been useful and has worked well in the historic center.\u201d<\/p>\n However, protestors say these policies are not enough. A spokesperson from ABDT told Fortune <\/em>that Collboni\u2019s policies only aim to swing from apartment rentals to hotels, which are \u201cequally built on housing buildings, so the problem remains.\u201d\u00a0 The spokesperson also accused Collboni of trying to benefit hotels, which are \u201chistorically related\u201d to the mayor\u2019s Socialist Party of Catalonia.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among other guidelines, ABDT\u2019s manifesto<\/a> calls for the elimination of tourist apartments and a ban in building more short-term rental housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pandemic isolation<\/strong><\/p>\n During the COVID-19 pandemic, the city suffered from tanking visitor numbers. Bars, shops, and restaurants shuttered their doors as one of the main sectors of the economy\u2013tourism\u2013faltered, prompting debate<\/a> that the city needed to diversify its economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s part of ABDT\u2019s argument. The group\u2019s spokesperson said the pandemic was \u201cmuch harder\u201d on Barcelona\u2019s touristy neighborhoods and that specialization in tourism makes the city extremely vulnerable to multiple issues, like \u201cpandemics, geopolitical changes, terrorism, tourism trendies and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the quiet provided residents with an opportunity to re-discover their city.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want life to be like it was in the pandemic but it also gave us a chance to see that there were other possibilities without massive tourism,\u201d Mart\u00ed Cus\u00f3, who lives in the Gothic Quarter, Barcelona\u2019s busiest tourist area, told The Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cMy barrio is so saturated with tourists it\u2019s impossible to meet someone in the street or for children to play or even to get a good night\u2019s sleep,\u201d he says, adding that the pandemic provided a \u201cmissed\u201d opportunity to rethink the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n Most residents, however, have a positive view of tourism, according to the city council\u2019s report \u201cPerception of Tourism in Barcelona 2023<\/a>.\u201d Some 70.9% of people believe tourism benefits the city, a rise of 4% compared to 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet, even those who recognize that tourism is essential to Barcelona\u2019s economy have become disillusioned by the influx of travelers, according to the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMore and more people believe that Barcelona has reached its tourism capacity limit,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n