2,800 People Participate In Anti-Tourism Demonstrations In Barcelona, Fire A Water Pistol And Ask Tourists To Go Home

Illustration of a water gun. (Pixabay-ariesa66)

JAKARTA - A total of 2,800 people were involved in anti-tourism demonstrations in Barcelona, Spain. They sprayed water through a toy gun and asked tourists to go home.

Quoting The Sun, Sunday, July 7, the demonstration, which was centered along the Barcelona seaside district, also carried a poster with a strong protest tone, "That's enough! Let's limit tourism".

A number of protesters who went hand in hand at the demonstration site were also seen holding posters reading, "Barcelona is not for sale," to "Tourists looking for it".

The trigger for this demonstration is a housing crisis or housing in Barcelona. The price of the house in the capital city of the Cataluna autonomous region is known to have jumped 68 percent in the past decade.

Based on Idealista media data, the rental price for residences in Barcelona to Madrid also rose 18 percent compared to last year as of June 2024.

Responding to the skyrocketing price of housing to the rental of the residence, the local community blamed the tourists who came to their city. The demonstration was finally held as a form of protest.

The demonstration, which took place on Saturday, July 6 local time, was seen by the authorities as an extreme and unexpected step.

However, many still feel that local residents are not prioritized in this city, because there are not many efforts made to balance tourism with local residents.

Based on local authority data, Barcelona attracted more than 12 million tourists last year.

In an effort to improve the "negative effect of mass tourism", the city council led by Barcelona Mayor, Jaume Collboni decided to ban the lease of an apartment for tourism purposes.

Collboni's decision could push for legal action, as some tourism companies believe that the ban could drive the existence of a black market.

This anti-tourism demonstration is expected to expand until Majorca this summer.

A number of activists involved in this protest also threatened to block international airports in Palma by deploying many cars on the highway, causing traffic jams if their vocations were not heard.