A week ago, Barcelona residents took to the streets armed with water guns to send a message of resistance against mass tourism to the Catalan city. The Barcelona City Council is responding with a new commission aimed at managing the problem.
On June 15, hundreds, perhaps, thousands, of protesters rallied under the banner of “tourism steals our bread, homes, and future” and briefly assaulted a local hostel and a Louis Vuitton store with water pistols, tape and stickers, according to Catalan News. The protest echoed previous incidents where tourism opponents soaked visitors with water guns on the streets of the city.
The U.S. is the top non-domestic source market for tourism to Barcelona, according to Destination Barcelona, the city’s tourism office; Americans represent 13.7 percent of all foreign visitors.
The agency reported that year-over-year reservations for Americans are “significantly below the same period last year in Barcelona city, but slightly ahead in the Barcelona region.”
“The squirt guns are to bother the tourists a bit,” protestor Andreu Martinez told the Associated Press after aiming a stream of water at a couple sitting at a cafe. “Barcelona has been handed to the tourists. This is a fight to give Barcelona back to its residents.”
The new commission, led by tourism expert Jose Donaire, seeks a shift from “promoting the city to managing the tourism industry,” the city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, said.
Donaire said it was critical for Barcelona, a city of 1.8 million people that receives 15.5 million visitors annually, to “build an industry model that respects locals.
According to the city government, tourism accounts for 155,000 jobs in the city and represents 15 percent of Barcelona’s GDP.
Among other concerns, protestors cited rising housing costs and the replacement of local stores with souvenir shops and other tourism-related businesses that they say are changing the character of their city. The city’s tourism website says Barcelona is “working on a strategy to manage tourism, promote geographical decentralization and diversification of the tourist offer, invest in strategic promotion, and maintain a balance with city life.”