4 ms·

Serious question: do you notice or feel any of the economic impact of the tourists? It seems like there's a decent side hustle to be made during the summer from

Serious question: do you notice or feel any of the economic impact of the tourists? It seems like there's a decent side hustle to be made during the summer from all those people

kashyapc 8y ago
By "you", if you mean the city, I presume so—when I see the cafés, restaurants open almost until 03:00 AM (at least during the ten days of the festival), and probably the local musicians and artists might also make a buck or two from their performances (not to mention people renting out their homes via AirBnB; I don't know how popular that option is here, as I certainly see lots of closed and 'dark' homes at night). But many locals say that they don't feel like being in the city during summer due to overcrowdedness and they feel like they can't get the day-to-day errands done in the city without going through a sea of people.
- skohan 8y ago
  It was like this in Barcelona. In August the center is crowded to the point of disfunction; it's like being at a festival or something. I used to live a few minutes from Las Ramblas and I dreaded even going down the block to pick up milk from the corner store during high-season.
  - kashyapc 8y ago
    /me can relate; I recall that neighborhood (was in Barcelona a couple of times in winter, for conferences). Here I just bicycle the complete opposite direction from the center to go to "known quiet spots" where we can get errands done. And pleasantly enough, the city has also recently implemented a plan to expand the "no cars" zone in the city, thus it has become even more safer for bikers and pedestrians.
alkonaut 8y ago
This. If I had an opportunity (like a few very small cities in my country) to basically make 3-6 months rent from renting out my place for two or three weeks during a certain period, then that would be pretty fantastic. I could afford a good holiday every year during that period then.
- maccard 8y ago
  I live in a city like that. The month of August would pay my mortgage for a year, and pay for a holiday if I Airbnb'ed my home for the month. One of the issues is that everyone else goes away during august, so the prices are hyperinflated. You have to go somewhere (as your home is occupied) so where do you go? You also have restrictions (most likely) on annual leave - is paying my mortgage and a holiday worth having 0 time off for the rest of the year?
  - alkonaut 8y ago
    I usually have a month off every year in the summer, but whether that means you run out of holiday days that's problematic. Perhaps a compromise would be having a 2-3w holiday in August and keeping the rest of the time off for other parts of the year.
    - maccard 8y ago
      Yeah we both live away from family, so require a few days here and there every year to travel back (holidays, I'll family etc). I hadn't really considered just doing it for 1/2 weeks and trying to combine annual leave with unpaid leave or remote work for the period of time until you and another commenter mentioned it though!
  - daemin 8y ago
    Since you'll be earning your year's mortgage during a month, how about asking to work remote, or just take leave without pay for the month?
    - maccard 8y ago
      That may work for me, but it's unlikely that both myself and my partner would be able to negotiate it for the entire month. I hadn't considered that we could maybe negotiate something for a shorter period together until now, I may investigate it for next year!

Serious question: do you notice or feel any of the economic impact of the tourists? It seems like there's a decent side hustle to be made during the summer from all those people

kashyapc 8y ago

By "you", if you mean the city, I presume so—when I see the cafés, restaurants open almost until 03:00 AM (at least during the ten days of the festival), and probably the local musicians and artists might also make a buck or two from their performances (not to mention people renting out their homes via AirBnB; I don't know how popular that option is here, as I certainly see lots of closed and 'dark' homes at night). But many locals say that they don't feel like being in the city during summer due to overcrowdedness and they feel like they can't get the day-to-day errands done in the city without going through a sea of people.

skohan 8y ago
It was like this in Barcelona. In August the center is crowded to the point of disfunction; it's like being at a festival or something. I used to live a few minutes from Las Ramblas and I dreaded even going down the block to pick up milk from the corner store during high-season.
- kashyapc 8y ago
  /me can relate; I recall that neighborhood (was in Barcelona a couple of times in winter, for conferences). Here I just bicycle the complete opposite direction from the center to go to "known quiet spots" where we can get errands done. And pleasantly enough, the city has also recently implemented a plan to expand the "no cars" zone in the city, thus it has become even more safer for bikers and pedestrians.

alkonaut 8y ago

This. If I had an opportunity (like a few very small cities in my country) to basically make 3-6 months rent from renting out my place for two or three weeks during a certain period, then that would be pretty fantastic. I could afford a good holiday every year during that period then.

maccard 8y ago
I live in a city like that. The month of August would pay my mortgage for a year, and pay for a holiday if I Airbnb'ed my home for the month. One of the issues is that everyone else goes away during august, so the prices are hyperinflated. You have to go somewhere (as your home is occupied) so where do you go? You also have restrictions (most likely) on annual leave - is paying my mortgage and a holiday worth having 0 time off for the rest of the year?
- alkonaut 8y ago
  I usually have a month off every year in the summer, but whether that means you run out of holiday days that's problematic. Perhaps a compromise would be having a 2-3w holiday in August and keeping the rest of the time off for other parts of the year.
  - maccard 8y ago
    Yeah we both live away from family, so require a few days here and there every year to travel back (holidays, I'll family etc). I hadn't really considered just doing it for 1/2 weeks and trying to combine annual leave with unpaid leave or remote work for the period of time until you and another commenter mentioned it though!
- daemin 8y ago
  Since you'll be earning your year's mortgage during a month, how about asking to work remote, or just take leave without pay for the month?
  - maccard 8y ago
    That may work for me, but it's unlikely that both myself and my partner would be able to negotiate it for the entire month. I hadn't considered that we could maybe negotiate something for a shorter period together until now, I may investigate it for next year!