4 ms·

You never really know what you've got till it's gone. A hundred thousand visitors eating, drinking, commuting, sightseeing, dwelling, and flying about in your c

You never really know what you've got till it's gone. A hundred thousand visitors eating, drinking, commuting, sightseeing, dwelling, and flying about in your city in a short period of time.....for many cities that would be a welcome occurrence (apart from the traffic woes). It's about $500m Euros of revenue, and I saw an estimate of something like 15k part-time jobs due to MWC. No small thing.

nindalf 7y ago
I suppose white collar workers who don’t rent out on airbnb don’t see any of that revenue. You could make an argument that they benefit indirectly when their local economy gets a boost and you’d probably be right. But most people will look at the misery of temporary overcrowding, look at their bank account and think “no, I don’t want this” without considering second order effects.
biolurker1 7y ago
Yes he will be complaining about the municipality not having enough funds for keeping the streets clean after a few years.
alexgmcm 7y ago
I'm also in BCN and everyone always says that but I'm not sure I buy it. I mean, yeah, some guys benefit from having the MWC for sure but I'm not sure most residents do - I'm not letting out flats or running venues etc. I'm trying to get to work on time and pay my rent. It reminds me of the similar arguments people make about the big cruise ships that come here - I mean sure, it massively benefits tourist attractions and restaurants etc. but most citizens don't see any of that money, they just get lungfuls of air pollution.
- paul_f 7y ago
  Do you understand how economics works? When money from outside your city is spent in your city, that is a huge net benefit to everyone.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    That money doesn't come for free. It's perfectly rational for people who don't directly benefit from a lot of visitors--but are inconvenienced by them--to wish to forgo both the visitors and the money they spend/taxes they bring in.
  - alexgmcm 7y ago
    > that is a huge net benefit to everyone. This isn't necessarily true though. Honestly, the MWC doesn't bother me that much - yeah the metro always goes on strike but that's a problem with the metro unions and the Ayuntamiento not the MWC in my opinion. But take the case of the cruise ships which do irritate me - every citizen gets to suffer worse air quality so a few can enrich themselves on the tourist money. I understand that in theory that money might 'trickle down' to the citizenry at large, but it is far from obvious that this actually occurs sufficiently to compensate the downsides.
- xster 7y ago
  Isn't the sales tax in Barcelona 21%? Seems like it would be a big influx to the city's coffers that could theoretically provide it the means to do something like pay subway workers more and alleviate the need to strike in the first place. If the money's not being spent in the right place, that's a local political issue that can't solved by anyone except the locals (e.g. those who can vote).

nindalf 7y ago

I suppose white collar workers who don’t rent out on airbnb don’t see any of that revenue. You could make an argument that they benefit indirectly when their local economy gets a boost and you’d probably be right. But most people will look at the misery of temporary overcrowding, look at their bank account and think “no, I don’t want this” without considering second order effects.

biolurker1 7y ago

Yes he will be complaining about the municipality not having enough funds for keeping the streets clean after a few years.

alexgmcm 7y ago

I'm also in BCN and everyone always says that but I'm not sure I buy it. I mean, yeah, some guys benefit from having the MWC for sure but I'm not sure most residents do - I'm not letting out flats or running venues etc. I'm trying to get to work on time and pay my rent. It reminds me of the similar arguments people make about the big cruise ships that come here - I mean sure, it massively benefits tourist attractions and restaurants etc. but most citizens don't see any of that money, they just get lungfuls of air pollution.

paul_f 7y ago
Do you understand how economics works? When money from outside your city is spent in your city, that is a huge net benefit to everyone.
- ghaff 7y ago
  That money doesn't come for free. It's perfectly rational for people who don't directly benefit from a lot of visitors--but are inconvenienced by them--to wish to forgo both the visitors and the money they spend/taxes they bring in.
- alexgmcm 7y ago
  > that is a huge net benefit to everyone. This isn't necessarily true though. Honestly, the MWC doesn't bother me that much - yeah the metro always goes on strike but that's a problem with the metro unions and the Ayuntamiento not the MWC in my opinion. But take the case of the cruise ships which do irritate me - every citizen gets to suffer worse air quality so a few can enrich themselves on the tourist money. I understand that in theory that money might 'trickle down' to the citizenry at large, but it is far from obvious that this actually occurs sufficiently to compensate the downsides.
xster 7y ago
Isn't the sales tax in Barcelona 21%? Seems like it would be a big influx to the city's coffers that could theoretically provide it the means to do something like pay subway workers more and alleviate the need to strike in the first place. If the money's not being spent in the right place, that's a local political issue that can't solved by anyone except the locals (e.g. those who can vote).