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Where does that attitude towards tourism come from? I know this is politics but other places would welcome tourism and professional conferences with open arms.
by chvid 7y ago
Where does that attitude towards tourism come from?
I know this is politics but other places would welcome tourism and professional conferences with open arms.
When I see a group of tourists cueing in front of something in Copenhagen - sure - I might get annoyed but those people are bringing in money. Not to me personally. But that tourist money gets taxed or spent again. And ultimately it ends up being spent on a nicer park or causes some new cool restaurant to be viable, all benifical to me.
Eventhough we have extreme political parties here; noone is bad-mouthing tourism. Everyone knows we live of trade and we need to be an open and welcoming place; and it is out own problem to make sure our public transport can handle its peak traffic.
- OldOneEye 7y agoReally, I'm all for responsible tourism. Tourism is very good for the local economy when it is done properly. But it must come with regulation to avoid encouraging foreign companies (or local, doesn't matter) buying all houses/apartments and then renting them mainly to tourists for a much higher price than locals can pay. Since Barcelona hosts a very high volume of tourists, they can afford to do this almost the whole year. Please understand, I'm not complaining about tourists (although they come with their own problems, like a 24/7 unwelcome festive ambient in residential neighborhoods...), I'm complaining on how Barcelona is not able to absorb that massive amount of tourism and how it makes lives miserable for local residents, that are pushed out of the city because it is far more beneficial to land-owners to rent to tourists, and how restaurants/shops push prices up too, and how the center of the city is no longer targeted towards locals. And much of the city center's businesses are no longer locally-owned and bring outside supply chains and may employ non local people, so it is not even that beneficial to the community as a whole. Yes, jobs are created, but tourism-related jobs are not famous for their ability for employees to be able to live in the city itself. I know this is a local politics problems, one of electing people that will do the right thing, but it's not that easy unfortunately, since voting in spain is very polarized on ideological and tribal feelings. And meanwhile, locals will just suffer the negative aspect of all this while benefiting little.
- netsharc 7y agoFrom what I've read about Barcelona, it's more like living in a Disneyland, every day you're just swimming in crowds of tourists, from all over the world, bringing their idiosyncrasies. All (or a lot) of the shops are shops selling touristic trinkets. Want to eat at that nice restaurant? It's crowded, with loud Americans and Brits. 7 nights a week...
- scirocco 7y agoYes, having lived in Barcelona for 2 years I can confirm that. Winter was the best time there
- downerending 7y agoPart of it is that some of the people experiencing the downsides of tourism aren't getting adequate benefits from it. Or perhaps don't see how they're benefiting even though they do. This is what politics is all about.