The yawning gap between locals’ and visitors’ consumption is stoking long-standing resentments ahead of an election.
As rain poured into Catalonia’s parched capital, the tourists did, too.
Yet while a damp April brought some relief to the drought-stricken Spanish region — which has been living under rain-starved skies for over three years — the crescendoing tourist season did not.
After all, spring is when visitors start spilling into Barcelona’s streets each morning from cruise ships, hotels and Airbnbs — and consuming considerably more of the city’s water than the average resident, threatening to push Barcelona’s water supply to the breaking point.
The disconnect has locals fulminating. While Catalan municipalities have faced water consumption limits since the region declared a drought emergency in early February, the tourism sector has largely escaped restrictions.
I feel bad but on the other hand this is the second, “No tourists only tourist money please” article I’ve seen. I saw another one from Spain where a bus that goes to the top of a hill had to be hidden from Google maps so locals could get more availability for seating.
I feel for the locals, the casino is just a terrible idea and the fact that residents are being pushed out by airbnb and high rents really sucks for them.
A lot of trickle down economics fans in this thread.
Can you highlight the comments that say we should be giving money to rich people?
My city banned Airbnb and VRBO, and actually successfully made it not a thing here. Not sure why Barcelona cannot also. The water usage issue seems easy to fix, or not really the issue at all.
It’s probably a bit more complicated than that… a city that relies so much on tourism economically can’t just start banning one of the main ways tourists stay there.
Exactly. If tourists are a problem, close down tourist attractions. We’ll wait.