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Protesters have taken to shooting water guns at a bus of
tourists in Barcelona
Protests against mass tourism are starting up again in southern Europe ahead of the summer vacation season. They follow large-scale anti-tourism demonstrations in vacation hot spots in Italy, Portugal and especially Spain in recent years.
The coalition of activists and campaigners that make up Sur de Europa contra la Turistizacion (Southern Europe against Touristification) have once again called for large-scale demonstrations on 15 June, in Venice, Milan, Lisbon, San Sebastian, Valencia, Barcelona and the Balearic Islands, among other places.
Members of the group recently met for a conference in Barcelona to discuss overtourism, which according to the UN World Tourism Organisation is usually defined as the point at which locals or visitors feel tourism has negatively impacted the quality of life in a region to an unacceptable degree.
That is the case for many people in Barcelona, where large-scale demonstrations with thousands of participants have taken place in recent years. Also in the mix are attention-grabbing tactics involving water guns.
In 2024, protesters in Barcelona doused unsuspecting tourists dining along the popular promenade of Las Ramblas in order to draw attention to the problem of overtourism. It worked — a media flurry followed, as did several other incidents involving water guns, which have become something of a symbol of the fight against overtourism in Barcelona. In April, for example, activists blocked a tour bus parked in front of the Sagrada Família — one of the city’s top attractions — and soaked stunned tourists with water guns. Chants of “tourists go home”, were heard.
“The kind of tourism we have today in Barcelona is not compatible with the lives of the local population,” Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth (Assemblea de Barris pel Decreixement Turístic) member Daniel Pardo, told DW. Pardo has been involved in organising anti-tourism campaigns for years. He and others want to stop rampant tourism growth, which they say has resulted in noisy streets, air pollution, and overcrowding. “The moment when it was still possible to find a balance came to an end a long time ago.”
Pardo specifies that it’s not only about protesting mass tourism, but rather about going against a “tourism-first culture” that prioritises the tourism industry over the quality of life of many locals.
Around 30 million tourists visit Barcelona a year, a city that is home to around 1.7 million people. The majority came from Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, followed by the United States. According to city officials, the tourism industry generates around 14% of the city’s gross domestic product and supports 150,000 jobs.
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