Barcelona cruise ship
Credit: Marcel Sala, Flickr
Last year, Spain received a record 85,1 million international tourists. This summer, the figures continue to soar, causing protests in major cities like Barcelona. The city´s Mayor, Jaume Collboni is taking new measures to battle the crisis.
Listening to protestors
After numerous demonstrations united more than 2,000 people, urging the government to take measures and put limits on tourism, Barcelona´s mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced a series of initiatives to reduce mass tourism and improve the residents´ experiences.
In July, Collboni stated that he would end apartment rentals to tourists by 2028. Right now, most rentals in the city are short-term, making it difficult for regular residents to find a place to live.
Collboni emphasised that the high amount of flat rentals deter Barcelona from pursuing quality tourism. He stated; When it comes to a choice between tourists using housing and the right to housing, we´ve decided to put the right to housing in Barcelona first.
Tax for cruise passengers
On July 21, the mayor shared his plans to raise the tourist tax for cruise passengers who visit Barcelona for less than 12 hours.
Collboni stated to the local Press; Barcelona is a city that´s open to visitors and tourism is an important sector of its economy. That said, I´m determined to tackle the consequences that mass tourism is having for the city. We´re going to substantially raise the tax for people on cruise stopovers.
He explained; When it comes to stopover cruise passengers less than 12 hours you get an intensive use of public space without any benefit to the city and you get a feeling of occupation and saturation. We want tourism that respects its destination.
Now, worth €7, the mayor didn´t clarify by how much the tax will be raised, saying only that studies had already been commissioned. He added that the rise aims not to prevent cruise visitors but to ensure that they generate revenue which could be invested in projects such as installing air conditioning in schools.
Transforming the tourist model
In April, Victor Marin, a spokesperson for the collective Canarias se Agota said Spain´s problem with mass tourism is not the tourists themsleves but their numbers and an outdated tourist model. We´ve reached the point where the balance between the use of resources and the welfare of the population here has broken down.
Protestors across Spain continue to demand lower accommodation prices and higher salaries. This summer, protesters united in Malaga with banners reading; Salary of 1,300, rent of 1,100, how can you live? In Cadiz, another banner read One more tourist, one less neighbour.
Yet, being so reliant on tourism for its economy, Spain would face even further crisis should it prohibit visitors; it is a matter of finding a balance between the experiences of residents and tourists, which the government aims to reach.
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Originally from Moscow, with Russian and Armenian origins, Anna has lived in Costa Blanca for over ten years. She is passionate about singing, acting and traveling.
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