Barcelona, Spain – Protesters used water pistols on unsuspecting tourists in Barcelona on Sunday.
“The squirting guns are something that bothers tourists a bit,” Andreu Martinez said with a laugh after spritzing the couple sitting in an outdoor cafe. “Barcelona was handed over to tourists. This is a battle to bring Barcelona back to its residents.”
Martínez, a 42-year-old administrative assistant, has seen an increasing number of residents believe tourism is going too far in the city of 1.7. Last year, Barcelona hosted 15.5 visitors eager to see Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia Basilica and Las Ramblas Promenade.
Martínez says his rent has risen by more than 30% as more apartments in his neighborhood are being rented to tourists for short stays. He said it has a knock-on effect of replacing traditional stores that are replaced by tourist-friendly businesses, such as souvenir shops, burger joints and “bubble tea” spots.
“Our lives as a lifelong resident of Barcelona is coming to an end,” he said. “We're being pushed out systematically.”
Similar demonstrations for tourism are scheduled to include several other Spanish cities on Sunday, such as Maraca and Ibiza's Balearic Islands, as well as Italian postcard cities Venice, the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, and other cities in southern Europe.
In Barcelona, protesters blew whi and chanted, “Where you see, all you see is tourists.” They hugged homemade signs saying, “One more tourist, one resident” and “Your Airbnb was my home.” They draw water pistols on the doors of hotels and hostels, saying in Catalan “civil self-defense,” “civil self-defense,” and “tourists go home.”
There was tension when March stopped in front of a big hostel. There, the group emptied a water gun with two workers located at the entrance. They also set out firecrackers next to the hostel and opened a can of pink smoke. When he knocked on the hostel door, one worker spewed at the protesters.
American tourists Wanda and Bill Drozensky were walking down Barcelona's main luxury shopping avenue, where the protest began. They received the squirt, but she said it was actually refreshing given the 83 degrees Fahrenheit (28.3 degrees celcius) weather.
“It's lovely, thanks to my love,” Wanda said trembling. “I'm not going to complain. These people feel something very personal and are probably destroying some areas (of the city).
Cities around the world are struggling with how to deal with overtourism and boom on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, but perhaps the frustration isn't rising like Barcelona, where protesters fired eruption guns at tourists last summer.
The Spaniards have also staged several large protests in Barcelona, Madrid and other cities in recent years to demand lower rents. There was also a confluence of pro-housing and anti-tourism struggles. When thousands of people marched through the Spanish capital city in April, there were homemade signs that “we will take out Airbnbs from our neighborhood.”
Spain has a population of 48 million, and has hosted a record 94 million international visitors in 2024 compared to 83 million in 2019, making it one of the most visited countries in the world.
A June 2022 poll found that only 2% of Spaniards consider housing a national issue. Three years later, almost a third of those surveyed said it is now a major concern. Spain's official public office office said last year that 76% of people answered “yes” and were asked if government regulations regarding tourist apartments were strict. (These polls had 4,000 people, with an error of 1.6%.)
Spanish local and federal authorities are striving to show that despite contributing to 12% of the national GDP, they are hearing public protests and taking appropriate measures to inform the tourism industry.
Last month, the Spanish government ordered Airbnb to remove nearly 66,000 holiday rentals from platforms that are allegedly violated local rules.
Spanish Minister of Consumer Rights Pablo Bastinduy told The Associated Press shortly after Airbnb crackdown that the tourism sector “cannot put the constitutional rights of the Spanish people at risk.” Economic Minister Carlos Querpo said in another interview that he recognizes the government needs to tackle unwanted side effects of mass tourism.
And last year, Barcelona surprised Airbnb and other services that help tourists rent real estate by announcing the elimination of all 10,000 short-term rental licenses in the city by 2028.
The short-term rental industry believes it is being treated unfairly.
“I think many of our politicians have found simple scapegoats that denounce the effectiveness of their policies in terms of housing and tourism over the past 10, 15, and 20 years,” Jaime Rodriguez de Santiago, general director of Airbumbu in Spain and Portugal, told the Associated Press recently.
That argument has not been fooled or resonated by the ordinary residents of Barcelona.
But Barcelona teacher Txema Escorsa isn't just opposed to Airbnb in his hometown. He stopped using it even when traveling elsewhere from principle.
“In the end, you realize that this is taking home from people,” he said.
Government measures were not sufficient to keep Sunday marchers at their homes in Barcelona.