'Xenophobia!' Tourist in Spain fires back at protesters just looking for 'easy targets'
Residents in a popular holiday hotspot in Spain have voiced their frustration at overtourism in recent months.
Visitors to Barcelona have fired back at an "anti-tourist" atmosphere in city, with one claiming his recent visit to the Catalan capital convinced him that it is "xenophobic".
Barcelona is beloved by British holidaymakers and is also home to a growing number of "digital nomads", people who are able to travel while working remotely.
But many locals are unhappy with the huge numbers of tourists that descend on the city, while housing costs for residents soar.
In early July thousands joined a march through local tourist hotspots, with signs held up reading "Tourists go home," and "Barcelona is not for sale".
Americans Nicole, 32, and Jasper, 30, recently spent a couple of months working from Barcelona and questioned the rationale of singling out visitors to the city.
Nicole told EuroNews Travel: “The individual tourists themselves have no power to transform Barcelona into the city its residents wish for."
Jasper added that based on his experience of living there, “it's clear" that the discontent felt by many locals is "not only anti-tourist, it's anti-outsider. Which is xenophobic.”
Ron, a digital nomad based in Valencia said the protests taking place in Barcelona and other cities popular with visitors are “a diversion", "like they need to create an enemy for the problem,” he told the outlet.
While he acknowledged that aspects of the protests were understandable, he believes it is wrong to target people visiting the country. He claimed: "They don't want to direct it at the government, so they direct it at someone who won't be able to do anything about it, direct it towards a tourist,” as they're easier targets.
But some locals have also grown frustrated at the refusal of some digital nomads to fully engage with the communities they join. Sherice, a 44-year-old fluent Spanish and Catalan speaker, claimed most digital nomads "don't bother to learn about the culture, learn the languages, or understand the traditions. It's just like one big vacation to them".
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People in Spain are particularly frustrated at the effects overtourism is accused to be having on the housing crisis. Over the past decade, the cost of housing in Spain has skyrocketed by 68 percent, and locals believe the prices are been pushed up by the huge number of holiday rentals.
Many seasonal hospitality workers and local residents have said in recent months to struggle to find affordable accommodation around tourist hotspots, and the rising costs have meant even homeowners are struggling.
Analysis by Eurostat, the European Union statistics agency, previously found that 44.8 percent of Spaniards who rented their homes were at risk of poverty as property costs were higher than earnings.
Rent in Barcelona is more expensive than ever, according to El Pais. In the third quarter of last year, an apartment in the city was found to cost around €1,171 per month, on average.
Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni said reports of protestors spraying tourists with water pistols at last month's march was “absolutely reprehensible” and not representative of Barcelona’s spirit.
In June 21 Collboni announced that in a bid to tackle high prices, over 10,000 tourist apartment rentals will be banned by 2028.
But he has insisted that all tourists were welcome and that visitors should not be put off by protests.
