Barcelona is feeling the weight of tourism as nine million visitors are expected this year.
The city receives five times as many visitors as it did 20 years ago, and a weak euro means many more could be enticed to visit.
Tourist spending accounts for 15% of Barcelona’s GDP and about 120,000 jobs.
Despite the welcome income, the local population of 1.6 million is showing signs of being overwhelmed. Tour guides report receiving harsh words and dirty looks from the locals and the hoteliers’ association says there is an “urgent need” to make citizens more sympathetic to tourists.
The new mayor, Ada Colau, is considering a moratorium on new hotels and licences for holiday rentals.
“If we don’t want to end up like Venice, we will have to put some kind of limit in Barcelona,” she said. No one wants to drive tourists away, she noted, but if the city becomes a “theme park” people will stop coming.
Like Venice, thousands of tourists swarm in suddenly from just one cruise ship. Barcelona is a major Mediterranean stop and some 2.5 million arrive this way annually. But their stay is brief, often just hours, making their economic impact light.
Some believe a tax on cruises could go some way in helping to maintain the city’s infrastructure. Such a move would let the inhabitants see a real investment in their city.
Residents have been driven out of Ciutat Vella, the heart of old Barcelona, as well as areas near Las Ramblas and Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia church because of the high tourist numbers and their attendant noise and raised prices.
Barcelona and Venice are surely not alone in wanting to encourage tourism but finding the result something of a sacrifice.
