In Spain, hordes of tourists cause resentment, but the money they leave in the country keeps the economy going. Policy makers are looking for the right balance.
These blizzards made the whole world’s ears prick up. At a demonstration in Barcelona in July, a number of tourists were drenched with water guns and chased away from outdoor cafes.
When the photos of the water attack hit the news pages of the whole world and led to a reputational crisis for Barcelona, the gun heroes were scolded by the Spanish tourism operators for scaring away visitors.
According to the organizers, this action was unplanned, but understandable. “People are fed up,” says Martí Cusó, one of the organizers of the 3,000-strong protest march. “It’s completely normal that if the first thing you see is a hotel or an outdoor cafe full of tourists, you’re going to be angry at them.”
The backlash against tourism is not limited to Barcelona. Europe is sometimes called the museum of the world, while the Mediterranean countries are called the beach resorts of the world. 709 million people from all over the world visited European countries last year. There are more and more North Americans among them, but the vast majority travel within Europe.
However, in some countries, the hordes of tourists have grown so large that the patience of the locals – from Venice and Amsterdam to Lisbon and Santorini – has been broken.
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Source: www.aripaev.ee
