Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

TOURISM

Girona calls for ‘expat census’ as anti-mass tourism sentiment in Spain grows 

The Catalan city of Girona has seen acts of vandalism against cycling businesses and a new neighbourhood association set up to protest against mass tourism and expat “gentrification”, as locals in another city in Spain says it’s “reached its limit”.

Published: 20 May 2024 10:56 CEST
Girona calls for 'expat census' as anti-mass tourism sentiment in Spain grows 
Up to 30 cycling tourism-related businesses have been created in recent years in central Girona. Photo: Eat Sleep Cycle/Pexels

Residents of the beautiful northeastern city of Girona, ‘discovered’ internationally after it appeared in hit TV series Game of Thrones, appear to have had enough of their tourism-driven economic model. 

Neighbours have set up the “Girona Tourism Decrease Platform” (Plataforma Decreixement Turístic Girona) to put pressure on the local government so that it addresses the issues of “overdevelopment” and “gentrification,” and it “abandons the ‘anything goes’ approach to tourism”.

In its manifesto, the group explains how “for years Girona has become a postcard city for tourism, fairs and festivals”, which has been “a death sentence for its neighbourhoods and those who live in them,” while only benefitting “the business of a few people”.

They also denounce the mass arrival of wealthy “expats”, who have allegedly turned parts of the city into “totally elitist ghetto areas with their backs to people’s basic needs.”

This has contributed to “inflation, job insecurity, difficulty in accessing housing, water restrictions and closure of small businesses”, they claim, along with the destruction of local culture and less usage of the Catalan language.

“As a territory, we are at the limit. As citizens, we cannot take it anymore ,” they conclude.

As a result, they propose starting a census of “expats” living in the city. Cities and towns in Spain already have a registration system for all residents called the padrón, so it is unclear which foreigners could be added to this census, although it most likely refers to non-residents as well as residents.

Other measures suggested include locating illegal tourism accommodation in the city, limiting the number of hotel beds, increasing taxes for tourism businesses and in particular dealing with the issue of cycling tourism in Girona. 

According to disgruntled locals, the city has become a “cycling mecca” for professionals and aficionados in recent years, something encouraged by local authorities. 

READ ALSO: Where in Spain do locals ‘hate’ tourists?

From shops selling and renting bikes, to repair stores, travel agencies focusing on bicycle tourism and even specialised bars, the old quarter of Girona is dominated by bikes and cycling-related businesses. 

“Go home” and “enough with mass mass tourism” have been graffitied the façades of seven of these 30+ cycling businesses in Girona in recent days. 

Simmering resentment towards the negative consequences of mass tourism, in particular with regard to the proliferation of holiday lets and their impact on rising rents, has been on the up this year in Spain.

The Canary Islands held mass protests against their tourism model in April, and locals in Málaga, Mallorca and Ibiza have planned demonstrations for similar reasons in May and June.

READ ALSO:

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TOURISM

Barcelona to get rid of all tourist rental flats ‘by 2028’

The mayor of Barcelona announced on Friday that the city will bring an end to 10,000 tourist flats by 2028 simply by not renewing licences.

Published: 21 June 2024 14:47 CEST
Barcelona to get rid of all tourist rental flats 'by 2028'

Barcelona city council has pledged to ‘eliminate’ the more than 10,000 tourist flats in the Catalan capital.

Jaume Collboni, the city’s Socialist mayor, made the announcement during a press conference on Friday afternoon. 

The plan is to rid the city of all the tourist flats by November 2028 by not renewing any of the 10,101 licences in the city.

READ ALSO: ‘It kills the city’: Barcelona’s youth protest against mass tourism

They will instead be used for residential properties, applying a decree law approved by the Generalitat which regulates tourist housing.

“We’ve decided to go all out to convert them into residential housing,” Collboni said.

Collboni argued that the measure is a response to the growing difficulty of accessing affordable housing in Barcelona, where supply is scarce and rental prices have surpassed €1,100 per month on average.

According to figures cited during the press conference, the price of housing has increased by 68 percent in Barcelona in the last 10 years, while sales by just 38 percent. “The least that can be done is to think about how to provide more public and private housing. That means ‘more supply, more supply, more supply’,” Collboni said.

“The city has 10,000 tourist flats and we want to convert them into residential,” he added. “By November 2028, we want these 10,000 tourist flats to become residential. From 2029, the tourist flat as we know it today will disappear in Barcelona.”

Discontent among locals about the proliferation of short-term tourist rental flats has grown in the Catalan city in recent years. But it is not only in Barcelona. The sentiment has spread across the country in recent years, particularly in the post-pandemic period.

Protests have already been held in the Canary and Balearic Islands as well as Madrid and Barcelona, and demonstrations are planned in Málaga at the end of June.

READ ALSO: ‘It’s become unliveable’: Spain’s Málaga plans protests against mass tourism

A combination of dwindling rental market supply and rising prices, worsened by the rise in post-pandemic remote working, has meant that in many Spanish cities digital nomads and tourists dominate the city centres and price locals out of their own neighbourhoods.

SHOW COMMENTS