European city ‘turning into a theme park’ in war against tourists | World | News

A Spanish city where angry locals fired water pistols at tourists is ‘turning into a theme park’ due to an influx of over tourism.

Barcelona is doubling down in a war against tourists, those visiting the Spanish city are currently hit with two taxes – a regional charge and a city tax. The city tax is set to rise from £2.74, having already been increased last year.

Soon visitors will have to spend £3.37 a day on an overnight charge for up to a week’s stay, starting in October.

The city has said the additional intake will be used to improve services such as buses, roads and escalators.

And now Mayor Jaume Collboni has said “everything has a limit”, according to The Independent.

He said: “If you have a theatre with a 300-seat capacity, you cannot sell 500 (tickets) even if you have 200 people queuing. Everything has a limit.

“Tourism needs to be serving the city’s model, not the opposite. That’s what we are doing in Barcelona.”

Mr Collboni also said he would be targeting the licences for more than 10,000 apartments currently on short-term lets in the city, with a full ban on tourist flats by 2028.

It comes after thousands of locals took to the streets earlier this month to speak out about the pressures on housing they believe are caused by over tourism in the coastal city.