‘Tourists go home’ graffiti covers entire path in major Spanish city loved by Brits | World | News
A pathway in Spain’s Barcelona has been scrawled in graffiti aimed at tourists. The words “tourists are killing the city” are repeatedly displayed on a large concrete path, a video has shown.
It comes amid growing unrest over the amount of tourists visiting major hotspots in Spain – with residents claiming the current tourism model is not fit for purpose and is pushing locals out.
Now, a TikTok posted by user @saglo_ has revealed that anti-tourist graffiti has been sprayed across a path at one of the viewing points in the city.
The words “tourism kills the city” as well as “go home” can be read before the video pans to the viewpoint which shows the iconic Sagrada Familia in the background.
“Tourists go home” has been one of the key slogans used by protesters in Spain this summer to express their frustration at the negative effects of mass tourism on their communities.
These protests occurred in various cities all across the country, from Barcelona to the Canary and Balearic islands. Among their concerns have been the housing crisis caused by the influx of tourists and short-term rentals and damage to both the local economy and environment.
Barcelona has been one of the hardest hit countries. On July 6, protesters took to spraying tourists with water pistols amid a huge demonstration, while also calling for visitors to “go home”.
Previously, on Reddit, Barcelona natives have vented their frustrations, labelling the city as nothing short of an “amusement park” due to the swarms of tourists.
One said: “Barcelona has become an amusement park made for tourists. Everything’s overpriced, when you go to class or work you have to avoid distracted tourists who randomly stop to take a picture all the time of the day, week or year.”
“A friend who lived in Barcelona all his life has just moved out of the city,” another said. “He was living in the old part of the city and noise from tourist apartments in his building and the whole street was unbearable all year through.”
Short-term tourist apartments and Airbnbs have been one of the main sources of discontent in the Catalan capital. Rent prices have now increased by 14 percent, the highest among Spanish cities according to Idealista, forcing many to leave the neighbourhoods that their families have lived in for decades.
In fact, earlier this summer the mayor of Barcelona promised to ban such apartments entirely in the next five years. Jaume Collboni announced that in November 2028 the city council would eliminate the 10,101 tourist flat licences that have been granted.
Instead, he said, the apartments “will be used by the city’s residents or will go on the market for rent or sale”. A strong inspection regime to detect illegal tourist apartments would continue once the ban is in place, Collboni continued.
“This measure will not change the situation from one day to the next. These problems take time. But with this measure we are marking a turning point.”
Yet it is not just Barcelona that is affected by this over-tourism crisis. In late May, a 15,000-strong demonstration marched through the streets of the capital, Palma, shouting at tourists to “go home” and carrying banners reading “foreigners out”.
