it's a worldwide problem ..... in Spain they love to "play the victim" ..... there are plenty of spaniard that travel and misbehave (ESPECIALLY IN LATIN AMERICA) .... they love to play "poor me"
Well, just imagine you had. And that in your block of flats, 12 out of 16 apartments are short term rental (vivienda turística) and there aren't places to rent for locals@@zaneunderthesun
I've visited Spain several times and I'm actually going to be traveling there this October (am taking my dad who has never been to Spain before). As someone who lived and still works in NYC (another huge tourist destination), I am very mindful of the impact that tourism has on the places that I want to visit so I strive very hard to be a good tourist. I don't stay in AirB&Bs and prefer hotels (especially locally owned hotels rather than the big chains). When I go to the restaurants outside of the tourist centers because I want a more authentic experience, I keep in mind that I'm a guest and that my presence should not impact the locals who cherish these places. I try to use as much of the local language as I can cram into my head and whenever possible, I avoid traveling during the busiest times of the year. And I try to spend some of my time in the less visited cities so that I'm not just focusing on the big tourist centers. I cherish my time in this beautiful country and am looking forward to showing it to my father.
unfortunately youre a minority - most US citizens here are too old to learn spanish and so rich they can just drive the locals out of their homes... we cant pay 2k a month for a 50m2 apartment..
I am also planning a second visit to Barcelona in October for the 37th Americas Cup! As an avid traveler, I have also been to NYC both visits out of season. We have a similar problem in my hometown which is also a tourist attraction in South Africa. Our challenge is that we are also a "university town" and the town is bursting out of its seams with students who don't leave after they have completed their degrees resulting in the house/apartment prices becoming sky-high and unaffordable to us. Our young adults have to find accommodation outside of our town because there are no places for them to live and if they do find a house or apartment the rent is sky-high! It seems this has become a universal problem and not only a Spanish one!
As a Spanish, THANK YOU. I don't agree with this kind of protest who attacks people instead of companies who exploit the bussiness, because that has been always the problem : the massive exploit. It's difficult to move aroud to work, to go back home after it and, generally speaking, to live in certain zones. I really hope this situation can find a way to be solved either for locals and for sensible visitors in the best way. Enjoy your October visit. ^^
I'm going to Barcelona in October. I appreciate all the perspectives on what is going on. I don't want to stay or invade their home, so please tell me what I should do? I don't want to cause trouble. I just want to appreciate their beautiful city for a few days. It's really heartbreaking. I get that. I can't even afford a home where I live. I may never be able to because home prices have risen 50+%. No family should have to worry about a place to live. 😢
I was born and live in Barcelona, we have always had tourism since the Olympic Games, the problem is that their number has tripled and the bus, metro, etc. service has not. For housing, there are offices that ask triple what they did a few years ago, which is why many people have to leave their city. I don't blame the tourist, I blame the government that is selling the city.
We are so much people in the world now that the amount of tourists won't go away, but increase. You are right, it's time for policies that protect the local.
I live outside of Barcelona and the housing prices are crazy. There is no set per m2 price. People are trying to get whatever they can. The prices are inflated and all over the place. Maybe someone is buying but many flats don't sell for years. I think the housing crisis is about more than just tourism.
They have to tax the shit out of homeowners who don’t live in their homes as well. Buying a home for yourself is a thing, but coming to another country to purchase multiple real estate just to leech on the worker class is another thing.
Maybe. However, one of the things protesters are complaining about is that it has become overcrowded. For that complaint, they should want a lower occupancy. They want it all though. Lower prices for them, fewer crowds, and probably expect it with no loss to their incomes. Most protesters probably haven't thought it out that well and how there are trade-offs to their demands.
@@RurbanWalkerBy that logic, these workers should be making a great deal of money in places like Ibiza and Málaga with all of the crowds. But I suspect that’s not true either.
There's a good reason why in my country of Singapore, Airbnb was banned. To keep the hotel going and employment active. Public housing cannot be used for businesses. To avoid scarcity
I'm also Singaporean. Not entirely sure if Airbnb is truly banned here, but short term rentals are rampant and authorities have difficulty enforcing. I find overtourism getting worse in SG. Really hate going to tourist attractions and the city areas because the Asian visitors in particular are so rude with no consideration for us locals.
@@ojj75As of May 2019, short-term rentals offered by Airbnb and other platforms are illegal in Singapore. The Planning Act prohibits the rental of private residential units for short-term stays of less than three months, and Housing Development Board (HDB) flats for less than six months. The government can also seize HDB flats from owners who rent them out on a short-term basis. So yeah, there are some operating illegally which just got cracked down. I wouldn't think Singapore is over tourism at all 😂 culturally we are a mixed pot. I think it's still a pretty livable place considering we are not facing the same problem Barcelona is facing. And many industries depend on tourism to survive.
AS Ibiza citizen I can confirm that I can see tourists don't mind spending a couple of thousant euros to rent a place, and pay 10€ for a drink, but locals can't afford to live like that. there are thousands upon thousands of outside cars, you can't go anywhere, you can't park anywhere. how do you empty your groceries from your car?? More tourists, more services, more workforce, more housing, but more housing is more profitable if you accomodate tourists, that will need more and more (and let's not talk about water, electricity, pollution, garbage... and needed professionals, no police, no medical staff, no teachers, ...)
Ibiza is crazy from April till October. If I want to visit Ibiza I try to avoid summer time. That's a fact. Sadly Ibiza needs tourism but changes need to be implanted.
Estúpido discurso socialcomunista, de tener poco nivel de inteligencia. ¿Qué significa ser local? Un señor que casi con toda seguridad tendrá una casa propia y probablemente otra, un señor que es cerrajero o fontanero o taxista, ¿¿¿prefiere ese local estar en un lugar lleno de turistas demandando servicios bien pagados o estar en un pueblo inactivo, sin nadie a quien ofrecer servicios? Por favor, no repitáis los discursos socialcomunistas destructivos, porque iréis a la pobreza autoinducida. Para un local es siempre siempre, mejor estar en un entorno turístico que en un entorno estático deprimido, no seamos estúpidos.
Lo que no entiendo es como siguen, hoy dia, cada vez más turistas gastandose tanta plata en vacaciones, mientras nosostros que también somos europeos, seguimos viviendo en la m**rda de siempre, después de tantos años de "mercado comun", y cada vez peor. De dónde les viene tanta plata, porqué los salarios nuestros no aumentaron casi nada en los ultimos 25 anõs, y además, porqué no nos llega la plata que ellos aqui vienen a gastarse. Quién se queda con la plata... nos estamos empobreciendo cada vez más, mientras la sociedad sigue uberizandose. Además, me parece que desde que se nos ha entrado el eFe. la eMe y la I por la puerta, hemos perdido nuestra independencia. Esto es el resultado de sus politicas y de sus decisiones, ya no decidimos nosotros.
Barcelona resident here! I think the main contributor of the housing crisis here is not tourism, they have already been battling Airbnb here for a while. The main changing point was the implementation of Nomad and Startup visas. What we faced is that a bunch of wealthy (much wealthier) people from all over the world moved to Spain (and most of them clearly didn't want to move to Elche, they moved to Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga etc.) and basically they rented out all the available apartments for ridiculous prices that locals will never be able to afford. Some of them are literally using the fact that it is a new visa and approval rate is really high, they declare less income to pay minimum taxes, those who required to register as AUTONOMO to pay Seguro Social never did. Some quite literally making business here but they don't open the company for that, they wash those money through their originate country. Like honestly, there were always crowds of tourists here but things went downhill after these visas and a bunch of people coming. Also, landlords started this trend of signing the contract limited to 11 months to be able to set any price they want and there are still a bunch of foreigners who are able to pay anything to be able to live in the city that has way lower cost of living than their country. I am myself a foreigner and I talk to a bunch of new comers and this is a clear picture of what is happening. The worst part is that locals don't even see any financial profit from these people while locals have NO tax regulations like 24% (Backham law) and being still ripped off by hacienda. Throw out all these nomads (or force them to move to the rural areas without housing problems if they still want to stay in the country) and there will be a thousands apartments available with normal prices. You will hear something similar is also happening in Portugal. Well, cause they were first to implement those visa types
I believe what you say is correct. I remember during a trip to Spain 6 years 2 of the 5-6 apartments I lived in were owed by russians. The lady in Malaga didn't speak any Spanish and only a couple of words in English, said she had 4 apartments there.
low tax would be applied only for employees and not for self employed. I would say it is the same issues all over the world, war, mortgage percentages went up and as result local people who owns apartments for bank money, need to increase significantly prices to cover as much as possible and keep the same life style when it was low percentage. expats definitely helped to increase the prices but in the same time a lot of wealthy people started to pay more for any services that having 12% included in any prices…
I don’t think the amount if visas given out on that concept is high enough to move the market. But also, if richer people come to live in an area more money will flow into the city. Switzerland is a very good example of this.
I go to Spain often from the US as my sister lives and works in Valencia. In our last trip, while visiting Toledo, we sat down with a tour guide that was pretty open and honest with us: they want and appreciate the tourists. What they don’t appreciate is the government ONLY catering to tourists. She told us that there’s too many empty houses/apartments in Toledo that are empty because investors come in and leave them empty until they can sell it 3 o 4 times higher than worth. Plus, the lack of services, public parks, even lack of supermarkets and stores (she joked that there’s only so many “I love Toledo” T-shirts one should have). In Barcelona, this sentiment is not new. I remember back in 2012 the signs with “tourists not welcome”. Spoke with a friend this year and she explained how Airbnbs are just out of control. In her building they have 2 that are mostly used by tourist on bachelor/bachelorette parties, so the place is often trashed. The solutions proposed was to try and bring more “high end” tourists, which has resulted in new luxury developments that the regular Barcelonians can’t even afford. People are pissed. In conclusion, based on my interactions and visits, I’ll strongly recommend supporting these efforts. Spain is an amazing country and has amazing people. Is only far that those of us that enjoy visiting, empathise and support their fight for better conditions on their daily lives. Mad respect for those speaking out and driving positive change.
Thank you so much, I'm from Valencia and we are happy to welcome people who wants to enjoy and discover our culture. But as u said we need to do an effort to respect each other rather we host or when we visit any place. In the balance and respect is where we all can enjoy about traveling and learn of each other.
Thank you thank you thank you. Born in Madrid and living in Barcelona, gentrification is destroying our environment and interfering our daily life to the point were we feel outplaced and pissed off. It's also making it almost impossible for us to move out. I personally feel like Barcelona is been treated by businesses and some tourists like a theme park, and not like an actual city with its people, needs and own culture. It feels like an invasion. So it's really validating when former, actual or potencial tourists understand the impact they can have and understand how resilient we need to be to resist this problem and demand our governments to take proper measures.
In nyc , we have crisis in housing, but you can type in google New york 250000 vacant apartments And you will Understand that it seems some poeples have unlimited 💰 and they can buy apartments building and just close them under excuse of renovation.. They can suck all the inventories and manage to control the prices of rental Who are the largest donors of most of politicians in large usa cities ???
The apartments are not empty due to greedy investors, but due to ridiculous laws that encourage tenants to just stop paying rent so that owners (small not rich private owners) prefer to keep their properties off market in order to not got bankrupt.
I visited Madrid Alicante and Valencia in May of this year. Everywhere we went we were treated respectfully. I absolutely loved that country. I do feel for the locals who are getting priced out.
There are ways to help with that issue as a mindful tourist. Stay in hotels vs AirB&Bs (especially locally owned hotels vs the international chains). Eat in local restaurants. Use your tourist dollars to benefit the local community vs big corporations.
@@ravanne3746 quick question , we have two small children and I can't seem to find a hotel that offers a separate bedroom. However, there plenty of one bedroom and two bedroom Airbnb's. What do you suggest ?
@@bustixaniego not two separate rooms. The kids are 3 and seven and often wake up at night. So I need to check on them. This is not a problem I. A one or two bedroom apartment. But it's a problem with separate hotel rooms
I think tourists themselves have changed. People used to go to foreign lands to experience new cultures, art, architecture, immerse themselves. Now people go to show off on social media. I once walked through London where there was a long queue of tourists who wanted to be photographed in a telephone box! You don’t need that photo, you need it for instagram etc.
I don't disagree with this. You see the same few sites on everyone's Instagram feed. My favorite thing to do when traveling is just walking around the historical centers of the city and really getting a better sense of the history and culture. I'll duck into local cafes and shops yes, I'll see the big important sites, but I'll either do it very early in the day or later in the afternoon after most of the crowds have started to leave. I remember visiting the Castle Hill district in Budapest when I went right after breakfast and pretty much had the place to myself and got plenty of time to explore before the tour buses showed up.
The 'highly-advanced' Smart Phone world with the selfie making people everyday 'celebrities' in their own echo chambers. I agree with you. When I was younger, people just wrote in a diary or a journal and showed their vacation pics with friends and family when they got home. And that was it. Now people take time to film themselves not only on holiday but when they are at the gym, eating breakfast (or brunch) and having emotional breakdowns. Yay... world. Progress....
May i remind you that the historic British telephone box is actually considered as a piece of London architecture, some will even say art..It has been featured in many films and series like Dr Who. Just like the buses and black cabs it's part of the history of London. You mention people used to go to foreign lands to experience new cultures, art etc..Well what do you think tourists are doing taking photos of themselves in a London phone box??? They are experiencing a different culture, our history, art and architecture..Why anyone would care what a tourist does with their photo's is beyond me..
@@benjammin1212 Thanks for the polite and friendly reminder... we all appreciated it. We and the rest of the world not to mention the birds and the bees are more educated for this inspiring commentary. Everything has been elevated. I shall stroll around with a new vision and deep reverence. Life, such wondrous surprises. ... I think I will write a haiku later today. Where is my ink quill at?
Thank you for the video!! I am from TENERIFE and clearly tourists dont have the fault, so I do not share these messages like "tourists go home" or throwing water for them to leave... this is not right. I have also been a tourist. The problem in Spain and especially in the Canary Islands is the quantity of tourists that come every year. Brazil receives 6 Million tourists per year. Canary Islands receive 16 Million. Therfore, our question is: when will it stop? which is the limit? will we continue building everywhere? and who are we building for? Thank you very much for the attention! And DO NOT STOP COMING TO SPAIN!!! YOU ARE NOT THE PROBLEM. Viva España
I get it. I live in Florida. in 2023 we had 140.6 million tourists visit. We have incredibly high home prices here. My son lives in Valencia Spain this Summer for a marine science internship, so I went to visit him 2 weeks ago. I flew into Barcelona and spent 2 days there before taking a train to Valencia. My son wanted to see Mallorca, so we flew there for 2 days. I took a train to Madrid (where I ended up with Covid, sadly), and then I came back home to Florida. I absolutely LOVED Spain, especially Valencia. Every Spaniard I met was lovely and helpful. I'm very grateful that I didn't encounter shouting and water being hurled at me, especially considering that I deal with tourists in my own home. I would love to spend more time in Spain someday and really hope that I am still welcome : )
I went to Dubrovnik and felt that the city was an amusement park and not a living city. The same with Venice and it is happening in many cities in Spain. This tourist model needs to be changed. And I am sayong that being a tourist myself.
As a travel agent it's demand ...people with money demand to visit Spain, France, London etc. Business is under pressure to survive with high taxes, vat on everything and trying to find staff. The WEF wants us travelling by air once every 3 years. At this rate the rich will be the only ones who can afford to travel as they'll be the only ones who can pay! That said, who is going to be their conceirge, waitress, maitre'D or chef? Who will be able to clean the rooms on low pay when thru can't afford to travel or live ij a city?
That's a really good point. I think the problem comes from how toursim has changed over the last 100 years. It started as an elitist activity that allowed rich people to visit distant places and learn from their cultures. Later on, this has reached lower layers of societies and more and more people were capable of doing this, which is great, because learning about other countries and cultures is great for developing a proper cosmopolitan view of the world. Problem is, with time, tourism has shifted from these ideas and is now focused on "experiences", we are no longer travelling to learn things about other countries because we can do that from the internet without leaving home. We are currently travelling to take THAT picture you can share on Instagram, or do THAT activity that some influencer was announcing as the next big thing. Tourism has not only become affordable for most people but has been stripped down of any proper cultural interchange. We just travel for the sake of telling people that we have travelled. If we want tourism to be sustainable we should do our best to integrate in the local culture, avoid chains, alter as little as possible the live of these places to enjoy them for their authenticity and not the 10 most recommended XXXX that someone posted in Instagram or Tik Tok.
La semana pasada estuve en Londres después de 20 años. No te puedes imaginar la tristeza que me dio el ver cómo la ciudad había cambiado. Quizás no notemos dichos cambios en nuestras propias ciudades, pero cada vez, todas van perdiendo su encanto personal. Los pequeños negocios desaparecen para ser renovados por grandes cadenas que hacen que todas las ciudades se parezcan perdiendo su encanto personal. Me gusta el turismo porque yo también disfruto haciéndolo, pero creo que los gobiernos deberían de proteger el cómo hacerlo. No tendríamos que ser las personas las que tuviéramos que llegar a las calles, y no hablo de España solo. Creo que respetar la individualidad nos enriquece a todos y mejora la calidad tanto de las personas que vivimos en focos turísticos como de las personas que vienen a conocernos ❤
hace 25 anos que me fui de Londres... ya no es una ciudad britannica - parece mas a una ciudad urbana y peligrosa al estilo EEUU ... la proxima vez lleva un chaleco anti-puñaladas ;)
La mayoría de la gente en Londres no son nativos. Por supuesto la cultura no va a quedar. Lo mismo está pasando en España por los immigrantes, concretamente los Moros.
Estoy de acuerdo 100%. Soy de EEUU, y estoy con tan vergüenza el impacto de la cultura americana y capitalismo que está invadiendo otros partes del mundo. Yo lamento la falta de negocios pequeños acá en EEUU, pero parece mucho peor en otros partes del mundo. Algo grande necesita cambiar para proteger esas culturas únicas, empezando con una prohibición de Airbnb en zonas turísticas.
Barcelona resident here. The city is suffering a huge housing crysis. Rents are extremely expensive for locals (way above the average salary) due to housing speculation, AirBnBs, and basically foreigners being able to pay more. Locals are moved away from their city and local authorities seem to offer no support, but rather they stay on the side of gentrification. Further, the actitude of some tourists is absolutely disrespectful. Living with this problematic every day can be really exhausting. We are not against tourism itself, but against the unsustainable, disrespectul and gentrifying model that the city has adopted.
@@at0micsheep It is a radical reaction from people who are fed up with this problem. There have been many protests towards local authorities and industry, with no impact at all. Spraying tourists with some water is a harmless way to make the protest relevant and heard. If that hadn't been done, the protests wouldn't be on the newspapers and this video probably wouldn't even exist
Crisis. And you should think about the fact, that Spain is living from tourism. Although as an expat teleoperador, having my small overpriced place only thanks Corona (yes I'm here that long and no, I don't speak Spanish) I would appreciate the government to take radical steps against the homeowners, who have the money to buy to rent! It doesn't change the status, if the tourists stays home. It only changes, if those rich, greedy people would be pursued by law.
@@FeduGina definitely the government is the one who has to take a step forward, but it won't since government and homeowners go hand in hand. Just to give some context, the housing minister has 7 real estate properties. An this is supposed to be a leftist government. The same applies to local and regional authorities.
I live in Toronto, and we too are experiencing the lack of affordability as well. We do not take it out on tourists. This is a world wide problem. I'm going to Barcelona in August, but now feel uncomfortable. I hope to love your city, but these protests are making it hard. Boycott AirBnB!
I live in Barcelona and this city doesn’t belong to its inhabitants but to tourists. There is no more neighborhood social life in many parts of the city. When I go to a terrace of café at 5 pm with a friend, the waitress tells me in an aggressive way that the terrace is only for people who eats. If I order pan con tomate y olivas, once I finish it she comes right away with the bill, encouraging me to leave. The metro is so packed with tourists that I don’t want to go to office anymore. The price of apartment rental increases so much, it’s crazy. And in front of my window in a neighborhood famous for its local resident life, I see different people every week, celebrating on the terrace of their Airbnb’s and shouting in a foreign language until the middle of the night. Horrible !
Boy, I think there are a lot of questionable comments here. I have never experienced this in the year I have lived here. Maybe this is true in the super tourist areas, but not in many of the neighborhoods. There are always events and cultural happenings in the neighborhoods!
I was in Barcelona for a few days during spring break and I swear there was only abroad students and other tourists, I was able to run into a lot of friends from back home somehow
@@l.b.schulman4581I am from Barcelona, been here all my life. Respectully, if you think the first coment is questionable maybe you are also behaving like a torist or an expat and that's why you don't se de problem because you maybe are a part of it.
I don't do Air BnB. It's not much cheaper than hotel anymore. Plus all the hassle what you are allowed to do and not to do. I choose small owner-run hotels that do not belong to international chains. I love traveling but I wont support draining the housing market.
Yeah, same! I've actually never used Air B&B, as the few times I looked up a place, the "cleaning fees" and extra per fee was so much, hotels were cheaper. Like, a cabin in the mountains was listed at $98, but with the fees was $250! And then that was only from 6 pm to 10 am! And then I have to clean? I'll stick with hotels, thanks very much!
I used AirBnB once and never again. Not that the apartment was bad, but in the end it didn't save me any money and I didn't have any more connection to the local area than I would have staying in a decent, locally owned hotel.
I lived in Spain for five years and just got back from a few weeks visit in Madrid (plus surrounding areas) and Sevilla. We had no issues at all. Granted, I speak the language and do my best to blend in and respect where I am, but if asked, I tell them where I’m from. Had nothing but lovely interactions. I think tourists have a huge responsibility to care for and respect where they’re visiting more than the locals. I’m a smoker, but never walk and smoke, even if locals do. I collect my rubbish until I find the right bins, and always order in question form (please / thank you). The airbnb issue isn’t unique to Spain and the anger needs to be directed towards those who let it happen, not those who use it. Spain is a wonderful country that I miss daily, and I’m very lucky to still have friends there I can go see, and I get the anger (having seen how some tourists behave), but the bulk of it seems to be aimed at a chain or two too low.
@@youplaboum-kh4xj if they don’t use those, they’ll go another route. If the demand is there, which it will always be because Barcelona in particular is on many people’s lists around the world, other means will be found and the issue continues. Illegal rentals, buildings bought up for hotel conversion, etc. attacking tourists is probably the least effective means I could think of.
@@user-xm8sc3wn7nI understand and agree with you. Yet, what i call the U beri, zation of society is highly detrimental for society. I am quite persuaded the ones who let it happen won't change a thing, even if they could/ wanted. Power being primarily in the hands of the consumer, in the first place, provided consumers start to be aware...Hence what I said before. Unfortunately, and generally speaking, consumers tend to care only about self convenience, ending up causing harm, provided they get immediate solutions/ satisfaction.. and not caring much about consequences. From what I read, I don't think it is your case though.
It is also nerve wrecking when those in the tourist apartments rage well into the night and sometimes during the day. I understand you are on vacation and want to enjoy yourselves but you have to remember this isnt Disneyland, people live and work here.
The Tourist trade, and I worked in hospitality, is very fickle.... so slightest rumor of protests will kill the tourist industry, So what will happen is a downturn in tourists, less money in the economy, a decrease in trade, and then there won't be any jobs to worry about! Watch what happens now to the air freight of tourists over the next few months, likely in fact over the next week ort two... see it plummet to near zero and hotels start to slash their prices, bars and stores paying a visit to the bank to stay afloat. You can moan about tourists, but those moans will be much louder when there's no economy.
@@mickelodiansurname9578 I understand it is supply and demand...However, I demand a decent night sleep and not walk over someone´s mess on the way to and from work. It is also about respect. I wish hotels would slash prices so people will start to see them as a viable options again.
I thought La fiesta was the Spanish heritage though?😂 Listen, I completely understand about wanting La tranquilidad so I hope you find some peace and quiet where you want, but when I visit Spain the loud and disruptive people are not foreigners but other Spanish!
@@bordaz1no I pay rent and taxes like every one. Please feel free to listen to music at 3 am and beyond and wash down vomit. Like I said I know folks want to enjoy themselves, hell I do too on vacation but have some respect for people.
You can't say that Spain needs 600k new houses in one breath and then say there are 3.8M houses sitting empty in the next. The root of the problem is not a lack of housing, the root of the problem is greed for profit, and disrespect and selfishness to get the best outcome for oneself even if (or especially) at the expense of someone else. These are the reasons behind every single thing that is wrong in the world.
No saying greed is not part of the problem but the 3.8M houses sitting empty are not located in the same cities or even regions than the 600k missing. I can assure you in Barcelona or Madrid there are very few available houses.
@@KnwoledgeHoarder Empty houses doesn't mean available on market houses. Funds and investors buy houses, keep em closed for years and sell again to make better profit than banking deposits offer
Not everyone has to drive to a job and don’t act like a that 3.8 million ! Houses are all in rural areas And even if they are maybe some people want to move out of the city if they got the chance
What is needed everywhere is sustainable tourism, and I definitely know what I'm talking about. I have been working in this field for decades. Nevertheless, in a lot of areas in my country (Spain), it got completely out of our hands. 😢
Not only due to house rental inflations, tourist behaviour is also a big issues. A friend of mine that lives at Valencia told me that some tourists, especially British, throw empty beer cans on the streets and yell really loud at midnight
@yizhenji5564 A friend of a friend mine that lives at London told a friend of friend of mine, that some tourists, especially Spanish, throw empty beer cans on the streets and yell really loud at midnight also..
We just returned from a 2 week vacation in Spain. We stayed with friends and I saw the news about Barcelona airbnb bans coming. While We visited major areas like Toledo, Madrid, Sevilla and Segovia we also visited smaller towns and areas that locals go to
This is a global phenomenon, I am from Liverpool England,house prices have quadrupled as have rental prices, social housing isn’t being built, and big business are buying up properties for rental and Airbnb, my daughter is still living with me at the age of 33 it’s ridiculous something has to change, but I am amazed at what I see in Spain boarded up houses because families can’t afford to pay the inheritance tax and that’s down to the government also the in-completed property developments !
While rising prices may be a common problem I don't think it's the same. I doubt there are as many foreigners like russians buying houses in the UK to rent them like in Spain. The English themselves buying houses in Portugal or in some Greek islands like Corfu I've been to drive the prices up as well.
1:52 For those curious, the Catalan part of the signs say "The beach is open. No jellyfish and no "guiris" (tourists)" and "Come in, the danger isn't landslides, it's tourism"
My family and I usually go to Spain 3 or 4 times a year, for the past 45 years. We speake Spanish and had a house in Alicante until I was 15. I learnt to walk, swim, rollerblade, and drive in Spain. For the past 11 years we have been staying at a family owned hotel and put down 10-20k euros each year there. Now after the protest and getting sprayed with water we cancelled our trips. The autum trip this year, spring, and summer trips next year are cancelled. We just booked a trip to Crete. Let's hope the locals are welcoming.
I’ve been to Crete multiple times and the welcome is outstanding. Chania and Rethymnon are gorgeous but for beaches head south to Plakias, Damnoni, Triopetra, Matala (so much more beautiful than the north)
Three or four times a year for 45 years? I couldn't bear it once in 45 years. If you want to be surrounded by pissed up Brits why not just go down to your local pub?
You say that you have been visiting Spain 3 or 4 times a year for 45 years and just once something has happened to you on a specific basis you decide not to go on vacation anymore. It's an unfair attitude towards someone who has treated you well for 45 years, but it's your decision.
It’s getting nearly impossible for us young adults to move out from our parent’s homes and be able to buy our own houses. Plus there is just too much unbehaved tourism in Barcelona, to say an example. We don’t mind about tourists who actually are interested in knowing our history and art and appreciate our culture at all, we are just fed up at the beach-alcohol-party tourism that come to our cities as if it was some kind of theme park.
There's another issue that enraged people here, when on last summer some autonomous communities had droughts or serious lack of water and their regional governments decided to priorize hotels over citizens if they had to declare water cuts. It was kind of insane... Also, some of the jobs in the touristic sector have the lowest salaries as most part of touristic income goes just to big companies, landlords and property owners, not the regular citizens... However, this is a global matter. I live in a Galician city in Spain which has right now lots of issues with mass tourism and Airbnbs, but I've also been to other cities in Europe, and I've felt like I was part of the problem. I've even been called "tourist nightmare" in Edinburgh, and I got it: no locals were enjoying their own Castle, later when we went to see the Highlands the amazing Loch Ness had become just a tourist trap... And also, in Porto, Portugal, it just felt as an amusement park. I have this rule myself of not booking Airbnbs, but still, I did felt as part of the problem. Capitalism has turn tourism into a quick, shallow mass consumption instead of a way of discovery and cultural approach, no matter where you are. What was beautiful now is broken, and it's all due to greed.
"regional governments decided to prioritize hotels over citizens" That is just plain wrong. If the drought meant that there was not enough water to accommodate tourists and local people then the tourism should have stopped until water supplies normalised again.
@@paulken2338 The simple answer would be the economics of supply and demand. The more people there are the greater the demand and the higher the prices. More tourists = more people = greater demand. In tourist areas I would expect that greater demand during the holiday season would normally have been catered for but given the drought in large parts of southern Spain crop yields may have been affected also impacting food prices.
Edinburgh for us locals is worst during the fringe festival. And it is a tourist trap in Loch Ness...went to the Highlands for a weekend break in May and there was a lot of tourists and coaches up there.
We don't need to build more houses, the houses are there and built already. Now some companies are promoting that idea about we need to build more houses because the next business for the construction companies is to get money from the government to build social housing.
I hate those crooks. And Euro infrastructure is old, they connect all those new apartments to a sewage not built to support them all, why we all have probl nowz every time it rains
I am travelling to Spain a lot, but I try now to visit only non touristic regions inside the peninsula like for instance Estremadura. You can find there much more peace and less people. And it is still beautiful 😍
Tourists are NOT the problem, and there are many people who confuse it unfortunately. The problem is the companies that overexploit the places without any shame and generate an environment specifically made to expel the locals and be able to buy their houses to rent them to more tourists
@@tuckerbugeater please tell me how you know absolutely nothing about the topic without telling so openly and elaborate a bit on the HR part, guess will be wild
New York is somewhat similar in that no one can afford to live there. Many people pay 50% of their income on rent. I am lucky to be able to afford my home.
Unfortunately it’s not only inflated on locals, it’s unbelievably cheap for us tourists. Sorry about the classist point I’ll make, butI grew up thinking europe is the most expensive place to visit. I actually now go to Europe cause it’s cheaper than going to go to than The nicer places in Asia and Americas. *Europe is too cheap* lately. Prices must go up. Venice shouldn’t be a Mecca for idiots with little cash to spend. It should be one in a life experience, same goes for Paris and so on. Houses aren’t a commodities, they’re homes who should have culture and family value, not some foreigners angel investment.
@@qataribananahamock1495I wonder what percentage of those hooligan holiday makers are my fellow Americans. I want to believe the era of the ugly American tourist is behind us, but I'm not convinced. Also, more than ever, I'm not a fan of the Airbnb concept. It takes homeowner greed to a whole new level, and I'm absolutely in support of banning Airbnb altogether. Just like in the US, those houses and flats should be homes to local residents, and I disagree with the notion of housing as an investment. Wanna travel to Spain? Stay in a hotel. Don't like it? Vacation elsewhere.
Pure greed… Lisbon is the same. I say this as a Brit that wants to live abroad and loves the Iberian culture. I hope to give something back also to wherever I go but it seems many that have interest in Spain and Portugal also want to make a load of money from it (buy to let and rip off everyone).
I think (even though I like it) that work from home has also ruined global economy. It’s made it too easy for expats to earn income from a host country and have too much spending power abroad. Rent has been globalised and pegged to UK / America prices. Sadly.
I have been living in Sevilla for nearly eight years now and I have seen a gradual "creep" of the tourist area. I used to live the other side of the semi official demarcation between "tourist town" and real town but in my last year there I saw a definate change. An old Union headquarters was turned into tourist apartments moe than doubling the people on the street. Not too bad in and of itself but my block of 24 flats had increasing numbers of air b'n'bs which changed the vibe with suitcases being dragged across the patio at all hours. I had to move for work reasons but the final straw came when people in the flat above my next door neighbours thought it wa a good idea to play "We are the champions" at full volume at 2:30 in the morning with their windows open. One set of neighbours left for work at 7:30 and another has 2 children aged under 10. ¿Falta de respeto o que?
@@dtwjohn6378 Yes. One of my adult students describes where I live now as "the new centre" Corte Inglés, shopping centre, and some streets with "old time" shops on them. Even the staff at my local supermarket say hello to me on the street and we have recently had two new members of staff and I feel like I have been pointed out to them as their "pet guiri"
I absolutely love traveling and exploring. Been to Spain so many times throughout my life. If you cannot go to another country and respect the people, the locals and their cultures do not go.
The problem with Airbnb is that they lie. A few weeks ago, a spanish newspaper publish the difference between the official register of tourist apartments in Madrid and the reality on Airbnb (much more there). The solution of the City Hall was erasing the access to that public register XD
AirBnB lost their way when they went from being a platform where people rented out a spare bedroom every now and then, or their homes when they were away on holiday to investors who buy up multiple (sometimes hundreds) of apartments and homes in the most desirable sections of the city. They don't want to rent to locals not because the laws are "pro-tenant" but because they can charge a lot more for short term rentals than long term.
Ohhh is that how they deal with problems? Reminds me of a cartoon graphic I saw about how different nationalities solve their problems. The Spanish response was a siesta 😅
I was waiting your take on that. I am traveling to Spain (and Europe) for the first time next week. I consciously choose to be in hotels instead of cheaper rentals. I sympathize with the protesters demands, coming from a touristy city myself I feel the pain of having to either live on slums or be forced to live two to three hours away from work. Nevertheless, I hope the protesters does not use violence against tourists themselves and focus on their representatives and their business on the city.
En el "desajuste entre la oferta y la demanda" de la vivienda en España a todos se les olvida mencionar algunos factores vitales para el asunto. Sociedades de Inversión Inmobiliaria aka SOCIMIS que no tributan ni sociedades desde 2012, mismas SOCIMIS que atrajo Capital extranjero para invertir en vivienda y locales por su rentabilidad superior al 20%, esto ha llevado a la mayor acumulación de vivienda y locales en pocas manos de toda la historia de España y también a un enorme porcentaje de vivienda vacía incluso en zonas tensionadas como Palma o Barcelona. No hay simplemente un desajuste entre la oferta y demanda, construyamos más pisos, sino que hay gente muy rica con muchísimos pisos y pisos sin usar, mientras que hay más gente sin casa que nunca. Sin expropiación a los mayores tenedores de vivienda de España (1º Black Rock, el mayor fondo buitre del mundo) no hay solución al problema, porque en este país se ha construido vivienda de sobra hasta 2050. Por otro lado, sólo hablas del turismo de visitar museos y demás, pero el mayoritario en cifras, el gordo en facturación y que el empresariado español busca como nada es el turismo de masas de alcohol y fiesta, y ese es una basura que ojalá desapareciera para siempre.
Aside from just tourists, Spain has also welcomed MILLIONS of new immigrants/expats the past few years. This is causing a higher demand in housing just like in Canada. Many of these immigrants/expats are from higher-income countries who would willingly pay for higher rent, causing the market prices to increase even more and driving out the locals.
This is an important point! It's also important to note that many of those "expats" (i.e. immigrants from rich countries) are taking up well-paid tech and consultancy jobs and filling positions that unfortunately can't always be filled locally. In fact, a lot of companies that need that kind of mobile, international workforce set up their operations in Barcelona because it's an easy place to attract workers to.
We have the same problem in Central Oregon. The people who work and live here, cannot make enough money to afford housing. I was lucky and bought my house before this all began happening. But I honestly do not know how anyone (especially single people) can afford to live here. Traffic is out of control in the summer and our infrastructure doesn't keep up. So I get it. I visited Spain for the first time in April. I visited Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Granada, Cordoba, Seville, Malaga and a couple of other small towns. The only place I did not feel welcome was Barcelona and in a few places in Malaga. But overall, the locals were very nice. I also tried to be a "good tourist". This was my first visit to Spain (first time out of the USA)i tried to learn as much Spanish as I thought I needed (I needed more, but it was a good try) and understand the culture to prepare me to go with their flow, I was aware of my impact on people around me, conscious of local traditions, etc. I really tried not to be an A$$hole (mostly thanks to James and Yolly for their excellent guidance on how to not be "that" tourist). But I definitely saw a lot of them (tourists) and it made me sad that people, no matter where you are from, could be so disrespectful and nasty. Again, in my small Oregon town we get the same thing each summer. It begins around March. Traffic starts to get ridiculous and by the time May rolls around it is impossible to get a seat at any of our favorite restaurants or local attractions. Sometimes it does annoy me. But I also have to remember that I am also a tourist when I travel outside of my hometown and to just do my best to be a good tourist wherever I go.
There are millions with way too much money to spend on travel so tourism will increase and create problems for others including the tourists who also complain of overcrowding and wasting their time and tourist dollars waiting in long lines and waiting to get served. It will get worse.
Sounds like you had a great trip undertaken with sensitivity and respect. Go to the Greek islands next time (Crete particularly) because the hospitality and friendliness is next level.
Por supuesto, eres bien recibido en España. Las personas que rechazan a los turistas son una minoría que debería protestar contra la falta de regulación por parte de el gobierno de la nación o de los gobiernos locales. La masificación siempre se puede controlar y el problema de la vivienda también. El turismo es un placer que disfrutamos todos cuando vamos a otro lugar. Estoy seguro que las personas que molestan a los turistas, son turistas también. Resulta mezquino impedir a los demás lo mismo que haces tú. Deberían protestar contra los gobiernos no contra las personas que, precisamente, les dan de comer
@Jota-we2is Mientras fue el Gobierno quien tomaba las decisiones, el turismo estaba regulado y era pacifico porque algo se regulaba. Ahora ya no es así. Hoy día la independencia se pierde sin darse cuenta.
I was in Malaga and Marbella in April and it was an amazing visit! This channel was absolutely a perfect guide on how to enjoy the region and be respectful of the culture. Hands down, Spain revealed has been the best guide channel we’ve used to travel to any country (and the only one I’ve subscribed to permanently). Keep it up! I really appreciate the information 🙏
Same problem in Greece !!! In some island it’s ridiculous as it’s so crowded that you can’t even walk …I will not even bother to comment the accommodation prices and the lack of properties because of Airbnbs.
It's even worse in Greece. Because everyone who owns an apartment wants to make it a bnb and people who work on Greece can't afford to live on bnbs all year long, certain islands and towns with thousands of residents are left without any working people aside from people working on the tourism industry, meaning cooks, dish washers, etx. That leaves entire islands with several thousands of residents without any doctors, nurses, technicians, electricians etc at all. Turning these touristy islands to places that have even worse security and comfort than 3rd world places. If you get into an accident or get some sort of illness in the majority of Greek islands, you'll either have to travel to the mainland and visit a doctor there, or stay on the island and die. Locals prefer to not have a single doctor in their island and risk death that could otherwise be avoided to make an extra buck, than making a bit less and having medical help available on their islands.
As a spaniard, what he says on minute 11:00 is the Key, what was first the chicken or the egg? what is causing the lack of housing? the mass tourism or the landlords not wanting to put out the apartments for long rent? many spaniards have a second home inherited from a relative and when they think what is the safest investment they have no doubt about it, its much safer to rent it to a tourist even if it takes more work. Spanish justice is the second part of the problem, it takes more than a year to kick out anyone who stops paying rent, so many people take advantage of this and scares landlords, my partners family had an apartment in the center of seville empty for 6 years because they are scared to rent it out to anyone and they are too old to manage an AirBnb. This might not be the only issue but in my humble opinion is the one that frustrates the most.
Here in San Francisco has similar tenant protection laws. When tenants stopped paying rents, it takes a year of legal process to kick the tenants out. This happened to my parents twice. Now they in their 80’s just let
@@xabitec Yes, we have the same issues in the US, where the renters can get away with not paying rent and the homeowners are totally left to deal with the issue because it’s a civil matter.
Planteaos sólo una pregunta, tú eres un profesiional de algo , taxista, cerrajero, fontanero, albañil, cocinero, vendedor de seguros, instalador de fibra óptica...qué prefieres vivir, eun una ciudad dinámica con turistas demandando servicios bien pagados, o vivir en una ciudad estática sin más???
I think if anything is just left to "The Market" to decide it eventually gets destroyed and the money moves on to the next host. There should be robust planning and management of private homes via licensing and enforcement to achieve a reasonable balance.
The last the you want when visiting another country is to be made to feel unwelcome. Hearing the news and watching this video was enough to put me off from going, I’m going to Morocco now instead, the Spanish are happy and so am I.
@@H6LBD I have my own business. Not every single one of my clients is foreigner. You think you are indispensable but you're not. We don't want people like you, that can't behave or respect anywhere they go. I bet you can't even respect yourself.
Global issue, Glad Spain is moving forward to fix this issue. I love Spain. And I understand this needs to be done to save a generation of Spaniards. We need this in America.
I'm from Spain and I don't agree at all. Tourism is good for the economy. It's one of our main ways to be a wealthy country. Those tourismphobes are the same ones who travel to other countries often. Why do they don't complain about the massive immigration we are getting instead? Sick people.
I'm from Spain and I don't agree at all. Tourism is good for the economy. It's one of our main ways to be a wealthy country. Those tourismphobes are the same ones who travel to other countries often. There are global issues that are real and nothing is done about it, no protests, nothing.
@@DavidCastro-bd8qn I don't think that's what they are saying. Spain is becoming expensive for Spaniards, food, and rent costs. Kids are unable to buy property. There needs to be a policy in place that removes AirBnB, allowing rental properties to go to folks who live there full-time.
Málaga has sold its soul. I’ve been here for 23 years and in the past two years, the centre has become a noisy mass of shoulder to shoulder tourists, not fun for anyone. We locals have been squeezed out. Prices of restaurants and rentals have more than doubled and the charming local businesses have been replaced by big franchises. The rental laws make it risky for landlords to rent long term, favouring squatters. My two cents: -change the laws so that landlords have incentives to rent long-term. -crack down on illegal short term rentals -change the labour laws so that it’s not so expensive to be self-employed (autónomo), thus encouraging small businesses that don’t rely on tourism.
Native Spanish here. I live in the Costa Brava and my city triples or even quadruples its population during summer, not just for foreigners, from other tourists within Spain too. It is a known fact of our city that rentals are only during summer season, a lot of landlords don't even rent outside of it, the ones that do tend to do it exorbitant high prices and it's quite hard to find an actual place to live here. Some excoworkers were looking to move here and it was basically impossible.
Most of spaniards love tourist. I'm Spanish and we love your visits. Why? Because we know people from other countries and we share points of views..please, keep visiting us. It is a very sad situation. But for real, we normally enjoy the experience
Spain lost me as a potential tourist in the future. Used to come to Spain often. Now when I want to speak Spanish (Castellano) I go to South America. I also go to Vietnam and Southeast Asia more ..they replaced Spain. Tourists and foreigners are treated much nicer then in Spain, and they are cheaper for me. Guess Spain any getting much more of my USD.
@@rahuliyer7456but latin Spanish and castellano/iberic Spanish are not the same. We have different modisms and accents and of course it is cheaper because we are in southern Europe, our prices are set by Europe. South America and their currency is very undervalued, they are sadly considered 3rd world, and I say sadly because they are rich in culture. My comment was not because we were interested in your USD/money... England has stronger currency and people from Switzerland can spend a lot of money here. The Euro has a higher currency nowadays if you compare it to USD. It is because it is nice when you can meet people from other countries and show our city around. If you want to focus on money and not human experience, these are my two cents: Enjoy your trips as long as you can. The USA economy is not the best now. China is the new world's potency and the next elections don't matter who wins. You will see my vision in 12 years from now.
Y porque es un negocio. Si en Canarias se manifiestan en contra del turismo, sólo obedece a la estupidez humana. O sea, más pateras y menos turistas. Amazing !!
@@rahuliyer7456 And what did you expect, for people to treat you as if they were servants? Keep your dollars and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
I love Spain, and try and visit as often as I can to experience different cultures and traditions. I sympathise with the residents of every community that is negatively affected by tourism, especially the young that have been denied affordable places to live. I would support any community that seeks to minimise the negative effect that tourism has on the locals. It is much better to live in harmony with each other than to feel resentment. I feel greed is at the heart of this, it is happening throughout the world.
Nice to see someone treating the subject with knowledge and respect. I´m a Barcelona resident and the backlash and ignorance on the internet about this topic is painful and shows exactly why people are fed up.
There is no need for those absolute idiots to squirt water at tourists. Many of those tourists will come from cities or areas where there is also high tourism, and im sure they didnt consider squirting water at people visiting their town or city. Many of those tourists will have saved up their hard earned cash to even afford to come to Barcelona for the week or how ever long they stay for. They are spending theor hard earned money in the city.
@@seansean2929I understand the need to curb the airbnb market or even outright ban it, hotels will have to fill that void. If that helps local residents have more rental properties to live in then that is a good thing. I just thought that those protestors that squirted the tourists were absolute bellends and what they did was completely wrong. If they did that to the wrong person one of those idiots squirting water at a tourist sitting down having a coffee would have got a deserved slap in the face as retaliation. Im from the UK, you think house prices are cheap here? It isnt just in Spain. I grew up in London, Manchester and Edinburgh in my youth as i moved around alot for my dads job, and I wouldnt think it would be fair for the locals in London or Edinburgh, (less so Manchester) to squirt tourists from Barcelona with water pistols for sitting down outside a bar or coffeeshop for daring to visit!
In Spain we do not want the same thing to happen as with Venice, which has gone from being a living city to being a dead city and an amusement park. Even if new houses are built, these houses will be on the outskirts, and the center of the cities will be an amusement park for tourists. Mass tourism out !
well when you colonize and extract wealth from half of the world. now the next 30 years of your life is going to be dealing with mass immigration and over-tourism. have fun
Exactly this. Mass tourism is drowning the Canary Islands (aside from other crises they're already facing). The Government seems too oblivious of the damage they're doing, and how at stake their identity is.
@@danimmmmm Complain with you government, then. As someone from Morro Jable told me "Without tourism we do not exist". Who shoud I believe? I'm Venetian and it's our politicians who wanted Venice to die not tourists.
I think that one of the most important points that Spanish activism sometimes forget is not being against tourists (the "tourists go home" slogan feel that way), but against how tourism is being managed. Everyone is a tourist sometimes, I constantly see "tourists go home" people going to other countries to do tourism, we can't be that blind/hypocritical. Tourism is good as long as it doesn't destroy the local ways of living
Most of the best older properties in Spain sit empty because the banks have and continue to mismanage their mortgages and defaulting debtors that remortgaged and bought other assets before defaulting meaning the next buyer has to clear the debt before they can pay for their own mortgage. Add to that global inflation and bad monetary policies by central banks.. not all tourism but I get why they feel it’s taking over.
Como portugués, no me considero un turista, sino un vecino.😁 Estuve en Barcelona hace dos años visitando a un amigo que vive allí y entiendo perfectamente por qué es la elección de tantos turistas. Es una ciudad increíble. Planeo volver pronto, espero que no te importe.
@@kippsguitar6539 I am using the language of those, and for those who understand it. It's not for you to understand. Didn't see any rule saying i have to comment in English.
I'm from Spain, Valencia exactly. We don't have any problem with tourism. This information is Barcelona is not the total for Spain. Tourism in Spain is the first engine of the economy, it is the most important. At the same time I need to ask for respect for our culture, art and history. Lack of knowledge causes people to behave inappropriately and that can lead to public fatigue. Spain is more than Barcelona and Madrid, enjoy our country with respect. Be more than welcome.
No sé en qué parte de Valencia vivirás, pero yo sí he experimentado problemas con el turismo tanto en mi vida personal como laboral. Además ya es imposible encontrar un piso por cochambroso que sea por menos de 700€...
@@Lily4444 I've lived in the same neighborhood since I was born and I'm moving next month cause it's getting too expensive and overcrowded with tourists
The fact that some tourism-oriented businesses close is a positive thing for, at least, Barcelona. Over the last decade, these businesses have been eating up traditional places, bars, locals, gathering areas, etc. See what is sold in la Boqueria, for example. Reducing tourism would stop this degradation of the city's identity. And one single airbnb apartment in a building can really mess things up. There's often people making parties late at night, bothering the residents that have to work the following day, etc. The owners of these appartments have been playing around in god-like mode for too much, limits are being set and if they keep their appartments empty, there will be more taxes on them. I live and work in Barcelona, and the list of reasons we'd like tourism to be less than half its current amount is unending. We could also talk about cruises, highly contaminating ships that land hundreds of travelers whose money only goes to certain wallets, or the metros full of path-blocking people with huge luggages in the morning, and drunken tourists at night... The city has already been degraded in terms of identity and tradition. Crime (thefts, robberys, pick-pocketing) has skyrocketed, as well as prices of restaurants and housing, etc. Therefore it is time for the city to put hard limits on tourism, and every step counts.
I grew up in London for part of my youth, and I never considered squirting water at tourists in a city that probably attracts more tourists than any other city in the world.
Here my experience is the exact opposite, I have an Airbnb directly above me and in all this time only ocassionally you get renters who are noisy but guess what? give a week or two and they are gone! Now on the other hand in my block we have two long term renters who have been making life hell for their direct neighbours (far away from me thank god) for years and it is impossile to get rid of them! I know which of the two I would prefer!
@@rjflores438 Of course, harassing individuals who know nothing about the issue is useless and not a solution. But we were actually laughing at those news as that day it was 30+ºC so I wish I had been thrown some water on.
@@Druzzt Nothing to laugh about (and I know something about mass tourism, I'm Venetian). I already know some people who have cancelled their stay in Barcelona and changed their minds abour Spaniards. If that makes happy...
I feel for the locals. I know many go to Barcelona just to party. Instead of getting up early, taking the train to Montserrat, they would rather stay in the bars until early in the morning. I suggested this trip to 2 different groups that were going there and neither took my advice. Spain needs to do what they have to do and if that means cracking down on short term rentals, then do it. BTW, my wife and I love Madrid and Malaga.
Flights between the islands and from the islands to the mainland are subsidised by the national government for people who live in the Balearic Islands, the same applies to Canarias.
To be honest the problem is greed. I’ve moved recently to Spain and I can tell you how though was to find an apartment available for living and not for short term stay. Property owners don’t want to rent to people who live here just because isn’t profitable as it would for tourists / short stays. of course, it ends up in inflated prices and forcing people who want to live in the city to adjacent places. IMHO the protests should ask for a regulation on prices to prevent the practice of abusive prices, what make Spaniards suffering
A new resort on the coast a few miles from where I live only has property lets from October to May. Then it's for summer visitors. Trying to find a permanent home there is impossible.
I've lived in Barcelona during almost 7 years and live in Madrid now. What I can say is that almost impossible for a Spaniard to rent an apartment in those cities. Especially Barcelona where all the prices are tourists oriented. The main problem is speculation this killed Barcelona and on the point to destroy Madrid now.
I think that the AirBnB owners are correct - the flats that can no longer go on the tourist market will be sold rather than rented to local people. I'm not an expert but I've read stories in local Malaga newspapers about landlords that are TWO YEARS into a process of evicting their tenant with no end in sight - the tenant receives a State lawyer as a matter of course, these guys are experts who do nothing else, so they get the tenant almost immediately classified as "vulnerable" which limits the landlord's lawyers options. The court system is so backed up that three and four year delays are not unusual. So, given that Spanish rents have traditionally been low, why would anyone in their right minds rent out their property to a Spanish person on a long term basis? And this has other knock on effects - the video mentioned that the average age a Spanish person moves out is 34. What he didn't mention is that something like 30-40% of these young people moving out are moving into a property owned by a family member (parent, uncle, cousin) - presumably because Spanish property owners think their cousin isn't going to screw them over. And this kind of maintains the "two Spains" that I see - here there seems to be a big divide between the "haves" and "have nots" that seems much more stark than in other countries. One part of the population has good pensions, a holiday home, disposable income etc. And most of the rest has none of that. So the middle class kid gets a flat rented from his uncle or aunt while his working class compatriot doesn't. And that 34 year old moving out is contributing to Spain's low birth rate - how is someone going to get married and start a family when they are still living in their family home?
Thanks for this balanced look at tourism. Airbnb is an easy target but as you point out it's much more complicated. In places in the US where Airbnb is not a presence, many suburban neighborhoods, houses are still hard to find, expensive, and very competitive to acquire. Conversely, in places where housing isn't as much of the core issue, like Alaska or the Isle of Skye, where the natural surrounding are the star attraction, over tourism is a problem and eliminating Airbnb won't solve much. Several US National Parks typically over run during the summer months, have now started a permitting process, limiting the number of tourists. As a tourist I applaud any action to control roving hordes who just there for the instagram pics. If that means traveling becomes a little more difficult and requires more thought and restraint, yippie.
Yes, I’m a USGS National Parks pass holder and I applaud the Timed Entry system that’s been the one positive feature of the COVID recovery; I remember how places like Zion and Yosemite were totally overrun in the 2010s. I have to disagree a little on US housing. I work in Flagstaff, AZ, where Airbnb and Vrbo are powerful. Home prices here have always outpaced the rest of Arizona because of the mountain setting, but the short term rental market has accelerated the overvaluation of real estate because there are now many nice properties suddenly not available to purchase or rent long term. So yes costs are rising everywhere but I suspect cost of living in low short-term rental areas is lower nevertheless
Sorry. That’s ridiculous. I live in the center of the city with my Spanish husband (I’m Aussie) and this is way over blown in the media. I literally have seen NONE of these protests and I’m right in the middle of the city.
There are two important things that I have learned after visiting Spain, which also applies to visiting other countries: Learn the languages and customs of the country, or at least try. Be polite and respectful to people, and they will (mostly) be nice to you.
Spanish here from Malaga. Your video was very accurate and also objective. I reckon politicians are also quite happy about tourism taking the guilt. Its a good scapegoat. The true problem is the lack of building for so many years, the over regulation or prevention to allow to build more and the lack of an actual strategy to tackle the whole situation. Add to this the lack of legal certainty and there you. I am currently trying to buy a house and we can't as prices soared in most cases by more than 50% in less than 4 years.
We have the same problem in the UK too…all over the UK not just tourist areas, so tourism can not be to blame. Yet the UK are constantly building new houses but they are all not affordable for young ppl, unless you have a very high paid job. It’s ridiculous. Parents have their children still living at home at 35years old! I blame the worlds greedy and corrupt politicians and governments
I’m from Ibiza and want to congratulate you for your coverage about this topic. It’s 100% spot on. The issue are not the tourist, but the regulations. We have reached a point were we feel this mass “touristifaction “ is no longer benefiting the local economy, but enriching certain people. As many know, politics in Spain is quite corrupted and this, added to spanish and foreigners alike buying and renting out properties without any sort of control, is creating a big burden among locals. In Ibiza most of my friends had to abandon their families and move out of the island due to high prices. A really popular thing to say among locals is the sentence “Spain is on sale”. And that’s literally true, as the first thing you see when you reach a touristy destination is an add from “idealista” saying: “do you want to buy a house in Spain?” targeting foreigners. Thanks for sharing. If people really pay attention to your message, they will understand. But it will difficult for many if they don’t live in a crowded environment. Greetings.
Hi James great vid. Housing is a big issue everywhere it seems. It is here in Australia. We have been tourists and will be again - so we are part of the 'problem' but I think the mass groups really annoy everyone, locals and other tourists alike. When we were in the Alhambra sitting quietly looking for the frogs in the pools and enjoying the garden, we were whistled at and told to get out of the shot as a group of about 50 people were waiting for the 'perfect' photo ... and then they all moved on to the next photo op. We tried airbnbs for the first time in 2022 but we will use hotels next trip. In Seville there was a taxi strike the day we needed one because they were protesting about Uber - We didn't complain because we could understand the reasons - but this is the era of disruptive capitalism and - you are right - it is going to take a lot of planning to improve the situation.
It’s is and it’s 100% failing of government to maintain housing in line with growth. Short term rentals even if all suddenly became available would only give a temporary relief at best. The same is happening in Australia where government has failed totally in housing but manage to convince people Airbnb is the problem. Now they look to tell people what they can do with the investment property. For many in Australia that investment is also their retirement package and the system relies on private investors to provide housing. Right now in Australia the last thing I’d be doing is considering investing in housing. Govt has screwed it up from all angles, but yeah it’s AirBnBs fault
@@spondoolie6450 Central banks should stop printing money, like there is no tomorrow. The inflated money supply creates priceinflation. The problem is politicians (and ignorant voters) not tourism 😊😊
@@spondoolie6450 Treating housing like an investment by outside investors accelerated price inflation. Tons of foreign money looking for a safe place to park money was a big influence. Need a crash in prices to reset this.
As someone who's lived in Barcelona for the last 11 years, I don't think tourism has gotten worse, it's pretty much the same every year, maybe there's a little bit more people, but nothing crazy. And I really appreciate people from around the world coming to visit my city.
I think you made a great video. Were from Puerto Rico and airbnb has donde the same. We love Spain so much. And we hope this is solve soon. Thanks for this.
As a Greek, we are also sick of young British tourists coming and releasing all that aggressive energy in our towns, behaving like there is no tomorrow. Because in the UK they can’t do that. I am not generelizing all the British! I love the British, just these big groups of young tourists coming in, is beyond out of control. And the same goes for Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
The main problem with housing is governments not building enough housing. Although I guess the situation is different in the islands because space is more limited.
Let's also call out what is one of the biggest problems for cities like Barcelona. The big cruise ships that pull in, dump thousands of people for a few hours (almost all of which are racing to see the same few sites) and then leave. These tourists aren't spending money in local restaurants or businesses, so the local community isn't benefiting. And when you consider that multiple ships might arrive each day, it's easy to see how this is an unsustainable situation. It's the same issue that we see in Venice and Dubrovnik. There is the kind of tourism that actually benefits the community and the kind of "hit it and quit it" visitors who just show up long enough to see a few sites before they rush away.
Don't forget that many of those cruises either start or end in Barcelona and many tourists stay for several days pre & post cruise. Staying in hotels (yes I understand that AirBnB's are at fault), eating in restaurants, taking taxi's, booking tours with local operators. Personally I've booked a repositioning cruise from the US and plan on staying 4-days post cruise in Barcelona.
We just did a cruise that went to Barcelona. We did eat at a restaurant for lunch, bought souvenirs (bags, barça scarf, …), … but for sure, it’s less than staying at the hotels.
I love Spain and I’ve been there as a tourist myself BUT I totally understand why this is happening. From the first time I went to the last time I saw and felt the decline of cities.
-House rental prices have been on the rise for the last three years, having so far increased in price by over 70% during that timespan, while salaries have barely improved. -Tourism creates employment, but of extremely low quality. People have to work over 50 hours a week only to afford a small flat 25-30 minutes away from their workplace. Illegal working conditions for both waiters/waitresses and cooking staff have multiplied, since an absurd amount of owners cheap out on their staff evading taxes and paying wages under the legal minimum. -Tourists more often than not are rude. Of course there are many respectful people coming here, but many a tourist ends up drunk (cheap alcohol yay!), being noisy and littering all over the place. -60% of house purchases in 2023 were made with no mortgage involved. This form of cash on the nail payment is common for investors and vulture funds. -80% of unused flats belong to banks. There are 3,800,000 empty houses awaiting profitable sales while Spain is one of the countries in Europe with lowest amount of social housing. -Most economic aids given by governments are by paying with tax money part of the rental. Scalpers know this, so they inflate prices to make up for the discount. In the end we all pay so scalpers can get a larger margin. -Banks have made obtaining a mortgage extremely difficult. On average, young people between 18 and 25 who want to live alone need to spend up to 90% of their income if they want to opt in for a house. -Banks keep the housing prices high since 2008, so their enormous stock of empty houses doesn't show up as loss on their balances. They accepted most of those houses as eviction payment for loans obtained by building companies, that went bankrupt when the housing bubble burst back then. So dear reader, do you think we Spaniards have reasons to complain or not?
@@pauljiltsov9950 Sure, can you speak Spanish? If so, just google "Especulacion vivienda españa". There are multiple articles mentioning a study made by "Funcas". If you still cannot find it let me know, as I'm not sure if posting links to other websites is allowed.
@@pauljiltsov9950 Just google "Especulacion vivienda España" and look for any article mentioning a study made by "Funcas", a thinktank that studies the economy of the country. If you don't speak Spanish you can always use Google translator. There is a full Google page with that term mentioning this study, just make sure it's a 2024 link. As a brief extract from that study: In 2023 out of 832,756 house sales the amount of new mortgages for those purchases were 323,998. That's a 38.9% out of the full number. The rest were paid in full with no loan, which usually is associated with wholesale behavior and foreign investments. Let me know if you can't find the info, as I'm not completely sure if posting links to other websites is allowed on YT comments.
Hey Spaniards, it happens in the UK too, ask anyone living in London or Cornwall. This is a problem in a lot of places but people should have the right to travel. However I totally agree about the housing, something needs to happen in all these places. You can’t have good working people living in caravans so people can holiday in rental flats. Time to step up politicians and actually do something.
@@alex31245 and they are literally carrying Spanish economy and giving people tons of jobs. without tourism, the economy would be garbage, and fewer jobs in an already high unemployment rate
@@robqwert2696 I hope you'd agree that fundamentally the country belongs to its citizens, and should be managed for their benefit. As James stresses, people aren't asking tourists not to come, they're asking the government to control some of the most damaging aspects of mass tourism. Sure you could argue that slogans like 'Tourists go home' are clumsy and appear targeted at tourists themselves, but you get that sort of thing with mass protest movements. Besides I don't know about you, but I find places which seem to exist first and foremost for the benefit of tourists as opposed to locals to be a hollow, dissatisfying experiences. If Spain's major tourist spots returned to being a bit more Spanish, I see no real downside from a respectful tourist's perspective either.
We are painfully aware about how global the problem is. The more people wake up about being a class warfare issue and not a matter of passports, the better.
Tiene que haber dos mejoras fundamentales para un turismo racional 1 Que los empresarios paguen mas a los empleados del sector y con mejores condiciones laborales. 2 Un límite para los pisos de alquiler para que no afecte al precio de la vivienda para los residentes. Esto va de la mano con que los políticos municipales y de las comunidades regionales construyan suficiente vivienda protegida de una puñetera vez. QUEREMOS SUFICIENTES VIVIENDAS PROTEGIDAS YA !!!
I really agree that banning Airbnb will do little to solve housing crisis, or even tourism to be honest. It is a big topic, for sure. Many places that don't have tourism have a housing crisis that is getting out of hand. The real issue is that only those who already have money and homes can purchase properties - or even rent and then sublet. This creates an unnecessary layer of costs. Even when they do add housing, it gets gobbled up by investors (see empty billion dollar condos in NYC). Sadly, banning Airbnb seems to catch headlines, and offers those in charge the perception of doing something, even if that's a very low risk, easy response. What they should be doing is addressing that extra layer and make it much less lucrative for those who already have homes to make money off of the housing crisis.
Spain is pretty much off my list of places to visit in Europe after this. Protest your government, not tourists who come and spend money in your cities. They have no idea what is going on. Now if you catch a tourist breaking laws or damaging things, video them and report them. Otherwise why would you throw things at them and squirt them with water? I live in Florida and we have SO many tourists and Snow Birds(people who come and stay during certain months and then go back up north). We may grumble about it being crowded, we have to live with horrendous traffic, our beaches are lined with hotels/condos, but we aren't accosting them. We also know their money is what helps pay for a lot of things in Florida. We also have had home prices SOAR here recently. My two adult children still live with us because they can't afford to move out. Young people here can't buy a home with 40% of their pay, many can't even rent with 40% of their pay because rent has gone up so high. Big corporations have bought homes for rentals and advertise to buy more. But still we don't blame the tourists who have no idea about any of this. So backwards and ignorant to attack tourists. I hope all those who protested just stay in Spain and don't plan on ever leaving it's boundaries. Because guess what....if they do leave Spain then they are a tourist and under their own rules, they should be accosted EVERYWHERE they go.
As someone who wants to visit Spain someday, (I'm Latino American) i can understand where they are coming from. I typically go to hotels in my travels. I hope I can still get the opportunity to come see the lovely country of Spain but I also want to be very respectful to the people their.
I've been planning a trip to Barcelona and travel down to Valencia and Alicante but this video has really put me off booking. The stories of people being robbed in Barcelona has always frightened me but this has now completely put me off visiting.
I think there is a big problem with cruises as they dump thousands of tourists on a city for a few hours or a day & many dont spend any money in the city.
I think cruise ships are one of the biggest problems with over-tourism. 3,000 people get off a cruise ship and pile into the local tourist hot spot and then go back on the cruise ship without putting any money into the local economy.
I agree with this video. Thank you, James. I love Spain, lived in Spain and have traveled there frequently since 1987. One issue is that companies and corporations (both Spanish and elsewhere) are buying buildings, and then raising rental and mortgage costs. Air BnB isn't an issue if the property is privately owned by a family. The issue is corporations buying numerous buildings as rentals, which negatively affect neighborhood climate, prices and sustainability for people who live there. The same problem has been festering in the US. People have been hired for jobs, but then cannot find an affordable place to live. Another issue IS mass tourism; cruise ships dumping 3000-4000+/- passengers (per ship) into a community. During Covid, Venice saw relief from this and the positive affects, to be free of this.
Regulate the number of cruise boats - they are a blight. AirBNB should also be banned in any city. As James says Spain also need to look at their regulations and housing strategy. Just like all countries around the world.
but why should the business be gobbled up by hotel chains.its not everybodies choice to stay in a multi room hotel.bed and breakfast, pensions etc have allways been there, though air band b type places have become good second incomes for many.local councilc could levy a tourist tax and build cheap to buy units for the first timers.
If I rent an Airbnb, I get an apartment, with a living room, kitchen, and clothes washer, for the price of a hotel room. I can't relax in a hotel. People are always slamming doors and running up and down the halls.
@@joesmith1946 In Spain existe aparthotels, you have a living room, kitchen, etc. But it doesn't affect to locals. When we are tourists we need to choose smart to keep the balance between locals and tourism.
@@claras3878 Pero como se diferencian de los Airbnb? Y realmente no afectan adversamente a los lugareños? Para nosotros la comodidad de un apartamento es para tener donde lavar ropa para no cargar tanta y además que comer todos los días fuera, y eso que somos vegetarianos, nos afecta el sistema digestivo.
Don't get me started on Seville... The same town hall is opposing charging tourists as little s 3euro a night, seeing as they are completely abducted by the hospitality lobby. Now, charging people for accessing a public town square that was designed to embrace the casual flaneur, on the other hand... A sqaure that is completely for sale and holds private music festivals....
Efectivamente y cada día un artista diferente y a una media de 40$ el concierto. Pero luego cobran al que viene de Huelva o Cádiz 5$ con la escusa de que es para "mantenimiento". ¿A los promotores privados que están ganando dinero a espuertas cuanto les cobrarán?
As a USA expat living in Barcelona, I have a pretty good understanding of what is going on and it is quite complex. Regarding the housing issue , though many people initially blamed the golden visas as a major reason for the housing shortage and high cost of housing, keep in mind that it only applied to 13,000 houses and apartments across the entire country of Spain over the entire 10 year length of the program and they are predominantly owned by British, Chinese and American Expats . Airbnb units, on the other hand , comprise 255,000 apartments and homes across the entire country but most are in the largest tourist areas: the south of Spain, the East Coast of Spain, Madrid, Barcelona, the Costa Brava and Galicia. The owners of these Airbnbs tend to be Spaniards, Italians, French, Danes and Germans and Argentinians, all trying to get investment income by speculating in real estate and then renting out their units. The Golden Visa program will be eliminated in the next few months. And the Airbnb rentals will be eliminated by 2028 in many/all locations. But even if all 255,000 Airbnbs are converted to local rentals or ownership, It does not solve the fundamental problem of having the need f to add 600,000 units of affordable housing in Spain. There must be public funds set aside an immediate plans to build affordable housing units. As for reducing tourism, well, this is not a problem, unique to Barcelona or other places in Spain. You just have to go and visit Paris, Rome, Florence, Athens and Venice to realize that the balancing of tourism And local lifestyles is a love-hate relationship that is around the world. Solving this problem, may take multiple different techniques and probably restrictions on entry into certain countries at certain times of the year for tourists.
It'll be a shame if they ban Airbnb, at least from my perspective. My wife and I have traveled a lot, and what we do is rent an apartment for at least 2 weeks during the off season. We like to shop in the local markets, cook some of our own food, do our own laundry, and generally have a nice relaxing time. We don't disturb anyone. We go to bed early. We eat in the local restaurants; we don't eat at Taco Bell or KFC. We spent 2 weeks in Barcelona recently, and it was wonderful, walking on the Rambla de Catalunya, sitting on a park bench, and watching the locals walk by. But, I understand. If the locals want to close up short term rentals, we'll have to re-evaluate our plans.
Thank you for the very clear and concise information. You make some very good points for both sides of the coin.. Spain was on my shortlist of places to visit, but I will be removing it from my list for the time being based on the mood toward tourists at this time!
The thing is for British people we are coming from a country where there has been so much immigration over the last thirty years that house prices have gone up to extreme levels because of a housing crisis, we now have generations of people who cannot afford to get on the housing ladder and people living with their parents well into their thirties. So for us anger over tourism is the tip of the iceberg, imagine if instead of all those tourists just visiting they were all staying and imagine that Spain was also less than half the size. The point about culture is also true of us, we have entire areas that are now completely different cultures, some areas have less than 10% indigenous British people and our pubs, cafes and shops have been closed down and we have no choice. With all this there are no protests and no graffiti. For us it seems like spain is saying that we will allow you to cone but we want to block you sourcing the cheapest holiday you can for yourselves, in Majorca they were complaining that tourists weren't eating in restaurants as much and were making their own food from supermarkets but that is their choice, Brits have a lot less money than they used to because not only are housing prices high but our wages have not risen to the level of inflation.
What is making headlines around the world are the images of signs saying that ‘tourists are not welcome in Spain’. These people are damaging the image of the entire country. 😣
@@sergiolopezreyes4685 My point is that the perception being created around the world is that Spaniards are unfriendly and unwelcoming, even though I know the opposite is true-they’re incredibly kind and welcoming. This negative perception could likely impact the tourism they receive, which is a major aspect of the country's GDP and permanently tarnish its image.
@@Lottieloves287If tourism to Spain goes down to end of the 90s or even end of the 00s, we would hardly notice the difference at a GDP level, but some major American, Dutch, Chinese, etc... conglomerates might get pissed off because people wouldn't be staying at all the AirBnB accommodations they have purchased in the last decade, and Spain as is the case with many other companies isn't actually receiving a fraction of their revenue via taxes.
@Lottieloves287 bad press will have 0 impact in Spanish GDP, tourism levels are so high it is kind of irrelevant. Spaniards have almost no skin in the game, and that is what motivates them to be nasty.
Another issue I see is people not checking before going. I am from the Canary Islands and not only are we lacking housing, we are also starting to lack biodiversity. Our part of the ocean is dying due to massive boat traffic that go out in the sea without regulation and kill animals or stress them, so they don't reproduce and again we have a lack of biodiversity. Also building more and more hotels in virgin areas is making the land animals and sea animals that lived in the coast leave, trash in parks and beaches, less trees to accomodate more people, fecal waters that aren't treated ending up in the ocean. And the government is doing nothing, just opening more space for planes to arrive and not regulating things like trash in natural spaces or the need of trees in our cities.
This issue is not unique to Spain. It's the same in almost every major city. I'm from Scotland and the same issues are prevalent in Edinburgh. The old town of Edinburgh is like a Scottish Disney land now. It's not tourism that is the issue. It's a result of capitalism and wealthy people buying up and hoarding assets (property). Tourist can help the issue by being ethical. Eat in independent restaurants, stay in hostels or hotels if traveling alone and respect local culture and traditions.
@@strikedn If an individual person hates tourists there is nothing you can do about that. That is their problem. However, by eating at independent, locally owned restaurants, you are supporting the local economy. Allowing locals to benefit from the tourist trade, instead of multi national companies that own a chain of restaurants and then take that money away from the local economy. By staying in hotels and hostels you are cutting the demand for Air B&B and freeing up homes for locals to rent or buy. Like I said, it's a big problem that is affecting almost every major city. Small changes won't make a big difference, but there are things you can do as a tourist to help. That is just my opinion. You will have your own.
@@strikedn I dont think they care, but trying to support the locals, because I heard from locals and they are more appreciative and dont mind the imcome.
Spanish guy from Cadiz here. As a native of a highly turistic area, I think that I can give some insight about this, or at least, our perpective as natives. First of all, I have been living out of spain, so I know how it is outside my country. The problem has several sides: 1) Tourism industry: Tourism industry in spain is based on the idea of "cheap tourism". Spain is a very cheap country if you compare it to Italy, France, Germany.... And the business model here is to attract people with good things at cheap prices. And that´s chain. Low prices means low salaries. It´s just like that. If you ask in Spain to people working on bars, restaurants, hotels.... The inmense majority of these workers have very bad contracts or straight away illegal contracts. Things like working 60 hours a week with a contract of 20 and getting paid the other 40 under the table, with no days off, it´s quite common. Been there, done that. That´s one of the main reasons. Beside, the touristic business are not family business anymore. It´s all big companies and hedge funds. For them we are not people, we are numbers. They don´t care about my hometown. When the location gets "burned" and it´s not attractive anymore, they will go and look for a new one. Period. 2) Big property owners: Spain is a country full of old families without money but with a lot of properties. This is very common here, people see the bricks and mortar as a safe investment. That mean that there are a lot of families that can own several properties. And when I say several I mean HUNDREDS. When I was living in Seville, my flat was owned by a family (two brothers) that had around 200 rental flats. Most of them dedicated to short stays. And we have enough empty houses to house people, we created SAREB, known in spain as the "banco malo" to buy those flats from the banks and sell it to the people that was a total failure and a mechanism created only to save the bank industry from a 18% default in their numbers. It costed 45000 millons of euros to all spanish people, but nobody seems to remember it. 3) Airbnb. Airbnb is guity in this situation. Not as a company but as a concept. For example, if you try to rent a flat in my area, 90% of the places are rented from september to june to teachers and summer. You can earn nearly the double from renting your flat on summe than you will earn if you rent it as a long term. The only solution that I see here is regulation, but that won´t happen. It won´t happen because it´s too beneficial to the people with money. The main difference between here and the rest of Europe is that in the rest of Europe there are A LOT and I mean A LOT of public property for rent. And those prices are regulated. Here, the public rental is nearly testimonial. There are very few social housing. In the rest of Europe the prices are cheaper because they have to compete with public and cheaper prices. Sorry for the wall text and I apologize for any mistakes that I have made here. English is not my mother language
Italian here. Tourism Expensive Italian tourism = low paid jobs and mostly temporary and illegal here in Italy (mostly in the South). Social housing Basically non existent. The situation here is even worse than in Spain.
Thank you for doing this video. We're not against tourism, we just want a place to live.
No one can afford a house in their own country, especially in Canada and we don't have many tourists
it's a worldwide problem ..... in Spain they love to "play the victim" ..... there are plenty of spaniard that travel and misbehave (ESPECIALLY IN LATIN AMERICA) .... they love to play "poor me"
Well, just imagine you had. And that in your block of flats, 12 out of 16 apartments are short term rental (vivienda turística) and there aren't places to rent for locals@@zaneunderthesun
You're against this but not mass immigration, which also prices you out. Lmao.
@@zaneunderthesunNo, we have several million imported Indians, though.
I've visited Spain several times and I'm actually going to be traveling there this October (am taking my dad who has never been to Spain before). As someone who lived and still works in NYC (another huge tourist destination), I am very mindful of the impact that tourism has on the places that I want to visit so I strive very hard to be a good tourist. I don't stay in AirB&Bs and prefer hotels (especially locally owned hotels rather than the big chains). When I go to the restaurants outside of the tourist centers because I want a more authentic experience, I keep in mind that I'm a guest and that my presence should not impact the locals who cherish these places. I try to use as much of the local language as I can cram into my head and whenever possible, I avoid traveling during the busiest times of the year. And I try to spend some of my time in the less visited cities so that I'm not just focusing on the big tourist centers. I cherish my time in this beautiful country and am looking forward to showing it to my father.
unfortunately youre a minority - most US citizens here are too old to learn spanish and so rich they can just drive the locals out of their homes... we cant pay 2k a month for a 50m2 apartment..
I am also planning a second visit to Barcelona in October for the 37th Americas Cup! As an avid traveler, I have also been to NYC both visits out of season. We have a similar problem in my hometown which is also a tourist attraction in South Africa. Our challenge is that we are also a "university town" and the town is bursting out of its seams with students who don't leave after they have completed their degrees resulting in the house/apartment prices becoming sky-high and unaffordable to us. Our young adults have to find accommodation outside of our town because there are no places for them to live and if they do find a house or apartment the rent is sky-high! It seems this has become a universal problem and not only a Spanish one!
I truly hope you and your father have a good time, but if you plan to visit Barcelona bring a Super-Soaker.
In Madrid we don't that to visitors.
As a Spanish, THANK YOU. I don't agree with this kind of protest who attacks people instead of companies who exploit the bussiness, because that has been always the problem : the massive exploit. It's difficult to move aroud to work, to go back home after it and, generally speaking, to live in certain zones.
I really hope this situation can find a way to be solved either for locals and for sensible visitors in the best way.
Enjoy your October visit. ^^
I'm going to Barcelona in October. I appreciate all the perspectives on what is going on. I don't want to stay or invade their home, so please tell me what I should do? I don't want to cause trouble. I just want to appreciate their beautiful city for a few days. It's really heartbreaking. I get that. I can't even afford a home where I live. I may never be able to because home prices have risen 50+%. No family should have to worry about a place to live. 😢
I was born and live in Barcelona, we have always had tourism since the Olympic Games, the problem is that their number has tripled and the bus, metro, etc. service has not. For housing, there are offices that ask triple what they did a few years ago, which is why many people have to leave their city. I don't blame the tourist, I blame the government that is selling the city.
We are so much people in the world now that the amount of tourists won't go away, but increase. You are right, it's time for policies that protect the local.
I live outside of Barcelona and the housing prices are crazy. There is no set per m2 price. People are trying to get whatever they can. The prices are inflated and all over the place. Maybe someone is buying but many flats don't sell for years. I think the housing crisis is about more than just tourism.
Turkish here. Can you send us the unwanted tourists? 😅
@@semprefidelis76 come and get them
@@shadowman_390 lol they will come by themselves with this kind of attitude
They have to tax the shit out of homeowners who don’t live in their homes as well. Buying a home for yourself is a thing, but coming to another country to purchase multiple real estate just to leech on the worker class is another thing.
if they buy off locals at a premium/mkt rate its literally pumping capital into the hands of those local homeowners that sell.
yep in Palma it is out of hand...i don't understand how this is allowed
Maybe. However, one of the things protesters are complaining about is that it has become overcrowded. For that complaint, they should want a lower occupancy. They want it all though. Lower prices for them, fewer crowds, and probably expect it with no loss to their incomes. Most protesters probably haven't thought it out that well and how there are trade-offs to their demands.
Not taxes. It should straight out be banned.
@@RurbanWalkerBy that logic, these workers should be making a great deal of money in places like Ibiza and Málaga with all of the crowds. But I suspect that’s not true either.
There's a good reason why in my country of Singapore, Airbnb was banned. To keep the hotel going and employment active. Public housing cannot be used for businesses. To avoid scarcity
I'm also Singaporean. Not entirely sure if Airbnb is truly banned here, but short term rentals are rampant and authorities have difficulty enforcing.
I find overtourism getting worse in SG. Really hate going to tourist attractions and the city areas because the Asian visitors in particular are so rude with no consideration for us locals.
@@ojj75As of May 2019, short-term rentals offered by Airbnb and other platforms are illegal in Singapore. The Planning Act prohibits the rental of private residential units for short-term stays of less than three months, and Housing Development Board (HDB) flats for less than six months. The government can also seize HDB flats from owners who rent them out on a short-term basis.
So yeah, there are some operating illegally which just got cracked down. I wouldn't think Singapore is over tourism at all 😂 culturally we are a mixed pot. I think it's still a pretty livable place considering we are not facing the same problem Barcelona is facing. And many industries depend on tourism to survive.
Your culture is always 10 steps ahead of the rest of the world. Good for you guys!🎉
I just checked and you can book an Airbnb in Singapore. There’s hundreds of listings.
hotels in SG are so expensive, usually I go to hostels or I stay with a Singaporean friend when he is not traveling, love the country and the food
AS Ibiza citizen I can confirm that I can see tourists don't mind spending a couple of thousant euros to rent a place, and pay 10€ for a drink, but locals can't afford to live like that. there are thousands upon thousands of outside cars, you can't go anywhere, you can't park anywhere. how do you empty your groceries from your car?? More tourists, more services, more workforce, more housing, but more housing is more profitable if you accomodate tourists, that will need more and more (and let's not talk about water, electricity, pollution, garbage... and needed professionals, no police, no medical staff, no teachers, ...)
Ibiza is crazy from April till October. If I want to visit Ibiza I try to avoid summer time. That's a fact.
Sadly Ibiza needs tourism but changes need to be implanted.
@@EstrellaTarot How many are native to Ibiza? LOL
Estúpido discurso socialcomunista, de tener poco nivel de inteligencia. ¿Qué significa ser local? Un señor que casi con toda seguridad tendrá una casa propia y probablemente otra, un señor que es cerrajero o fontanero o taxista, ¿¿¿prefiere ese local estar en un lugar lleno de turistas demandando servicios bien pagados o estar en un pueblo inactivo, sin nadie a quien ofrecer servicios? Por favor, no repitáis los discursos socialcomunistas destructivos, porque iréis a la pobreza autoinducida. Para un local es siempre siempre, mejor estar en un entorno turístico que en un entorno estático deprimido, no seamos estúpidos.
@@tuckerbugeater Less than it should be.
Lo que no entiendo es como siguen, hoy dia, cada vez más turistas gastandose tanta plata en vacaciones, mientras nosostros que también somos europeos, seguimos viviendo en la m**rda de siempre, después de tantos años de "mercado comun", y cada vez peor. De dónde les viene tanta plata, porqué los salarios nuestros no aumentaron casi nada en los ultimos 25 anõs, y además, porqué no nos llega la plata que ellos aqui vienen a gastarse. Quién se queda con la plata... nos estamos empobreciendo cada vez más, mientras la sociedad sigue uberizandose. Además, me parece que desde que se nos ha entrado el eFe. la eMe y la I por la puerta, hemos perdido nuestra independencia. Esto es el resultado de sus politicas y de sus decisiones, ya no decidimos nosotros.
Barcelona resident here!
I think the main contributor of the housing crisis here is not tourism, they have already been battling Airbnb here for a while. The main changing point was the implementation of Nomad and Startup visas. What we faced is that a bunch of wealthy (much wealthier) people from all over the world moved to Spain (and most of them clearly didn't want to move to Elche, they moved to Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga etc.) and basically they rented out all the available apartments for ridiculous prices that locals will never be able to afford. Some of them are literally using the fact that it is a new visa and approval rate is really high, they declare less income to pay minimum taxes, those who required to register as AUTONOMO to pay Seguro Social never did. Some quite literally making business here but they don't open the company for that, they wash those money through their originate country. Like honestly, there were always crowds of tourists here but things went downhill after these visas and a bunch of people coming. Also, landlords started this trend of signing the contract limited to 11 months to be able to set any price they want and there are still a bunch of foreigners who are able to pay anything to be able to live in the city that has way lower cost of living than their country. I am myself a foreigner and I talk to a bunch of new comers and this is a clear picture of what is happening. The worst part is that locals don't even see any financial profit from these people while locals have NO tax regulations like 24% (Backham law) and being still ripped off by hacienda. Throw out all these nomads (or force them to move to the rural areas without housing problems if they still want to stay in the country) and there will be a thousands apartments available with normal prices. You will hear something similar is also happening in Portugal. Well, cause they were first to implement those visa types
I believe what you say is correct. I remember during a trip to Spain 6 years 2 of the 5-6 apartments I lived in were owed by russians. The lady in Malaga didn't speak any Spanish and only a couple of words in English, said she had 4 apartments there.
Yea the digital nomads are ruining south east Asia too
low tax would be applied only for employees and not for self employed. I would say it is the same issues all over the world, war, mortgage percentages went up and as result local people who owns apartments for bank money, need to increase significantly prices to cover as much as possible and keep the same life style when it was low percentage. expats definitely helped to increase the prices but in the same time a lot of wealthy people started to pay more for any services that having 12% included in any prices…
I don’t think the amount if visas given out on that concept is high enough to move the market. But also, if richer people come to live in an area more money will flow into the city. Switzerland is a very good example of this.
How does your government intend to resolve this situation? While a local issue persists, do they take no action and remain in comfort?
I go to Spain often from the US as my sister lives and works in Valencia.
In our last trip, while visiting Toledo, we sat down with a tour guide that was pretty open and honest with us: they want and appreciate the tourists. What they don’t appreciate is the government ONLY catering to tourists. She told us that there’s too many empty houses/apartments in Toledo that are empty because investors come in and leave them empty until they can sell it 3 o 4 times higher than worth. Plus, the lack of services, public parks, even lack of supermarkets and stores (she joked that there’s only so many “I love Toledo” T-shirts one should have).
In Barcelona, this sentiment is not new. I remember back in 2012 the signs with “tourists not welcome”. Spoke with a friend this year and she explained how Airbnbs are just out of control. In her building they have 2 that are mostly used by tourist on bachelor/bachelorette parties, so the place is often trashed. The solutions proposed was to try and bring more “high end” tourists, which has resulted in new luxury developments that the regular Barcelonians can’t even afford. People are pissed.
In conclusion, based on my interactions and visits, I’ll strongly recommend supporting these efforts. Spain is an amazing country and has amazing people. Is only far that those of us that enjoy visiting, empathise and support their fight for better conditions on their daily lives. Mad respect for those speaking out and driving positive change.
Thank you so much, I'm from Valencia and we are happy to welcome people who wants to enjoy and discover our culture. But as u said we need to do an effort to respect each other rather we host or when we visit any place. In the balance and respect is where we all can enjoy about traveling and learn of each other.
Thank you thank you thank you. Born in Madrid and living in Barcelona, gentrification is destroying our environment and interfering our daily life to the point were we feel outplaced and pissed off. It's also making it almost impossible for us to move out. I personally feel like Barcelona is been treated by businesses and some tourists like a theme park, and not like an actual city with its people, needs and own culture. It feels like an invasion. So it's really validating when former, actual or potencial tourists understand the impact they can have and understand how resilient we need to be to resist this problem and demand our governments to take proper measures.
In nyc , we have crisis in housing, but you can type in google
New york 250000 vacant apartments
And you will
Understand that it seems some poeples have unlimited 💰 and they can buy apartments building and just close them under excuse of renovation..
They can suck all the inventories and manage to control the prices of rental
Who are the largest donors of most of politicians in large usa cities ???
Perfectamente explicado!
The apartments are not empty due to greedy investors, but due to ridiculous laws that encourage tenants to just stop paying rent so that owners (small not rich private owners) prefer to keep their properties off market in order to not got bankrupt.
As spaniard I have to say, thank you for this video!
I visited Madrid Alicante and Valencia in May of this year. Everywhere we went we were treated respectfully. I absolutely loved that country. I do feel for the locals who are getting priced out.
Me too - I just came back from there. Amazing country and people. I visited Asturias, Alicante, Sevilla, Madrid.
There are ways to help with that issue as a mindful tourist. Stay in hotels vs AirB&Bs (especially locally owned hotels vs the international chains). Eat in local restaurants. Use your tourist dollars to benefit the local community vs big corporations.
@@ravanne3746 quick question , we have two small children and I can't seem to find a hotel that offers a separate bedroom. However, there plenty of one bedroom and two bedroom Airbnb's. What do you suggest ?
@@pauljiltsov9950 so you are 2 adults and 2 children and you can't find any hotel with 2 rooms free? Sounds like making it up
@@bustixaniego not two separate rooms. The kids are 3 and seven and often wake up at night. So I need to check on them. This is not a problem I. A one or two bedroom apartment. But it's a problem with separate hotel rooms
I think tourists themselves have changed. People used to go to foreign lands to experience new cultures, art, architecture, immerse themselves. Now people go to show off on social media. I once walked through London where there was a long queue of tourists who wanted to be photographed in a telephone box! You don’t need that photo, you need it for instagram etc.
Ain’t that the damn truth! Social media is such a great toxic thing now.
I don't disagree with this. You see the same few sites on everyone's Instagram feed. My favorite thing to do when traveling is just walking around the historical centers of the city and really getting a better sense of the history and culture. I'll duck into local cafes and shops yes, I'll see the big important sites, but I'll either do it very early in the day or later in the afternoon after most of the crowds have started to leave. I remember visiting the Castle Hill district in Budapest when I went right after breakfast and pretty much had the place to myself and got plenty of time to explore before the tour buses showed up.
The 'highly-advanced' Smart Phone world with the selfie making people everyday 'celebrities' in their own echo chambers. I agree with you. When I was younger, people just wrote in a diary or a journal and showed their vacation pics with friends and family when they got home. And that was it. Now people take time to film themselves not only on holiday but when they are at the gym, eating breakfast (or brunch) and having emotional breakdowns. Yay... world. Progress....
May i remind you that the historic British telephone box is actually considered as a piece of London architecture, some will even say art..It has been featured in many films and series like Dr Who. Just like the buses and black cabs it's part of the history of London. You mention people used to go to foreign lands to experience new cultures, art etc..Well what do you think tourists are doing taking photos of themselves in a London phone box??? They are experiencing a different culture, our history, art and architecture..Why anyone would care what a tourist does with their photo's is beyond me..
@@benjammin1212 Thanks for the polite and friendly reminder... we all appreciated it. We and the rest of the world not to mention the birds and the bees are more educated for this inspiring commentary. Everything has been elevated. I shall stroll around with a new vision and deep reverence. Life, such wondrous surprises. ... I think I will write a haiku later today. Where is my ink quill at?
Thank you for the video!! I am from TENERIFE and clearly tourists dont have the fault, so I do not share these messages like "tourists go home" or throwing water for them to leave... this is not right. I have also been a tourist. The problem in Spain and especially in the Canary Islands is the quantity of tourists that come every year. Brazil receives 6 Million tourists per year. Canary Islands receive 16 Million. Therfore, our question is: when will it stop? which is the limit? will we continue building everywhere? and who are we building for? Thank you very much for the attention! And DO NOT STOP COMING TO SPAIN!!! YOU ARE NOT THE PROBLEM. Viva España
I get it. I live in Florida. in 2023 we had 140.6 million tourists visit. We have incredibly high home prices here. My son lives in Valencia Spain this Summer for a marine science internship, so I went to visit him 2 weeks ago. I flew into Barcelona and spent 2 days there before taking a train to Valencia. My son wanted to see Mallorca, so we flew there for 2 days. I took a train to Madrid (where I ended up with Covid, sadly), and then I came back home to Florida. I absolutely LOVED Spain, especially Valencia. Every Spaniard I met was lovely and helpful. I'm very grateful that I didn't encounter shouting and water being hurled at me, especially considering that I deal with tourists in my own home. I would love to spend more time in Spain someday and really hope that I am still welcome : )
Thank you
Some of these miseries won't be happy until all borders are completely locked - zero tourism anywhere
I went to Dubrovnik and felt that the city was an amusement park and not a living city. The same with Venice and it is happening in many cities in Spain. This tourist model needs to be changed. And I am sayong that being a tourist myself.
That's exactly how I felt about Barcelona. Disneyland for people who appreciate architecture and art.
Prague was beautiful but shockingly over tourism for sure. It would be miserable for people that live there.
Lol no tourist no income for the city that is reliant on tourism 😅😅😅 who is to blame?
As a travel agent it's demand ...people with money demand to visit Spain, France, London etc. Business is under pressure to survive with high taxes, vat on everything and trying to find staff. The WEF wants us travelling by air once every 3 years. At this rate the rich will be the only ones who can afford to travel as they'll be the only ones who can pay! That said, who is going to be their conceirge, waitress, maitre'D or chef? Who will be able to clean the rooms on low pay when thru can't afford to travel or live ij a city?
That's a really good point. I think the problem comes from how toursim has changed over the last 100 years. It started as an elitist activity that allowed rich people to visit distant places and learn from their cultures. Later on, this has reached lower layers of societies and more and more people were capable of doing this, which is great, because learning about other countries and cultures is great for developing a proper cosmopolitan view of the world. Problem is, with time, tourism has shifted from these ideas and is now focused on "experiences", we are no longer travelling to learn things about other countries because we can do that from the internet without leaving home. We are currently travelling to take THAT picture you can share on Instagram, or do THAT activity that some influencer was announcing as the next big thing. Tourism has not only become affordable for most people but has been stripped down of any proper cultural interchange. We just travel for the sake of telling people that we have travelled. If we want tourism to be sustainable we should do our best to integrate in the local culture, avoid chains, alter as little as possible the live of these places to enjoy them for their authenticity and not the 10 most recommended XXXX that someone posted in Instagram or Tik Tok.
La semana pasada estuve en Londres después de 20 años. No te puedes imaginar la tristeza que me dio el ver cómo la ciudad había cambiado. Quizás no notemos dichos cambios en nuestras propias ciudades, pero cada vez, todas van perdiendo su encanto personal. Los pequeños negocios desaparecen para ser renovados por grandes cadenas que hacen que todas las ciudades se parezcan perdiendo su encanto personal.
Me gusta el turismo porque yo también disfruto haciéndolo, pero creo que los gobiernos deberían de proteger el cómo hacerlo. No tendríamos que ser las personas las que tuviéramos que llegar a las calles, y no hablo de España solo.
Creo que respetar la individualidad nos enriquece a todos y mejora la calidad tanto de las personas que vivimos en focos turísticos como de las personas que vienen a conocernos ❤
hace 25 anos que me fui de Londres... ya no es una ciudad britannica - parece mas a una ciudad urbana y peligrosa al estilo EEUU ... la proxima vez lleva un chaleco anti-puñaladas ;)
English channel
Well said.
La mayoría de la gente en Londres no son nativos. Por supuesto la cultura no va a quedar. Lo mismo está pasando en España por los immigrantes, concretamente los Moros.
Estoy de acuerdo 100%. Soy de EEUU, y estoy con tan vergüenza el impacto de la cultura americana y capitalismo que está invadiendo otros partes del mundo. Yo lamento la falta de negocios pequeños acá en EEUU, pero parece mucho peor en otros partes del mundo. Algo grande necesita cambiar para proteger esas culturas únicas, empezando con una prohibición de Airbnb en zonas turísticas.
Barcelona resident here. The city is suffering a huge housing crysis. Rents are extremely expensive for locals (way above the average salary) due to housing speculation, AirBnBs, and basically foreigners being able to pay more. Locals are moved away from their city and local authorities seem to offer no support, but rather they stay on the side of gentrification. Further, the actitude of some tourists is absolutely disrespectful. Living with this problematic every day can be really exhausting.
We are not against tourism itself, but against the unsustainable, disrespectul and gentrifying model that the city has adopted.
So why are they throwing things at the tourists? Surely they should be protesting the authorities and the industry
@@at0micsheep It is a radical reaction from people who are fed up with this problem. There have been many protests towards local authorities and industry, with no impact at all. Spraying tourists with some water is a harmless way to make the protest relevant and heard. If that hadn't been done, the protests wouldn't be on the newspapers and this video probably wouldn't even exist
Crisis. And you should think about the fact, that Spain is living from tourism.
Although as an expat teleoperador, having my small overpriced place only thanks Corona (yes I'm here that long and no, I don't speak Spanish) I would appreciate the government to take radical steps against the homeowners, who have the money to buy to rent! It doesn't change the status, if the tourists stays home. It only changes, if those rich, greedy people would be pursued by law.
@@FeduGina definitely the government is the one who has to take a step forward, but it won't since government and homeowners go hand in hand. Just to give some context, the housing minister has 7 real estate properties. An this is supposed to be a leftist government. The same applies to local and regional authorities.
I live in Toronto, and we too are experiencing the lack of affordability as well. We do not take it out on tourists. This is a world wide problem. I'm going to Barcelona in August, but now feel uncomfortable. I hope to love your city, but these protests are making it hard.
Boycott AirBnB!
I live in Barcelona and this city doesn’t belong to its inhabitants but to tourists. There is no more neighborhood social life in many parts of the city. When I go to a terrace of café at 5 pm with a friend, the waitress tells me in an aggressive way that the terrace is only for people who eats. If I order pan con tomate y olivas, once I finish it she comes right away with the bill, encouraging me to leave. The metro is so packed with tourists that I don’t want to go to office anymore. The price of apartment rental increases so much, it’s crazy. And in front of my window in a neighborhood famous for its local resident life, I see different people every week, celebrating on the terrace of their Airbnb’s and shouting in a foreign language until the middle of the night. Horrible !
Boy, I think there are a lot of questionable comments here. I have never experienced this in the year I have lived here. Maybe this is true in the super tourist areas, but not in many of the neighborhoods. There are always events and cultural happenings in the neighborhoods!
Same is happening in Madrid. The tablecloths are out at 6pm, in places where you could once just have a beer or coffee.
I was in Barcelona for a few days during spring break and I swear there was only abroad students and other tourists, I was able to run into a lot of friends from back home somehow
@@l.b.schulman4581I am from Barcelona, been here all my life. Respectully, if you think the first coment is questionable maybe you are also behaving like a torist or an expat and that's why you don't se de problem because you maybe are a part of it.
Yeah... I would be angry about that as well.
I don't do Air BnB. It's not much cheaper than hotel anymore.
Plus all the hassle what you are allowed to do and not to do. I choose small owner-run hotels that do not belong to international chains.
I love traveling but I wont support draining the housing market.
Yeah, same! I've actually never used Air B&B, as the few times I looked up a place, the "cleaning fees" and extra per fee was so much, hotels were cheaper. Like, a cabin in the mountains was listed at $98, but with the fees was $250! And then that was only from 6 pm to 10 am! And then I have to clean? I'll stick with hotels, thanks very much!
We don’t do Air BnB, either. Hotels are safer and no more expensive.
I used AirBnB once and never again. Not that the apartment was bad, but in the end it didn't save me any money and I didn't have any more connection to the local area than I would have staying in a decent, locally owned hotel.
I stayed on AirBnB 60 times last 10 years and almost every time it was cheaper, safer and better located than hotels in the area.
Same. It's weird or maybe just capitalism. Just like uber - it used to be cheap then when they got a major market share the price shot up.
I lived in Spain for five years and just got back from a few weeks visit in Madrid (plus surrounding areas) and Sevilla. We had no issues at all. Granted, I speak the language and do my best to blend in and respect where I am, but if asked, I tell them where I’m from. Had nothing but lovely interactions. I think tourists have a huge responsibility to care for and respect where they’re visiting more than the locals. I’m a smoker, but never walk and smoke, even if locals do. I collect my rubbish until I find the right bins, and always order in question form (please / thank you).
The airbnb issue isn’t unique to Spain and the anger needs to be directed towards those who let it happen, not those who use it. Spain is a wonderful country that I miss daily, and I’m very lucky to still have friends there I can go see, and I get the anger (having seen how some tourists behave), but the bulk of it seems to be aimed at a chain or two too low.
If those who use it stopped using it, the ones who let it happen would have no power at all.
Guess you're not British...
@@youplaboum-kh4xj if they don’t use those, they’ll go another route. If the demand is there, which it will always be because Barcelona in particular is on many people’s lists around the world, other means will be found and the issue continues. Illegal rentals, buildings bought up for hotel conversion, etc. attacking tourists is probably the least effective means I could think of.
@@alexritrut1432 I am not, although my dad is from NI.
@@user-xm8sc3wn7nI understand and agree with you. Yet, what i call the U beri, zation of society is highly detrimental for society. I am quite persuaded the ones who let it happen won't change a thing, even if they could/ wanted. Power being primarily in the hands of the consumer, in the first place, provided consumers start to be aware...Hence what I said before. Unfortunately, and generally speaking, consumers tend to care only about self convenience, ending up causing harm, provided they get immediate solutions/ satisfaction.. and not caring much about consequences. From what I read, I don't think it is your case though.
It is also nerve wrecking when those in the tourist apartments rage well into the night and sometimes during the day. I understand you are on vacation and want to enjoy yourselves but you have to remember this isnt Disneyland, people live and work here.
The Tourist trade, and I worked in hospitality, is very fickle.... so slightest rumor of protests will kill the tourist industry, So what will happen is a downturn in tourists, less money in the economy, a decrease in trade, and then there won't be any jobs to worry about! Watch what happens now to the air freight of tourists over the next few months, likely in fact over the next week ort two... see it plummet to near zero and hotels start to slash their prices, bars and stores paying a visit to the bank to stay afloat. You can moan about tourists, but those moans will be much louder when there's no economy.
@@mickelodiansurname9578 I understand it is supply and demand...However, I demand a decent night sleep and not walk over someone´s mess on the way to and from work. It is also about respect. I wish hotels would slash prices so people will start to see them as a viable options again.
Over-reaction….sure you’re not one of these short term rental owners?
I thought La fiesta was the Spanish heritage though?😂 Listen, I completely understand about wanting La tranquilidad so I hope you find some peace and quiet where you want, but when I visit Spain the loud and disruptive people are not foreigners but other Spanish!
@@bordaz1no I pay rent and taxes like every one. Please feel free to listen to music at 3 am and beyond and wash down vomit. Like I said I know folks want to enjoy themselves, hell I do too on vacation but have some respect for people.
You can't say that Spain needs 600k new houses in one breath and then say there are 3.8M houses sitting empty in the next. The root of the problem is not a lack of housing, the root of the problem is greed for profit, and disrespect and selfishness to get the best outcome for oneself even if (or especially) at the expense of someone else. These are the reasons behind every single thing that is wrong in the world.
No saying greed is not part of the problem but the 3.8M houses sitting empty are not located in the same cities or even regions than the 600k missing. I can assure you in Barcelona or Madrid there are very few available houses.
@@KnwoledgeHoarder Empty houses doesn't mean available on market houses. Funds and investors buy houses, keep em closed for years and sell again to make better profit than banking deposits offer
Yes, that is part of the issue. A number of those homes are in rural areas.
You can perfectly say it. You need houses where the housing demand is. It doesn't matter how many empty houses you have +3h from any place with jobs.
Not everyone has to drive to a job and don’t act like a that 3.8 million ! Houses are all in rural areas
And even if they are maybe some people want to move out of the city if they got the chance
What is needed everywhere is sustainable tourism, and I definitely know what I'm talking about. I have been working in this field for decades. Nevertheless, in a lot of areas in my country (Spain), it got completely out of our hands. 😢
It's nice that you had to tell us that you definitely know what you are talking about, because we would never have guessed that ourselves
try voting
Not only due to house rental inflations, tourist behaviour is also a big issues. A friend of mine that lives at Valencia told me that some tourists, especially British, throw empty beer cans on the streets and yell really loud at midnight
The Brits do that in Britain too!
And the Spanish do that here in Edinburgh, it works both ways
@yizhenji5564 A friend of a friend mine that lives at London told a friend of friend of mine, that some tourists, especially Spanish, throw empty beer cans on the streets and yell really loud at midnight also..
@@anthonyferris8912 then you should do something with tourism in your hometown too
@@bustixaniego Just like Valencia isn't your home town, London isn't my home town.
It is not just in Spain. It is everywhere.
not everywhere only europe and north america
I agree , too many People IN the UK , Spain, US , and the list goes on and on
Exactly this.
@@lickedcat Also in the Caribbean. Here in Puerto Rico we have big problems with Short Term Rentals
@@lickedcat And Australia and New Zealand
We just returned from a 2 week vacation in Spain. We stayed with friends and I saw the news about Barcelona airbnb bans coming. While We visited major areas like Toledo, Madrid, Sevilla and Segovia we also visited smaller towns and areas that locals go to
This is a global phenomenon, I am from Liverpool England,house prices have quadrupled as have rental prices, social housing isn’t being built, and big business are buying up properties for rental and Airbnb, my daughter is still living with me at the age of 33 it’s ridiculous something has to change, but I am amazed at what I see in Spain boarded up houses because families can’t afford to pay the inheritance tax and that’s down to the government also the in-completed property developments !
lets all shed a tear for europeans who are being displaced
In California its the same thing''' Way to expensive'''
Its a western phenomenon not global
@@californiausa7622As a victim of California, the problem is way more complex than the proliferation of high-cost short-term housing.
While rising prices may be a common problem I don't think it's the same. I doubt there are as many foreigners like russians buying houses in the UK to rent them like in Spain.
The English themselves buying houses in Portugal or in some Greek islands like Corfu I've been to drive the prices up as well.
1:52 For those curious, the Catalan part of the signs say "The beach is open. No jellyfish and no "guiris" (tourists)" and "Come in, the danger isn't landslides, it's tourism"
Most Catalans are left wing mo-ro-ns.They dare complain about tourists, who leave their money, and not about massive ileg-al immig-ration.
How clever!😂
My family and I usually go to Spain 3 or 4 times a year, for the past 45 years.
We speake Spanish and had a house in Alicante until I was 15. I learnt to walk, swim, rollerblade, and drive in Spain. For the past 11 years we have been staying at a family owned hotel and put down 10-20k euros each year there.
Now after the protest and getting sprayed with water we cancelled our trips. The autum trip this year, spring, and summer trips next year are cancelled.
We just booked a trip to Crete. Let's hope the locals are welcoming.
Well done, the locals will appreciate it.
I’ve been to Crete multiple times and the welcome is outstanding. Chania and Rethymnon are gorgeous but for beaches head south to Plakias, Damnoni, Triopetra, Matala (so much more beautiful than the north)
@@gerardmackay8909 Thank you for the advice! 😀
Three or four times a year for 45 years? I couldn't bear it once in 45 years. If you want to be surrounded by pissed up Brits why not just go down to your local pub?
You say that you have been visiting Spain 3 or 4 times a year for 45 years and just once something has happened to you on a specific basis you decide not to go on vacation anymore. It's an unfair attitude towards someone who has treated you well for 45 years, but it's your decision.
It’s getting nearly impossible for us young adults to move out from our parent’s homes and be able to buy our own houses. Plus there is just too much unbehaved tourism in Barcelona, to say an example. We don’t mind about tourists who actually are interested in knowing our history and art and appreciate our culture at all, we are just fed up at the beach-alcohol-party tourism that come to our cities as if it was some kind of theme park.
This is true in Toronto and tourism is not to blame.
This is a problem in the U.S. as well where the average price for a home in Los Angeles is more than $800K. We call it "boomerang kids"
@@ellieramseyer it’s insane! So frustrating really ugh
thats everywhere im afraid, its not a spanish only issue
This is 10x worse in England
There's another issue that enraged people here, when on last summer some autonomous communities had droughts or serious lack of water and their regional governments decided to priorize hotels over citizens if they had to declare water cuts. It was kind of insane... Also, some of the jobs in the touristic sector have the lowest salaries as most part of touristic income goes just to big companies, landlords and property owners, not the regular citizens...
However, this is a global matter. I live in a Galician city in Spain which has right now lots of issues with mass tourism and Airbnbs, but I've also been to other cities in Europe, and I've felt like I was part of the problem. I've even been called "tourist nightmare" in Edinburgh, and I got it: no locals were enjoying their own Castle, later when we went to see the Highlands the amazing Loch Ness had become just a tourist trap... And also, in Porto, Portugal, it just felt as an amusement park. I have this rule myself of not booking Airbnbs, but still, I did felt as part of the problem. Capitalism has turn tourism into a quick, shallow mass consumption instead of a way of discovery and cultural approach, no matter where you are. What was beautiful now is broken, and it's all due to greed.
"regional governments decided to prioritize hotels over citizens" That is just plain wrong. If the drought meant that there was not enough water to accommodate tourists and local people then the tourism should have stopped until water supplies normalised again.
Come Visit New Zealand, we need Tourist here..Stay in AirBnbs we don't care...stay where ever you want..You will enjoy it..
how do tourist make food price go up ?
@@paulken2338 The simple answer would be the economics of supply and demand. The more people there are the greater the demand and the higher the prices. More tourists = more people = greater demand. In tourist areas I would expect that greater demand during the holiday season would normally have been catered for but given the drought in large parts of southern Spain crop yields may have been affected also impacting food prices.
Edinburgh for us locals is worst during the fringe festival. And it is a tourist trap in Loch Ness...went to the Highlands for a weekend break in May and there was a lot of tourists and coaches up there.
It is so very rare in this world to see this sort of nuanced, thoughtful analysis of an issue. Thank you so very much for providing it.
We don't need to build more houses, the houses are there and built already. Now some companies are promoting that idea about we need to build more houses because the next business for the construction companies is to get money from the government to build social housing.
Agree
AMEN!!
I hate those crooks. And Euro infrastructure is old, they connect all those new apartments to a sewage not built to support them all, why we all have probl nowz every time it rains
What an insane opinion. Completely devoid of any reasoning. Enjoy your high housing costs, they are going down without building more housing stock
@@dv4497 you can't build forever
I am travelling to Spain a lot, but I try now to visit only non touristic regions inside the peninsula like for instance Estremadura. You can find there much more peace and less people. And it is still beautiful 😍
Ay no dios mio, now extremadura 😢
❤ from the non touristic regions
Tourists are NOT the problem, and there are many people who confuse it unfortunately. The problem is the companies that overexploit the places without any shame and generate an environment specifically made to expel the locals and be able to buy their houses to rent them to more tourists
Yes, the "oligarchy" wants more and more and more money. They don't give a damn about the REAL people.
so tourists are forced to go to Palma and Barcelona...
@@MrCanalon You can't manage with or without them. They're just another scapegoat for a country that can't handle capitalism and human rights.
@@tuckerbugeater please tell me how you know absolutely nothing about the topic without telling so openly and elaborate a bit on the HR part, guess will be wild
New York is somewhat similar in that no one can afford to live there. Many people pay 50% of their income on rent. I am lucky to be able to afford my home.
the rent prices are inflated this is a really big problem and hard to solve
Unfortunately it’s not only inflated on locals, it’s unbelievably cheap for us tourists. Sorry about the classist point I’ll make, butI grew up thinking europe is the most expensive place to visit. I actually now go to Europe cause it’s cheaper than going to go to than The nicer places in Asia and Americas. *Europe is too cheap* lately. Prices must go up. Venice shouldn’t be a Mecca for idiots with little cash to spend. It should be one in a life experience, same goes for Paris and so on. Houses aren’t a commodities, they’re homes who should have culture and family value, not some foreigners angel investment.
Solved by building more buildings, seems like the most simple problem to solve, compared to the idiocy of those that bite the hand that feeds them
@@qataribananahamock1495I wonder what percentage of those hooligan holiday makers are my fellow Americans. I want to believe the era of the ugly American tourist is behind us, but I'm not convinced.
Also, more than ever, I'm not a fan of the Airbnb concept. It takes homeowner greed to a whole new level, and I'm absolutely in support of banning Airbnb altogether. Just like in the US, those houses and flats should be homes to local residents, and I disagree with the notion of housing as an investment. Wanna travel to Spain? Stay in a hotel. Don't like it? Vacation elsewhere.
Pure greed… Lisbon is the same. I say this as a Brit that wants to live abroad and loves the Iberian culture. I hope to give something back also to wherever I go but it seems many that have interest in Spain and Portugal also want to make a load of money from it (buy to let and rip off everyone).
I think (even though I like it) that work from home has also ruined global economy.
It’s made it too easy for expats to earn income from a host country and have too much spending power abroad.
Rent has been globalised and pegged to UK / America prices. Sadly.
I have been living in Sevilla for nearly eight years now and I have seen a gradual "creep" of the tourist area. I used to live the other side of the semi official demarcation between "tourist town" and real town but in my last year there I saw a definate change. An old Union headquarters was turned into tourist apartments moe than doubling the people on the street. Not too bad in and of itself but my block of 24 flats had increasing numbers of air b'n'bs which changed the vibe with suitcases being dragged across the patio at all hours. I had to move for work reasons but the final straw came when people in the flat above my next door neighbours thought it wa a good idea to play "We are the champions" at full volume at 2:30 in the morning with their windows open. One set of neighbours left for work at 7:30 and another has 2 children aged under 10. ¿Falta de respeto o que?
I bet the one blaring the music was British. I'm so fed up with seeing us send our worst people to Spain to ruin it.
did u move back to "real town"
@@dtwjohn6378 Yes. One of my adult students describes where I live now as "the new centre" Corte Inglés, shopping centre, and some streets with "old time" shops on them. Even the staff at my local supermarket say hello to me on the street and we have recently had two new members of staff and I feel like I have been pointed out to them as their "pet guiri"
I absolutely love traveling and exploring. Been to Spain so many times throughout my life. If you cannot go to another country and respect the people, the locals and their cultures do not go.
@@joebhoyy and the locals don't respect foreigners either
@@kippsguitar6539Ok, you can stay home. There's no need to come here if you don't like us
@@kippsguitar6539we are nice with the people that are nice to us :)
@@kippsguitar6539 can’t say i’ve ever had this experience to be fair.
@@joebhoyy Spanish people are generally extremely xenophobic so good for you and glad you enjoyed it
The problem with Airbnb is that they lie. A few weeks ago, a spanish newspaper publish the difference between the official register of tourist apartments in Madrid and the reality on Airbnb (much more there). The solution of the City Hall was erasing the access to that public register XD
AirBnB lost their way when they went from being a platform where people rented out a spare bedroom every now and then, or their homes when they were away on holiday to investors who buy up multiple (sometimes hundreds) of apartments and homes in the most desirable sections of the city. They don't want to rent to locals not because the laws are "pro-tenant" but because they can charge a lot more for short term rentals than long term.
@@ravanne3746💯!
Oh, yes, the progressive Government of Madrid (sarcasm)
Ohhh is that how they deal with problems? Reminds me of a cartoon graphic I saw about how different nationalities solve their problems. The Spanish response was a siesta 😅
@@moonmist9 Well, sadly siesta is not as usual as corruption
I was waiting your take on that. I am traveling to Spain (and Europe) for the first time next week. I consciously choose to be in hotels instead of cheaper rentals.
I sympathize with the protesters demands, coming from a touristy city myself I feel the pain of having to either live on slums or be forced to live two to three hours away from work. Nevertheless, I hope the protesters does not use violence against tourists themselves and focus on their representatives and their business on the city.
you are such a good person
Water guns are violence?
En el "desajuste entre la oferta y la demanda" de la vivienda en España a todos se les olvida mencionar algunos factores vitales para el asunto. Sociedades de Inversión Inmobiliaria aka SOCIMIS que no tributan ni sociedades desde 2012, mismas SOCIMIS que atrajo Capital extranjero para invertir en vivienda y locales por su rentabilidad superior al 20%, esto ha llevado a la mayor acumulación de vivienda y locales en pocas manos de toda la historia de España y también a un enorme porcentaje de vivienda vacía incluso en zonas tensionadas como Palma o Barcelona. No hay simplemente un desajuste entre la oferta y demanda, construyamos más pisos, sino que hay gente muy rica con muchísimos pisos y pisos sin usar, mientras que hay más gente sin casa que nunca. Sin expropiación a los mayores tenedores de vivienda de España (1º Black Rock, el mayor fondo buitre del mundo) no hay solución al problema, porque en este país se ha construido vivienda de sobra hasta 2050.
Por otro lado, sólo hablas del turismo de visitar museos y demás, pero el mayoritario en cifras, el gordo en facturación y que el empresariado español busca como nada es el turismo de masas de alcohol y fiesta, y ese es una basura que ojalá desapareciera para siempre.
Aside from just tourists, Spain has also welcomed MILLIONS of new immigrants/expats the past few years. This is causing a higher demand in housing just like in Canada. Many of these immigrants/expats are from higher-income countries who would willingly pay for higher rent, causing the market prices to increase even more and driving out the locals.
Spain needs to be prepared to change to al andalaus, the fertility rate is so low that more people are dying than born….
I'll gladly take a slightly derelict place at a cheaper price for living in. Heck, I'll even sign a two year lease.
This is an important point! It's also important to note that many of those "expats" (i.e. immigrants from rich countries) are taking up well-paid tech and consultancy jobs and filling positions that unfortunately can't always be filled locally. In fact, a lot of companies that need that kind of mobile, international workforce set up their operations in Barcelona because it's an easy place to attract workers to.
We have the same problem in Central Oregon. The people who work and live here, cannot make enough money to afford housing. I was lucky and bought my house before this all began happening. But I honestly do not know how anyone (especially single people) can afford to live here. Traffic is out of control in the summer and our infrastructure doesn't keep up. So I get it. I visited Spain for the first time in April. I visited Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Granada, Cordoba, Seville, Malaga and a couple of other small towns. The only place I did not feel welcome was Barcelona and in a few places in Malaga. But overall, the locals were very nice. I also tried to be a "good tourist". This was my first visit to Spain (first time out of the USA)i tried to learn as much Spanish as I thought I needed (I needed more, but it was a good try) and understand the culture to prepare me to go with their flow, I was aware of my impact on people around me, conscious of local traditions, etc. I really tried not to be an A$$hole (mostly thanks to James and Yolly for their excellent guidance on how to not be "that" tourist). But I definitely saw a lot of them (tourists) and it made me sad that people, no matter where you are from, could be so disrespectful and nasty. Again, in my small Oregon town we get the same thing each summer. It begins around March. Traffic starts to get ridiculous and by the time May rolls around it is impossible to get a seat at any of our favorite restaurants or local attractions. Sometimes it does annoy me. But I also have to remember that I am also a tourist when I travel outside of my hometown and to just do my best to be a good tourist wherever I go.
Same here in Southern California
There are millions with way too much money to spend on travel so tourism will increase and create problems for others including the tourists who also complain of overcrowding and wasting their time and tourist dollars waiting in long lines and waiting to get served. It will get worse.
Sounds like you had a great trip undertaken with sensitivity and respect. Go to the Greek islands next time (Crete particularly) because the hospitality and friendliness is next level.
Por supuesto, eres bien recibido en España. Las personas que rechazan a los turistas son una minoría que debería protestar contra la falta de regulación por parte de el gobierno de la nación o de los gobiernos locales. La masificación siempre se puede controlar y el problema de la vivienda también. El turismo es un placer que disfrutamos todos cuando vamos a otro lugar. Estoy seguro que las personas que molestan a los turistas, son turistas también. Resulta mezquino impedir a los demás lo mismo que haces tú. Deberían protestar contra los gobiernos no contra las personas que, precisamente, les dan de comer
@Jota-we2is Mientras fue el Gobierno quien tomaba las decisiones, el turismo estaba regulado y era pacifico porque algo se regulaba. Ahora ya no es así. Hoy día la independencia se pierde sin darse cuenta.
I was in Malaga and Marbella in April and it was an amazing visit! This channel was absolutely a perfect guide on how to enjoy the region and be respectful of the culture. Hands down, Spain revealed has been the best guide channel we’ve used to travel to any country (and the only one I’ve subscribed to permanently). Keep it up! I really appreciate the information 🙏
Same problem in Greece !!! In some island it’s ridiculous as it’s so crowded that you can’t even walk …I will not even bother to comment the accommodation prices and the lack of properties because of Airbnbs.
It's even worse in Greece. Because everyone who owns an apartment wants to make it a bnb and people who work on Greece can't afford to live on bnbs all year long, certain islands and towns with thousands of residents are left without any working people aside from people working on the tourism industry, meaning cooks, dish washers, etx. That leaves entire islands with several thousands of residents without any doctors, nurses, technicians, electricians etc at all. Turning these touristy islands to places that have even worse security and comfort than 3rd world places. If you get into an accident or get some sort of illness in the majority of Greek islands, you'll either have to travel to the mainland and visit a doctor there, or stay on the island and die. Locals prefer to not have a single doctor in their island and risk death that could otherwise be avoided to make an extra buck, than making a bit less and having medical help available on their islands.
@@OrphicPolytheist sounds like a voting problem
You got the vote….. right??!
As a spaniard, what he says on minute 11:00 is the Key, what was first the chicken or the egg? what is causing the lack of housing? the mass tourism or the landlords not wanting to put out the apartments for long rent? many spaniards have a second home inherited from a relative and when they think what is the safest investment they have no doubt about it, its much safer to rent it to a tourist even if it takes more work. Spanish justice is the second part of the problem, it takes more than a year to kick out anyone who stops paying rent, so many people take advantage of this and scares landlords, my partners family had an apartment in the center of seville empty for 6 years because they are scared to rent it out to anyone and they are too old to manage an AirBnb. This might not be the only issue but in my humble opinion is the one that frustrates the most.
Here in San Francisco has similar tenant protection laws. When tenants stopped paying rents, it takes a year of legal process to kick the tenants out. This happened to my parents twice. Now they in their 80’s just let
The unit empty instead of dealing with rental market.
@@xabitec Yes, we have the same issues in the US, where the renters can get away with not paying rent and the homeowners are totally left to deal with the issue because it’s a civil matter.
Planteaos sólo una pregunta, tú eres un profesiional de algo , taxista, cerrajero, fontanero, albañil, cocinero, vendedor de seguros, instalador de fibra óptica...qué prefieres vivir, eun una ciudad dinámica con turistas demandando servicios bien pagados, o vivir en una ciudad estática sin más???
I think if anything is just left to "The Market" to decide it eventually gets destroyed and the money moves on to the next host. There should be robust planning and management of private homes via licensing and enforcement to achieve a reasonable balance.
The last the you want when visiting another country is to be made to feel unwelcome. Hearing the news and watching this video was enough to put me off from going, I’m going to Morocco now instead, the Spanish are happy and so am I.
@@H6LBD If going to Spain, try lesser known cities.
A Spaniard here. We won't miss you😂😂
@@Sun_Moon77 just our money.
@@H6LBD I have my own business. Not every single one of my clients is foreigner. You think you are indispensable but you're not. We don't want people like you, that can't behave or respect anywhere they go. I bet you can't even respect yourself.
Good.
Global issue, Glad Spain is moving forward to fix this issue. I love Spain. And I understand this needs to be done to save a generation of Spaniards. We need this in America.
haha they extracted wealth and destabilized entire populations of people for hundreds of years now the chickens are coming home to roost
See what Wales is doing has done, 2nd home owners are hating it
I'm from Spain and I don't agree at all. Tourism is good for the economy. It's one of our main ways to be a wealthy country. Those tourismphobes are the same ones who travel to other countries often. Why do they don't complain about the massive immigration we are getting instead? Sick people.
I'm from Spain and I don't agree at all. Tourism is good for the economy. It's one of our main ways to be a wealthy country. Those tourismphobes are the same ones who travel to other countries often. There are global issues that are real and nothing is done about it, no protests, nothing.
@@DavidCastro-bd8qn I don't think that's what they are saying. Spain is becoming expensive for Spaniards, food, and rent costs. Kids are unable to buy property. There needs to be a policy in place that removes AirBnB, allowing rental properties to go to folks who live there full-time.
Málaga has sold its soul. I’ve been here for 23 years and in the past two years, the centre has become a noisy mass of shoulder to shoulder tourists, not fun for anyone. We locals have been squeezed out. Prices of restaurants and rentals have more than doubled and the charming local businesses have been replaced by big franchises.
The rental laws make it risky for landlords to rent long term, favouring squatters. My two cents:
-change the laws so that landlords have incentives to rent long-term.
-crack down on illegal short term rentals
-change the labour laws so that it’s not so expensive to be self-employed (autónomo), thus encouraging small businesses that don’t rely on tourism.
👍🏻
From Tenerife, I have to say a huge THANK YOU for this explanation on what's going on here.
The housing issue is very similar to what we’ve been having here in Maui. In our case, it was exacerbated by the fire that destroyed so many homes.
Native Spanish here. I live in the Costa Brava and my city triples or even quadruples its population during summer, not just for foreigners, from other tourists within Spain too. It is a known fact of our city that rentals are only during summer season, a lot of landlords don't even rent outside of it, the ones that do tend to do it exorbitant high prices and it's quite hard to find an actual place to live here. Some excoworkers were looking to move here and it was basically impossible.
its the same everywhere wake up and smell the coffee
Most of spaniards love tourist. I'm Spanish and we love your visits. Why? Because we know people from other countries and we share points of views..please, keep visiting us. It is a very sad situation. But for real, we normally enjoy the experience
Spain lost me as a potential tourist in the future. Used to come to Spain often. Now when I want to speak Spanish (Castellano) I go to South America. I also go to Vietnam and Southeast Asia more ..they replaced Spain. Tourists and foreigners are treated much nicer then in Spain, and they are cheaper for me. Guess Spain any getting much more of my USD.
@@rahuliyer7456but latin Spanish and castellano/iberic Spanish are not the same.
We have different modisms and accents and of course it is cheaper because we are in southern Europe, our prices are set by Europe.
South America and their currency is very undervalued, they are sadly considered 3rd world, and I say sadly because they are rich in culture.
My comment was not because we were interested in your USD/money... England has stronger currency and people from Switzerland can spend a lot of money here.
The Euro has a higher currency nowadays if you compare it to USD.
It is because it is nice when you can meet people from other countries and show our city around.
If you want to focus on money and not human experience, these are my two cents: Enjoy your trips as long as you can. The USA economy is not the best now. China is the new world's potency and the next elections don't matter who wins. You will see my vision in 12 years from now.
Y porque es un negocio. Si en Canarias se manifiestan en contra del turismo, sólo obedece a la estupidez humana. O sea, más pateras y menos turistas. Amazing !!
@@rahuliyer7456 And what did you expect, for people to treat you as if they were servants? Keep your dollars and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
I love Spain, and try and visit as often as I can to experience different cultures and traditions. I sympathise with the residents of every community that is negatively affected by tourism, especially the young that have been denied affordable places to live.
I would support any community that seeks to minimise the negative effect that tourism has on the locals. It is much better to live in harmony with each other than to feel resentment.
I feel greed is at the heart of this, it is happening throughout the world.
Nice to see someone treating the subject with knowledge and respect. I´m a Barcelona resident and the backlash and ignorance on the internet about this topic is painful and shows exactly why people are fed up.
ok commie. Blame the tourists yet you put "refugees welcome" lol
There is no need for those absolute idiots to squirt water at tourists. Many of those tourists will come from cities or areas where there is also high tourism, and im sure they didnt consider squirting water at people visiting their town or city. Many of those tourists will have saved up their hard earned cash to even afford to come to Barcelona for the week or how ever long they stay for. They are spending theor hard earned money in the city.
+1 for confirming my point once again
@@seansean2929 what do you mean?
@@seansean2929I understand the need to curb the airbnb market or even outright ban it, hotels will have to fill that void. If that helps local residents have more rental properties to live in then that is a good thing. I just thought that those protestors that squirted the tourists were absolute bellends and what they did was completely wrong. If they did that to the wrong person one of those idiots squirting water at a tourist sitting down having a coffee would have got a deserved slap in the face as retaliation. Im from the UK, you think house prices are cheap here? It isnt just in Spain. I grew up in London, Manchester and Edinburgh in my youth as i moved around alot for my dads job, and I wouldnt think it would be fair for the locals in London or Edinburgh, (less so Manchester) to squirt tourists from Barcelona with water pistols for sitting down outside a bar or coffeeshop for daring to visit!
In Spain we do not want the same thing to happen as with Venice, which has gone from being a living city to being a dead city and an amusement park. Even if new houses are built, these houses will be on the outskirts, and the center of the cities will be an amusement park for tourists.
Mass tourism out !
So keep out of our Europeans countries too!
well when you colonize and extract wealth from half of the world. now the next 30 years of your life is going to be dealing with mass immigration and over-tourism. have fun
Exactly this. Mass tourism is drowning the Canary Islands (aside from other crises they're already facing). The Government seems too oblivious of the damage they're doing, and how at stake their identity is.
@@danimmmmm Complain with you government, then. As someone from Morro Jable told me "Without tourism we do not exist". Who shoud I believe? I'm Venetian and it's our politicians who wanted Venice to die not tourists.
And then watch your GDP take a nose dive.
I think that one of the most important points that Spanish activism sometimes forget is not being against tourists (the "tourists go home" slogan feel that way), but against how tourism is being managed.
Everyone is a tourist sometimes, I constantly see "tourists go home" people going to other countries to do tourism, we can't be that blind/hypocritical.
Tourism is good as long as it doesn't destroy the local ways of living
Most of the best older properties in Spain sit empty because the banks have and continue to mismanage their mortgages and defaulting debtors that remortgaged and bought other assets before defaulting meaning the next buyer has to clear the debt before they can pay for their own mortgage. Add to that global inflation and bad monetary policies by central banks.. not all tourism but I get why they feel it’s taking over.
Como portugués, no me considero un turista, sino un vecino.😁
Estuve en Barcelona hace dos años visitando a un amigo que vive allí y entiendo perfectamente por qué es la elección de tantos turistas. Es una ciudad increíble.
Planeo volver pronto, espero que no te importe.
@@MHMDmusic English language channel
@@kippsguitar6539 I am using the language of those, and for those who understand it.
It's not for you to understand.
Didn't see any rule saying i have to comment in English.
@@MHMDmusic Ni caso al guiri,vecino portugues,Portugal no se considera turista en España,es de la familia iberica. ;-)
I'm from Spain, Valencia exactly. We don't have any problem with tourism. This information is Barcelona is not the total for Spain. Tourism in Spain is the first engine of the economy, it is the most important.
At the same time I need to ask for respect for our culture, art and history. Lack of knowledge causes people to behave inappropriately and that can lead to public fatigue.
Spain is more than Barcelona and Madrid, enjoy our country with respect. Be more than welcome.
Been to Valencia absolutely loved it,plenty historic places to visit 👍
I go to Valencia every year for work and of course enjoy some holiday. One of my favourite cities in the world
No sé en qué parte de Valencia vivirás, pero yo sí he experimentado problemas con el turismo tanto en mi vida personal como laboral. Además ya es imposible encontrar un piso por cochambroso que sea por menos de 700€...
I have friends in Valencia but they complain about so much tourist that are coming from the cruise ships . Everything is very expensive for them.
@@Lily4444 I've lived in the same neighborhood since I was born and I'm moving next month cause it's getting too expensive and overcrowded with tourists
The fact that some tourism-oriented businesses close is a positive thing for, at least, Barcelona. Over the last decade, these businesses have been eating up traditional places, bars, locals, gathering areas, etc. See what is sold in la Boqueria, for example. Reducing tourism would stop this degradation of the city's identity. And one single airbnb apartment in a building can really mess things up. There's often people making parties late at night, bothering the residents that have to work the following day, etc. The owners of these appartments have been playing around in god-like mode for too much, limits are being set and if they keep their appartments empty, there will be more taxes on them.
I live and work in Barcelona, and the list of reasons we'd like tourism to be less than half its current amount is unending. We could also talk about cruises, highly contaminating ships that land hundreds of travelers whose money only goes to certain wallets, or the metros full of path-blocking people with huge luggages in the morning, and drunken tourists at night... The city has already been degraded in terms of identity and tradition. Crime (thefts, robberys, pick-pocketing) has skyrocketed, as well as prices of restaurants and housing, etc. Therefore it is time for the city to put hard limits on tourism, and every step counts.
I grew up in London for part of my youth, and I never considered squirting water at tourists in a city that probably attracts more tourists than any other city in the world.
Here my experience is the exact opposite, I have an Airbnb directly above me and in all this time only ocassionally you get renters who are noisy but guess what? give a week or two and they are gone! Now on the other hand in my block we have two long term renters who have been making life hell for their direct neighbours (far away from me thank god) for years and it is impossile to get rid of them! I know which of the two I would prefer!
@@rjflores438 Of course, harassing individuals who know nothing about the issue is useless and not a solution. But we were actually laughing at those news as that day it was 30+ºC so I wish I had been thrown some water on.
@@Druzzt Nothing to laugh about (and I know something about mass tourism, I'm Venetian). I already know some people who have cancelled their stay in Barcelona and changed their minds abour Spaniards. If that makes happy...
I feel for the locals. I know many go to Barcelona just to party. Instead of getting up early, taking the train to Montserrat, they would rather stay in the bars until early in the morning. I suggested this trip to 2 different groups that were going there and neither took my advice. Spain needs to do what they have to do and if that means cracking down on short term rentals, then do it. BTW, my wife and I love Madrid and Malaga.
They say they’re not against tourists themselves… but they’ve been seen harassing people at cafes.
Wow... the teacher who lives in Mallorca and works in Ibiza is clearly what the actual problem is. Super cheap flights and ridiculous shelter prices.
Flights between the islands and from the islands to the mainland are subsidised by the national government for people who live in the Balearic Islands, the same applies to Canarias.
To be honest the problem is greed. I’ve moved recently to Spain and I can tell you how though was to find an apartment available for living and not for short term stay. Property owners don’t want to rent to people who live here just because isn’t profitable as it would for tourists / short stays. of course, it ends up in inflated prices and forcing people who want to live in the city to adjacent places. IMHO the protests should ask for a regulation on prices to prevent the practice of abusive prices, what make Spaniards suffering
A new resort on the coast a few miles from where I live only has property lets from October to May. Then it's for summer visitors. Trying to find a permanent home there is impossible.
@@isobelmatheson8036 Fatal. Imagínate Canarias, donde es temporada alta todo el año...
@brunosaldes7120: The government can easily legislate to prevent that, can't it?
I've lived in Barcelona during almost 7 years and live in Madrid now. What I can say is that almost impossible for a Spaniard to rent an apartment in those cities. Especially Barcelona where all the prices are tourists oriented. The main problem is speculation this killed Barcelona and on the point to destroy Madrid now.
@nicolasb.henry294 I'm sure tourists would like to pay lower rents too. It's the government's job to regulate this.
I think that the AirBnB owners are correct - the flats that can no longer go on the tourist market will be sold rather than rented to local people. I'm not an expert but I've read stories in local Malaga newspapers about landlords that are TWO YEARS into a process of evicting their tenant with no end in sight - the tenant receives a State lawyer as a matter of course, these guys are experts who do nothing else, so they get the tenant almost immediately classified as "vulnerable" which limits the landlord's lawyers options. The court system is so backed up that three and four year delays are not unusual. So, given that Spanish rents have traditionally been low, why would anyone in their right minds rent out their property to a Spanish person on a long term basis?
And this has other knock on effects - the video mentioned that the average age a Spanish person moves out is 34. What he didn't mention is that something like 30-40% of these young people moving out are moving into a property owned by a family member (parent, uncle, cousin) - presumably because Spanish property owners think their cousin isn't going to screw them over. And this kind of maintains the "two Spains" that I see - here there seems to be a big divide between the "haves" and "have nots" that seems much more stark than in other countries. One part of the population has good pensions, a holiday home, disposable income etc. And most of the rest has none of that. So the middle class kid gets a flat rented from his uncle or aunt while his working class compatriot doesn't.
And that 34 year old moving out is contributing to Spain's low birth rate - how is someone going to get married and start a family when they are still living in their family home?
Thanks for this balanced look at tourism. Airbnb is an easy target but as you point out it's much more complicated. In places in the US where Airbnb is not a presence, many suburban neighborhoods, houses are still hard to find, expensive, and very competitive to acquire. Conversely, in places where housing isn't as much of the core issue, like Alaska or the Isle of Skye, where the natural surrounding are the star attraction, over tourism is a problem and eliminating Airbnb won't solve much. Several US National Parks typically over run during the summer months, have now started a permitting process, limiting the number of tourists. As a tourist I applaud any action to control roving hordes who just there for the instagram pics. If that means traveling becomes a little more difficult and requires more thought and restraint, yippie.
Yes, I’m a USGS National Parks pass holder and I applaud the Timed Entry system that’s been the one positive feature of the COVID recovery; I remember how places like Zion and Yosemite were totally overrun in the 2010s. I have to disagree a little on US housing. I work in Flagstaff, AZ, where Airbnb and Vrbo are powerful. Home prices here have always outpaced the rest of Arizona because of the mountain setting, but the short term rental market has accelerated the overvaluation of real estate because there are now many nice properties suddenly not available to purchase or rent long term. So yes costs are rising everywhere but I suspect cost of living in low short-term rental areas is lower nevertheless
We've just cancelled our trip to Spain later this year after seeing the escalation of anti-tourist protests.
I'm sure you're not the only one. Who needs more stress on their vacation?
Bro why? You have a great opportunity to visit and these protests are just for the larger cities. Just go to the smaller cities and be respectful🤙🏼
You will regret that decision when you find out that Spain is one of the safest countries in the world.
Well done. The locals appreciate it
Sorry. That’s ridiculous. I live in the center of the city with my Spanish husband (I’m Aussie) and this is way over blown in the media. I literally have seen NONE of these protests and I’m right in the middle of the city.
There are two important things that I have learned after visiting Spain, which also applies to visiting other countries:
Learn the languages and customs of the country, or at least try.
Be polite and respectful to people, and they will (mostly) be nice to you.
Spanish here from Malaga. Your video was very accurate and also objective. I reckon politicians are also quite happy about tourism taking the guilt. Its a good scapegoat. The true problem is the lack of building for so many years, the over regulation or prevention to allow to build more and the lack of an actual strategy to tackle the whole situation. Add to this the lack of legal certainty and there you. I am currently trying to buy a house and we can't as prices soared in most cases by more than 50% in less than 4 years.
We have the same problem in the UK too…all over the UK not just tourist areas, so tourism can not be to blame. Yet the UK are constantly building new houses but they are all not affordable for young ppl, unless you have a very high paid job. It’s ridiculous. Parents have their children still living at home at 35years old! I blame the worlds greedy and corrupt politicians and governments
Same problem here in Italy. Social housing is basically non-existent.
I love Spain! I think it’s important to visit different regions, something we do most times we visit.
I’m from Ibiza and want to congratulate you for your coverage about this topic. It’s 100% spot on.
The issue are not the tourist, but the regulations. We have reached a point were we feel this mass “touristifaction “ is no longer benefiting the local economy, but enriching certain people. As many know, politics in Spain is quite corrupted and this, added to spanish and foreigners alike buying and renting out properties without any sort of control, is creating a big burden among locals.
In Ibiza most of my friends had to abandon their families and move out of the island due to high prices.
A really popular thing to say among locals is the sentence “Spain is on sale”. And that’s literally true, as the first thing you see when you reach a touristy destination is an add from “idealista” saying: “do you want to buy a house in Spain?” targeting foreigners.
Thanks for sharing. If people really pay attention to your message, they will understand. But it will difficult for many if they don’t live in a crowded environment. Greetings.
But unchecked migration from eastern Europe and Africa are okay? No wonder you are a millimeter from being 3rd world.
Hi James great vid. Housing is a big issue everywhere it seems. It is here in Australia. We have been tourists and will be again - so we are part of the 'problem' but I think the mass groups really annoy everyone, locals and other tourists alike. When we were in the Alhambra sitting quietly looking for the frogs in the pools and enjoying the garden, we were whistled at and told to get out of the shot as a group of about 50 people were waiting for the 'perfect' photo ... and then they all moved on to the next photo op. We tried airbnbs for the first time in 2022 but we will use hotels next trip. In Seville there was a taxi strike the day we needed one because they were protesting about Uber - We didn't complain because we could understand the reasons - but this is the era of disruptive capitalism and - you are right - it is going to take a lot of planning to improve the situation.
It’s a global issue & I’m glad countries are addressing the problem now!
It’s is and it’s 100% failing of government to maintain housing in line with growth. Short term rentals even if all suddenly became available would only give a temporary relief at best. The same is happening in Australia where government has failed totally in housing but manage to convince people Airbnb is the problem. Now they look to tell people what they can do with the investment property. For many in Australia that investment is also their retirement package and the system relies on private investors to provide housing. Right now in Australia the last thing I’d be doing is considering investing in housing. Govt has screwed it up from all angles, but yeah it’s AirBnBs fault
So what's the freaking solution? Everyone just stay in their homes like 2020?
@@spondoolie6450 Central banks should stop printing money, like there is no tomorrow. The inflated money supply creates priceinflation. The problem is politicians (and ignorant voters) not tourism 😊😊
@@spondoolie6450 It's a big world. You don't have to go to where everyone else is going. Or even at the same time that everyone goes there.
@@spondoolie6450 Treating housing like an investment by outside investors accelerated price inflation. Tons of foreign money looking for a safe place to park money was a big influence. Need a crash in prices to reset this.
Spaniards, We are going to visit to Spain next week. We are just sightseeing, not disrupting your life. Please treat us kindly, thank you!
As someone who's lived in Barcelona for the last 11 years, I don't think tourism has gotten worse, it's pretty much the same every year, maybe there's a little bit more people, but nothing crazy. And I really appreciate people from around the world coming to visit my city.
Barcelona is a transitory city.
lived... live now
I think you made a great video. Were from Puerto Rico and airbnb has donde the same. We love Spain so much. And we hope this is solve soon. Thanks for this.
As a Greek, we are also sick of young British tourists coming and releasing all that aggressive energy in our towns, behaving like there is no tomorrow. Because in the UK they can’t do that.
I am not generelizing all the British! I love the British, just these big groups of young tourists coming in, is beyond out of control. And the same goes for Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
The main problem with housing is governments not building enough housing. Although I guess the situation is different in the islands because space is more limited.
Let's also call out what is one of the biggest problems for cities like Barcelona. The big cruise ships that pull in, dump thousands of people for a few hours (almost all of which are racing to see the same few sites) and then leave. These tourists aren't spending money in local restaurants or businesses, so the local community isn't benefiting. And when you consider that multiple ships might arrive each day, it's easy to see how this is an unsustainable situation. It's the same issue that we see in Venice and Dubrovnik. There is the kind of tourism that actually benefits the community and the kind of "hit it and quit it" visitors who just show up long enough to see a few sites before they rush away.
Don't forget that many of those cruises either start or end in Barcelona and many tourists stay for several days pre & post cruise. Staying in hotels (yes I understand that AirBnB's are at fault), eating in restaurants, taking taxi's, booking tours with local operators. Personally I've booked a repositioning cruise from the US and plan on staying 4-days post cruise in Barcelona.
We just did a cruise that went to Barcelona. We did eat at a restaurant for lunch, bought souvenirs (bags, barça scarf, …), … but for sure, it’s less than staying at the hotels.
Venice stopped cruise ships some years ago. I'm Venetian and fought to have them stay away from the city and finally succeded.
I love Spain and I’ve been there as a tourist myself BUT I totally understand why this is happening. From the first time I went to the last time I saw and felt the decline of cities.
-House rental prices have been on the rise for the last three years, having so far increased in price by over 70% during that timespan, while salaries have barely improved.
-Tourism creates employment, but of extremely low quality. People have to work over 50 hours a week only to afford a small flat 25-30 minutes away from their workplace. Illegal working conditions for both waiters/waitresses and cooking staff have multiplied, since an absurd amount of owners cheap out on their staff evading taxes and paying wages under the legal minimum.
-Tourists more often than not are rude. Of course there are many respectful people coming here, but many a tourist ends up drunk (cheap alcohol yay!), being noisy and littering all over the place.
-60% of house purchases in 2023 were made with no mortgage involved. This form of cash on the nail payment is common for investors and vulture funds.
-80% of unused flats belong to banks. There are 3,800,000 empty houses awaiting profitable sales while Spain is one of the countries in Europe with lowest amount of social housing.
-Most economic aids given by governments are by paying with tax money part of the rental. Scalpers know this, so they inflate prices to make up for the discount. In the end we all pay so scalpers can get a larger margin.
-Banks have made obtaining a mortgage extremely difficult. On average, young people between 18 and 25 who want to live alone need to spend up to 90% of their income if they want to opt in for a house.
-Banks keep the housing prices high since 2008, so their enormous stock of empty houses doesn't show up as loss on their balances. They accepted most of those houses as eviction payment for loans obtained by building companies, that went bankrupt when the housing bubble burst back then.
So dear reader, do you think we Spaniards have reasons to complain or not?
From the amount of bricked up apartments in Barna, the banks need to be investigated
Can you please provide a link with the stat of 60% of properties being bought for cash?
@@pauljiltsov9950 Sure, can you speak Spanish? If so, just google "Especulacion vivienda españa". There are multiple articles mentioning a study made by "Funcas". If you still cannot find it let me know, as I'm not sure if posting links to other websites is allowed.
@@pauljiltsov9950 Just google "Especulacion vivienda España" and look for any article mentioning a study made by "Funcas", a thinktank that studies the economy of the country. If you don't speak Spanish you can always use Google translator. There is a full Google page with that term mentioning this study, just make sure it's a 2024 link.
As a brief extract from that study: In 2023 out of 832,756 house sales the amount of new mortgages for those purchases were 323,998. That's a 38.9% out of the full number. The rest were paid in full with no loan, which usually is associated with wholesale behavior and foreign investments.
Let me know if you can't find the info, as I'm not completely sure if posting links to other websites is allowed on YT comments.
@@pauljiltsov9950 Not sure if I can do such a thing on YT comments, just look it up: "Especulacion vivienda España" and look for any study by Funcas.
Hey Spaniards, it happens in the UK too, ask anyone living in London or Cornwall. This is a problem in a lot of places but people should have the right to travel. However I totally agree about the housing, something needs to happen in all these places. You can’t have good working people living in caravans so people can holiday in rental flats. Time to step up politicians and actually do something.
In the UK, we don't blame our housing unaffordability on tourists. We just blame it on 'migrants'. Which is obviously much better.
@@alex31245 and they are literally carrying Spanish economy and giving people tons of jobs. without tourism, the economy would be garbage, and fewer jobs in an already high unemployment rate
@@robqwert2696 I hope you'd agree that fundamentally the country belongs to its citizens, and should be managed for their benefit. As James stresses, people aren't asking tourists not to come, they're asking the government to control some of the most damaging aspects of mass tourism. Sure you could argue that slogans like 'Tourists go home' are clumsy and appear targeted at tourists themselves, but you get that sort of thing with mass protest movements.
Besides I don't know about you, but I find places which seem to exist first and foremost for the benefit of tourists as opposed to locals to be a hollow, dissatisfying experiences. If Spain's major tourist spots returned to being a bit more Spanish, I see no real downside from a respectful tourist's perspective either.
We are painfully aware about how global the problem is. The more people wake up about being a class warfare issue and not a matter of passports, the better.
We are Spanish, not Spaniards, you briton.
You really dig the topic. Thanx for this video from Barcelona!
Airbnb became high regulated here in nyc and housing costs continue to skyrocket so its going to take a lot more to fix this issue
Tiene que haber dos mejoras fundamentales para un turismo racional
1 Que los empresarios paguen mas a los empleados del sector y con mejores condiciones laborales.
2 Un límite para los pisos de alquiler para que no afecte al precio de la vivienda para los residentes. Esto va de la mano con que los políticos municipales y de las comunidades regionales construyan suficiente vivienda protegida de una puñetera vez.
QUEREMOS SUFICIENTES VIVIENDAS PROTEGIDAS YA !!!
En manos del PP lo veo muy muy difícil.
A very good commentary. For those of us who finally have time to travel on short tours here and there (no airbnbs) this deters us from going at all.
I really agree that banning Airbnb will do little to solve housing crisis, or even tourism to be honest. It is a big topic, for sure. Many places that don't have tourism have a housing crisis that is getting out of hand. The real issue is that only those who already have money and homes can purchase properties - or even rent and then sublet. This creates an unnecessary layer of costs. Even when they do add housing, it gets gobbled up by investors (see empty billion dollar condos in NYC). Sadly, banning Airbnb seems to catch headlines, and offers those in charge the perception of doing something, even if that's a very low risk, easy response. What they should be doing is addressing that extra layer and make it much less lucrative for those who already have homes to make money off of the housing crisis.
Spain is pretty much off my list of places to visit in Europe after this. Protest your government, not tourists who come and spend money in your cities. They have no idea what is going on. Now if you catch a tourist breaking laws or damaging things, video them and report them. Otherwise why would you throw things at them and squirt them with water? I live in Florida and we have SO many tourists and Snow Birds(people who come and stay during certain months and then go back up north). We may grumble about it being crowded, we have to live with horrendous traffic, our beaches are lined with hotels/condos, but we aren't accosting them. We also know their money is what helps pay for a lot of things in Florida. We also have had home prices SOAR here recently. My two adult children still live with us because they can't afford to move out. Young people here can't buy a home with 40% of their pay, many can't even rent with 40% of their pay because rent has gone up so high. Big corporations have bought homes for rentals and advertise to buy more. But still we don't blame the tourists who have no idea about any of this.
So backwards and ignorant to attack tourists. I hope all those who protested just stay in Spain and don't plan on ever leaving it's boundaries. Because guess what....if they do leave Spain then they are a tourist and under their own rules, they should be accosted EVERYWHERE they go.
As someone who wants to visit Spain someday, (I'm Latino American) i can understand where they are coming from. I typically go to hotels in my travels. I hope I can still get the opportunity to come see the lovely country of Spain but I also want to be very respectful to the people their.
I've been planning a trip to Barcelona and travel down to Valencia and Alicante but this video has really put me off booking. The stories of people being robbed in Barcelona has always frightened me but this has now completely put me off visiting.
Stay away from Spain, don't want tourists don't go. They want to charge tourists for going to public Plazas, screw that
As a Barcelona citizen, I'm sad to confirm that the city isn't safe anymore, specially for tourists. Hopefully brighter days will come back.
This world is huge with so many wonderful places to see and visit. Why bother?
You just need to be vigilant of your belongings. We went last year and thoroughly enjoyed it
If I were you, I wouldn’t come. I’m sure you can find nicer places somewhere else. Seriously.
I think there is a big problem with cruises as they dump thousands of tourists on a city for a few hours or a day & many dont spend any money in the city.
I think cruise ships are one of the biggest problems with over-tourism. 3,000 people get off a cruise ship and pile into the local tourist hot spot and then go back on the cruise ship without putting any money into the local economy.
I agree with this video. Thank you, James. I love Spain, lived in Spain and have traveled there frequently since 1987. One issue is that companies and corporations (both Spanish and elsewhere) are buying buildings, and then raising rental and mortgage costs. Air BnB isn't an issue if the property is privately owned by a family. The issue is corporations buying numerous buildings as rentals, which negatively affect neighborhood climate, prices and sustainability for people who live there. The same problem has been festering in the US. People have been hired for jobs, but then cannot find an affordable place to live. Another issue IS mass tourism; cruise ships dumping 3000-4000+/- passengers (per ship) into a community. During Covid, Venice saw relief from this and the positive affects, to be free of this.
Regulate the number of cruise boats - they are a blight. AirBNB should also be banned in any city. As James says Spain also need to look at their regulations and housing strategy. Just like all countries around the world.
but why should the business be gobbled up by hotel chains.its not everybodies choice to stay in a multi room hotel.bed and breakfast, pensions etc have allways been there, though air band b type places have become good second incomes for many.local councilc could levy a tourist tax and build cheap to buy units for the first timers.
If I rent an Airbnb, I get an apartment, with a living room, kitchen, and clothes washer, for the price of a hotel room. I can't relax in a hotel. People are always slamming doors and running up and down the halls.
@@joesmith1946then stay at better hotels. You are part of the problem.
@@joesmith1946 In Spain existe aparthotels, you have a living room, kitchen, etc. But it doesn't affect to locals. When we are tourists we need to choose smart to keep the balance between locals and tourism.
@@claras3878 Pero como se diferencian de los Airbnb? Y realmente no afectan adversamente a los lugareños? Para nosotros la comodidad de un apartamento es para tener donde lavar ropa para no cargar tanta y además que comer todos los días fuera, y eso que somos vegetarianos, nos afecta el sistema digestivo.
Don't get me started on Seville... The same town hall is opposing charging tourists as little s 3euro a night, seeing as they are completely abducted by the hospitality lobby. Now, charging people for accessing a public town square that was designed to embrace the casual flaneur, on the other hand... A sqaure that is completely for sale and holds private music festivals....
Efectivamente y cada día un artista diferente y a una media de 40$ el concierto. Pero luego cobran al que viene de Huelva o Cádiz 5$ con la escusa de que es para "mantenimiento". ¿A los promotores privados que están ganando dinero a espuertas cuanto les cobrarán?
As a USA expat living in Barcelona, I have a pretty good understanding of what is going on and it is quite complex. Regarding the housing issue , though many people initially blamed the golden visas as a major reason for the housing shortage and high cost of housing, keep in mind that it only applied to 13,000 houses and apartments across the entire country of Spain over the entire 10 year length of the program and they are predominantly owned by British, Chinese and American Expats .
Airbnb units, on the other hand , comprise 255,000 apartments and homes across the entire country but most are in the largest tourist areas: the south of Spain, the East Coast of Spain, Madrid, Barcelona, the Costa Brava and
Galicia. The owners of these Airbnbs tend to be Spaniards, Italians, French, Danes and Germans and Argentinians, all trying to get investment income by speculating in real estate and then renting out their units.
The Golden Visa program will be eliminated in the next few months. And the Airbnb rentals will be eliminated by 2028 in many/all locations.
But even if all 255,000 Airbnbs are converted to local rentals or ownership,
It does not solve the fundamental problem of having the need f to add 600,000 units of affordable housing in Spain.
There must be public funds set aside an immediate plans to build affordable housing units.
As for reducing tourism, well, this is not a problem, unique to Barcelona or other places in Spain. You just have to go and visit Paris, Rome, Florence, Athens and Venice to realize that the balancing of tourism And local lifestyles is a love-hate relationship that is around the world. Solving this problem, may take multiple different techniques and probably restrictions on entry into certain countries at certain times of the year for tourists.
Spain should have plenty of money to make affordable houses since they leech so much in taxes, they even have a wealth tax.
It'll be a shame if they ban Airbnb, at least from my perspective. My wife and I have traveled a lot, and what we do is rent an apartment for at least 2 weeks during the off season. We like to shop in the local markets, cook some of our own food, do our own laundry, and generally have a nice relaxing time. We don't disturb anyone. We go to bed early. We eat in the local restaurants; we don't eat at Taco Bell or KFC. We spent 2 weeks in Barcelona recently, and it was wonderful, walking on the Rambla de Catalunya, sitting on a park bench, and watching the locals walk by.
But, I understand. If the locals want to close up short term rentals, we'll have to re-evaluate our plans.
Thank you for the very clear and concise information. You make some very good points for both sides of the coin.. Spain was on my shortlist of places to visit, but I will be removing it from my list for the time being based on the mood toward tourists at this time!
The thing is for British people we are coming from a country where there has been so much immigration over the last thirty years that house prices have gone up to extreme levels because of a housing crisis, we now have generations of people who cannot afford to get on the housing ladder and people living with their parents well into their thirties. So for us anger over tourism is the tip of the iceberg, imagine if instead of all those tourists just visiting they were all staying and imagine that Spain was also less than half the size. The point about culture is also true of us, we have entire areas that are now completely different cultures, some areas have less than 10% indigenous British people and our pubs, cafes and shops have been closed down and we have no choice. With all this there are no protests and no graffiti. For us it seems like spain is saying that we will allow you to cone but we want to block you sourcing the cheapest holiday you can for yourselves, in Majorca they were complaining that tourists weren't eating in restaurants as much and were making their own food from supermarkets but that is their choice, Brits have a lot less money than they used to because not only are housing prices high but our wages have not risen to the level of inflation.
What is making headlines around the world are the images of signs saying that ‘tourists are not welcome in Spain’. These people are damaging the image of the entire country. 😣
Yes, the headline makers.
@@sergiolopezreyes4685 My point is that the perception being created around the world is that Spaniards are unfriendly and unwelcoming, even though I know the opposite is true-they’re incredibly kind and welcoming. This negative perception could likely impact the tourism they receive, which is a major aspect of the country's GDP and permanently tarnish its image.
@@Lottieloves287If tourism to Spain goes down to end of the 90s or even end of the 00s, we would hardly notice the difference at a GDP level, but some major American, Dutch, Chinese, etc... conglomerates might get pissed off because people wouldn't be staying at all the AirBnB accommodations they have purchased in the last decade, and Spain as is the case with many other companies isn't actually receiving a fraction of their revenue via taxes.
@Lottieloves287 bad press will have 0 impact in Spanish GDP, tourism levels are so high it is kind of irrelevant. Spaniards have almost no skin in the game, and that is what motivates them to be nasty.
Another issue I see is people not checking before going. I am from the Canary Islands and not only are we lacking housing, we are also starting to lack biodiversity. Our part of the ocean is dying due to massive boat traffic that go out in the sea without regulation and kill animals or stress them, so they don't reproduce and again we have a lack of biodiversity. Also building more and more hotels in virgin areas is making the land animals and sea animals that lived in the coast leave, trash in parks and beaches, less trees to accomodate more people, fecal waters that aren't treated ending up in the ocean. And the government is doing nothing, just opening more space for planes to arrive and not regulating things like trash in natural spaces or the need of trees in our cities.
This issue is not unique to Spain. It's the same in almost every major city.
I'm from Scotland and the same issues are prevalent in Edinburgh. The old town of Edinburgh is like a Scottish Disney land now.
It's not tourism that is the issue. It's a result of capitalism and wealthy people buying up and hoarding assets (property).
Tourist can help the issue by being ethical. Eat in independent restaurants, stay in hostels or hotels if traveling alone and respect local culture and traditions.
Agree.
Do you think that someone who hates tourists care if you're staying in a hotel or ihaving lunch in an independent restaurant? How coud they know?
@@strikedn If an individual person hates tourists there is nothing you can do about that. That is their problem. However, by eating at independent, locally owned restaurants, you are supporting the local economy. Allowing locals to benefit from the tourist trade, instead of multi national companies that own a chain of restaurants and then take that money away from the local economy.
By staying in hotels and hostels you are cutting the demand for Air B&B and freeing up homes for locals to rent or buy.
Like I said, it's a big problem that is affecting almost every major city. Small changes won't make a big difference, but there are things you can do as a tourist to help. That is just my opinion. You will have your own.
@@strikedn I dont think they care, but trying to support the locals, because I heard from locals and they are more appreciative and dont mind the imcome.
Spanish guy from Cadiz here. As a native of a highly turistic area, I think that I can give some insight about this, or at least, our perpective as natives.
First of all, I have been living out of spain, so I know how it is outside my country.
The problem has several sides:
1) Tourism industry:
Tourism industry in spain is based on the idea of "cheap tourism". Spain is a very cheap country if you compare it to Italy, France, Germany.... And the business model here is to attract people with good things at cheap prices. And that´s chain. Low prices means low salaries. It´s just like that. If you ask in Spain to people working on bars, restaurants, hotels.... The inmense majority of these workers have very bad contracts or straight away illegal contracts. Things like working 60 hours a week with a contract of 20 and getting paid the other 40 under the table, with no days off, it´s quite common. Been there, done that. That´s one of the main reasons. Beside, the touristic business are not family business anymore. It´s all big companies and hedge funds. For them we are not people, we are numbers. They don´t care about my hometown. When the location gets "burned" and it´s not attractive anymore, they will go and look for a new one. Period.
2) Big property owners:
Spain is a country full of old families without money but with a lot of properties. This is very common here, people see the bricks and mortar as a safe investment. That mean that there are a lot of families that can own several properties. And when I say several I mean HUNDREDS. When I was living in Seville, my flat was owned by a family (two brothers) that had around 200 rental flats. Most of them dedicated to short stays. And we have enough empty houses to house people, we created SAREB, known in spain as the "banco malo" to buy those flats from the banks and sell it to the people that was a total failure and a mechanism created only to save the bank industry from a 18% default in their numbers. It costed 45000 millons of euros to all spanish people, but nobody seems to remember it.
3) Airbnb. Airbnb is guity in this situation. Not as a company but as a concept. For example, if you try to rent a flat in my area, 90% of the places are rented from september to june to teachers and summer. You can earn nearly the double from renting your flat on summe than you will earn if you rent it as a long term.
The only solution that I see here is regulation, but that won´t happen. It won´t happen because it´s too beneficial to the people with money. The main difference between here and the rest of Europe is that in the rest of Europe there are A LOT and I mean A LOT of public property for rent. And those prices are regulated. Here, the public rental is nearly testimonial. There are very few social housing. In the rest of Europe the prices are cheaper because they have to compete with public and cheaper prices.
Sorry for the wall text and I apologize for any mistakes that I have made here. English is not my mother language
todo la razon tienes
@Konietzko Wow thank you for the insights.
Italian here.
Tourism
Expensive Italian tourism = low paid jobs and mostly temporary and illegal here in Italy (mostly in the South).
Social housing
Basically non existent.
The situation here is even worse than in Spain.
@@strikedn Italians must be nice people; they haven't attacked any tourists yet :)
Very interesting response which gets to the heart of the matter