Protesters in Barcelona have sprayed visitors with water as part of a demonstration against mass tourism.
Demonstrators marching through areas popular with tourists on Saturday chanted “tourists go home” and squirted them with water pistols, while others carried signs with slogans including “Barcelona is not for sale.”
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the city in the latest demonstration against mass tourism in Spain, which has seen similar actions in the Canary Islands and Mallorca recently, decrying the impact on living costs and quality of life for local people.
The demonstration was organised by a group of more than 100 local organizations, led by the Assemblea de Barris pel Decreixement Turístic (Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth).
My personal experiences of this have been being yelled “Go home, tourist!” when I make innevitable driving mistakes in a rental car, while in an area that clearly needs all the tourism money it can get.
People new to or unfamiliar with their “home town” often don’t realise tourism is part of the backbone they enjoy, even if a muscle gets pulled now and again.