Water guns are back squirting at unsuspecting tourists in Barcelona. About a thousand Spaniards marched to demand a rethink of an economic model they believe is fueling a housing crunch and erasing the character of their city on Sunday.
At least some of the protestors know it’s the fault of companies like airbnb and similar, and are advocating for restricting them(which is already in the works and was announced last month). They mostly want to limit the amount of private residences being rented out to tourists, to get more reasonable number of visitors.
The ones running around with water pistols and blaming most things on tourists, don’t understand very basic economics. Because while cutting off most tourism might indeed lower housing cost quite a bit. It will also massively lower the demand for jobs, salaries will plummet, etc., because so much of their local economy is tied to tourism. So relatively speaking many wont notice a big difference in percentage of salary spent on housing, if they block most tourism.
Tourists don’t necessarily bring that much money to the local economy. Most of the money will be spent on accommodation, which often belongs to people outside the local economy.
At least some of the protestors know it’s the fault of companies like airbnb and similar, and are advocating for restricting them(which is already in the works and was announced last month). They mostly want to limit the amount of private residences being rented out to tourists, to get more reasonable number of visitors.
The ones running around with water pistols and blaming most things on tourists, don’t understand very basic economics. Because while cutting off most tourism might indeed lower housing cost quite a bit. It will also massively lower the demand for jobs, salaries will plummet, etc., because so much of their local economy is tied to tourism. So relatively speaking many wont notice a big difference in percentage of salary spent on housing, if they block most tourism.
Tourists don’t necessarily bring that much money to the local economy. Most of the money will be spent on accommodation, which often belongs to people outside the local economy.