'Gringos leave': Protests targeting travelers rise as overtourism anger grows

cub Gucci @lemmy.today 4d ago
Hmm... Maybe, just maybe, the problem is not the tourists, but ever increasing rent?
I remember the first years of Airbnb - met a ton of lovely hosts, lived in their abodes with them in the next room. BnB alike. Now, Airbnb provides "hotels" which are in direct competition with long term rentals.
This is not a tourist problem, never has been.
- Devolution @lemmy.world 4d ago
  Blaming who needs to be blamed is too much work. So let's blame tourists, immigrants, minorities, etc. Doesn't matter the country.
  People are too fucking stupid and spineless to blame the rich.
  
  Laser @feddit.org 4d ago
  The difference is that tourists are not a somehow disadvantaged group. My livelihood isn't endangered because I can't go to a tourist spot in Spain somewhere without being heckled (though, when I actually was in Spain, everyone was nice, but Madrid isn't that much of a tourist spot compared to others).
  Also, in some cases, it isn't "the rich" – I too love to point out the issues they cause – but sometimes, it's just ordinary people hoping to make a quick buck buying up property to rent it out on AirBNB. Yes, it's also rich foreigners getting property everywhere for themselves, which is a problem. But "the rich" don't bother with AirBNB, they just build hotels, and these normally don't compete with normal housing.
  
  ZILtoid1991 @lemmy.world 4d ago
  Because they vow to be rich too. If you wish away someone else's Lamborgini, you'll also have to give up your own dreams of owning a Lamborgini (Kit cars are better, but would be hard to pull off with the modern no right to repair mentality).
- phutatorius @lemmy.zip 4d ago
  This is not a tourist problem, never has been.
  Tourists are one source of the demand that drives up the rents. So yeah, they're part of the problem.
  
  cub Gucci @lemmy.today 3d ago
  A valid point. But how are you going to decrease the number of tourists?
  Well, Bali authorities, for example, decided to decrease the number of tourists by allowing only wealthy tourists
  https://asiatimes.com/2021/09/bali-wants-rich-not-poor-tourists-after-the-plague/
  https://www.businessinsider.com/tourist-visa-bali-wealthy-digital-nomad-remote-work-10-years-2022-10
  https://www.euronews.com/travel/2025/02/27/bali-floats-steep-daily-tourist-tax-amid-concerns-over-mass-tourism-and-unruly-visitors
  So, is your suggestion similar to this - allow only extra rich people to places like Vienna, Barcelona, and Bali?
- oni ᓚᘏᗢ @lemmy.world 4d ago
  It's a gentrification thing.
SoftestSapphic @lemmy.world 3d ago
"Poor people tricked into being racist instead of demanding housing as a human right."
eezeebee @lemmy.ca 4d ago
Makes me wonder if people who would have otherwise travelled to the US but decided not to are upping the numbers elsewhere.
- ohshit604 @sh.itjust.works 4d ago
  In July of 2024, protestors in Barcelona, Spain, threw items, sprayed travelers with water guns and canned drinks, and used police-style tape to block hotel entrances and sidewalk cafes. The message from the crowd was clear: “Tourists go home.”
  This certainly goes further back than you may think.
  
  eezeebee @lemmy.ca 4d ago
  Following protests throughout Spain in 2024, tourist arrivals increased 4.1% in the first seven months of 2025, according to its National Statistics Institute.
  And it's going up still, despite it being an issue before this year. It's interesting that there's still an increase despite the pushback.
  
  phutatorius @lemmy.zip 4d ago
  That specific protest was on La Rambla, which has been completely blighted by unconstrained tourism and which has had continuing problems with young male drunk tourists harassing locals, loudly partying all night, preventing the neighbors from sleeping, and generally behaving like arseholes. I go to Barcelona frequently and as long you're not being a complete skidmark, the vast majority of locals don't mind. As a matter of principle, I never use AirBnB.
  The bigger source of protests in Barcelona was the phenomenon of scumbag landlords evicting local people and then hiring out the places on AirBnB. That became a big local political issue. Whole neighborhoods were being strip-mined in that way.
- WanderingThoughts @europe.pub 4d ago
  That's what's being reported. Tourisme to USA is down with 8% and everywhere else in the world it's going up. Europe is breaking records this year.
  Then you have conferences and conventions that moved out of the USA. Lots of anecdotes of an empty Vegas strip, guides in cities cutting back, airports not that busy anymore, etc in part because Americans can afford less, places for greedy/private equity and foreigners staying away more.
  And next year might be worse.
- SGGeorwell @lemmy.world 4d ago
  That’s a hilarious question to ponder

'Gringos leave': Protests targeting travelers rise as overtourism anger grows

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