After a dramatic rescue of a tourist-serving essential service (an ice cream van), who can doubt the admirable heroism of sea-going splurgers from outa town? Here’s an example in Cornwall, UK, where gratitude was suitably expressed by a purveyor of frosty, sand-sprinkled treats in multiple flavours.
There is good reason to praise the help of arriviste beach-wallowing cone-gobblers. Invasive foreigners or not, they nonetheless assisted when an entire business enterprise (the ice cream van) was battered by waves as it launched off the beach and into the briny. Read more in The Guardian: Tourists rush to save ice cream van washed out to sea in Cornwall
Not all localities greet package-tour beach bums with welcoming warmth, however. One of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations (Barcelona, Spain) has been helping to prove that tourist hospitality is damaging to local citizens. Sadly, armed gangs in Barcelona, Spain have been witnessed as they gunned down helpless tourists.
Choosing a somewhat less serious note, based on squirts, not bullets, Barcelona is only one of a number Spanish tourist destinations suffering the serious social and economic stress that comes with tourism. Travel to see the sights has roared back as COVID threats have diminished.
Cruise ships deliver less and less financial benefit to heavily visited communities such as Barcelona, beyond dispensing crowds of sightseers by the thousands to crowd residents off their own sidewalks, highways and byways. (A declining quality of life is one of the complaints Spanish citizens have aimed at tourists over the past year.)
One of the greatest problems for local residents: short stay rentals have been capturing substantially more money from overnight stays by tourists or business people, compared to weekly or monthly rent paid by local residents.
According to official figures, the average spend of one of Barcelona’s 23 million overnight guests was €500 in 2023. Not all of that goes to accommodation, but it helps to understand why Barcelona has been encouraging visitors, until now.
Will your community and your way of life and indeed your own housing become threatened by short stay visitors who drive up the price that landlords charge?
Read more about the problems that Spain is facing, as well as the steps Barcelona is currently preparing to take for its own citizens, at CNN: Barcelona anti-tourism protesters fire water pistols at visitors
