Poor Tourist? No thanks!

Tourism-phobia is growing in Europe and poor tourists will suffer

First it’s immigrants, now it’s tourists. From Barcelona to Berlin, locals ¹have had it with visitors, particularly poor ones, which, of course, are in the majority.

Tourism brings Spain 11% of its GDP while Amsterdam earns €80 million a year from tourists looking for Dutch ²charm and coffee shops where they can smoke marijuana without having the police breathing down their necks.

But poor tourists, staying at Airbnbs and simply ³hanging out with a cheap glass of wine or a hash cake, are no longer welcome, it seems. Europe’s most popular cities and beach resorts are experiencing a wave of discontent, culminating in ⁴demonstrations against tourists and, recently, an attack on a city tour bus in Barcelona which had its ⁵tires slashed and ‘Tourism Kills Neighborhoods’ painted across its windows.

Justified resentment?

Is this resentment justified or is it just a variation of xenophobia?

While digital platforms, such as Airbnb and Homeaway, have probably helped redistribute the ⁶spoils of tourism among the local population, they have also pushed up the cost of ⁷renting an apartment with some residents forced to vacate their rented homes in the summer so that owners can access the tourist market. Then there is the problem of holiday behavior. Brits on ⁸stag and hen weekends, for example, are not compatible with a peaceful, routine existence.

City tour bus attacked in Barcelona

Now politicians are introducing measures to ⁹discourage ¹⁰budget tourism and put an end to cheap accommodation. In Mallorca and Barcelona, digital platforms that advertise apartments in the region could be ¹¹fined up to €400,000. In Amsterdam, the city’s finance chief Udo Kock, wants to increase tax on tourism by €10 a day, making the poor tourist think twice before ¹²booking his flight.

The desirable tourist

“We need more people who actually spend money in the city,” says Kock. “We would prefer people who stay a couple of nights, who visit museums, have expensive meals at restaurants to people eating falafel while wandering around the red light district.”

Spain, ¹³meanwhile, wants to attract more Chinese tourists as they are famously ¹⁴big spenders. If there were 300,000 in 2015, the aim is to have 1 million by 2020.

But where does that leave the poor tourist? Almost 30% of UK nationals can’t pay for a week’s holiday as it is. That figure will surely increase with the new measures. The message? If you haven’t got ¹⁵money to burn, stay away!

AUDIO

TRANSLATIONS

¹to have had it with someone/ thing: estar harto de

²charm: encanto

³to hang out: pasar el tiempo

⁴demonstration: manifestación

⁵to slash tires: acuchillar los neumáticos

⁶spoils: botín

⁷to rent: alquilar

⁸stag and hen weekend: despedida de soltero

⁹discourage: desanimar

¹⁰budget tourism: turismo económico

¹¹to fine: multar

¹²to book: reservar

¹³meanwhile: mientras tanto

¹⁴big spender: gran derrochador

¹⁵money to burn: dinero para quemar