The Reality of ANTI-TOURISM Protests in Spain (our experience)
5 million people more than the last year if we don't put a limit Spanish people is not going to be allowed to live in this country you've likely heard about the anti-tourism protests in Spain from local spring Travelers with water guns to demanding the government to limit the amount of tourists permitted to the country each year and you might be asking yourself is it really all that bad well it is and as an American living in Spain I feel the need to delve deeper into the problems that mass tourism is bringing into this country that I love so much and at the same time I feel like I'm somehow part of the problem so in order to do this topic Justice I need a Local's opinion that's why I'm going to discuss this topic with a very special person we're ready for welcome! hello, hello! okay so as many of you know this is my boyfriend Pedro, he's an economist and he's from Gadis and actually we were recently in Gadis for vacation and we were at the beach one day in cadis on the beach a lot of people sell some different Mojitos maybe some snacks right towels stuff on the beach and we saw this guy selling fresh fish and shrimp so we went up to him to buy some and you started talking to this guy and the conversation made me feel a little bit sad yeah because well he he was talking about the the cost of living in tarfa actually was increasing every single year and it's so expensive to be like have like a normal life there so it's so sad because it's happening a lot in C I read the an article that said that like the 50% of thean people canot have like a vacation here yeah holiday here in their own land yeah that's something that you said that really shocked me you said we like we're from Andalusia we can't even afford to have a vacation on our own beaches it's impossible yeah with the money that we earn with the possibility that we have now it's totally impossible so ironically when we were buying shrimp and some fresh fish from this guy I looked right next to him and there was a British family eating pizza on the beach and it's like so ironic this guy is talking about how they can barely he can barely afford rent or afford to eat out at a restaurant or go on vacation and then we see International families eating pizza on the beach local F and so I I looked up a statistic that actually the top two countries that bring tourists are the UK and France so about 17 million Brits come to Spain every year and 11.8 million French people come to Spain every year for vacation and I remember on the beach I asked you what do you think of these kind of tourists I mean Americans British and French tourists like how is that affecting local life well it depends uh it's not talking about nationalities to be honest I think the nationalities doesn't matter here because you can be a good person being from the United States being from America being from ger but the problem is the the age and the tourism the age yeah what do you mean the problem is that when you get older you when you get older you you want something else you want to discover new culture you want to discover you want to go to mums party also but you want to like a more culture travle you know but when you are younger you want party that's true everyone wants true it's true so problem also that in Barcelona has been making a lot of troubles is that the age of the storms is lower and people come here to not all but also if you came here to get drunk and to destroy and to not appreciate the culture is those is this kind of story that Spain has to try to avoid but it's impossible I can talk about Americans who come here because in the US we can't go to bars or drink legally until we're 21 yeah and I came here when I was 18 so little old Emma the first thing she did was go to the club go to a a bar because I can't do that in my country you know you can in your country you can here you have cheap alol and you can ask to to disco yeah you are not going to be here to like to go to see I don't know whatever a museum or something Museum whatever no we going to go to a CL yeah but it's assemble but the problem is that this kind of tourists make an impact that it's really bad so comp so we're talking about two different type of Tourism right like party tourism which I mean has its obvious consequences remember last year when there was a game there was some soccer game and thousands soccer okay a football soccer match yeah and I don't remember what team it was I think it was a team from the UK and thousands of people came from the UK right and the alamaa which is like the part alternative Street here was so dirty the next day just full of garbage and pee and alcohol after this game after all these people came to party they came for like one or two days and then trashed the city and went home yeah like this isn't your garbage can that's the problem that's the problem that's that's one of the things that GES of the totems yeah that they don't appreciate that they came here to see whatever uh food match or or I don't know to go to magalou that they a lot of people magalou is a a city from Catalonia a lot of people came to from the UK and also from Germany to to go to par to the only thing that they do here is go to part to be honest yeah and drink yeah so this is the Tourist that we will try to avoid but what about cultural tourism like people who actually come and go to museums and that is most respectful tourism but also follow the same problem the root of of the problem is the same whatever the the quality of Tourism yeah the problem is that the cost of the of rent a house is increasing every single year in Spain according to the the Sev because we live in Seva the last year s lost like 5% of the E population wow locals right locals 5% right to another areas because you have to understand and you are a fam a forigner you have to understand that if you have a house and you can rent and you can earn like in five days like the money that you will earn in a month in a month in two months obviously you are going to course yeah that's is true but the problem is that the salary here are not increasing at the same level as a tourism yeah and I read the other day an article that to be alone in seill you have to earn like €2,500 to be alone to live alone right to live alone yeah do people earn that every month here is that normal no no I don't think so no no no no no it's impossible so the thing that is happening is that people have has to leave their own houses to or it's like you can say that gentrification right yeah of the people to to allow to this to be in the center of actually I found a statistic that says that the number of Airbnb style rental properties in Sevilla has increased by 32% in one year yeah yeah it's crazy but the problem here and we are going we can't see the T as a negative thing to be honest we have to change our Prisma because for example the last year the seven not the 17 no the yeah 177% of the employee that has been created is related with the tourism 70% 17 17 or 17 17 okay of employe created in3 was related with does mean that is allow to the people to come to the center and expose us no but the thing is that we have to find an intermediate point where people here can live with and with the salary with their own salaries the tourist can here without damage damage our economy it's not damage but well I've read an article online about this topic and I want to read some quotes to you yeah okay so the first one the current tourism model is creating uncontrolled multiplication of tourist accommodation which brings exorbitant increase in the cost of housing the deterioration of historical Heritage and the deg ation of the city and its transformation into a theme park without Soul or true life yeah yeah about that if you you have a work in Center most of the time you listen a lot of languages that are not Spanish like you feel like in Bristol or something like that and I have never think about it but it's like a big Park yeah it's like people can hear but doesn't understand why why so important for us or so right now the government are like working in to create areas tourism and to put like areas into the city with a high impact of Tourism okay but it's not going to work until I don't know to be honest I think that this is a problem that is going to will have years to solve because what do people want to see people want to see the main attractions yeah so are they going to book a hotel close to the main attractions or in this special area and it's kind of ghetto to be honest yeah those are going to be like kind of ghettos I think that is not going to war to be honest they right now they are trying to work on it I think that you have to put a limit what are the population of the United States right now I think 500 million people yeah I think I should know that 333 million 333 million in the US and Spain 47.8 so the last year United States received 3.8 million of Tourism 3.8 million and Spain received how much 85.1 million with a population of 47.8 people right at least the double double the amount of tourists than even locals close to double right and that's actually a big difference that I was thinking about while doing research people who go to the US are likely people who want to move there and make a life there people who come to Spain a lot of them do hello want to live here but a lot of them just come to be there for a few days or a few weeks and go back because you here well we are not a big economy and the thing is we are what we are so we are not one of the most richest country in Europe we are in the middle okay if for example you are from Norway and you have a really massive salary because they earn a lot of money you prefer to live in Norway rather than in the south of Europe because you are going to earn more money but about tourism it can be like only talk about tourism it's related with a lot of things yeah and also the problem with the with the houses here is also so related with the problem of that to cover the demand of the house we need to construct more houses so it's not only tourism the problem that we are discussing there are lot of things to discuss around it like like for example they are discussing now we can discuss if the tourist have to pay a tax to come to Spain I think so yeah they should to cover right to cover things to Spanish people where to cover that whatever like in Portugal you have to pay tourist tax yeah also I in Morocco we have yes also for allow to construct houses for the people or or whatever well we can discuss about why the salaries here are lower than in in the north of Europe but this is another thing but this is the main reason because people came here because well say with the money that I have in Germany for example to have a holiday I can pay the double in Spain the double holidays I can oh you can okay I can spend four weeks of course of course your money goes a longer way here yeah we should try to avoid the dependency of the tourism because when when we was in the pandemic and spay close their froners Frontiers Frontiers borders borders yeah ER there was a big trouble restaurant the and I think that we have we should try to to prepare another like another areas to prepare another things another industry to depend on develop another industry develop develop or or whatever but try to avoid the tourism try to avoid depending solely on tourism it's not only but it represent the 12% of the GDP that is too much we have not talk about mayorca and I saw also protests in the Canary Islands yeah in canland in ceville so there's been protest in major cities yeah the problem here that is that the tourist we need we Spain need the tourism need need it Spain need tourist but tourist cannot destroy this country and I'm not talking about museums I'm not talking about Cathedrals I'm not talking about City I'm talking about also the ecosystem of this way because we receive close to the double to the population and that's mean the double of water the double of electricity the double of emission of CO2 CO2 CO2 to the atmosphere so not double well because no not all have the same car not the same living but with airplanes and those kind of things but this the tourist has also a really huge impa in the environment and I think that this a good point that we have no disc Scouts about it how is that damage the damaging in the ecosystem for example the Mediterranean the lot of rash that they throw to the whatever that's a good point waste the waste and also the droughts because of the water the lack of water y so this a really huge trouble and I think that it's not going to be a easy solution from here to the years I think that we have to work in a few directions one of these is GI tax I think that the tax tax the tourist tax is going to be released like the next year or something I think it's for the best I think for the rest we we should construct more houses for Spanish people affordable houses affordable houses yeah according to the salaries here and in a way we should try to avoid those kind of to those kind of bad touris the Destroyers which are different from partyers yeah the Destroyer I'm not talking about part you have a you can have a party with you be a good boy or whatever be a good boy I don't know I think so well yeah prob is a destroyer and also if for example you need to call an ambulance because you drink a lot of alcohol this UL has been paid with my taxes ta with my father the taxes with you whatever Spanish people that I'm pay in the Health Care System here so the year opportunity cost to receive one people get drunk and cannot pay another treatment yeah it's something to think about it so I want to read one more quote for you that's a little bit more hopeful right just to kind of end on a positive note right so the mayor of Barcelona recently said that by 2028 he would end apartment rentals for tourists by stopping short-term rental licenses for more than 10,000 Apartments yeah I think that is the way that well this is the way that the governments are going to follow like right to to reduce the license but the problem with this low is that you have to also this is for the house that that legally there you go also platforms allow to the people that's that from of Old Point of View you earn like an extra money with your house no but the those platform allow you or know to whatever to H to rent their houses yeah and room also so they are not going to have a license of Tourism for rent a a room they are going to try to catch them of course it's a good uh I don't know a good law a good alternative they are going to end with it yeah it's a huge huge problem and I think that it's going to be worse and worse everything every single year yeah because we think I read like in May the tourist was 10% higher than the last year in May May yeah than the last year so this is green every single year of course this this year we are going to be the number one country people I think and uh I I read say that English the like the projection the pro and we are going to be near of the 90 million people H next year right yeah close to wow yeah I mean you're already close to 90 85 million people No 5 million people more than the last year 5 million people we love it yeah I know we just love Spain I know that you love Spain you've been to the US you can see the difference there and I like it the us but you are a young country you don't have like those kind of thing that we have you have also the weather the people you don't have a lot of things yeah well that's another point but I don't know we have we should work on it because if we don't put a limit Spanish people cannot be well cannot be is not going to be allowed to live in this country it's not livable for locals anymore no and that's one side of the problem right it's like the gentrification and the housing costs but also we have to understand xenophobia and it's only understandable that people in Barcelona are shooting tourists with water guns if they can't afford their rent for example way that the police in mayorca cannot afford the rent of the houses well it's a a c okay but the other day I read another article that people from Galia that they they said that they pre is for for them was cheaper to go to Japan than go than go from to C yeah this is crazy but it's true for us are going to be like going to Morocco going to another country more cheaper than because Portugal is not cheaper also you can criticize the tourism but also tourism give you another things for example open your mind here of course of course of course also allows you I think is a really good thing to know other cultures without visiting other countries like for example here in se you have like language exchange change yeah H that if you are like practicing or you are learing or you are whatever you can meet people and if you can afford travel to United Kingdom for example to the United States you can speak with that's true English people yeah so they have proos also also International Love so yeah International Love we are mixing right now but H well they have Pro also you can afford the tourist The Tourist and mass massification gentrification cusing problems of course just like anywhere right it's a normal phenomenon but it's so extreme in Sp Spain it's yeah it's extreme it will happen the same in copag of course it will it's happening the same in Berlin of course but in Spain it's extremely it's extremely so we have to work on it without xenophobia without those kind of things shooting people with water guns you have to understand you can't live in your own land I get it it's like for example if you can afford a house in the US because a lot of Spanish people come okay well not because of a lot of people from Spain but yeah I mean gentrification yeah in any big city so we talked a little bit about what the government's thinking of doing of some possible solutions but what can we as tourists do to be more respectful and be more responsible and respect your culture go to your home come on be Australia I don't know what can you do limit yourself like limit yourself as in don't drink so much that you have to call an ambulance to pick you up that's a good point I think that you can drink you can live the spanic culture but before came to a country in whatever not only in Spain in every single country that you are thinking to to visit you have to learn about a little bit about it little bit about their culture about their people and also ER I think that is a little thing but try to learn a few words with the their language like a few like hola like whatever the most basic yeah a few words then when you're in a country you have to think that you are in another house of another people like for example if you are Vis visiting to your a friend of yours so in this house you have to respect the house you can do whatever you think you can go you can go to into the kitchen but you have to respect the house I think that is the same here you have to respect the country respect but live yes of course you are on holidays here you on your holidays enjoy enjoy spend the money that you want to spend please spend please if you have on a serious note be curious travel into know the people talk with the people learn a little bit of the of the languages learn about The Cure try with respect to the people and with this with education and respectful you are going to have very very good holidays here and if you can one of one thing try to find places that legally has like license for tourism good point like well everyone here have you can have an extra money or whatever it's okay but the point is that you are legally doing it you you are going to pay your taxes you are going to have a good service for you as a tourist and you will be contributing contributing to the to be more legal to do it more legal learn a little bit about the culture yeah learn a little bit of Spanish yeah treat people with respect do respectful activities yeah right what else and the last one yeah the legal try to engage in tourism in a legal way yeah I'm know talking about using like not using the apps because they are really good to travel but try to to search and try to use like hotels if you can afford it or a tourist apartment have license those kind of things are respectful right yeah but I think on Airbnb you have to have a tourist license I think so I know the process isn't easy no to put your your your place on Airbnb I think in the past was was easier it was easier yeah now they're putting a lot of loss if you like this video give it a like subscribe to my channel because we have many videos talking about life in the US talking about life in Spain and also next week we're going to share a vlog of our camping trip in GIS so go check that out and see you next week bye it's been wi up
2024-08-11 17:12
