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Comment by msoad | Hacker News Reader

I'm planning to visit Barcelona. Seeing all those anti-tourist signs makes me wonder if I'll be welcome there.

It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

Yes, just imagine that a city tries to deal with being overrun. They don't hate the tourists, they try to stay as organized as they can.

There is such a thing as being too popular and the tourists converging on Barcelona are starting to make life for the people that live there harder and harder (rising rents, for once thing).

You'll be more than welcome in Barcelona, it's a fantastic place to visit though you'll have to count with insane waiting times at the various 'sights' that are on every tourists 'must see' list.

But try to play by the rules if you can.

I'm sure you are welcoming, but when the streets are painted with anti tourist messaging, then "you'll be more than welcome" sounds a bit hollow.

I've been in Barcelona multiple times over the last few years and it's one of my favorite cities. There are few places where the locals are as accommodating towards tourists but there are limits to how big a proportion of tourists : citizens you can have before there have to be some rules.

The fact that rent prices have jumped up tremendously to the point where locals are pushed out of Barcelona to make way for yet more professionally run AirBnB hotels (which are open 24x7 and all year round) does not help either.

If you see this as 'anti-tourist' imagine that the town or city where you currently live becomes the next hot thing in tourism and you'll be forced to go live somewhere else, or it will be impossible for you to get a spot on the beach in your city and so on. Sooner or later you too would be a big proponent of some reasonable restrictions.

I've seen some incredibly rude and downright criminal things in and near Barcelona on account of people who were just there for a few days, if anything the population is very restrained in how they are dealing with this, especially because it is for a large fraction of them their daily bread and butter.

But I'm really not surprised by what is happening there, the same is happening in many other tourist spots the world over (Amsterdam being another one, for instance).

I've lived in a handful of "next hot thing" towns. In the United States and Canada and have yet to see anti-tourist stories that seem to originate out of parts of Europe.

Which "next hot thing" touristic towns are there in USA and Canada?

Paris, Texas!

The streets aren't painted with tourist messaging. Some streets have some anti-tourist graffiti. Teenage edge-lord shitheads are a world-wide phenomenon. If you don't want to visit Barcelona because of some graffiti, you'd better stay inside your house 24/7 in Chicago for fear of being shot.

You won't find anti-tourist graffiti in Chicago, New York, LA, San Francisco, or Las Vegas.

Sorry, but Chicago and LA aren't of the same "caliber" as Barcelona is, when it comes to "tourist city". Unless you've been to Paris in August or Barcelona...any time of year....you don't know what I mean.

Of course it's not weird to see tourists in NYC or San Fran but tourists are literally everywhere in popular European cities. In Paris, in the summer, it feels like most of Japan and China decided to move there.

I've been in brew pubs in Barcelona where American English is coming out of 50% of the patrons.

So, no, it just doesn't compare.

You will be welcomed in the city. I'm an expat living in Barelona for the last 7 years and in my experience tourists have always been welcomed. The local exasperation is against rising rent prices, which can be linked to the high increment of unlicensed apartments being rented out for tourism... personally I've got nothing about the sharing economy, but in my experience most of the flats I've seen are being rented out "professionally" meaning they are not being shared. I understand this is a limited sample, but if it is representative of the larger set then the story that AirBnb is helping Barcelona households make an extra income would not stand, and it would rather be a small number of people making a killing out of unlicensed apartment renting. The easiest solution would be for AirBnB to release audited data and prove that it is in fact helping small households the most and not a small number of people. (Keep in mind that hotel capacity is still able to cope with current levels of tourism, except during the Mobile World Congress)

I don't live in Barcelona, but the well-being of a city residents is more important then the well-being of its visitors.

They are the ones that have to live with the consequences.

Don't worry. You'll be welcome. There are tons of tourists in the beach areas and these areas are slowly eating into the surrounding. That's where the tension comes because prices shoot up and regular people are squeezed out.

Source: I live there.

Honestly though, Barcelonetans get huffy if they see anyone from a different barrio.

This is a common sentiment, but it's misplaced. Cities don't speak with a single voice; it only takes one or two malcontents to make a statement that hits the news. They don't speak for everyone, or a majority, or even necessarily a significant minority.

I've traveled pretty widely and experienced a small amount of mistreatment. In Oaxaca, some faceless person threw a rock at me from a building across the street (missed, fortunately). That doesn't change the fact that almost everyone I met in Oaxaca was wonderful and I look forward to going back.

I've been to Barcelona recently. I have friends who live there. It's a pretty great place to be a tourist! Although personally, I'd recommend the north (especially Pamplona & Logroño) because the wine is better and cheaper :-)

> it only takes one or two malcontents

You are going to enjoy this link from Nicholas Taleb. I also recommend his books!

Which link? The "halal lemonade" one? I'll save you the experience of reading Taleb's smug, overwrought writing, stickfigure.

The article's point is that in matters of low importance, an intolerant minority can force the majority to adopt their viewpoint. The example is that since certifying lemonade as Halal is inexpensive, an intolerant minority that insist on it can cause all lemonade vendors in the UK to only sell Halal lemonade. As usual, there is no model provided and it's told in a "just-so story" format, with some gratuitous mockery of academics, notwithstanding the fact he's an academic.

I live in the touristic center of Barcelona (since one year), because of my job.

Income from tourists is not linear result of tourists number. The number of hotels, size of beaches and amount of places to do things is limited. The widths of streets is very limited, especially near Las Ramblas and Barri Gothic. I love this city and want people enjoy it, as much as I do. But if we overcrowd it, nobody will.

And I'm considering moving to Barcelona and I'm happy they aren't letting all the vacancies in the good parts be snapped up by full time AirBnB renters.

> It's funny how people of a city who earn lots of money from tourists hate the tourists this much!

It is not hate and the ones earning the tourism money are not the majority of people living and working in the city

Worry more about pickpockets :) Barcelona was pretty friendly when I was there.

Heh heh, true! Just returned from my month-long vacation in Portugal and Spain, and Barcelona was the only place where pickpockets tried to steal my cellphone (it was in the metro, I noticed it and moved away from the pickpocket, who promptly left the train). Not particularly noteworthy to me: pickpockets are very common where I live as well.

It's not anti-tourism, and your snide attitude does not serve you well. Barcelona is certainly the single nicest city I have ever visited or worked in. I fully support the residents defending themselves against parasitical freeloaders, as opposed to the fair players who are genuinely renting out space in their own homes on an occasional basis.

I've just been there. You'll feel welcome. Of all the cities I visited in Spain, Barcelona was definitely the most "touristy" (whether that's a good thing depends on what you except from your visit).

You're very welcome to visit Barcelona! Please excuse those radicals, they don't represent us :-)

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