96 images Created 26 Jun 2019
I Love Barcelona
Mass tourism is a relatively recent phenomenon. Cheap flight tickets, a global culture encouraging people to experience the world first-hand, and a growing middle class in countries like China, have converged to create a booming business focused on the entertainment and the mass consumption of millions of tourists travelling all over the world.
The tourism boom in Barcelona has turned the capital of Catalonia into the fourth most visited city in Europe (after London, Paris and Rome). In the last 25 years the number of tourists has multiplied by twenty, reaching 30 million visitors in 2017. Today, Barcelona is a first-rate inbound mass tourism destination on a global level.
Tourism, the so-called “industry of the 21st century”, has experienced massive growth in Barcelona, and due to this massification the city is gradually losing its social networks, its genuineness and its dynamism–precisely the ingredients promoted by the tourism sector.
In the last three decades, the inhabitants of Barcelona have witnessed the liberalisation of the licenses of hotels in the overcrowded Ciutat Vella district; the exponential and uncontrolled growth of the number of tourist apartments–with the subsequent pressure to increase rent prices and the progressive expulsion of the working classes from the neighbourhoods coveted by speculation; the overexploitation of the monumental zones and the privatisation of public space; the aggravation of environmental pollution due to tourist coaches and cruise ships; the impact of mass tourism on the–hardly protected–traditional and local businesses; and, last but not least, job insecurity associated with the tourism industry.
Tourist saturation is a shared responsibility. Municipal and regional governments, as well as the tourist agents of the host destinations, need to become aware that there are limits to growth, and to make sure that the number of visitors is in line with the capacities of the destination. The well-being of the residents should have priority over the needs of the sector’s global operators. According to the social movements the city is home to, a clear commitment to touristic degrowth is imperative.
The project “I love Barcelona” was photographed in 12 of Barcelona’s neighbourhoods, in the districts Ciutat Vella, Gràcia, L’Eixample and Sants-Montjuïc. (Traslation Julia Egger)
The tourism boom in Barcelona has turned the capital of Catalonia into the fourth most visited city in Europe (after London, Paris and Rome). In the last 25 years the number of tourists has multiplied by twenty, reaching 30 million visitors in 2017. Today, Barcelona is a first-rate inbound mass tourism destination on a global level.
Tourism, the so-called “industry of the 21st century”, has experienced massive growth in Barcelona, and due to this massification the city is gradually losing its social networks, its genuineness and its dynamism–precisely the ingredients promoted by the tourism sector.
In the last three decades, the inhabitants of Barcelona have witnessed the liberalisation of the licenses of hotels in the overcrowded Ciutat Vella district; the exponential and uncontrolled growth of the number of tourist apartments–with the subsequent pressure to increase rent prices and the progressive expulsion of the working classes from the neighbourhoods coveted by speculation; the overexploitation of the monumental zones and the privatisation of public space; the aggravation of environmental pollution due to tourist coaches and cruise ships; the impact of mass tourism on the–hardly protected–traditional and local businesses; and, last but not least, job insecurity associated with the tourism industry.
Tourist saturation is a shared responsibility. Municipal and regional governments, as well as the tourist agents of the host destinations, need to become aware that there are limits to growth, and to make sure that the number of visitors is in line with the capacities of the destination. The well-being of the residents should have priority over the needs of the sector’s global operators. According to the social movements the city is home to, a clear commitment to touristic degrowth is imperative.
The project “I love Barcelona” was photographed in 12 of Barcelona’s neighbourhoods, in the districts Ciutat Vella, Gràcia, L’Eixample and Sants-Montjuïc. (Traslation Julia Egger)
