Caporegime
I'm going to carry a water pistol filled with urine and liquid mace when I next go to Spain. Problem solved.
Mallorca protests.
- Thread starter sprite1275
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I carry a spiked bat, never have any issues.
Caporegime
Negan on tour.
Associate
There’s not much going on in ski resorts apart from skiing 4 or 5 months of the year. The population of these resorts is probably tiny out of season
I’d guess the locals resent what they see as over-tourism/tourist saturation, and the cash generated not benefitting Majorca/Majorcans
This assumes those affected have had some sort of choice, i.e. decided to live somewhere that's a hot-spot. Imagine if wherever you live right now suddenly (or gradually over time) becomes massively desirable as a destination for one reason or another. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to be a bit put out that for a limited time each year their cost of living sky rockets, and in other periods properties are standing empty despite local people being desperate for somewhere to stay.
I do understand your sentiment in some circumstances, but it's not as simple as saying 'well you shouldn't live somewhere nice then'. If your family, friends, everything you know is tied to a particular location it's not that simple to just move somewhere else.
Don
I think ski resorts are slightly different, the locals enjoy the facilities on their doorstep, but it’s a case of “it’s s local shop for local people”. I remember a chat with a restaurant owner a few years back and they were quite upfront that they wouldn’t be able to keep things so “cheap“ if they didn’t resort to illegal Mexicans in the back. It’s now Argentinians/Chilieans. It keeps the prices down so locals don’t care. But since Airbnb took off it’s sucked up property that’s priced locals out and cause issues with seasonal workers being forced further from the resort and making it a less attractive work destination.
There are multiple threads on this over on Reddit where Spanish people are chiming in and the anger seems to be normal residential properties being used as AirBnBs mostly (and I’ve seen a couple of mentions of the low wages in Spain and their reduced buying power vs foreign investors)
I think spraying tourists or trying to make them feel unwelcome is a step too far but I can understand their frustrations
I think spraying tourists or trying to make them feel unwelcome is a step too far but I can understand their frustrations
Soldato
It's a tricky line. I imagine the water pistols are the result of things bubbling over to such an extreme that people want to take it into their own hands, similar to the BLM riots. The governments have probably enjoyed the money coming in for such a long time they've been desperate for anything. Especially after Covid when things would've stopped and it's now gone too far and having a hugely detrimental impact for the locals and forcing them out. Especially for somewhere like the Spanish Islands which are pretty small so not there's a huge choice of property in the first place.
I'm partially part of the issue where i am too. There's a mixed reaction where some people seem annoyed at the expats from all over moving to the area with more money and building property all over the place or buying up housing and pushing up the prices of what is around. Some are against it, and others seem happy of the increased work opportunities/income. The government seem to be a little more careful though with specific building restrictions to keep the rural areas rural and requiring 10,000m2 of land as a minimum to build a house to avoid over population.
I'm partially part of the issue where i am too. There's a mixed reaction where some people seem annoyed at the expats from all over moving to the area with more money and building property all over the place or buying up housing and pushing up the prices of what is around. Some are against it, and others seem happy of the increased work opportunities/income. The government seem to be a little more careful though with specific building restrictions to keep the rural areas rural and requiring 10,000m2 of land as a minimum to build a house to avoid over population.
You’ve got to sympathise. I was chatting to a restaurant owner in Mallorca last year, nice chap, said his retired parents were there helping him out because they cant get seasonal staff, the workers simply cant afford to live or rent in the area. Said he’ll potentially only get another summer out of the business with his parents aging, overheads too high etc. He put it down to property prices being driven up by short term lets, Brits/Germans buying up apartments/villas and leaving nothing for the rest of them.
Double edged sword, really.
Double edged sword, really.
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It's always weird when the defence is 'but muh tourist monehs' only to not dig deeper and see the locals aren't getting any of it and in fact are losing money constantly to the cruise ships internal economy (they have loads of shops, restaurants and events...so whats the point of bothering with onshore consumption).
Europe should just outright ban cruise ships then also ban airBnB, problem solved.
Europe should just outright ban cruise ships then also ban airBnB, problem solved.
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Soldato
It is though. If you can get work, the only real barrier is a mental one.
It's not quite as simple as that when the rental properties are empty half the year (e.g. outside of the tourist season).
Soldato
And that's the big issue. In the past tourism was served by hotels/apartment complexes and that was it, residential property was kept for residents. The money generally stayed local. Now lots of accommodation is owned by people from all over and so doesn't funnel down, combined with there being no accommodation for the residents to live in anymore.
It's classic short termism and as we're seeing now is hitting a failure point. The only real fixes are fairly radical ones like the Mayor of Barcelona is trying to push through with no tourism licences being approved or renewed. The reality is you probably need a portion of those to be available for tourism to continue and so it's a balancing act rather than going with an all or nothing approach, but i wouldn't want to be in their shoes.
It's classic short termism and as we're seeing now is hitting a failure point. The only real fixes are fairly radical ones like the Mayor of Barcelona is trying to push through with no tourism licences being approved or renewed. The reality is you probably need a portion of those to be available for tourism to continue and so it's a balancing act rather than going with an all or nothing approach, but i wouldn't want to be in their shoes.
To add, its also arrogant and shortsighted to say ‘well, we wont go anymore, lets see how they do without all our tourism money’.. what about those with ambitions beyond tourism, those who want to become dentists, nurses, accountants, where will they live? Up and leave where their families have lived for centuries only to end up on our doorsteps… featuring on another episode of Tommy Robinson’s they’re taking over our towns and cities…
Caporegime
They aren't acquiescing to tourists, the are acquiescing to business. The reason tourists are being targeted is because they know that politicians and the elite have zero interest in making less money and doing whats best for their people. Its the same in the UK only we aren't worrying about tourism so much...
The only way these people can see of forcing their leaders to do something is to simply cut off the demand. It will work as well. They will suffer for it in the short term for sure but if it helps in the long term then its for the best.
Caporegime
It's not just Spain or it's islands, I had a long chat with our beach bar manager whilst staying at a hotel in Aghios Gordios, Corfu Greece last year, he lives on the island, has done all his life, and rents out some of his rooms not for tourists but for some of his colleagues at his hotel, the hotel itself had a wing closed to guests simply because it was the only way they could get seasonal staff to work there as rents during the summer season are way beyond their means! Not so much of a problem for this particular hotel as it was very large and could easily absorb the cost of housing staff, smaller hotels can't do this and are struggling to find seasonal staff.
He told me that a lot of workers who used to alternate around Greeces many islands during the summer now go to the mainland where - so far at least - staff accommodation is not a problem...
He told me that a lot of workers who used to alternate around Greeces many islands during the summer now go to the mainland where - so far at least - staff accommodation is not a problem...
Logically this is true of course, but it's not a viable answer for many. Personally moving elsewhere is exactly what I would do, but I know lots of people who would not cope if forced to move away from their home town and everything they knew.
You can take the hard-nosed view that is their own fault, which again is of course true, but there's a solvable problem there I think. I suspect the answer involves taxes and tariffs and would result in travel becoming more expensive, so would mean a change in our attitude (and perhaps our destinations) with regards to our holidays.
Would I be right in thinking those that are doing the water pistol thing don't work in the tourism industry ?
Those islands economies are pretty much all tourism, I have no doubt that some of their grievances are genuine, but how short-sighted do you have to be to take action that might well kill the entire economy on which your habitat exists. I expect that is also the case in Dubrovnik.
Not exactly the same with Barcelona, but no doubt a sizeable portion of the money spent in the city is from tourists.
Those islands economies are pretty much all tourism, I have no doubt that some of their grievances are genuine, but how short-sighted do you have to be to take action that might well kill the entire economy on which your habitat exists. I expect that is also the case in Dubrovnik.
Not exactly the same with Barcelona, but no doubt a sizeable portion of the money spent in the city is from tourists.
Yeah that's just it. In the long term, almost certainly counter-productive, but then so is over-tourism. I totally understand it, having lived in places which get inundated with 'undesirables' whenever the sun shines. But clearly a lot of these places wouldn't really exist without mass tourism. No easy answer.