Barcelona locals furious over tourism's socioeconomic, environmental 'impact on city and population'
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00:00This weekend, millions of people around the world are preparing to set off on their summer
00:04holidays.
00:05All about it in the middle right now of planning where they're going.
00:08This year is expected to be a record breaker for foreign travel.
00:11More than one and a half billion tourists due to travel, a large proportion in the next
00:16few weeks.
00:17And it is a uniquely 21st century phenomenon.
00:20Selfie culture too.
00:21One that has repercussions across the planet.
00:24Major cities like Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam.
00:27These images, in fact, from locals, those that are worried that it's eroding local culture.
00:32And this is what happened in Barcelona on Saturday.
00:38Well, we can see water pistols clearing tourists from tables.
00:44Let's bring in Daniel Pardo-Rivercoba, one of the protest organisers, member of the Assembly
00:50Neighbourhood for Tourism.
00:51Great to have you on the programme, Daniel.
00:53First of all, just explain what was behind the images we've just seen, the water pistol
00:58protests.
00:59Well, I'm sorry, because I can't see the images.
01:01I'm sure you've seen them this week.
01:04It's the same ones of people being cleared from tables and the water pistols in action.
01:08Well, I think it's much more interesting to talk about the images of thousands and thousands
01:15of people protesting against the protest.
01:20The images you're talking about, unluckily, is the one so many media are focusing on.
01:26Honestly, that's just an anecdote, a little accident that took place in that demonstration.
01:37And to us, it's, as I said, just an anecdote.
01:43It's just squirting some water on other people.
01:48I know that some people talked about this kind of violence.
01:53This seems really ridiculous to us.
01:56That's not violence.
01:57There are many kinds of violence, and the ones that the touristification process makes
02:03on the people and on the city of Barcelona are much harder.
02:09So to us, it's really surprising and kind of difficult to understand why everyone is
02:18talking about four water guns used by some people in the demonstration, which we don't
02:26think is bad.
02:28It's not what we organized, but each one is free to express themselves as they like, whenever
02:38it's not violent.
02:39This is not violence.
02:41So I'm sorry, but I can't really understand, and this is not only about you, it's about
02:47so many media, why the news is four people squirting water on some tourists and not the
02:55fact that there were around 50,000 people demonstrating against touristification process
03:03in Barcelona.
03:04Well, I'll tell you why it's a story, Daniel, and you're quite right.
03:08Any media that describes it as violence is ludicrous, of course, because it's water being
03:12sprayed on people.
03:13It's no more than that.
03:14But here's the thing.
03:15I just want to know, the images that we've seen, you know, we've had the tourism minister
03:20saying these are reprehensible, they're repulsive, but they were exaggerated by the media.
03:24And you're saying, actually, these were a small number of people, you've said four.
03:28The images we've seen is people being cleared from tables, people being moved.
03:32And I'd like to know if it was small, is it something that was apropos of nothing?
03:36Or did you plan this to say, actually, let's do this, this will get attention?
03:40Or did you organise the water pistols to be used?
03:43I'm sorry, I already said this to you, this was not planned by the organisation of the
03:53demonstration.
03:54We have nothing against it.
03:56I mean, we think that tourists are not the real responsible for the touristification
04:03process, and all the social and environmental impact it has on the city and its population.
04:12But we understand that some people turn against tourists, because finally, that's the face
04:20of touristification we know in the city.
04:23Unluckily, the people getting rich and making money on our suffering on the process of touristification,
04:31they don't come to see us.
04:33You can be sure that if they were, if they had been there.
04:40It gives you that, no, it gives you that platform, because of what's happened, because of the
04:45pickup and these images we've seen as the water pistols being used, to describe what
04:49it has been like.
04:50I've lived in Barcelona, I was a correspondent based in Catalonia for some time a few years
04:55ago.
04:56I've seen and witnessed change myself, but just describe to me the extent of the change
05:02you've seen over the years.
05:03When you think it began as well, just take me back a little bit, and how your life has
05:07changed and whether it's true to say culture has been eroded.
05:12So the thing is not that much about culture, it's about material conditions of life.
05:21It's about being kicked out of your home.
05:25It's about being kicked out of your neighborhood.
05:27It's about being kicked out of the city.
05:30It's about being exploited at tourism jobs.
05:36It's about not being able to walk, to go shopping, just the day-to-day shopping, because of two
05:47reasons.
05:48One of them is that streets and squares are crowded, and it's impossible to move in a
05:55good way, but also because the shops we went to disappeared, replaced by tourism shops
06:05and services that are absolutely useless for locals.
06:11It's also because the public transport network is also crowded by tourists, and buses just
06:20pass by, and they can't stop, and you can't take them.
06:25It's a whole list of impacts in the day-to-day life that makes that this activity of tourism
06:36industry in the city is absolutely incompatible with local life in the level it is nowadays.
06:45And you've put forward, Daniel, a number of things, haven't you, to say, here's a solution,
06:50look at this.
06:51Just tell me about a number of the issues on your manifesto to bring about some kind
06:54of change in Barcelona.
06:58Our proposal for changes is very clear, it's on the name of our assembly, and it is called
07:07Tourism Degrowth with Action, Tourism Activity and Mobility with Action, also very important
07:18of the way of tourism sector in the economy of the city, and diversification of economy
07:26in other sectors that are plus fair and compatible with life, because this one, it ain't at all.
07:36And we are just talking about the effect and the impacts on the city, but let me say something
07:42about the impacts on the planet.
07:45I mean, tourism is responsible for more than 12% of the emissions, of the CO2 emissions
07:53in the world.
07:55So it's just not possible to go on like that, it will crack down for sure, before or later.
08:03So what we're saying is, let's do it, planify, let's think about it before and how it must
08:10be done.
08:11Because if we don't think about it before, it will just be a world crisis that will attack
08:20mainly, several, the poorest ones.
08:24Daniel, great to talk to you, it's going to be one of our main issues tonight on our debate
08:29with four correspondents around the world, in the world this week, discussing exactly
08:32that, mass tourism.
08:33And I wish you weren't here in protest, great to have you, Daniel Pardo-Ribacoba.
08:40Stay with us here on France 24, we'll be back in just a tick.