Do people from Barcelona hate tourists?

Spain has one of the largest tourist economies in the world. The tourism industry started growing in 1970's when dictator Franco opened the country to foreigners. And now, more than 50,000,000 people came to Spain every year. Tourism brings a lot of money into Spain. But, some people are starting to think that there are too many tourists and there's too much tourism.

When tourists go to Spain, they usually go to Madrid or Barcelona. More often, they go to Barcelona. The city is in the north-east part of the country, it has a beach, it's close to France and Italy and it has the best architecture in the world.

When you go to Barcelona, you can visit the many tourist sites, but everywhere you go, there will only be tourists. It will be almost impossible to find a person who was born in Barcelona. The old historic center of the city is now controlled by the crowds of tourists and thieves that rob the tourists.

People who are from Barcelona are not happy about this. Tourism made life for the local people difficult. The price of houses is now more expensive. Rent is too expensive. Food is not cheap and the 2 most popular languages that you hear are Italian and English, not Catalan.

On the internet there are more stories about how people in Barcelona want less tourism. And, there's lots of photos of street signs and graffiti that say “tourists are not welcomed” and “tourists are terrorists.”

We tried to find a person who thought that tourists were really bad, but we did not find anyone.

But, we spoke to Marta Cubria who was born in Barcelona. She told us that she knows about the problem but she does not hate tourists.

“The problem,” she says, “is that the government spends a lot of money on cheap tourism, not cultural tourism. The normal tourist is young, comes to Barcelona for a short time and wants to have an amazing experience. In other cities governments give tourists low prices at the museums and theaters, not in Barcelona. When I'm in the city, they don't bother me. I don't mind them.”

The tourism board that has statistics on tourism in Barcelona disagrees with Marta. The statistics show that young tourists are a minority in Barcelona – only 20%. 40% of tourists are in Barcelona for business. 73% of tourists are older than 35. Tourists also said that the best thing about Barcelona is architecture. Second best thing about Barcelona is culture.

Also, bcn.cat says on its website that 93 percent of people in Barcelona think that tourism is a good thing for Barcelona.

source: newsforbeginners.com