Barcelona hotels say it is 'unacceptable' to squirt water at tourists during protest

The Barcelona hotels guild has considered Saturday's protest "unacceptable," where demonstrators squirted water with colorful plastic pistols at tourists and surrounded them with barricade tape.

Around 3,000 people from 140 different organizations took to the streets of Barcelona to raise their voices against the "massive influx of tourists" in the city that "exacerbates" social inequality, problems of access to housing, and the environmental crisis.

In a statement shared with Catalan News, the business group said that despite the "protest events promoted by a very limited number of locals with a particular opinion on specific social movements, we [Barcelona] are a very welcoming city for visitors, and there is not a general feeling against tourism," the text reads.

The Guild states that it should be required to "try to explain" the different policies to "manage the tourism sector in Barcelona, such as promoting coexistence between neighbors and visitors," but also to have a shift of marketing campaigns to mainly reaching those "visitors that are of interest," the text reads.

"There is the need to highlight the positive impact of tourism in aspects such as the financial, labor, social, and cultural, as well as the effect it has in other city industries such as the scientific and technological one," the group adds.

Under the slogan “Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism!” protests demand measures to reduce tourism ahead of a summer season that is expected to break records in Catalonia.

According to the latest data from the Statistical Institute of Catalonia, 2 million tourists arrived in Catalonia in May of this year, an increase of 5,9% since May of last year.

Protesters were also skeptical of Barcelona social mayor Jaume Collboni’s plans to reduce the number of tourist apartments in Barcelona, claiming that he will instead add 5,000 new hotel beds in the city and 15,000 in the metropolitan area.

On the same day, a similar protest took place in the northern Catalan city of Girona.  

These recent protests are part of a larger trend of anti-tourism activism in parts of Spain that have traditionally been popular tourist destinations, such as the Canary and Balearic Islands and the southern Spanish Costa del Sol and Malaga.

Catalans back promoting tourism

Almost 75% of Catalans, three out of four, are in favor of continuing to promote tourism in Catalonia, according to a general survey by the CEO, a Catalan-government-owned survey agency, published on Friday.

Meanwhile, half of those questioned consider that tourism limits activities and the public space available for locals. And 46% say that tourism is reaching its limit in their county and area.

The survey was made between March 12 and May 19.

Out of those backing continuing to promote tourism, 24% are very much in favor, and 50% agree. However, 39% are against it or very much against it.