Barcelona locals slam tourists as they say the city is ‘overrun’ | Travel News | Travel
Barcelona is one of Spain’s leading holiday destinations and with its sunny weather, vibrant nightlife and attractive Gothic architecture, it’s not hard to see why.
However, some of the Spanish city’s residents have taken to Reddit to complain about tourists’ annoying behaviour.
One user ‘demojob422’ claimed: “Honestly the city is so overrun with tourists that if you come in summer you are annoying most people just by existing and raising their rents. If you want to limit that, go to a hotel or hostel, do not use Airbnb or similar websites.”
Airbnb and similar holiday rentals can be controversial as some locals argue they push up rents for residents.
The user added: “If you don’t want to go from annoying to outrageous, just act with basic human decency. Don’t get drunk in the street, respect people and don’t litter.”
Another Reddit user claimed there were several annoying things that tourists do in Barcelona that make life difficult for residents.
They said: “Walking horizontally in groups, blocking all the sideways” and “littering, there’s a bin at every corner”.
One user agreed, claiming: “Always being in the way, going in groups occupying the whole street in a horizontal line and not leaving some space to go through when someone walking in the opposite direction is walking towards you.”
Litter was referenced several times in the Reddit thread with one user claiming: “I used to work near the aquarium.
“Please, please, please use trash cans. There’s a trash can in every corner, it’s not that hard. Come on.”
Although tourism is an important sector of Barcelona’s economy, the city has struggled to cope with the number of visitors.