A tourist has sparked online controversy after criticizing the locals for their “very warm welcome” while posing beside a “tourists go home” sign in Barcelona.
The young woman, a yoga instructor and tattoo artist from Ukraine now residing in Hamburg, encountered several pieces of similar graffiti during her visit to the Spanish city this week.
In a social media post, the woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, sarcastically remarked, “Thanks Barcelona for the very warm welcoming.”
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Her post quickly gained traction, amassing over 400,000 likes, but it didn’t sit well with everyone, particularly the locals, as reported by Luxury Travel Daily.
One viewer remarked, “As it should be,” while another simply stated, “Go home.”
A local voiced their frustration, saying, “It’s not funny. Due to disrespectful tourism, we locals can no longer stay in our cities.”
Another critic emphasized, “Prices of everything increase because of mass tourism. It’s not hard to understand. Only Airbnb and restaurants are happy with mass tourism.”
“Bro, we can’t live in our city because of the tourists,” added another commenter.
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“Touristy places have become practically unlivable for locals. It’s not something to laugh at,” noted one viewer.
Another quipped, “Laughing at gentrification and the fact that local people can no longer live in their care, how cute.”
“Correct, we are overwhelmed by tourism,” echoed another user.
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Yet, some voices in the comment section came to the traveler’s defense.
One person argued, “This is very rude. Spanish people travel anywhere, stay at Airbnbs, and are generally loud. If there’s a housing problem, it’s the government’s job to fix it, not the tourists’.”
Another user pointed out the irony, stating, “Barcelona is funny, lives on tourism but hates tourists.”
A different commenter remarked, “Good campaign, one less place to visit.”
Earlier this summer, protestors opposed to mass tourism doused tourists with water in the city during a large-scale demonstration.
In response to the ongoing issues, the mayor of Barcelona has vowed to eliminate short-term tourist rentals within the next five years.
The anti-tourism sentiment seems to have spread beyond Barcelona, reaching Costa Blanca, where a “Tourists go home” banner was recently spotted in a resort that’s popular with British visitors.
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