It’s not just a Spanish problem. Cities across the world are struggling with how to cope with overtourism and a boom in short-term rental platforms, like Airbnb, but perhaps nowhere has surging discontent been so evident as in Barcelona, where protesters plan to take to the streets on Sunday.
Similar demonstrations are slated in several other Spanish cities, including on the Balearic islands of Mallorca and Ibiza, as well as in the Italian postcard city of Venice, Portugal’s capital Lisbon and other cities across southern Europe — marking the first time a protest against tourism has been coordinated across the region.
Spaniards have staged several large protests in Barcelona, Madrid and other cities in recent years to demand lower rents. When thousands marched through the streets of Spain’s capital in April, some held homemade signs saying “Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods.”
When you remove the “landlords” from your statement, the tourist blame doesn’t make much sense:
Because a tourist only need the housing for a few days at exorbitant prices and the locals need it for 365 days?
Do real “middle-class” people have enough money to pay those exorbitant prices even for a few days, at this point? I mean, if the people being displaced by this stuff were themselves also going on vacation and inflicting the same issue on locals elsewhere that’d be one thing, but I’m not convinced that’s the case.
We keep saving a whole year to afford a short 7 day trip. That’s how we afford it.
All I know is that I’m allegedly “middle-class” and I’ve never felt like I’ve been able to “afford” a vacation in my entire adult life. Certainly nothing like what my Boomer parents talk about having done when they were my age.
Travel was much different for your parents. European travel was actually much more expensive for them, adjusted for inflation. Back then, only rich people casually traveled to Europe (or young kids who stayed in hostels backpacking around). My first trip to Europe was when I was 30, and the cities I visited on that trip are FAR more crowded with tourists now than back then. When I was in college I took a trip to India with a friend who lived there, staying with his family for free and eating cheaply when not at their houses. That flight to India costs the same now as it did 20 years ago, not adjusted for inflation (meaning it is actually much cheaper now).
Going to Europe now is so commonplace for normal people that quaint little towns are overrun with tourists. I have seen flights from LA to Europe for cheaper than flights from LA to Indianapolis.
Conversely, for your parents travel within the US and to Mexico was cheaper then. You could get a flight from Indianapolis to Cancun for $150, with hotels being dirt cheap. Flights to Florida were $100, and nice hotels were $100/night. Nowadays, those flights are 3 times more expensive and the hotels are 5 times more expensive. When I was fresh out of college and middle class, I could travel around the US and to Mexico and Costa Rica pretty cheaply. Nowadays, I can go to Europe for about the same price as going to New York.
Finally, back then people had vacation savings accounts to pay for travel. They would save up all year to take vacations. They would save their Christmas bonuses (which aren’t a thing anymore). They didn’t have cell phones and rationed out long-distance phone calls. They might only have one car instead of three. They didn’t pay for internet. They paid for basic cable, not 5 streaming packages. Their house cost a tenth of what houses cost now. They didn’t buy as many new clothes as people do now.
I’m interested in this thread of conversation if you’re willing. If not, no worries.
You have a vision of a vacation in your mind. How much does that theoretical vacation cost? We can even put upper and lower bounds on it. What dollar figure do you think you’d need for the entire vacation (travel, lodging, food, expenses)?
I dunno, maybe $1000-$2000, give or take? However much it costs for a couple to, say, drive from Atlanta to a Florida panhandle beach town for a week, staying in a mid-priced hotel, eating mostly casual dining plus a few overpriced but not fancy seafood dinners, and budgeting for a few activities like mini golf or a dolphin tour or whatever.
(Even that is more modest than the example I gave about my parents: they were doing things like flying to Cancun and staying at all-inclusive resorts in their 20s and 30s.)
In contrast, the “vacations” I actually have taken have either been staycations, tagging along with my parents or the in-laws on their trips for free, traveling to attend somebody’s wedding, or (if we’re actually paying for it ourselves)… camping. Not “glamping,” either – in a tent at a National Forest backcountry campsite for $0/night.
To be clear, I’m not saying that I can’t cover a $2000 expense if I have to. I’m just saying that I’ve never felt wealthy enough to be comfortable spending that much money on something that isn’t a necessity or an investment.
If you are unable to save up $2000 over the course of a year, then you are either not middle class or are very conservative with your money (not a bad thing). The definition of middle class is also location dependent. Making $50k/year in Alabama is VERY different from making $50k in NYC. Making $100k in Indianapolis is very different from making $100k in San Francisco. Hell, you can make $200k/year and not be able to afford even a small house in Los Angeles.