Examine the nature of over-tourism to Barcelona. What strategies and measures that address over-tourism in that destination can you identify?
Destination: Barcelona
How tourism is killing Barcelona (The Guardian,2018) extracted on Feb 26th 2020
How tourism is killing Barcelona (The Guardian,2018) extracted on Feb 26th 2020
Nature of over-tourism in Barcelona
Travelling has become more attractive over the past few years. The situation is contributed to by relaxed policies across different nations, which has allowed people to visit places of their wish. The globalized economy has afforded people to do visits any country of their choice. According to Russo and Scarnatto (2017, p.18), tourism creates about 7.9 trillion dollars to the global economy, which is a considerable share. This revenue comes from different sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing, service industry, among others. As a result, tourism is a source of income, on top of the standard levies and taxes. Charnock et al. (2014, p.212) are of the idea that the visitors bring in foreign exchange, either in the form of cash or talent, thus making this industry one of the fastest-growing in the world. Further, the author noted that the industry supplies close to 292 million jobs globally, thus embraced as a tool for reducing unemployment.
By the year 2025, the job creation by the tourism industry would rise to about 380 million (Blanco-Romero et al. 2018, p.15), thus making it a centerpiece of discussion among different states. Among the areas that will be impacted are on the local businesses and industries offering accommodations. Tourism is perceived to influence cities differently. While some of the towns struggle to absorb the new visitor, others such as Barcelona face the challenge of over-tourism. It is defined by Blanco-Romero et al. (2018, p.4) as the overcrowding of tourists resulting in a conflict of interest with the locals. The phenomenon leads to overstretching of the available resources and causes social problems such as the degradation of the environment. The graph below shows the nature of over-tourism in different cities (Travelbird 2018, n.p)
Figure 2: State of Over-tourism(Travelbird 2018,n.p)
Barcelona perches on the Mediterranean Sea, which makes the city have a gorgeous climate and attractive beaches. The city has recently faced an influx of visitors who chooses Barcelona as their destination for holidays. Statistics show that each year, the city receives 3 million people, which is three times the number of locals. While proponents of tourism such as Mayor and Tolab (2008, p.27) considers this kind of number as an advantage to the city, in regards to the revenue collected, it is socially uncomfortable to accommodate such numbers. The infrastructure remains static, and the struggle to compete for the few available resources overstretches the management of the city and denies the locals of space to do their normal activities. Barcelona came into the limelight of tourists after hosting the 1992 Olympic games, which opened the city to the face of the world. The people got attracted to the city’s attractive climate, cuisine, and laidback culture. After the Olympic games, the city experienced tremendous facelift by the government, creating more avenues for new visitors.
Signs of over-tourism
The main challenge with over-tourism in Barcelona is that too many people arrive in the city at the same time, which makes it hard to utilize the available resources well, without threatening the lives of the people. Management of huge crowds is an issue to the government since they would require security, which could be difficult to guarantee at once. Also, accommodation facilities are overbooked and become challenging to provide quality services effectively. Noordeloos (2018, p.75) points out that planning for the massive population of visitors has been a challenge to the administrators of Barcelona city, thus exposing the people to the dangers of insecurity. However, Noordeloos (2018, p.75) fails to fully define the scope at which the government can plan to solve the menace of over-tourism in Barcelona. The study fails to consider the different categories of damage that come with managing a vast population, that influx into the city daily.
As once a famous city, where the rich flouted their wealth, Barcelona has turned out to be heavily polluted. The dense population found along the streets is an indication that there is little regard for the surrounding. The pollution comes from the wastes thrown to the immediate surroundings, and lack of enough space to breathe fresh air. The study conducted by Eldaidamony and El Menshawi (2017, n.p) propounded that an increase in population is associated with depletion of the environments and the available resources. In the study, the author argues on the need of creating enough space, where people can go for recreation activities, to offload the pressure of population in the cities. The research targeted the populated cities in China, and the author concludes that high society also affects the quality of air, which could be a precursor for the diseases, a similar state experienced in Barcelona. Vlogger (2019, p.213) has challenged some of Eldaidamony and El Menshawi (2017, n.p) conclusions, arguing that proper regulations, such as documenting the number of allowable population in the cities would help control unprecedented number of people in the cities. This would go along to protect the national heritage and defending the natives from the destruction brought about by a considerable amount of visitors. Although a high number of visitors promotes high revenue, it is essential first to put the environment at the forefront.
Similarly, Blanco-Romero et al. (2018, p.15) conducted a study to establish social response and policies available for the increase of housing rent in Barcelona. The study found out that over ten years, the city has experienced a rise in house rent, thus making it difficult for the locals to manage such high prices of rent. The commodification of the city has pitted the locals, favoring the rich people who visit the city. Further, Blanco-Romero et al. (2018, p.16) submit that the administration of Barcelona city has come up with urban and tourism planning strategies, which to some extent, have solved the problem in regards to the physical appearance of the town. Nevertheless, significant issues such as shortage of accommodation continue to top among the challenges in the city. The situation is of concern, since as time advances, so is the population of visitors snowballing. There is little space to put up new infrastructure, consequently resulting in a densely populated city. The main weakness with the Urban and Tourism planning policy is that it has focused on modification of the outlook of the cities, rather than channeling efforts to determine how to regulate the number of visitors expected in the town yearly. The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between the blossoming economy of Barcelona, and the present shortage of accommodation. Continued hike in prices of the rental house would in the future swamp the locals, thus killing indigenous tourism (Blanco-Romero et al. (2018, p.5).
Figure 3: Rental Prices in Barcelona(Blanco-Romero et al. (2018, p.5)
Equally, walkways in the city have been dominated by the tourists’ vehicles, due to lack of enough space to accommodate the surging traffic. The urban planning has designated places for automobiles and pedestrians. People use walkways, but due to congestion of vehicles on the main roads, the users opt to violate the law and use segments intended to be used by people. The scenario proliferates due to the abrupt increase of the people willing to visit Barcelona city. Still, owing to the lack of enough expansion space, they resort to using any available means to reach their destination. According to Romagosa (2018, p.29), Barcelona has witnessed an uncommon phenomenon, where pedestrians use the same road with vehicles, thus increasing the chances of accidents. Despite the efforts by the local government to plan for the city, it would be challenging to shift the walkways, as it would mean redesigning the town once again. Instead, Fava and Palou (2016, p.287) alludes that proper control, such as limiting the number of people to access the city, would, by far, minimize the congestion witnessed in Barcelona.
Causes of Overtourism in Barcelona and its impacts
Barcelona is risking its environment due to the high population in the city. The crowd has been growing over time, causing the local administration to limit the access of vehicles in the city. One of the leading causes of the over-tourism in this city is relaxed tourism laws, which has permitted international tourists without a regulated plan. As a result, the city experience a high incursion of people from disparate geographic regions, adding up into the 1.6 million population already in the state. A large and growing body of literature has investigated the leading cause of the over-tourism in Barcelona, and Gonzalez et al. (2018, p.287) confirm that non-locals forms the highest number of the population. The literature illustrates that tourists, therefore, largely depend on rental accommodations, which is not enough to meet the demand. The claim has been strongly contested in recent years by several writers, such as Koens et al. (2018, p.14). The author affirms that poor planning of the city limits the number of people who can reside there, hence the need to seek alternative measures, such as diverting extra tourists to the neighboring towns.
Although there is a challenge of population increase, over-tourism has created employment in Barcellona. Labor force data suggests that the employment rate in Barcelona stands at 61.17 %. Tourism alone employs about 8.6% of the population, and the contribution to the city’s GDP is at 7.3%. Datzira‐Masip(2006, p.14) argues that tourism has significantly reduced the level of unemployment, offering jobs in catering, transport, accommodation, among others. As a result, the city has flourished in economic growth because the revenue collected by the government increases yearly. Every year, there is a registered increase of the tourists, who bring in foreign exchange, and also contributes to the internal revenue collected from the local accommodation entities.
The creation of employment has resulted in socio-economic development. Gonzalez et al. (2018, p.287) sustain that the government measures socio-economic development by GDP, life expectancy, work, and literacy levels. Since Barcelona started to experience a high number of tourists, the lives of the citizen’s changed in an uptrend. The enormous amount of locals got employed in the hospitality industry, and the businesses in the city boomed. Sans and Dominguez (2016, p.214) have shown that the level of unemployment in Barcelona has been going down. Thus far, previous studies have revealed the correlation between over-tourism and improved standards of living in Barcelona (Koen et al. 2018, p.13). The generalizability of much-published research on this issue is problematic since over-tourism is slowly eroding the pride of Barcelona. If not checked, it might lead to the shifting of tourists to other states.
Apart from pros, over-tourism has resulted in overstretching of the available resources, leading to environmental pollution. The study conducted by Ioannides (2019, p.221) showed that the high number of people in the town breathe in nitrogen dioxides, emitted from the motor vehicles. The research proceeds to argue that the city is plagued with contaminants and noise, a situation worsened by a lack of greenery. The replacement of the vegetation by buildings has made it difficult to absorb some of the dangerous gases, hence exposing people to toxins. The government has designed a policy to regulate the number of vehicles that enters the city, especially over the weekend. The strategy minimizes the contaminations in the air, but it is not an ideal solution. WTO (2018, n.p) counter the argument by suggesting that monitoring the data of the people that visit the city, alongside the available resources, is an appropriate option to manage the pollution issue. The data could be essential in determining how many people to allow into the city, and even plan for how long they can stay without suppressing the resources. The figure below illustrates the opinion of citizens regarding tourism in Barcelona (Alonso-Almeida et al. 2018, P.8).
Figure 4: Perception of citizens in regards to tourism in Barcelona(Alonso-Almeida et al. 2018, P.8).
Strategies that address over-tourism in Barcelona
Responsible tourism is making a place suitable and comfortable for habitation. In this regard, it is essential to ensure that any activity linked to tourism does not topple the social balance. One way that the government has devised is creating safe zones, insulating people from extreme expositions to contaminants and emissions resulting from the high number of vehicles in the street. As a way to minimize emissions, the administrations control the number of cars that enter the city over the weekends. Shinohara (2018, p.72) questions the efficiency of the procedure, considering that the number of vehicles is not regulated during the weekdays. Overall, the government should take strict measures of embracing the culture of a walking nation. Hence, the concerned authorities should contemplate constructing parking far from town, and people walk to town, to minimize the congestion of people and automobiles.
The city passed legislation that curbed construction of new hotels and licensing of modern rental accommodations to manage the ballooning numbers of tourists. The approach is in response to the outcry of regulators, who observed that over-tourism was the next problem in the city, second from unemployment. The decision to minimize the flow of people into the town is supported by Bruttomesso (2018, p.470), who upholds the assertion that in situations where the local resources get overstrained, the government can stop allowing more people into the city. Since the main problem with Barcelona is the international tourists, reducing the accommodation spaces would, by far, condense the number to a manageable level. While Gali and Donaire (2015, p.896) are of the idea that expanding the infrastructure is the ideal solution, the prodigious amount of tourists, which grows every year, makes it challenging to plan for the same. Deregulation of the construction of more hotels and accommodation, therefore, has mitigated the alarming numbers of the tourists, and extensively reduced environmental degradation.
Conclusion
Tourism is essential for the generation of revenue for the country. However, the excessive influx of tourists, beyond what the city can support overloads the available resources. The situation is regarded as over-tourism, and it is the same scenario that Barcelona has faced. The number of tourists who flock into the city is almost triple, which has heightened the planning and management problems. The paper confirms that the leading cause of over-tourism in Barcelona is international tourists, who are attracted by the bounteous climate and ambient coastal region of the city. As a consequence, the population surge has hit the once silent city, causing traffic of people and the vehicles. The impact of overpopulation has resulted in pollution of the air and increased cases of insecurity.
On the other hand, the employment rate has gone up, thus promoting development. Signs of over-tourism are characterized by crowded walkways, environmental pollution, and an increase in rental prices, making it hard for locals to afford accommodation. Furthermore, the study elucidates that controlling the number of vehicles that find their way into town over the weekend and passing legislation to stop construction of new hotels are among the strategies to manage over-tourism in Barcelona.
