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Topics: Cost of Living, Travel, UK News
James Moorhouse
A British man living in Barcelona has claimed that tourists and ex-pats are ruining the city he fell in love with.
It's been well documented over the years that some Spanish locals aren't too keen on the stereotypical behaviour of English locals, which usually includes rowdy shouting, copious amounts of cerveza and showing off beer bellies the minute it hits 15 degrees.
Some in Mallorca even went to the extent of creating fake signs to keep Brits away from the beaches, and you have to applaud the audacity but given the less than fair weather we suffer almost year-round here, some of us just want to enjoy relaxing in the Spanish sun.
It's almost been a rite of passage over the years for Brits to go on holiday to Ibiza or Benidorm, but you can easily appreciate how those who live there year-round might be upset by some of the antics they see.
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Campbell Peter Bluett, 32, moved to Barcelona in 2020 to work in the bar industry after falling in love with the Spanish way of life, which is easy to understand if you love eating at 10pm and napping when it gets hot.
But now, he feels that tourists are ruining life in the city due to the party culture they bring with them and the lack of respect shown for local culture.
Speaking to The i Paper, he said: “A lot of people come for the party and don’t respect the city in terms of taking care of it, and can be noisy in the small barrios [districts], which bothers the neighbours. You’ll see signs in the streets that say ‘silence at night'.
“There’s a big contrast between the locals and the visitors because most people that come and go don’t treat this beautiful city with respect. Local communities feel disrespected by the negative impact the level of tourism and ex-pats are having on the city, from a perspective of a local.”
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He claims he has also been forced to move house 13 times in the five years he has lived there due to prices skyrocketing in the wake of the pandemic.
Mr Bluett added: "Soon after [the pandemic] things skyrocketed and there is a deep underlying issue of the property market becoming monopolised by rich sharks buying outbuildings and converting them into small expensive studios or flats to be used for Airbnb visitors or as short-stay accommodation for Erasmus exchange students or travelling nomads.
“This action makes it tough for locals or international locals to survive in an economy where wages are low and prices continue to rise.”
He's been lucky enough to have found a friend to live, with who offers just €400 (£340) for a room in a two-bedroom shared apartment in the Gothic quarter - though, as Mr Bluett says, 'this is not a common find'.
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The ex-pat has clearly made efforts to immerse himself in Spanish culture, but is clearly disappointed that other visitors to the country don't bother to learn anything beyond hola.
He fears that local people who are the 'beating heart and soul of this city are sacrificing their comfort to home visitors that are here to walk all over' Barcelona.