Barcelona is becoming a “sacrifice zone” as the tourism crisis in Europe worsens, a professor has warned.
Speaking on the Australian Nightlife podcast, Professor Claudio Milano, from the University of Barcelona, warned that the sacrifice zones in question were “hypertouristic” areas that were slowly “over-relying on tourism”.
He explained: “We use a lot the concept of ‘sacrifice zone’. It seems that in our contemporary society, those hypertouristic areas/neighbourhoods are actually sacrifice zones in which social reproduction and the lines are not anymore a part of the daily lives.
“A city like Venice, Dubrovnik or Barcelona lives not only with tourism but slowly they are… over-relying on tourism. This is also an issue for the social and local community.”
Professor Milano added: “Most of the wages in tourism are the lowest wages. At the end of the day, tourism of course brings a lot of money and brings a lot of benefits and the question is also for the academic and journalism and the civic society is to research and ask who owns those benefits.”
Professor Milano’s comments last month came as Barcelona continues its campaign to reduce the impact of tourism on the city. Their latest move is to remove a word from its tourism board slogan.
The site, previously known as Visit Barcelona, will now be known as This is Barcelona. Furthermore, the city’s latest campaign will begin on August 22 when the America’s Cup floats into the city.
According to Travel Tomorrow, Mateu Hernandez said that the decision to move to a new slogan was a “radical change” and that the previous slogan had been a “success story”.
Mr Hernandez added: “But today, Turisme de Barcelona no longer calls for people to visit us in general. Today, Turisme de Barcelona makes an affirmation of the importance of our identity as a city and that is why we have gone from Visit to This is Barcelona.”
The new tactic follows months of anti-tourism protests across Spain in places such as Majorca and the Canary Islands. Last month, thousands marched through Barcelona against the sheer number of tourists coming to Majorca.
However, the anti-tourism feeling has become so strong that some have said they may never go to Spain. One comment published by the Majorca Daily Bulletin said: “We have always treated local people with respect when on holiday, we don’t get overly drunk or cause any problems when in another country, but we will get this bad feeling, from the people of Spain also.
“It’s a sad situation, but nevertheless, one that may see us, never going to mainland Spain or any of the beautiful islands again.”