Attacked With Water Guns And Hate, Tourist-Go-Home Season Is On Again

The war on tourism is starting anew, with COVID-19 quarantines officially in the rearview window. Anti-travel attacks have been common in 2024, from the spray painting of a pair of private jets at Britain’s Stansted Airport, attempts at blocking U.S. airports, and a move to ban Israelis from visiting the Maldives.

What if they gave an Olympics and nobody came? That probably won’t happen in Paris this summer, despite the violence, but many Europeans are saying they don’t want tourists.

In the U.S., Maui is still recovering from the disastrous fire that killed 102 people and destroyed historic Lahaina. Although the Maui Economic Development Board says the island’s visitor industry accounts for nearly four out of every five dollars generated there, a young hotel worker acknowledged that in Hawaii, “You’re kind of raised to hate tourists.” Such attitudes, as well as the ambivalence of the Hawaiian Tourism Authority towards tourism, have given many a sense that tourists, no matter how respectful, are unwelcome.

The latest news from the anti-tourist front is that Barcelona residents attacked foreign diners with water guns. The demonstrators even put crime scene tape around hotel and café entrances.

Time Magazine treated it as a big joke. “Thousands of angry Barcelona residents took to the streets over the weekend to participate in a protest against mass tourism in the Spanish city. Their weapon of choice? The humble water pistol.”

“Video footage showed protesters squirting water from colorful pistols at travelers who were dining in Las Ramblas, a tourist-heavy district. As soggy tourists awkwardly scurried away, Catalans were seen chanting “tourists go home“ and using red tape to cordon off hotel and restaurant entry points. Other demonstrators held signs that said, “tourism kills the city.”

Barcelona visitors didn’t find the ‘protest’ so friendly or fun. “Tourists enjoying a nice meal in one of the world’s most popular cities have been attacked by locals as overtourism reaches boiling point,” said one report. BBC footage showed 2800 demonstrators descending on tourists, shooting water pistols at them and chasing them out of restaurants and cafes.

In photos, the tourists, singled out for attack, share looks of fear and confusion. Was this a terrorist attack? What did they spray? Why? Did I do something wrong? Most choose to run away, rather than fight back, which could have made a bad situation worse.

In the U.S., spraying people with water can potentially constitute assault.

The protests came after the local government raised the tax on tourists and announced the coming end of short-term rentals within five years. Local authorities say the cost of housing has risen 68% in Barcelona over the past decade. They blame short-term rentals like Airbnb, yet demonstrators target hotels, restaurants, and individual tourists.

While short term rentals no doubt raise apartment prices in Barcelona, tourists who visit put money into the restaurant owner’s pocket, the waitress’ purse, and billions into the city’s economy. In Barcelona, 26 million tourists generated $13.8 billion euros in spending in 2023.

Unemployment in Spain is about 11.3%, and unemployment among young people 20-24 is 25%. Yet the tourism sector accounts for 12.6% of Spanish jobs, or 3,018,820 people, up 2.1% since the previous year.

Those who took to the streets to terrorize tourists obviously don’t agree with Spain’s Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereau. He said, “The tourism industry is not only growing quantitatively, as this successful 2023 record of visits and spending at the destination shows, but also – and this is more important – qualitatively, with better jobs linked to the tourism sector, a lower rate of temporary employment and a greater number of salaried employees with permanent contracts.”

Barcelona is not the only anti-tourist destination in Europe. The Telegraph recently rated how hostile various European destinations were towards British visitors.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Corfu and Provence rated 2, Capri 3, and surprisingly, tourist-overloaded Santorini was just a 4. Tenerife was a 5, and Venice and Split in Croatia 6 of 10. Amsterdam and Barcelona are at the boiling point, with 7 out of 10 upset about overtourism. Majorca, 8 of 10, leads the disgruntled list.

In Majorca, ‘a week rarely goes by without an anti-tourist demonstration.’ In May, more than 10,000 marched to protest tourism and the lack of affordable housing. Another anti-tourism protest will take place in Majorca on Sunday, July 21.

President of the Balearic Islands Marga Prohens said “Precisely because we love tourism and believe in our economic model, the time has come to set limits.” A tourist tax and banning large cruise ships is on the agenda. Venice did the same, charging a roughly $5.37 fee on the busiest 29 days.

But only 50,000 people live in Venice, a number that can be equaled by tourists on a busy day. By contrast, 1.7 million people live in Barcelona, including 432,000 foreigners, or 25%. Do foreign residents, including 43% who have higher educations, increase competition for apartments?

Unfortunately, anti-tourism activism can also be based on prejudice. This spring the government of the Maldives decided to ban all Israeli tourists from the exotic islands. Nearly 11,000 Israelis visited Maldives last year, just 0.6% the total tourist arrivals. The Maldives is a tiny Islamic republic of 1,000 coral islets, known for its secluded sandy white beaches and turquoise lagoons.

The Maldives president, Mohamed Muizzu, “resolved to impose a ban on Israeli passports.” Public anger over the war in Gaza, (begun by the October 7 Hamas attack that killed over 1200 Israelis) was cited.

On June 10, the Maldives Parliament moved a bill to amend the immigration law to bar entry to Israeli passport holders and Israelis with dual citizenship. However, Maldives sources later said it would be difficult to enact a ban to discriminate solely against Israeli Jews, as more than 2 million Moslems also live in Israel.

An unnamed local businessman added that the Maldives’ brand as a safe haven for people of all faiths and nationalities could be damaged. The ban on Israelis ‘could foster a perception that antisemitism or religious extremism poses a threat to foreign tourists.’

Or as Reason Magazine put it, “The Maldives Banning Israelis Is a Disgrace. President Mohamed Muizzu cannot claim to be on the right side of history while adhering to a textbook definition of bigotry.”

The affair did significant public relations damage. Personally, I have no intention of flying 24 hours, 32 minutes and paying thousands of dollars to visit a place which seeks to discriminate. I don’t care how nice Maldives hotels, beaches, surfing or scuba diving are.

World understanding and appreciation of different cultures are a key part of tourism’s contribution. Worldwide, travel and tourism’s direct contribution to gross domestic product was 7.7 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, a significant 7.6 percent share of total global GDP.

Despite this, the travel industry is not invulnerable. Disasters like COVID are one thing, attacking tourists because they want to visit your country is quite another.

Barcelona, a beautiful city with a historically welcoming culture, is in danger of becoming the punchline in the old Yogi Berra joke. “It’s so crowded no one goes there anymore.”