The Water Pistols

In June 2024, residents of Barcelona marched through the streets carrying water pistols. When they encountered tourists, they sprayed them.

The gesture was theatrical — no one was hurt, nothing was damaged. But the message was clear: you are not welcome here.

The Numbers

In 2004, Barcelona received 4.4 million tourists for a resident population of 1.6 million. The ratio was 2.75 tourists per resident.

By 2019, tourist arrivals had grown to 20 million. The population had barely changed — 1.7 million. The ratio was now 11.8 tourists per resident.

A fourfold increase in fifteen years.

The consequences accumulated. Rents rose as apartments converted to short-term rentals. A one-bedroom that rented to a local for €800 per month could earn €4,500 monthly on Airbnb during peak season. Property owners made the rational choice. Locals got priced out.

The Gothic Quarter, once a living neighborhood, became a performance of itself. The shops that served residents — butchers, hardware stores, pharmacies — were replaced by souvenir stands and tour offices. The streets filled with rolling suitcases. The noise continued past midnight.

The Backlash

The Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth published a 13-point manifesto demanding restrictions on tourist hotels, cruise access, and tourism advertising. The city council announced plans to eliminate all 10,000 Airbnb-style rental licenses by 2029. Bus routes were removed from maps to reduce visitors to certain neighborhoods.

Similar scenes played out across Europe. In Venice, protesters disrupted a billionaire's wedding. The city introduced a €5 entry fee for day-trippers — the first such charge in Europe. In Amsterdam, a "Stay Away" campaign targeted British stag parties. In Montmartre, residents complained that 11 million visitors a year had transformed a village-like neighborhood into an outdoor stage set.

The Canary Islands protesters carried a slogan: "Canaries Have a Limit."

The Paradox

Tourism contributes 18 percent of Spain's GDP. It directly employs millions. The pandemic showed what happens when it stops — 4.9 million tourism jobs lost in Europe between 2019 and 2020.

The cities need the money. The residents cannot live with the crowds.

What the protests reveal is not that tourism is bad, but that a particular model of tourism — high volume, low spend, concentrated in the same famous streets — extracts value from places without returning enough to the people who live there. A cruise passenger who arrives in the morning, walks the Ramblas, and leaves by evening contributes little but their footprint.

The question being asked across Europe is not whether to have tourism, but who it should serve. As one Venetian put it: "If locals aren't there, they won't go. Putting residents at the center of tourism models is the only way to preserve our cities from becoming open-air museums."

The water pistols were a warning. The policy changes that follow will determine whether it was heard.