Simon Hunter
BIKE tour companies in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia have denounced the fact that their two-wheeled transports are being targeted by anti-tourism protesters.
The firms are increasingly finding their bicycles have had their tyres punctured with drawing pins, along with little notes that say: “Tourist go home”.
The incidents are the latest in an increasing number of actions against tourism in the country, ranging from graffiti in popular destinations with the same message, or protests in several areas, such as the Canary Islands, demanding a change to the tourism model.
In a video report from A Punt Noticies, Roos Oudeman, the owner of a tourist bicycle rental company in Valencia, explained what had happened.
“Tourist go home – they have painted that on our walls several times,” she said. “We don’t know who they are.”
Oudeman also defended her company’s business model.
“People park their bikes in the appropriate areas,” she said of her customers.
“We don’t want mass tourism here, and for everyone to have problems due to noise or whatever,” she continued. “We are aiming for sustainable tourism. People using bicycles is green tourism.”
The bike companies told A Punt Noticies that the punctures were ever-more frequent, and that the sabotage is costing them a lot of money as well as problems for their clients.
The firms have decided to take action and create an association to protect their businesses.
People commenting on Instagram after seeing the video report, however, were not so sympathetic.
“They proclaim sustainable tourism but they rent out 40 bikes and you end up with the bike lane obstructed (and in many occasions the sidewalk),” wrote user juzfutroma. “I’ve even seen them go in the wrong direction and complain about the cars!”
“This isn’t tourism-phobia,” added another user called camarronda. “Valencians can no longer live in Valencia. They are throwing us out! Who is going to stop this?”
More than a month ago now, a user called zero_cents posted a photo to the website Reddit of a tack stuck into a bike tyre, which he had spotted near the Mercado Central in Valencia.
The vandalism has been interpreted by locals as a response to the massification of tourism in the Mediterranean city in recent years, something that regularly prompts complaints on social media.
