Yzabelle Bostyn
ANTI-tourism has even infected local fiestas with Barcelona activists decorating the streets with a giant Monopoly board calling out officials for ‘selling off the city’.
Barcelona has long been the focus of a growing anti-tourism movement in Spain, with many locals claiming they are ‘priced out’ of their neighbourhoods due to rising numbers of Airbnbs and tourist flats.
Now, locals of Gracia, a barrio near many famous Gaudi landmarks such as Park Guell and Casa Vicens, have expressed their frustration during the emblematic Festa Major de Gracia.
The festivities are the biggest event of the year in the neighbourhood and see locals adorn the streets with themed decorations.
However, one left wing community organisation, Ateneu Llibertari de Gracia, has used the celebrations to join the ongoing ‘anti-tourism’ discourse in Barcelona.
They adorned their doorway with a Monopoly board featuring ‘Las Ramblas dels Guiris’ (The Ramblas of Foreigners) and ‘Gentrification corner’.
Presiding over the board was the figure of Jaume Collboni, the Mayor of Barcelona.
A figure of him dressed as Mr Monopoly signalling to a sign reading ‘Barnolopy Business City: Barcelona is good if it makes money’.
Below, the squares take aim against ‘mass tourism’, with a sign on the door of the building reading ‘stop tourism’.
While some squares call out housing issues, reading ‘people without houses, houses without people’, others target specific events, such as the Spanish Grand Prix and upcoming America’s Cup sailing regatta.
One square showed a sailing boat and a mock Louis Vuitton logo reading ‘luxe shame’.
The international regatta will take place in Barcelona’s Port Vella in October this year.
Sponsored by luxury designer, Louis Vuitton, it has been met with criticism from locals.
A whole street at the Gracia Festival was dedicated to protesting against the race, criticising its role in the mass tourism currently pressurising the city.
The entrance to the installation read, ‘let’s sink the f**cking Copa America’ surrounded by phrases such as ‘tourism go home and expats too’ and ‘when posh people in boats kick you out of your house’.
Garlands of cash ran overhead while paper mache rats stood atop boats and a sign listing all the luxury sponsors of the regatta was covered with a huge cross.
While most of the streets participating in the Gracia festival were decorated with fun themes such as ‘under the sea’ or ‘disco’, others used the celebrations as an opportunity to call out the ‘increasing commercialisation of the festa’.
On their website, Ateneu Llibertari de Gracia said: “Another year of the Festa, another year in which its total commercialisation as a ‘cultural product’ is becoming evident. Our neighbourhood is just another event in the ‘business city’ that is Barcelona.”
