As anti-tourist sentiment grows across Europe, the Catalan capital’s move is applauded by residents, with a new protest planned for the seaside neighbourhood
It was once dubbed the capital of cool, but these days visitors to Barcelona can expect a quite frosty welcome as the city’s love affair with tourism comes to a bitter end, with hooded youths spraying a tourist bus with slogans, and strike chaos at the city’s airport. On Wednesday, Segway tours and electric scooters were banned from the Old City and the seafront, in a move that will be applauded by most citizens.
The scooter and Segway issue is just one aspect of a widespread view that the city is becoming a theme park, run in the interests of tourists rather than residents, and that soaring rents, driven up by Airbnb and other platforms, are forcing residents out of their homes.
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Source: Gaurdian