After the whole world had to spend a couple of years at home, in lockdown, travel and tourism returned with renewed vigour, as many of us sought to catch up on what felt like lost time. 

Unfortunately, a surge in visitor numbers is putting tremendous pressure on many of the destinations that we know and love so dearly.

Across Europe, locals are feeling overwhelmed, and the anti-tourism movement is gaining traction, all as a direct response to the pressure that mass tourism is putting on local communities. From tourist anti-social behaviour to house shortages, infrastructure facing overload and an incredible strain on the environment, some destinations are reaching their limit.

Join me as we look beyond just what is considered “criminal” and examine the wider issue of social harm.

Harm Rather Than Crime

Besides tourist acts of anti-social behaviour, nothing about the problems caused by overtourism initially appears criminal, and you would be right to think this way.

When considering these issues, we aren’t necessarily approaching them from a criminological perspective, but instead we are engaging with a discipline developed as a step away from traditional criminology: zemiology.

Zemiology examines issues that cause harm but are not recognised within the realm of criminal law.

The law, as we have discussed, is written to further the goals of the society it governs, and, as such, is not without its foibles or outright flaws. The actions of large corporations or entire nations may be deemed to cause catastrophic harm, but are met with little to no legislative backlash. Conversely, some acts that are categorised as illegal have relatively little impact and may cause no harm to others at all.

When considering the issue of poorly managed overtourism, think of it not as a criminological issue, but as a social harm that pushes residents out of their homes, overwhelms infrastructure, and causes irreparable damage to the environment.

Few places illustrate this crisis quite like Barcelona.

Barcelona: A City Transformed by Tourism

Barcelona, the vibrant capital of Spain’s Catalonia (Catalunya) region, wasn’t always a tourist hotspot. My Dad first visited as a child in the early 1970s, when Spain was still under the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and he remembers a very different place. Armed police officers employed to stifle any opposition to the regime were active throughout the city, and the now world-famous Basílica de la Sagrada Família was still only in the early stages of construction. Dad remembers watching the fountain show on Montjuïc and a flamenco performance in a sangria bar. But, for the most part, the presence of tourism was understated, a far cry from the tourist hub the city has become today. 

It was only following Barcelona’s gentrification for the 1992 Summer Olympics that things began to change. Tourist numbers began to climb steadily at first, and then more rapidly. The city needed to expand its airport and increase capacity at the cruise ship port just to manage the sudden rise in demand. Today, Barcelona’s 1.73 million residents must contend with over 20 million visitors swamping their home each year. With 202,000 tourists per square kilometre, Barcelona is now the most tourist-dense destination in the world. Despite 14.5% of Barcelona’s GDP coming directly from tourism, it is the residents who are paying the price!

The Housing Crisis

Barcelona’s housing crisis is one of the most apparent signs of overtourism. As landlords have followed the money by converting their properties into holiday lets, the housing available to the city’s residents has become scarce and ever-increasingly expensive. Shops and services that once catered to locals are disappearing too, replaced by souvenir shops and overpriced eateries.

This phenomenon is known as touristification and represents the transition that some neighbourhoods undergo when they shift away from meeting the needs of residents to focusing solely on serving tourists. The loss of affordable facilities and services leaves locals not only priced out of their homes but also feeling unwelcome in areas that once were theirs. Without any conscious malice, tourists to Barcelona are inadvertently harming the city’s residents, forcing them to step aside and sacrifice their way of life for the comfort and enjoyment of their short-term visitors. 

Tourists Behaving Badly

In my previous piece, Policing European Tourist Hotspots, we learned how anti-social behaviour from tourists has been making the lives of those living in Europe’s tourist hotspots increasingly difficult, and unfortunately, Barcelona is no exception. 

Visitors make a nuisance of themself by drinking in the street, disturbing residents late at night, spray-painting graffiti, littering, and even sometimes, horrifying though it is, defecating in public.

Even when tourists are caught and issued fines, the system often fails to keep track of them and hold them accountable. Many tourists simply provide their hotel address instead of their home one, making it nearly impossible for the authorities to track them down. In 2024, 70,274 fines were issued, worth €16.9 million. However, due to unpaid penalties and early payment discounts, the city managed to collect only €2.44 million, just 14.4% of the amount actually owed.

Not only are tourists coming to Barcelona and misbehaving, but many of them are also getting away with it, facing no consequences and paying no retribution for the disruption they have caused.

Environmental Strain

Barcelona also faces significant environmental challenges stemming from its burgeoning tourist industry.

Situated in an already drought-prone area, the city’s tourists use far more water than the locals, but escape the brunt of any restrictions when water becomes scarce. This excessive consumption is not limited to water alone; visitors to Barcelona generate an astronomical amount of waste. On La Rambla alone, the public bins must be emptied up to 14 times a day, creating a logistical nightmare for refuse collectors and a mammoth waste management problem for the city. Whilst Barcelona successfully recycles almost half of its waste, and incinerates just over a quarter for energy production, that final quarter of the city’s waste still goes to landfill.

Then there’s the aforementioned expanded cruise ship port. A firm favourite cruise destination, and also a popular embarkation point due to its large international airport, Barcelona’s port has now been identified as the most polluted in Europe, with cruise liners producing three times more sulfur oxide emissions than all of the city’s cars combined.

Whilst these effects are invisible and overlookable, certainly for a short-term visitor, the incredible environmental impact of tourism is an everyday reality for Barcelona’s residents, clogging up their city with waste, damaging the environment, and potentially harming their health.

The Locals Fight Back!

Knowing all of this, it is no wonder that Barcelona’s residents are fed up. In the summer of 2024, having had enough of being ignored, residents ramped up their protests: marching with placards, spraying tourists at restaurants with water pistols and blocking hotel entrances. Whilst these may seem like minor acts, they speak of a population on the brink of crisis, coming together to say “no more.”

Although it may sound like it, Barcelona’s residents aren’t calling for an end to tourism entirely. They want it to be managed in a way that doesn’t ruin the city they love or make it unaffordable to live in. Residents want to be prioritised: they need affordable accommodation, services that cater to their needs, and a home where their quality of life takes precedence over visitor satisfaction.

It’s not all doom and gloom; there are some signs that the city’s council are listening: the regulations on Airbnb properties are tightening, and after much campaigning, the bus that services the La Salut neighbourhood has been removed from navigation apps, stopping tourists from swarming it as they try to get to Park Güell. These are only baby steps, but they demonstrate how tourism may be fashioned to co-exist with a destination’s resident population.  

Travel Responsibly

Barcelona remains an incredible city, and no one wants its tourism industry to disappear entirely. But the current state of unregulated tourism is clearly causing harm in the legal, social and environmental spheres.

As tourists, we have a responsibility to travel ethically, seeking to minimise harm, ensuring that we respect local culture, and the lives of those who live at our tourist destination full-time. Putting this into practice may include travelling off-season or choosing under-visited destinations, but can also serve as a guide to managing our behaviour when we are on holiday.

Travel is, and always will be, a privilege. And with this privilege comes a responsibility to make ethically considered choices and minimise our impact (I didn’t mean to sound like Spider-Man, but the point stands).

Consider yourself an ambassador for all tourists who will come after you, and respect the individuals and their communities who are so lucky to call the places we love to visit their home.

If the Worst Should Happen:

Should anything go wrong while you are travelling abroad, your first point of contact should always be your home country’s embassy, high commission, or consulate in the country you’re visiting. They can offer support, provide language interpretation, help you report incidents to local police, and, if you’re arrested, ensure that you understand your rights and receive appropriate legal assistance.

Although this is not an official website, it appears to provide the contact details and addresses for a wide range of diplomatic missions: https://www.embassy-worldwide.com/
• Pan-European Emergency Number: 112

Please click the photo below for a collection of my European Criminological Perspectives columns:

  
Cerys Tandy is snsvs’ European Criminological Perspectives Editor. She is currently studying for an MSc in Psychology at the University of Stirling, having previously completed a degree in Criminology and Sociology. Whilst Cerys currently feels a little lost when it comes to her future, she is deeply fascinated by the study of crime, with a particular focus on ensuring that victims receive the very best care and support. When Cerys has time away from her studies, she loves escaping the city for hikes, loch swims, and wildlife watching with her partner in the Scottish countryside.