if the Spanish don't want us,don't go there

Threads Oreo ??? I commented on one ‘post’ get your facts right if you want a go at me

I went back to Spain last February. I will admit..when seeing Spain today I am lucky to remember the country when Franco was in charge and when there were few tourists etc
I can remember being with a Spanish family who lived in a cave by the beach in Almeria which then was a very small town with no sky high apartments.

Good grief BlueBelle are you now policing threads?
I wasn’t a ‘horrible’ post at all from babamaman if you thought you’d be met with posters saying tourists go home and squirting you with a water pistol while you were sitting happily eating a meal wouldn’t you choose not to go there?
A few really popular countries as tourist destinations have become a victim of their own success, and locals are unhappy.
Airb&b could be clamped down on, with only a % being allowed which would probably help.Hotels aren’t going to want to shut down.

babamaman says * Totally agree - boycott Spain*

Totally agree with who ???? most people on here are agreeing with the Spaniards and other locals who are getting wiped out by the ‘tourists’
Horrible post from you
Think again
Spain and Portugal and Canaries are beautiful places with lovely locals but it’s totally understandable how difficult it has become for them
Have a bit of thought and care

It’s a very difficult situation where touristy areas are concerned, because local economies have built up around tourism, very successfully, and need tourism to survive - and there’s the rub, probably, as it’s become too successful in some ways, so that locals find it hard to find places to live and work (affordable places), with many properties becoming air b&b and the areas have become extremely crowded during particular times of year and resentment has built up. The difficulty is finding a balance, but I would say air b&b needs looking at as a start.

Boycotting a place is unhelpful.

Sorry should have said this was in Spain.

Our family home was originally in a little fishing village, the locals were desperate to catch up with the tourist areas either side, which has happened over the last 30 years.

Now it is unrecognisable, and the locals complain constantly, despite the largest percentage of tourists coming from inland areas, so not even foreigners

Be careful what you wish for comes to mind.

The protests in Barcelona have just been on ITV news, so not tabloid hyperbole

TerriBull

I went a while ago, we stayed St Jean de Luz very near Biarritz, yes all lovely, I particularly liked a town Hendeye on the French side.

Definitely an extraordinary location ..

We travelled with our dear friends and the four of us had an incredible time ..

Very beautiful region of France.

One of my favorite destinations has always been Venice and I feel so sorry for the locals there for similar reasons. I believe they have now banned cruise ships because of the damage they do to the environment. Ive only ever travelled there in low and off season but I can imagine the effect of the crowds in those narrow twisty streets. If you visit cities off season there may not be quite so many facilities open. However you will have a more relaxed time and the people are friendly.

Hendaye not Hendeye

I went a while ago, we stayed St Jean de Luz very near Biarritz, yes all lovely, I particularly liked a town Hendeye on the French side.

SiobhanSharpe

TerriBull

The northern coastal areas such as San Sebastian have not been tainted in the way that the Costas have been, somewhat cooler but un-spoilt, or was when I went there, a while back now.. I do love the Moorish part of Spain though which is predominantly in the south.

San Sebastián can get very crowded with tourists, especially 'foodie' ones and I've seen many large parties of (eg) Japanese tourists being led around by tour guides to the best tapas and pinxtos bars.
Not that I blame then for that, the food is really special.
But it can get very busy.
It's also busy during the International Film Festival which is held inSeptember.
Still a great place to visit. But Bilbao is also a very good foodie destination as well as a vibrant city and seems to be more popular with Spanish tourists than foreign. So it's less rowdy overall....

San Sebastian is the jewel of Northern Spain´s Basque Country.

Not as frequently travelled but also incredibly beautiful is Zarautz, The Basque Country. Truly another gem and less frequented. For those who like the beach, it is quite beautiful and the cuisine is impressive ..

And a not to miss is: Biarritz, France. Very very beautiful ..

Jackiest

The problem is some of the British have behaved so badly that we are not welcome in many parts of the world.

We are being judged by the actions of a small number which is wrong and we should not do it either.

Just like a few England supporters in Germany starting fights and being abusive. Goading the German youngsters and screaming at them to go home. It hasn't dawned on these dimwits that the Germans ARE at home. Shows Britain in a good light.

Totally agree - boycott Spain!

One of my DAC has booked a trip to Venice then cruising to Barcelona in a few weeks time. I'm quite worried as there are protests in Venice by the locals not wanting the tourist tax. Barcelona has many protests atm telling tourists to FO go home etc. Not great for the DGC to see and hear. It's too late to cancel and they would lose so much money after saving hard for 2 years
Really hoping they will all be ok.

M0nica

Like so many things, what starts as being a movement that brings economic growth and prosperity to a resort/area/country, over the years grows so large that the conomic advantages begin to fail as the very things that made somewhere popular begin to degrade it.

So many areas that drew tourists in because of the beautiful beaches/ wonderful architecture, peace and quiet now have so many tourists that the beaches are full, so much housing has become holiday accommodation that the locals cannot find homes, streets are heaving masses of people. I am not surprised that the people in many tourist areas of Spain are fed up.

50 years ago I fell in love with Oxford, I wanted to live there, couldn't afford it, but for the last 30 years have lived 10 miles away. I used to go there a lot, parking was easy, if expensive, you could walk round the colleges and their quads, and no one would stop you. In the vacations they were quiet and peaceful. The town was full of indpendent shops.

Now, you cannot move in the city because the pavements are blocked by tourist parties, the shops have all closed to be replced by chain restaurants. The colleges only let people in to visit at certain times and charge a fee, I do not blame them. I now rarely go to Oxford, all I loved has gone, it is just a tourist destination full of eateries and booths selling tawdry souvenirs.

My sympathies are all with the protesters of Barcelona.

Pleased to see that there is a complete understanding in reference to the excessive amount of tourists on the coasts and the islands.

It does create havoc for the locals especially the elderly and also families.

TerriBull

The northern coastal areas such as San Sebastian have not been tainted in the way that the Costas have been, somewhat cooler but un-spoilt, or was when I went there, a while back now.. I do love the Moorish part of Spain though which is predominantly in the south.

San Sebastián can get very crowded with tourists, especially 'foodie' ones and I've seen many large parties of (eg) Japanese tourists being led around by tour guides to the best tapas and pinxtos bars.
Not that I blame then for that, the food is really special.
But it can get very busy.
It's also busy during the International Film Festival which is held inSeptember.
Still a great place to visit. But Bilbao is also a very good foodie destination as well as a vibrant city and seems to be more popular with Spanish tourists than foreign. So it's less rowdy overall....

It’s nothing to do with the Spanish not wanting us they are angry that their government have given over masses of buildings ( that are needed for local people) rich people buying up big apartment buildings to turn into to AirB&B and rent out apartments The locals can’t get starter homes The same has happened in a smaller way in Cornwall and Wales
The Spanish are not Anti British or anti holiday makers they are just wanting to be able to house themselves first
Not unreasonable at all

Sweeping inflammatory generalisations do no favours to either “side”

This is xenophobia of the worst tabloid type (apologies to tabloids) - well behaved visitors are a welcome boost to the economy of so many areas and can hardly shoulder the blame for rising property prices because the locals seek to make a profit from Air BnB s

halfpint1

The people owning and running Air B n B's
Are for the main investors with money, they are not the 'local'working population.
They are now run for profit.

Let me speak up for AirBNB, which I have just joined and for a very specific reason.

Until Easter this year we had a holiday home in France, we had had it over 30 years and we feel that the area of Normandy it was in as much 'home' as the area of England we live in.

But time takes its toll and the maintenance was getting harder and harder work, so we sold it, but home is home and we still want to go back there regularly and we do not want to stay in a hotel, we want to 'live' there as we always did. Our visits, like the one due to start this week are for less than a week, or mid-week to mid-week and the official Gites de France sites only work in calendar weeks.

So I have signed up with AirBNB and we have a Thurs-Tues booking for a small house, converted form an outhouse in someone's courtyard in a small town close to where we lived. None of the properties I browsed, within a 10 mile radius of our previous house gave me any impression that they were owned by other than local people, making the most of the extra odd buildings which every home in Normandy seems to have, much the same as the Gites. We have one of those booked for a one week week-end-week-end holiday later in the year.

Property in Normandy is very cheap and the plethora of ruined houses that litter the countryside show that there is no lack of housing in the area for those with very modest incomes.

halfpint1 Your comments may apply in tourist hot spots, but their are many AiRBNB properties thata are far from the madding crowd and those are owned and run by local people glad of a little extra income.

I went with another widow on an organised trip to Andalusia last October. The Spanish people with whom we came into contact could not have been more friendly and helpful.
It was my first trip to mainland Spain and would love to go back. I'm well into Duolingo Spainsh!
It's not the likes of us that the Spanish are fed up with!

HousePlantQueen

Inflammatory headlines about the Spanish 'hating Brits' do not help to resolve this problem.

Precisely. And the Spanish don't hate the Brits.

The headlines are all part of the anti-EU agenda.

BigMamma

I totally agree, if a country objects to visitors from other countries then we should all stop going. When the hotels and stores start closing down due to lack of tourists they will know who they have to blame.

I don't believe they object to visitors from other countries - it's about the numbers and the effect it is having on the locals.

I have seen a tourist destination in the UK - one I live close by - where those locals are complaining that they are swamped by tourists in the high season. And it is, I have been there. I have seen tourists peering into the windows of people's houses, going into their gardens, picnicking on a small bridge making it impossible for anyone to walk on it, paddling in a tiny stream which is not meant to be used as a public pool, thronging the narrow pavements making it impossible to walk along them.

The locals have to live and work in the small town, and they are objecting to the sheer numbers of tourists - here in our own country. So it isn't just Spain complaining about visitors. No town or city, anywhere in any country, can cope with an overwhelming number of tourists.

It's down to governments and local authorities to deal with the issue and if they don't then of course the locals will complain.

I live in a small Cotswolds tourist 'trap' - but the numbers are manageable, and we are pleased to see them and make them welcome, whichever country they are from.

So it's not really as simple as "objecting to visitors from other countries".

Cornwall have exactly the same issues in their popular resorts.

Jackiest

The problem is some of the British have behaved so badly that we are not welcome in many parts of the world.

We are being judged by the actions of a small number which is wrong and we should not do it either.

It's not to do with behaviour, it's mainly to do with short term accommodation which means lack of accommodation for locals and rising rents.