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

MissInterpreted

I don't think it's just the incidents in Barcelona though - there have been protests in various areas, including the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Also Tenerife

Delene

MissInterpreted

I don't think it's just the incidents in Barcelona though - there have been protests in various areas, including the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Also Tenerife

Which is one of the Canary Islands...

maddyone

The Swedish person you know Witzend is part of the problem. Using up a house, which would have been modernised by now whoever lived in it, but not being there all the time using the shops and other facilities, is definitely part of the problem. No one likes to think that by buying up houses abroad they are contributing to a housing shortage, but in reality they are. And unless they live in it permanently, they are contributing little to the local economy.

She actually spend about half the year there - escaping the Swedish winter - and in summer her sons and their families, plus a few friends, holiday there. She doesn’t rent it out for profit.

I might add that a lot of locals have been priced out of many areas of London by foreign buyers of property for many years now. Many of whom use the properties only briefly each year, or don’t use them at all, and don’t even rent them out. They are simply seen as a safe place to park one’s money.

Maybe it’s time we took a leaf out of the Danes’ book, and banned all foreigners from buying property unless they’ve actually lived there for 5 years.

According to a half-Dane* who told dh this, the measure was actually intended to stop Germans buying up masses of properties, especially all along their their extensive coastline, but they couldn’t say that (against EU law) so they said ‘no foreigners’ instead.

*he was somewhat put out that even as a half-Dane he was banned as a foreigner, from buying.

"38M0nica

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."

Bit like too many people trying to get onto one island and take over all the infrastructure.

I do not quite understand you MaggsMcG, Are you talking about Sovereign Wealth Funds buying up all our water companies, and taking all the available investment money out as dividends?

M0nica

I do not quite understand you MaggsMcG, Are you talking about Sovereign Wealth Funds buying up all our water companies, and taking all the available investment money out as dividends?

Just returned from a week in central Benidorm. Why do people complain about it so much?
Lived in the totally Spanish village of Alfaz about 5 kilometres further for about 20 years running a business as well as working for two local newspapers. Never had the time to chill out on the Levante beach, cleaned every night so went this year to reminisce.
Lived in Trinidad as a child and the beaches are amazing but never as clean and organised like Benidorm.
Remembering the thread, no problems for us as we took the time to learn Spanish and its always appreciated even if they reply in English.

I remember 20 years ago we stayed in a hotel on Lake Garda and were so appalled by the behaviour of a coach load of English tourists that we sat in a corner and conversed in Italian in the hope that no one would realise we were English. I suspect things will only have got worse since then.

We have a gîte here in France- which we advertise on Airb&b, as well as on several other websites and direct via our website and Facebook.
Air is just one letting platform amongst many, although the term is now used in the same way as “hoover” meaning any vacuum cleaner.

The problem with short term holiday lets arises when there are too many in an area -of unrestricted growth in tourism- locals are priced out, the nature of a place changes and resentment grows. This has happened in some areas of France too- parts of Brittany, Paris and all along the med coast. The answer is regulation- local maires have the power to refuse permission for a property to be used as a gîte, there are moves to change the tax regime for properties in areas where housing is under pressure to make holiday let’s less attractive financially.
However outside of these areas, it is not a problem. We (and other owners) bring lots of money into our area. We have renovated houses which otherwise would have been left unused, our guests spend money in the local economy, they eat out, they visit attractions and the money they pay us also gets spent locally as well.

We pay our income tax, our social charges, we pay the equivalent of council tax and business taxes and our guests pay the taxe de sejour.
Our area, which is not in one of the tourist “hotspots” is actively encouraging tourism- but the kind that encourages nature, culture and the outdoor life.

I agree with you Goldencity, especially the final paragraph. We lived in a rural village in Brittany and ran four gîtes for several years, accommodating 24 guests.
The number of inhabitants in the village was only 1000. When we spoke to our mayor, he said, certainly not, to adding a tax for the guests' stay because they were using the local bar, bakery, shop etc. He decided that that was far more important than the taxe de séjour, so nothing more was mentioned about it!!
When we did school trips from England to our French properties,the children were invited to spend a day at the village school. When we ran Art and Dance holidays, a local chef came to cook a special meal one evening. We also opened our swimming pool up to local children who could play with the visitors' children if they wanted to.
Our property comprised of a small hamlet with several acres. We were told that local French people could never have afforded to buy it, and that the 16th century buildings would have just gone to ruins. This was proven to be true by the the fact that when we sold, it was to buyers from Jersey.
So, in some cases, having holiday lets works for both the owner and the community.

We had a holiday home in Normandy for 33 years. We bought a run down 2 bedroomed house and sold a modernised 4 bedroomed house.

There were only 12 houses in our commune that were owned by British people despite being in a WW2 hotspot, only 30 mintes from the sea and easy access to the ferries.

When we sold it this year, it was to the French parents of our new young French neighbours, who have bought it to retire to in 4 years time. For the time being it continues as a second home.

We have found a local AirBNB for our continuing short visits and a local Gite for week stays. You can still pick up wrecks ofr 35,000 euros and a decent three bed houses can be bought for under 100,000 euros. Our young neighbours, paid 100,000 euros for a large habitable 4 bedroomed house, which required some updating, including 2 paddocks and out buildings.

In our area of Normandy AirBNB's and their like are no threat to the local housing market.

Yes, I guess if we'd carved our houses up into 4 individual properties for locals, at 200,000 euros a piece we could have got near to the same selling price, but the site was on an ancient druid settlement which bore the name of a Saint. In so doing we would have destroyed the historical significance of the site, and probably have been less popular with the mayor!

Joseann Around us many farm house buildings are essentially one long terrace of homes in the middle of the from dating from when the farm had farm workers or more than one family running the farm and these homes are now empty, some are added to the main farm house to make it larger, others convert very well to Gites. It would be difficult to sell these because they are in the heart of the garden and court going with the main house.

In our case, there were three quite separate large stone houses, it had once been a large manor, and we had the manor house, one other house was owned and occupied and the third house was completely derelict. The two occupied ones were surrounded by their own garden/paddocks.

Thread diversion coming up. Use of the phrase "the Spanish" drove me to it. My mum always insisted one should say Spaniards, not Spanish. Technically she may have been correct but it can surely be seen as on a par to "the English" or even "the British"?

When they find there’s no ncome from tourists they’ll no doubt relent. Meanwhile we are going to Northumberland.

It is not a question of shutting down all tourist accommodation but getting a fair balance between tourists and local people.

If all the locals are priced out of the local housing market, who is going to work in all the facilties that tourists expect from bars and restaurants, to hotels and tourist attractions.

Some one in one of the newspapers today spoke highly of the island of Ibiza where the local authority long ago zoned the island with area set aside for tourist accommodation and other ares where property can only be bought or rented by local people.

Yes, M0nica, those longère buildings are ideal for converting to a row of say three gîtes, and why not as they provide additional income for the owners who were traditionally farmers? Ours all had their own patio and small garden. The grounds were communal. We invested in an inground swimming pool, and an all weather studio in the barn which locals could use out of season too.
Our farmer across the lane sold fresh milk and eggs to the guests, my French hairdresser friend in the village could be booked for a cut and blow dry, we had a gardener etc.
I realise ours was a unique set up but we tried to make it work for everyone.

Mallorca residents are staging a tourist protest on Sunday night 21st July 2024.

This is not about just tourists. People have been priced out of the housing market as more are being bought as holiday homes. The youngsters are in the same position as a lot of people in our tourist areas, they are desperate for housing but cannot get any at an affordable price.

I live on the outskirts of London and after 11 am Oxford Street is horrendous and very difficult to move. The shops need the trade but "locals" stay away.

The obvious solution for places who want less tourism is to price out a proportion of the tourists. That would cut out low spending tourists. Hotels and restaurants could raise their prices to offset any losses.

I wouldn’t waste a penny in Spain. We have spend a lot of time and money there in the past and no more. They will be squawking soon that the tourism is failing - tough!!!

Other more sensible Grans have mentioned the need for tourist taxes and zoning so that local people can find somewhere to live and the local infrastructure can be supported.
That's what we need here in Edinburgh.

A tourist tax in Edinburgh is long overdue*Aveline*,wasn,t it recently an option put forward by Holyrood? I don’t understand why it wouldn,t be supported,the revenue could be used to cover at least some of the extra costs of the hordes who descend at festival time.The extra rubbish the needs collecting ,the e tra policing etc.I have many friends who live in the Capital who are in favour of a tourist tax and like us have had no problem paying one in other European cities for 20 odd years

The law allowing Scottish councils to charge a Visitor Levy "tourist tax" was passed in May 2024.
There are requirements councils must meet before setting the charge so it will be 2026 before Edinburgh can implement the levy (should consultations & the council support it.