Tourists urged to avoid Barcelona 'frontline' in favour of 'more attractive destination'

Brits are being encouraged to consider visiting a Spanish city other than Barcelona for their holidays, in order to avoid the brunt of anti-tourism protests. Earlier this month, videos of tourists being doused with water by protesters in the Catalan city made headlines.

This comes amidst escalating tensions between locals and tourists, as residents rally for restrictions on tourist numbers in their towns and cities. Barcelona has become a focal point of this discontent, with hundreds of locals taking to the streets and new laws being drafted to curb tourism.

Writing for the Telegraph, Nick Trend suggested Valencia as a more appealing alternative to Barcelona, noting it as a "far more attractive destination" that sees fewer tourists than its larger counterpart. He remarked that "few of us want to spend our holidays in places where we are likely to be on the frontline".

Valencia, just an hour from Madrid, offers plenty to attract visitors, including the Cathedral of Valladolid, the Plaza de San Pablo, and an annual International Film Festival. While some may be deterred from visiting Barcelona and other areas like Majorca, their absence could provide some respite for locals who have grown weary of their presence.

Earlier this year, disgruntled locals took to Reddit to vent their frustration on the anonymous social media platform, lamenting the negative effects of tourism on Barcelona, reports the Express.

One individual lamented: "Barcelona has become an amusement park made for tourists. Everything's overpriced, when you go to class or work you have to avoid distracted tourists who randomly stop to take a picture all the time of the day, week or year."

Another shared: "I was born and raised in Barcelona, but I no longer live there. I didn't remember how bad it was until I went to visit my family last summer."

They continued: "Me and some friends went to walk around the centre and the girl that took our orders at Pans and Company (a Spanish bakery chain) didn't even know Spanish or Catalan, only English."

After years of mounting grievances, Barcelona's local authorities are stepping up. The city's mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced last month that the city will revoke licences for 10,101 apartments.

In his statement, Mr Collboni declared the reclaimed apartments would be directed towards alleviating the housing shortage and making homes more affordable for Barcelona's residents.

He stated: "We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona's largest problem. Those 10,000 apartments will be used by the city's residents or will go on the market for rent or sale."

He further asserted: "No tourist flat in Barcelona. We will recover the current 10,101 homes. We improve the 30 percent rule to make the promotion of affordable housing in the city effective.

"Administration, society and the real estate sector must join forces to protect the right to housing."