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Agence France-Presse

Reuters

Pressure continues to grow in popular European travel destinations for a response to the negative impacts of mass tourism.
This week the Czech capital, Prague, announced a ban on organised nighttime pub crawls.
It came a day after residents in Spain’s two biggest cities marched in protest against rising property prices amid housing shortages they blame on homes being used for short-term holiday lets.
Some 12,000 people marched in the Spanish capital, Madrid, under the slogan “Housing is a right, not a business”, while in Barcelona thousands took to the streets in protest against the city’s tourism-centric economic model, as well as the America’s Cup sailing competition it is hosting this year.

Prague city councillors said they had banned nighttime pub crawls organised by travel agencies because the city wanted to target “more cultured” tourists.
The city of 1.3 million people has long been a popular destination for noisy stag parties and pub crawlers, largely from Britain.
Announcing the ban, Prague deputy mayor Zdenek Hrib said: “It will not be possible to have guided tours between 10pm and 6am.”
Jiri Pospisil, another deputy mayor, said Prague City Hall was “seeking a more cultured, wealthier tourist [...] not one who comes for a short time only to get drunk”.
Beer is still cheaper than water in some restaurants, and many pubs in the Unesco-listed historic centre sell the local lager for under US$3 (HK$23) a pint.
Vaclav Starek, head of the Czech Association of Hotels and Restaurants, hailed the city’s decision.
“Trips to the centre in search of beer have been a problem for local people and for other tourists too,” he said.
“Nobody will be banned from going to a pub, but these nightly organised pub crawls [...] are nothing we would need.”

Marching in Madrid, Blanca Prieto, a 33-year-old nurse, said: “Spaniards cannot live in their own cities. They are forcing us out of the cities. The government has to regulate prices, regulate housing.”
In July, Spain’s government announced a crackdown on short-term and seasonal holiday lettings.
Spain is struggling to balance promoting tourism, a key driver of its economy, and addressing citizens’ concerns over unaffordable rents due to gentrification and landlords shifting to more lucrative tourist rentals.

Residents of the Canary Islands and Malaga have also staged protests this year against the rise in tourist rentals.
Seasonal hospitality workers struggle to find accommodation in these tourism hotspots, with many resorting to sleeping in caravans or even their cars.
Barcelona receives an average of 170,000 visitors per day according to municipal figures, and tourism accounts for roughly 13.5 per cent of the city’s gross domestic product.
Shops have been closing down because restaurants and souvenir shops have moved in
Jordi Gimeno, owner of a traditional shop in Barcelona
At the same time, tourism is now the third most worrying problem for Barcelona’s 1.6 million residents according to a municipal survey, mirroring a trend seen in other tourism hotspots across Europe.
“There is an excessive economic dependence on the tourist sector,” said Daniel Pardo of the city’s Assembly of Neighbourhoods.
Barcelona’s Socialist mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced in June that the city will scrap the licences of the roughly 10,000 flats currently approved as short-term rentals by the end of 2028 in a bid to rein in soaring housing costs.

Barcelona deputy mayor Jordi Valls said the city is exploring other measures to better manage the tourism sector, such as reducing the number of cruise ships that can stop at the port, and is “trying to grow and develop other activities” to diversify the economy.
Spain – the world’s most visited country after France – is on track this year to smash 2023’s record for international tourist arrivals of 85.1 million.
Near Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Família basilica, Jordi Gimeno’s haberdashery is one of the few traditional shops left in the neighbourhood.

“These shops have been closing down because restaurants and souvenir shops have moved in,” he said at the shop his grandmother opened in 1944.
“There are businesses that tourism is not interested in,” he added.
Standing in front of the basilica, Dutch tourist Jolijn said: “In Amsterdam we have the same problem.”


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Prague bans pub crawls, seeks ‘more cultured’ visitors. Madrid and Barcelona see more protests against high housing costs blamed on tourists


Prague bans pub crawls, seeks ‘more cultured’ visitors. Madrid and Barcelona see more protests against high housing costs blamed on tourists.


Spain

Czech Republic