Budget tourism: sleeping on Barcelona's beach
Tourists are sleeping on Barcelona's beach because of hotel prices. City police take no action and the 'begpacker' phenomenon is spreading.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Tourists sleeping on Barcelona's beach: the latest symptom of unsustainable tourism
Accommodation in Barcelona has become so expensive that some tourists have found a radical solution: sleeping on the beach. It is not an organized campsite, but small survival fires of urban camping spreading along the shoreline, while the city debates whether its tourism model has peaked.
The 'begpacker' arrives in the Mediterranean
The phenomenon has a name from Southeast Asia: 'begpacker', a fusion of beggar and backpacker. What is seen there as a variant of backpacker tourism is interpreted here as a symbol of the precariousness that mass tourism hides. Some point out that you no longer need to go to Thailand: Barcelona's beach works just as well.
Fines, bans and a police force that looks the other way
Camping on the beach is prohibited and the fines are steep. But the Guardia Urbana (Barcelona's city police), according to residents' complaints, walks on by. One man says he has been sleeping on the same beach for a month, and the sense of impunity fuels the discontent.
Meanwhile, the debate on travel culture brings Kant back to life — a man who never left his hometown and founded modern philosophy. Perhaps the lesson is that you don't need to fly to Punta Cana to open your mind, but those without a hotel have nowhere to lay their head either.
Accommodation in Barcelona has become so expensive that some tourists have found a radical solution: sleeping on the beach. It is not an organized campsite, but small survival fires of urban camping spreading along the shoreline, while the city debates whether its tourism model has peaked.
The 'begpacker' arrives in the Mediterranean
The phenomenon has a name from Southeast Asia: 'begpacker', a fusion of beggar and backpacker. What is seen there as a variant of backpacker tourism is interpreted here as a symbol of the precariousness that mass tourism hides. Some point out that you no longer need to go to Thailand: Barcelona's beach works just as well.
Fines, bans and a police force that looks the other way
Camping on the beach is prohibited and the fines are steep. But the Guardia Urbana (Barcelona's city police), according to residents' complaints, walks on by. One man says he has been sleeping on the same beach for a month, and the sense of impunity fuels the discontent.
Meanwhile, the debate on travel culture brings Kant back to life — a man who never left his hometown and founded modern philosophy. Perhaps the lesson is that you don't need to fly to Punta Cana to open your mind, but those without a hotel have nowhere to lay their head either.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (26 replies).
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