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cheema33yesterday at 10:52 PM1 replyview on HN

> Spain's economy isn't doing well and they have hurt their tourism industry with politics.

I don't live in Spain. And this is the first I have heard about their politics keeping tourists away. Can you elaborate?


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troadtoday at 2:14 AM

There have been protests against tourism in Spanish cities, esp. Barcelona.

As always, the protests are really about local issues (lack of housing, jobs, etc) and foreigners are being scapegoated. A lot of this has a dark edge - e.g. locals spraying water on people that appear foreign to them. The framing around sustainability and 'over-tourism' allows the far left to get in on the xenophobia that's been so useful to the far right. Much easier to attack foreigners than actually come up with solutions to deliver more housing or jobs.

Media narratives aside, these incidents have not affected tourism at all. Spain is and continues to be a massive tourism destination, and the average tourist has never even heard of any of this.

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