How has Spain managed to break tourism records, when it's the country where they hate and attack tourists the most?

[KostasKouvalis]

You won't find ME being a sucker and visiting

[lilBigPotato]

There are not tourism records despite the protests. There are protests because of the tourism records!

Also there is no general hatred towards tourists. It's only on the most overrun places where things got out of hand where the sentiment really shifted. A lot of people's livelihoods depends on tourists and that's why they are generally welcome. But if you can't live in your own city or country anymore because of overtourism, you can't expect people to be happy about that.

And anyone who complains about the protests and thinks that their 1-2 week holiday is more important than the locals who struggle because of them every day can just stay in their country or go somewhere else 🤷‍♀️

Want to see Spain but not deal with protests? Just don't go to the same 10 locations like everyone else... Spain is more than just Majorca, Barcelona, etc...

[KostasKouvalis]

THERE YOU ARE. I was waiting for you to chime in.
Yeah, that's what I've been doing. Exploring my own country and going elsewhere.
SI
I know.
But to be honest, does Spain really have anything that other countries don't? Other countries have mountains, I've seen pictures and videos of the churches and cities, they look no different from our colonial ones. Maybe our colonial ones are even more beautiful. Spain was my favorite European country as a kid, but over the years, I've lost interest in it. I went to Catalonia, and it was nothing to write home about. The only region that kind of still interests me is the Canaries. I'm not saying I'll NEVER go back, but at the moment, it's not on my bucketlist.

And yeah, we lost an entire day in Barcelona trying to arrange transportation to their airport, because the taxis and uber drivers decided to strike, and then the bus decided to stop running. Honestly, if tourists had some brains and backbones, they would've boycotted the taxis and ubers i n return.

[lilBigPotato]

To each their own. Don't like it, go somewhere else 🤷‍♀️ not everyone needs to like every country. There are 200 other ones, plenty of choice.

[KostasKouvalis]

The attacks/protests started a couple years ago though and the record was broken THIS year

[Amy10223]

That's where my father in law was from, and so I had a chance to visit in the 80's and later in the early 2000's. He was from a village up in the mountains of northern Spain, and it was veer picturesque and beautiful. At night you could see thousands of stars in this village You can imagine how quiet it was especially at night, with a population of 80 people in the summer. I have been to Madrid, Santander, Toledo (these two being the hottest and driest) the Basque area of Donostia, but not to Barcelona or any other touristy places. I loved the food, and thought the Spaniards were friendly and cool. I think for the most part, they like to keep it this way, and frown on foreigners who have added crime to areas (not my words, theirs). Just as in many other countries, this has been said. But it continues to be a popular spot because the architecture, the European essence and ways of life, is so relaxed and appealing.

[Amy10223]

PS--Not to say crime sent being done by Spaniards as well, there is a lot of pickpocketing that goes in in the tourist spots.

[choco-latte]

I don’t know tbh I always wondered why it was always top 2 most visited countries in the world. Sure it has some nice cities, but I just don’t see much going for it in natural landscapes. Just some normal looking mountains and forests, the beaches pale in comparison to Greek and Italian beaches at least in photos.

[KostasKouvalis]

I've only been to Catalonia and wasn't impressed. It has some scenic places but I sort of agree, that it doesn't really have anything you can't find in other countries.
And I recently saw it on TV and was sitting there thinking, "These cities look no different from the colonial cities/churches in the Americas" Ours are maybe even MORE beautiful.

The only part of Spain that really interests me anymore, is the Canary Islands a little bit. But even so, going there is not a priority anymore. I might go to Andalusia some day, just to visit Morocco and Gibraltar. It was my favorite European country as a kid, but I don't find it as fascinating anymore. I'd rather go to Portugal, honestly. And I side trip to Spain from there.

[choco-latte]

Yeah, Portugal interests me more too because it’s one of less talked about visited countries in Europe

[KostasKouvalis]

Exactly

[6942Dantheman]

when you open up your boarder, yeah.