The presence of the inscription „Tourist go home” on the facade of a building in the Sant Antoni district may suggest that there is only one tourist left in Barcelona. After years of fighting against the mass influx of tourists, the residents of Barcelona seem to be close to achieving their goal – the ultimate expulsion of tourists from the city.
„We are pleased, but our work is not finished yet because there is one tourist left who still refuses to leave,” say representatives of local associations fighting against excessive tourism. When the first inscriptions calling for tourists to go home were painted years ago, few believed that it would come to a point where there would be only one tourist left in the city. „Throwing water at them and painting inscriptions has been a huge success,” the residents rejoice.
Currently, Phillip Grongjaer, the last tourist in Barcelona, is sitting alone on a terrace by La Rambla, eating a one-hundred-euro paella.
„We monitor his movements to paint inscriptions in the places he visits, hoping that he will also eventually go home,” explain the association representatives. „If he continues to pay such high prices for paella and sangria, he will single-handedly gentrify the center,” they lament.
In addition to throwing water and painting inscriptions, thousands of Barcelonians have decided to travel abroad to convince the inhabitants of those countries not to come to their city. This phenomenon is already known to experts as anti-tourism tourism.
