“Tourists go home!”: Barcelonian residents seek to deter tourists from overrunning city
Publication Type
Case
Publication Date
8-2025
Abstract
On Saturday, July 6, 2024, multiple local organisations in Barcelona, Spain mounted a protest to express their dissatisfaction with the degree to which overtourism in the city had resulted in unaffordable housing, congestion in public services, and the “touristification” of local businesses.
Students are asked to take on the role of Jaume Collboni, the Mayor of Barcelona City. In the wake of the protests, Collboni calls for an emergency conference, where he tells his colleagues from the city council and the tourism office that the protests cannot be allowed to continue, but meets objections from these colleagues.
This case is intended for use in an undergraduate integrative studies course on economics. Students who have successfully examined the case should be able to achieve the following learning objectives: identify the factors that contribute to overtourism, examine how overtourism gives rise to externalities, propose possible responses to address the challenges associated with tourism growth, and explore likely positive externalities that could result from tourism.
Keyword(s)
Travel, Travel Services, Protests, Crisis Management, Economic
Discipline
Economics
Area of Excellence
Growth in Asia
Research Areas
Applied Microeconomics
Data Source
Published Sources
Industry
Travel and Tourism Industry
Geographic Coverage
Spain
Temporal Coverage
2024
Education Level
Executive Education; Postgraduate; Undergraduate
Publisher
Singapore Management University
Case ID
SMU-25-0023
Additional URL
https://ccx-shop.smu.edu.sg/products/tourists-go-home-barcelonian-residents-seek-to-deter-tourists-from-overrunning-city?variant=43480316608554
Comments
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