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UJIAN TENGAH SEMESTER GANJIL (DARING) TAHUN AKADEMIK 2021/2022
IDENTITAS MATA KULIAH PELAKSANAAN

Mata Kuliah / Kode : Reading for Tourism Media / Platform : Ujian Tulis / Ujian Lisan / Lainnya
Program / Semester : S1 (Reguler & Sore) /III ABC Tipe Ujian* : On Time Test / Take Home Test /
Tanggal / Waktu : Senin, 1 November 2021/ 13.30-14.30 Tipe Pelaksanaan* : Lainnya
Dosen Pengampu : Dra. Hj. Lilis Rianita, M. Pd. Hasil Ujian* : Handout Pengerjaan Soal / Makalah
Dosen Pengajar : Dra. Hj. Lilis Rianita, M. Pd / Audio / Video / Lainnya
*pilih salah satu

Validasi:
Wakil Ketua I Kaprodi Bahasa Inggris Dosen Pengampu Dosen Pengajar

Dr. Yuliani Kusuma Putri Zakie Asidiky, S.Pd., M.Hum. Dra. Hj. Lilis Rianita, M. Pd. Dra. Hj. Lilis Rianita, M. Pd.

Study each of the passages and choose the best answer to the questions that follow.
Write only the answers on a piece of paper, then scan/ take the picture of your work and
submit it to the GC of this UTS.

Overtourism in Barcelona
Barcelona is one of those cities that on the surface seems just about perfect. It perches on the
edge of the Mediterranean, has a gorgeous climate, is big enough to have plenty going on but
small enough not to be overwhelming, and its palm tree lined avenues and cobblestoned
backstreets are filled with glorious architecture. While just 1.6 million people are lucky enough
to call Barcelona home, many more choose the city as a holiday destination. A lot more – close
to 32 million each year [1], in fact. Trying get your head around that number is difficult; trying to
elbow your way down La Rambla in peak tourist season is even harder. And spotting the words
“Tourist go home!” scrawled on a wall is sure to put a dampener on even the sunniest of Spanish
afternoons. Is Barcelona still a dream holiday destination, or has its moment passed?

What’s behind overtourism in Barcelona?

Barcelona today may be Spain’s go-to city, but this is a relatively new phenomenon. While
hotels and resorts began springing up along the Costas in the 1960s and 70s, it wasn’t until
Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympic Games that the city really appeared on the tourist map. The
run down, industrial port city underwent a much needed facelift. It embraced its Mediterranean
coastline, imported sand to create new beaches in place of ugly docks, and the tourists duly
began to arrive.

Some of Barcelona’s tourist appeal is inherent, given its location, climate, cuisine and laidback
culture. But other aspects have been much more engineered by local government and the tourist
board, both of which have spent years clamouring for ever more visitors despite the city’s clear
shortage of capacity. Barcelona has the Mediterranean’s largest port, for example, which makes
it a prime spot for huge cruise ships. In 1990, just 115,000 cruise passengers arrived in
Barcelona. By 2017, that figure stood at 2.7 million, arriving into one of nine cruise terminals.
The city was the home port for Allure of the Seas in 2015, at the time the world’s largest cruise
ship with a maximum capacity of just under 6,500 passengers [2]. And in 2019, Barcelona (along
with Palma) earned the unwanted title of most polluted port in Europe [3].

Cruise ship. Photo by Marcel Sala

Overtourism is not just about too many people, however. When it comes to Barcelona, the issue
is that they are all arriving at once. Of the 32 million annual visitors, around half are day trippers;
this will include most of the cruise passengers. Spending just a few hours in the city, visitors
have a limited radius and will tick off the same few places: La Rambla, the Sagrada Familia,
Parc Güell, La Boqueria market. Dr Harold Goodwin, in his 2016 paper on Managing Tourism in
Barcelona, described it as feeling like “a tidal wave” when, after breakfasting on board the ship,
“there are as many as 35,000 people arriving on foot at the Mirador de Colón, to walk up La
Rambla.” Little money is spent outside of the main tourist cafes and souvenir stalls, and the
congestion is unpleasant for both residents and other tourists. In the case of the cruise
passengers, many will book tours through the cruise line itself, which leaves even less money in
the city.

Even those who do book accommodation spend an average of just two nights here, which allows
little opportunity to venture beyond these same hotspots, and no real chance to scratch beneath
the photogenic surface. This is compounded by the fact that in terms of residency Barcelona is
one of the most crowded cities in Europe, with over 15,800 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Add in a few thousand – or even just a few hundred – tourists, and it starts to resemble a sardine
tin.

Overtourism’s impact on Barcelona

In 2017, it was reported that there were 125,000 legally registered beds in hotels and tourist
apartments, and 50,000 illegal beds [3]. The high demand for tourist accommodation, coupled
with the opportunity to rent out rooms and apartments via sites such as Airbnb, has meant that
rents are soaring, and residents are struggling to afford the increases. Ada Colau has been the
Mayor of Barcelona since 2015. She has claimed that overtourism is “affecting not only
residents’ quality of life, but their very ability to live in the area.” [4]

A 2015 consultation carried out by the Barcelona authorities reported various issues, ranging
from overcrowding and tension to a loss of identity and a rise in antisocial behaviours. Although
tourism brings substantial revenue into the city, currently comprising around 12 percent of
Barcelona’s economy, “poor redistribution of the wealth generated and poor quality jobs” were
further issues highlighted in the consultation [5].

Everyday shops are being replaced by souvenir stands, bike rental shops and cafes which may be
unaffordable – or simply unnecessary – for many local residents.

How are residents reacting to overtourism?

One reason that overtourism has made more headlines in Barcelona than in other destinations is
the local response. The Catalans are not known for their armchair activism; they have gone onto
the streets and shown the world how they feel.

Signs around the city call tourists bastards, and terrorists. They demand that ‘tourists go home’.
They claim this isn’t tourism, it’s “an invasion”. They call their city “Carcelona” - ‘carcel’
means ‘prison’. In July 2017, masked protesters attacked a tour bus, slashing the tyres and
scrawling the words ‘El Turisme Mata Els Barris’ – ‘Tourism Kills Neighbourhoods’ – on the
windscreen [6]. Tourist bikes have had their tyres punctured, and the streets and plazas have
been filled with placard-heavy marches and rallies.

For most protesters, however, this is not a battle with the tourists; it’s a battle with the
authorities, with businesses, and even with capitalism itself. What they object to is the lack of
regulation, and the blatant incentives that have allowed their city to become increasingly
unliveable. It’s worth bearing in mind that while many of us are only just becoming aware of
overtourism, Barcelonans have been living with it for many years already. As early as 2009,
residents of Barcelona’s Old City district sent Christmas cards to city officials depicting,
amongst other things, “tourists using the street as a toilet and having sex in public.” The district
had become popular with stag parties, and prostitution and drugs were commonplace. The
authorities had begun to develop strategies to manage tourism the previous year, concerned about
how the negative attitudes might impact on visitors to the city, and its image overseas.
Protest. Photo by Oh-Barcelona.com

What is being done?

Some destinations which have been hugely impacted by overtourism have taken drastic measures
to curb overtourism, from segregating tourists and residents, to tightly controlling visitor
numbers. Barcelona, however, is targeting accommodation. The local government is not
currently issuing any new licences for tourist accommodation, and new regulations have been
introduced to reduce the number of short term private lets, which would effectively prevent these
from being used by tourists.

However, the Managing Director of the Hotel Business Confederation of Catalonia, Manel
Casals, claimed in 2017 that the government was focusing on entirely the wrong issue. “Of the
32 million people who visited Barcelona last year, only eight million stayed in hotels… They are
not regulating tourism; they are only regulating the places where they are going to sleep.” [7]

To begin with, only scant measures were implemented to control numbers in the worst hotspots.
In Park Güell’s Monument Area, for example, only 400 people are admitted at any one time, and
tourists are charged an entry free, while residents may enter free of charge. La Boqueria food
market has banned groups of more than 15 people during peak hours, as they block the aisles
while taking photos. Residents have criticised this measure as greenwashing on behalf of the city
council, as many tour groups contain fewer people, but are still disruptive. Gaudí’s magnificent
La Sagrada Familia basilica meanwhile has increased the number of ticket offices, added online
booking services, and improved parking facilities. These will help manage crowds, of course,
and disruption in the surrounding area, but perhaps stricter measures still are needed.

But Barcelona City Council has now launched its Strategic Plan for Tourism 2020 [8], which
recognises the city’s dependence on tourism, but acknowledges that it must move away from
constant promotion and increasing numbers, and focus more on governance to ensure that
tourism is sustainable. New narratives on destination marketing are forthcoming, designed to
reduce pressure in the most popular areas of the city, ensure tourism jobs are of higher quality,
crack down on illegal accommodations, and toughen up on the environmental impact and
mobility issues caused by cruise ships. Mayor Colau, meanwhile, is threatening to slash cruise
ship passenger numbers and limit the city’s airport expansion [9]. Oh, and the Barcelona FC star
Lionel Messi was recently named the UNWTO’s Ambassador for Responsible Tourism! [10].

The first step to dealing with any problem is recognising that there is a problem in the first place.
The tourism authorities in Barcelona appear to have finally taken onboard the complaints of
residents and are taking steps to deal with it. Barcelona has been a poster-child for overtourism
for years. Hopefully, it will soon be a model of how to deal with it.

What can you do?

If you are keen to visit Barcelona, the best thing to do is to visit outside of peak summer months,
which are from May to September as well as Easter. Winters can be beautifully sunny on the
Catalan coast, and the reception you’ll receive – once the city quietens down – will be warmer
for sure. As this is a top weekend break destination, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the busiest
days. Try visiting Monday to Wednesday if you can. Definitely stay for more than a day, and do
some proper research to get away from the usual sightseeing draws and into the real heart of the
city. Local guides are invaluable for this; they can take you off the main drags and into local
neighbourhoods. As a bonus, you won’t be paying tourist prices, and the food and entertainment
will be more authentic, too (hint: tapas and flamenco are not Catalan).

Do ensure you stay in registered accommodation; illegal lets are not subject to the small tourist
tax (a couple of euros a night) and contribute to the rising cost of rent in Barcelona. Learn a few
words of Catalan, too; there is a strong regional identity here, and saying “bon dia” rather than
“buenos dias”, “gràcies” rather than “gracias” and “adéu” rather than “adios”, will show respect
for your hosts.

Outside of Barcelona and a few spots along the Costa Brava, Catalonia is strangely overlooked.
Its other cities – Girona, Tarragona – are utterly gorgeous, without any of the hype of its capital.
The countryside is really quite unexpected, with wild mountains soaring to over 2,500m,
secluded coves without a stag do in sight, waterfowl-rich rice paddies and wild boar inhabited
forests. With few visitors from the rest of Spain, let alone overseas, you can discover the real
Catalonia, just an hour or two from the packed streets of Barcelona.

Written by Vicki Brown

Answer the following questions based on the content of the passage above!

a. What is overtourism based on the text you read?

b. What make Barcelona just about perfect city on the surface?
c. Compare the number of the residents to the number of tourists in Barcelona!
d. What make Barcelona’s tourist appeal inherent?
e. When was Barcelona entitled the most polluted port in Europe?
f. What have spent years clamouring for ever more visitors despite the city’s clear shortage of
capacity?
g. How many of the 32 million annual visitors to Barcelona are the cruise passengers?
h. Where are the cruise passengers going in Barcelona in a few hours?
i. Why is Barcelona said to be one of the most crowded city in Europe?
j. What does overtourism affect stated by the Mayor of Barcelona?
k. How are residents in Barcelona reacting to overtourism?
l. How do the authorities react to overtourism?
m. What have been done by the local government to overcome overtourism ?
n. What has Barcelona City Council launched to solve the problem of overtourism?
o. What can you do as a visitor to prevent overtourism in Barcelona?