Is Barcelona suffering from an overdose of tourism?Por:Chris Finnigan|12demayode2014According to a new documentary, Catalonias capital has become a theme park. So many tourists are visiting the city that life for local residents has deteriorated to an intolerable level and the city is at risk of losing its unique centre as it sells itself to holiday makers.Bye Bye Barcelonafor just under an hour argues that the problem isnt individual, red-bellied tourists loudly drinking their way around the town (although the inclusion of aphotojournalism essaymay suggest otherwise). Instead its the rapid speed the industry has expanded across this relatively small city - an unmanaged consequence of a triumphant Olympic rebranding in 1992. In 1990 a mere 1.7 million tourists visited the city. In 2013 more than 8 million are expected to dock into Port Vell or disembark from a low-price RyanAir plane. Barcelona is now the fourth most popular European city for tourists, after London, Paris and Rome.Carles Ribas;Tourists in Park Gell on the first day visitors needed to pay an entrance fee. Barcelona.This meteoric rise in the number of tourists has delivered reassuringly high economic figures in the midst of an economic crisis where the local level of unemployment is around 20%. The industry now accounts for 12% of the regions GDP, creating, the film asserts, 100,000 jobs - thats between 18 and 22 millions Euros profit a day.However the social consequences of this stampede appear to be too great for some local residents. The filmmakers interview Catalan historians, experts in the industry and representatives from local housing associations, and their worries are clear: life off-and-around Las Ramblas and Ciutat Vella have degenerated in just two decades. The price of living has increased with an influx of customers ready to liberaly spend their Euros and the streets are overcrowded (8 in 10 on La Rambla are tourists). Testimonials of how local neighbourhoods have transformed into a theme park are plenty. AsBye, Bye Barcelonaargues several times over: the theme park effect of the city has turned the creative centre that once housed a youngPicasso,MirandTpiesinto a museum; its now more decoration than innovation.

Consuelo Bautista; Tourists admiring the Basilica ofLa Sagrada Familia. Barcelona.The importance of preserving the citys heritage and culture, an ever-present point for the region, receives great attention in the film and the need to have a debate on the citys capacity for tourism seems urgent. The social consequences are not just the decaying of community life off-and-around Las Ramblas, but the hollowing out of the citys historical core that contributes to so much of its dynamism and vitality, which the industry is exploiting in the first place. A rapid increase in tourism, while providing money to preserve buildings and museums has created an urban landscape of Irish Bars and American fast-food restaurants. The imbalance between a relatively small population and high number of tourists is not the only problem. The proximity of tourist sites concretes the influx and exacerbates the problem. Unlike other big European cities, tourist attractions can be reached on foot, increasing the density of visitors.The film touches on recent protests against the privatisation of the public space Park Gell. The decision to charge an entrance fee is another example of the transformation of the city and the delicate balance between welcoming tourists and managing the negative social consequences of a stampede of them needs to be addressed on a political level.The economic consequences are unquestionably positive; the social ones however are fiercely disputed. The concern of local residents is real, and it has been comprehensively shown in this film with a long list of pressing statistics. Nearly 140,000 have viewed the video so far and with the argument to use tourism to fight the economic crisis looming large on the political agenda, its importance will only rise.The debate about Barcelona unrestrictedly selling itself to tourists seems to have begun.All statistics are sourced from the following hyperlinkCatalan News Agencyor the film itself.