Anti-Tourist Action: Posters tell tourists to jump off their balconies. Photo / twitter, @barricidi
Anti-Tourist Action: Posters tell tourists to jump off their balconies. Photo / twitter, @barricidi
Anti-tourist posters and graffiti encouraging visitors to jump off their balconies has been appearing in the Spanish Catalan city of Barcelona. Many sport the cryptic phase "Balconing IS fun!"
"Tourists go home" is a familiar slogan on the walls of Mediterranean resort towns.
Fueled by scandalous behaviour at party resorts and uneven distribution of tourist dollars, there is a growing resentment felt by some in European holiday hot-spots towards their uncouth guests.
Since the Euro crisis of 2009, it's not uncommon to see anti-tourist graffiti on the walls of Greek and Spanish cities.
Tourists go home! and please, practice balconing! Photo / twitter, @LEscorpiMetxa
Dear tourist, Did you know balconing…? • Prevents gentrification • Improves neighbours' quality of life • Reduces the risk of heart disease Is LOTS of fun
The posters imply tourists should jump to their death from their hotel balconies.
Anti-Tourist Action: Posters tell tourists to jump off their balconies. Photo / twitter, @barricidi
The humour of the posters grows even darker, as the term appears to refer to real incidents which have happened in Spanish tourist towns.
A number of British tourists have fallen to their death this year.
In July, an 18-year-old died after falling from his Magaluf apartment, on the island of Mallorca. School-leaver, Thomas Channon, from Wales had been visiting the party resort on his holidays.
In June another British holidaymaker, Tom Hughes, fell to his death while at Eden Roc.
Spanish and British diplomats have been attempting to curb the number of balcony-related incidents, but it seems the attention has captured the imagination anti-tourist protesters.
Balconing: The phrase has appeared across Barcelona. Photo / twitter, @undesgraciat
Memes have appeared online with the hashtag #BalconingIsFun.
The twitter handle @BalconingisFun churned out 160 offensive balcony-themed tweets before being suspended from the platform.
At the beginning of the Month protesters tied themselves to a famous Barcelona park sculpture.
After being cut loose by police, the protesters said they were in opposition to mass-tourism, which is creating misery for Spaniards, spoiling towns and pricing them out of buying housing.
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