Barely two days after banning all new hotels from its city center, Barcelona is escalating its war on tourism. Mayor Ada Colau presented her Strategic Plan For Tourism 2020, which includes measures that she says will further curb tourism and reclaim the city for its inhabitants. 
 
 Barcelona has a population of 1.6 million, and received 32 million visitors last year. Tourism accounts for a significant chunk of the city's economy—14%—but the ill effects on permanent residents from being such a tourist destination are starting to pile up. The tourism industry pushes out local stores in the city center to make room for bland bars and tourist-trap shopping. Employment is seasonal and casual—a serious problem in a country with an unemployment rate at around 43% for young people—and property prices keep rising, along with rental costs, making it nearly impossible for residents to find affordable housing. 
 
 The new plan's goal is to "govern tourism," according to El País. Colau seeks to curb the worst excesses of the industry, and tightly control those it allows to remain in place. In an effort to dampen the short-term rental market, Barcelona will now apply the highest property tax rate to vacation apartments, and the city will not provide licenses for new tourist apartments. The city council is also seeking permission from the Catalan government to regulate room rentals in non-hotel accommodations, like bed and breakfasts, which would allow the city to dictate how many rooms are available per floor, or for how much of the year those rooms could be rented out. 
 
 [Photo: JanHetman/iStock] 
 
 Sleepover tourism, however, is not the only target of the Strategic Plan: New measures will also ramp up charges for day trippers, making Barcelona less attractive as a cheap tourist destination. This will mostly be accomplished through indirect means: A test scheme, for instance, will raise the parking rates for tourist buses stopping at the Montjuïc fountains—a major traffic hotspot as well as tourist hellhole—from €4.50 to €34 ($4.80 to $36). That, in turn, will likely hike the cost for people on the buses. 
 
 Other measures will affect residents more directly: There are plans to limit the use of Segways and electric scooters in the more touristic parts of the city (they are on the seafront), to pedestrianize certain hotspots on the busiest days, and to relocate the terraces of bars and restaurants, which often take over public spaces. 
 
 Taken together, it's obvious that Barcelona is serious about curbing tourism, and instead focusing on an economy that can create greater benefit for its local residents. The tourism sector isn't happy, of course, but the industry relies on growth and invasion at the expense of local culture. Tourism may be a big money maker, but it has minimal benefits for the majority of citizens. ||||| Tourists in Barcelona taking pictures at 'La Boqueria' green market. Photo: AFP 
 
 Tourism has become the main issue of concern for Barcelona's residents ahead of unemployment, according to a survey published Friday by the city hall of the popular seaside resort. 
 
 Rising rental prices, noise and crowds jostling for space in the streets, the disappearance of traditional, every-day stores have all become irritants for those who still live in the central districts of the Mediterranean city, which gets millions of visitors every year. 
 
 According to the survey, tourism in this 1.6-million-strong city was considered a problem by 19 percent of the 800 people polled, overtaking unemployment and working conditions which came in at 12.4 percent and had since 2009 always been the top concern. 
 
 "This isn't a problem of 'tourist phobia,' people in Barcelona like to travel and appreciate people visiting," said Deputy Mayor Gerardo Pisarello. 
 
 "It's about a concrete malaise caused by overcrowding in certain districts." 
 
 Last year, nine million tourists spent at least one night in Barcelona's hotels. 
 
 But according to the city hall, this figure shoots up to 30 million if other rental options such as Airbnb lets are taken into account, as well as those who stay in the suburbs. 
 
 Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, a former anti-eviction housing activist, has taken measures to try and ease the situation. 
 
 Authorities have banned the opening of new hotels in the centre and fined home rental platforms Airbnb and Homeaway €600,000 ($670,000) for marketing lodgings that lacked permits to host tourists. 
 
 However, tourism is one of the city's main engines for growth, generating 14 percent of its economic wealth and 65,000 direct jobs. ||||| Authorities in Barcelona are so fed up with tourist hordes that they have banned new hotels from opening in parts of the city. 
 
 They are also - under a sustainable tourism plan approved at the end of January - considering increasing a property tax on tourist accommodation and even introducing a tax for day-trippers. 
 
 Barcelona is one of Europe's top destinations but many residents complain the city is being overrun and losing its character. 
 
 Shops catering to tourists are pushing out amenities for locals Credit: Manfred Gottschalk mago-world-image/Manfred Gottschalk 
 
 Critics say local amenities are being pushed out of the city centre to make way for shops and bars that cater to tourists, while overcrowding around the city's attractions makes roads and streets a nightmare to use. 
 
 This summer, action will be taken to reduce pressure on the most heavily touristed areas, such as the Barceloneta beach and the Sagrada Familia, that includes relocating the terraces of certain bars and limiting the circulation of scooters or segways. 
 
 "The number of tourist flats in the city is staggering," said Sally Davies, our Barcelona expert, "and has pushed long-term rental prices to stratospheric levels. 
 
 Tourist numbers are increasing every year Credit: This content is subject to copyright./Jose Fuste Raga 
 
 "It’s hard to not feel exasperated with the clogged-up streets, elevated prices and the closure of tiny family-run businesses. There are now ice-cream parlours where there used to be bodegas, launderettes, herbal pharmacies and hardware stores – specialist shops for locals, who have never really taken to the mega supermarket concept. 
 
 "The tens of thousands who come in on cruise ships every month are a big part of the problem too," she added, "they fill the streets but don’t eat or drink, because all of that is provided on board." 
 
 How to avoid being an annoying tourist 
 
 With visitor numbers in the city increasing every year, our Barcelona expert had the following tips for enjoying this wonderful city without becoming a nuisance: 
 
 Tourists are advised to eat local Credit: This content is subject to copyright./Carlos Sanchez Pereyra 
 
 Eat and drink local 
 
 ‘Buy local’ is an obvious one. But eat and drink local, too. Coffee is no better in Starbucks than it is in the sleepy little bar on the corner and will cost you twice as much. If you want ice cream, buy it from an independent shop, not Häagen-Dazs. 
 
 Shop at museums 
 
 Avoid souvenir shops, which have become something of a plague. Go to a museum gift shop instead, or any of the many ceramics shops, which are also aimed at tourists but sell locally produced and artisanal pieces, with authentic links to the region. 
 
 Leave the bike behind 
 
 When it comes to sightseeing, quirky transport and tours are ever more popular, but one of the things that frustrates locals the most are the fleets of segways, bikes and scooters that clog up narrow medieval streets and send pedestrians ducking into doorways to avoid being mown down. 
 
 Let your app be your guide 
 
 Barcelona is not a big place, and one of its great strengths is that you can walk everywhere, particularly in the Old City. Self-guided tours – with a guidebook or app – make perfect sense, and break down the ‘them and us’ divide that makes Barcelonins feel they are living in a theme park. 
 
 Rent responsibly 
 
 The pull of tourist apartments is understandable, being cheaper than a hotel and having self-catering facilities, but use them responsibly. Keep the noise levels down both inside and outside the building. 
 
 Or just stay in a hotel - this is the rooftop of the Pullman Barcelona Skipper Credit: Copyright:Marco Pastori/Photographer:Marco Pastori 
 
 Opt for a home stay 
 
 Wherever you can, rent a room within a home rather than a whole flat – that way you’re not occupying a flat that would otherwise be rented or bought by Catalans, who are being priced out of the market by speculators looking to make a fast buck.
– While many cities would welcome 32 million annual visitors, Barcelona has had quite enough of tourists, thank you very much. Though tourism represents 14% of the Spanish city's economy, a tourism plan presented by Mayor Ada Colau this week lays out measures meant to dissuade tourists from rubbing elbows with Barcelona's 1.6 million residents, reports Fast Company. The proposals include blocking licenses for new vacation rentals and taxing those that already exist at the highest property tax rate. The city also has banned hotel construction in the city center and is seeking permission to regulate room rentals at hostels, B&Bs, and other accommodations. There are even plans to increase parking fees for tourist buses. Why are such measures necessary, according to city officials? For one, local businesses like dry cleaners and hardware stores are suffering as those catering to tourists are taking over. Jobs in these establishments are seasonal—a major issue given Spain's 43% unemployment rate for young people. Property prices and rental rates are increasing, to boot. "The number of tourist flats in the city is staggering … and has pushed long-term rental prices to stratospheric levels," one expert tells the Telegraph. All of this has spawned "anti-tourism groups," per NPR—and they aren't just on the fringe. In a 2016 survey, Barcelona residents named unemployment as the only issue of greater concern than the number of tourists.