Seville, at what point are we in terms of tourist overcrowding?
The feeling of overtourism either mass tourism in Seville it is nothing new. It is an issue that has been on the streets for several years and is palpable in the environment, especially around the cathedral and the Real Alcazar , the most visited monuments in the city . However, last 2019 has been the one that more debates and meetings around this topic have been generated in Seville . The city has not only pulverized and continues to pulverize all visitor records . In addition, this April, it hosted the appointment of the WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council) , the only international and private organization that brings together the leaders of the global travel and tourism industry and that was applauded as well as criticized.
The barack obama city tour on the occasion of this event, was defined by some antiovertourism collectives as a " call for the landing of more luxury hotels and of more private companies who profit in the city from tourism”, according to the CACTUS group of collectives. CACTUS is made up of neighborhood associations such as Casco Norte La Revuelta, Triana Norte and other downtown associations such as Casa Grande del Pumarejo, Espacio Lanónima, Tramallol, El Topo, COAF La Revo and Ecologists in Action who collect data and are currently making a report with possible solutions against Sevillian overtourism to present to the administrations.
We reflect with CACTUS about those statements that are heard, more and more, in the historic center of Seville.
THE CURRENT TOURIST MODEL DESTROYS EVERYTHING: TRUE
Jaime Jover , a History student at the Department of Human Geography and an active member of the CACTUS collective, explains how real estate speculation and the tourism model is causing us neighbors to lose our cities.
Seville and mass tourism
“You have to start questioning who benefits from this industry Y what consequences does it have for our lives ”. To reflect on the consequences, last year they organized the first edition of the I Festivalito de Docus: this is the Real Estate Wild Wild West , where they could see "works that challenge the conversion of cities into merchandise”: Or what will happen here? (VOSE, Lisbon, 2019) and Tot Inclos. Danys i conseqüències del turisme a casa nostra (VOSE, Majorca, 2019).
TOURISM HAS BEEN EXPELLING NEIGHBORS FROM THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS: TRUE
“Twenty years ago, tourism in Seville was reduced to a few streets and squares in the south of the center. the north area Like other working-class neighborhoods in the city, they were abandoned by the institutions ”, explains Jover. The step by step of gentrification in the city is perfectly portrayed by recent works of different arts, such as the book skinny of Fernando Mansilla , which portrays that harsh Seville of the early 1980s in the San Julián neighborhood; the documentaries of Juan Sebastian Bollain , What Seville on three levels , a sort of Sevillian dystopia, where society is divided into three very different strata; the movie Group 7 , by Alberto Rodríguez, set in pre-Expo 1992 Seville, like the documentary Forbidden to fly, they shoot in the air , of Julio Sanchez Veiga and Mariano Agudo.
“In those years, a space transformation , which is today more than visible in areas such as the Alameda de Hércules, San Julián, San Vicente or el Pumarejo , areas that used to have lower incomes, with a working population”. Finally, it has been possible to "generate a postcard image for the visitor", they point out from CACTUS.
** THERE IS A HOTEL AND TOURIST APARTMENT BUBBLE: TRUE **
In its manifesto, the CACTUS collective recalls the Notorious eviction of Rosario Piudo from her apartment in Plaza de la Encarnación, 15 years ago . “For us, it is symbolic because the square, after 150 million euros of public investment in a macro project in times of crisis , today it is a tourist space”, says Jover. Y " the building where Doña Rosario lived is now a luxury hotel”.
The streets of Seville: a compendium of traditional bars, traditional houses... and tourist flats
Another fifteen hotels are under construction or planned in the center, according to what we read in the information published in the media, that is without counting the tourist flats. According to him Andalusia Tourism Registry , in Seville there is something more than 4,000 vacation rentals , although Jover explains to us, from CACTUS that "the reality is that the figure amounts to almost 10,000 according to the data collected by the DataHippo Project ”, a collaborative project to offer data from different tourist rental platforms, such as Airbnb or HomeAway in cities with problems of overcrowding such as Seville, Barcelona or Lisbon”.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LIFETIME SHOPS IS AN EFFECT OF MASS TOURISM: FALSE
the journalist said Anthony Burgos in one of his opinion pieces ABC of Sevilla: “There is no room for one more ice cream parlor here; here there is no room for one more gastrobar; There is no room for a restaurant with square plates more… ”. And the local media constantly give voice to those, who are many Sevillians, who they miss businesses and bars of a lifetime.
Other residents of Seville, such as the writer Fernando Iwasaki, suggest that “ the disappearance of traditional shops is a fact that is happening throughout Europe . A phenomenon that should be seen in a more global context”. And he points out that in Seville, for example, the t-shirt and souvenir shops, which are now everywhere, arrived long before all the mass tourism. “There are still wonderful places that should be talked about more, such as the Stationery Ferrer , in Sierpes street”. So let's take note.
A business of a lifetime
LOW COST AIRLINES ATTRACT LOW COST TOURISM: FALSE
This past 2019 another new record has been broken in Seville: that of the passengers who have arrived at the São Paulo airport (approximately 7 million). In addition, it has already been announced that the international low-cost airline summit will return to the city in 2020, making Seville a benchmark in this market. Thanks to them, since 2015, Seville's connections with other European cities have increased by 30% , Y fly to Seville from 65 cities in 16 countries.
Faced with this, the Councilor for Tourism of the Seville City Council has pointed out on several occasions that “ This airport model and low cost cannot be linked with a backpack and flip-flop tourism ” although, from the collective CACTUS, Jaime Jover wonders What measurements do you make in this regard? especially to get to know whether or not this growth is sustainable and at this rate : “What we ask from CACTUS is move towards a more sustainable tourism growth model as Barcelona is already doing”.
As we have been able to verify, in 2015, the number of travelers who passed through Seville was 2,320,077 with a average expenditure per traveler of €86.42 , according to the Socioeconomic Report of the city of Seville for that year. Y 2019 closed with a record number of visitors to Seville of 3,121,932 million with a average expenditure per traveler around €120 , according to the latest survey published in 2017. So it could be concluded that 800,000 visitors have increased in 4 years and also spending per visitor, which has grown by just over €30, which is why, at the moment, Seville does not attract tourism widespread low cost. Of course: the figures, in Andalusia, indicate that more and more foreigners come but spend less.
**THE POLICY OF ATTRACTING BIG EVENTS, A FAILED MODEL: TRUE **
Investments bring improvement by attracting more investments, yes. "But to a few", they comment from the collective CACTUS. That is the feeling that the neighbors have, especially those who live in the center. “One of the factors that led us to mobilize was the theft of 1 million euros from municipal items for social purposes to celebrate the summit of the tourist employers, which cost 4,000 euros to attend ”. A few days later, the City Council announced that Seville would also host the chain's gala mtv , held in 2019. “Ultimately, they are events in which the people who live in Seville have nothing to say or to contribute ”, they explain from the collective.
** THERE ARE NO LIFETIME BARS LEFT IN THE CENTER: FALSE **
Although it may be possible to appreciate a certain excess of fusion and modernity in recent years , the return of traditional bars to the center of Seville is already a reality. From the Seville Academy of Gastronomy confirm this trend, supported by a last opening: Andres House , in Plaça del Duque, and thus joins the model of tapas bars such as Cañabota and La Moneda de Inchausti.
Other places that resist the onslaught of tourism are taverns of a lifetime , where Sevillians continue to meet: “On Tuesdays, for more than 20 years, a group of poets and writers eat in Placentines street , in the neighborhood of Santa Cruz, in the Oak House ”, comments Iwasaki, but there are more places like this.
The Cateca is another one of them . “It was the old Goleta and it is by La Campana. A very traditional tavern that opened in 1920 ”. Another one, The tremendous , on Calle San Felipe, where you can have some good beers that are very well drawn. Vizcaino House , another classic on Calle Feria, where you can share beers or a delicious vermouth accompanied by tapas. “In the Arenal area it is the bar ticket office , on Calle Adriano, in front of the Puerta de la Maestranza. Y Arenal Ventura ”, recommends Iwasaki. Besides of Morales House , on García de Vinuesa street, where you can eat delicious stews, cured meats, salted meats, cheeses… and siphon vermouth, as it has been done here since 1850.
Casa Robles, in the neighborhood of Santa Cruz