Barcelona's La Salut Neighborhood Takes Action Against Overtourism

While some cities do everything to attract as many visitors as possible, residents of the La Salut neighborhood in Barcelona are celebrating a move to make it more difficult for tourists to travel around the city, particularly to Park Güell, the second most popular attraction in the city. They have long complained that they cannot get home because bus number 116 is always crowded with tourists visiting Antoni Gaudí's Park Güell. After the city council arranged for the route to be removed from Google and Apple maps, the bus is now only for the locals. The information was reported by The Guardian. 'At first, we laughed at the idea,' says local activist César Sánchez. 'But now we are surprised that the measure was so quick and effective,' he adds. According to him, the bus used to be so full that even people with walking sticks couldn't get on. Deputy Mayor for Security at the City Council, Albert Batll, stated that in addition to improving mobility around Park Güell, it is now necessary to remove references to line 116 from the internet. However, he refused to confirm or deny that it was the council that was responsible for removing the route. A Google spokesperson also only informed that the bus route will not disappear unless requested by the city council. The celebrations are early. Bus line 116 is a so-called neighborhood bus. It is slightly larger than a van and can accommodate about twenty people. In the past, it appeared on Google maps as one of the transport alternatives for accessing the park. However, from the beginning of the line's existence, it was filled with groups of tourists, and the vehicle lost its main function, which is to transport local residents to areas with few transport links and difficult accessibility. Several days after the improvement began to show, many local residents are cautious about celebrating this change. 'Tourists could discover the itinerary by other means, even though there are no longer any references to 116 on the official Park Güell website or on some of the most popular tourist websites,' says one of the neighborhood residents. Sánchez, who has been leading a campaign for eight years for the council to address this issue, joked, 'Another thing we need to do is to achieve the removal of the entire Park Güell from Google maps,' according to The Guardian. Many European cities have been warning about excessive tourism for several years, including Venice. The Catalan capital is no exception. For example, much of the graffiti in Barcelona recently diverted tourists from Park Güell instead of to it...